ABSTRACT
Many factors have driven the evolution in the curriculum that music colleges provide. The increasing variety and unpredictability of the workplace has necessitated more flexibility and adaptability from the students, who now need a greater range of skills than ever before. Some formerly ‘academic’ skills such as harmony, arranging, and aural skills have taken on a more direct relevance as potential prerequisites for a portfolio musical career. After a couple of times through, the teacher would ask who had finished. A few people would put up their hands. The teacher would then play it a few more times, until either everyone had finished or nobody could hear any more. People who only required a couple of play-throughs were ‘good at aural’ and people who took longer were ‘weak.’ Everyone knew where they stood. In subjects like history and, to a lesser extent, theory, this was somehow more acceptable than in aural.
