Aural Training
The development of musical listening skills including interval recognition and melodic dictation
Category
fundamental
Pronunciation
OR-ul
Origin
English
Length
144 words · 1 min read
About Aural Training
Aural training teaches musicians to identify what they hear — intervals, chords, rhythms, and keys — without seeing the score. Exercises include interval recognition (identifying the distance between two notes by ear), chord identification (major, minor, diminished, augmented), rhythmic dictation (writing down a rhythm after hearing it), and melodic dictation (notating a melody from memory).
More fundamental terms
Drone
View all fundamentalterms →A sustained or continuously repeated note or chord that sounds throughout a passage or entire piece
RhythmThe pattern of sounds and silences in time.
PitchThe perceived highness or lowness of a sound, determined by its frequency.
TextureThe way melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic materials are woven together in a composition.
DynamicsThe variation in loudness between notes or phrases in a performance.
v1 · 10/04/2026Browse all terms →