Overcoming social distancing: Multipart music for ear training

Abstract

Multipart music is always a socially contextualized process of interaction that acts on the lives of real people during their collectively organized music-making. The term ‘multipart music’, in turn, does not relate to specific musical practices, repertoires, etc.; instead, it refers to any kind of collective and coordinated music behaviors. This article continues the discussion concerning widening approaches to multipart music, using an example from my teaching practice at the music academy in Riga. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, new teaching solutions needed to be found, and ear training online, especially at the beginning of social distancing, was almost the only possibility to make music together. This was a specific performance situation with specific requirements and procedures for interactions and coordination between individuals and groups, which deepened the pivotal role of the process rather than the musical outcome and enriched the ear training by offering different perspectives in music-making.