By Amy Chaplin
Music Learning Theory—have you heard of it? Music Learning Theory, or MLT for short, is an explanation developed by Dr. Edwin Gordon of how we learn when we learn music. While the depth of research is extensive, MLT can be summed up in one word, coined by Dr. Gordon himself: audiate.
Still fairly new to the music world, the term combines the prefix “aud,” which pertains to sound or hearing, and the verb “ideate,” which means to form an idea or to think. Thus the term audiate means thinking in musical sound.
Since audiation is the foundation of and most important ingredient to Music Learning Theory, I thought it was a great place to start.
Audiation vs. Inner Hearing vs. Imitation
What’s so special about the term audiation? There’s a good chance you’re thinking to yourself, “I hear musical sound in my head, so I’m audiating…