More to a skilled ear in music

More to a skilled ear in music 15 August 2014 - The first pilot study in Australia to give musicians the skills and training to critically assess music by what they hear rather than what they see begins this month at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. The study aims to address a lack of skill and formal training in the industry that enables music judges to critically assess sound - an important skill when it comes to auditions and judging music in the 'real world'. Leading the research is Dr Helen Mitchell , a senior lecturer in musicology at the University of Sydney's Conservatorium of Music, following a grant received by the Federal Government in June this year. The study builds on previous research by Dr Mitchell in 2011 and 2012, which found that musicians are not reliable in recognising the sound quality of individual performers and use limited descriptors to articulate sound. "Music judges or assessors are generally not well equipped to assess sound. The difficulty lies in the availability of common descriptors or language to express what we hear. People find it hard to critically quantify or qualify sound or what they are hearing when listening to music," said Dr Mitchell.