The moot audition: Preparing music performers as expert listeners

Abstract

Listening is regarded as the most fundamental contact with music performers, but this is challenged by a growing body of evidence which suggests that sight is as important as sound in evaluating music performers. Music students learn traditional performance skills for the music profession, but do not learn to think critically about preparation and sound evaluation for auditions, competitions and examinations. Conservatorium students were invited to act as auditioner and auditionee in a moot audition. Auditioners experienced live performances before and behind a screen, and formed a panel to evaluate performances. Performances were audio and video recorded, and arranged into three presentation conditions, audio-only, visual-only and audiovisual for a second audition session. Auditioners affirmed the primacy of sound in evaluation but became acutely aware of how vision impacted their judgements. Separating audio and visual elements highlighted subtle features, and contributed to their mental picture of performers’ sound. Results support more robust training to engender skills beyond the traditional craft and equip the next generation of expert listeners for the profession.