NOTE TO THE PROGRAM COMMITTEE: I would be delighted to give this as a paper presentation and/or as a (longer) demonstration. The demonstration would take the audience through several of the sample assignments and modeling a few of the analyses.

“Listen Up!: iPods, Sonata Form,  and Analysis without Score”

In the fall of 2004 I attempted a pedagogical experiment: I used iPods to teach students to analyze sonata forms without scores. My presentation will summarize the experiment, paying particular attention to the learning outcomes, the ways in which iPods were used, the repertoire chosen, and the progression of assignments.

First, I created a master playlist and gave each student an iPod for the course. We then analyzed several sonata form movements with score. Once students understood these compositions, they listened again without score until they were able to re-create details of form, phrase structure, and harmonic organization. Analysis was done solely by iPod, which allowed students to pause, fast-forward, and rewind as needed.
    I then began to wean students from score, giving them increasingly complicated movements to analyze. The first few assignments without score provided numerous hints; subsequent assignments provided fewer hints; the last assignment gave none. Through in-class modeling and out-of-class assignments, students developed and refined their ability to listen without score. They graduated from piano sonatas to quartets and symphonies, and from shorter, simpler works to longer, more adventurous ones. The final assignment asked students to analyze a movement of their own choosing. They created detailed formal diagrams and wrote accompanying essays.
    The results suggest that the iPod experiment was a resounding success.