Misheard lyrics…an example of auditory processing gone wrong.

A city built on sausage rolls? Sweet dreams about cheese? Excuse me while I kiss this guy? Who can forget the “Friends” episode when Phoebe thought the lyrics to Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer” were “Hold me close, young Tony Danza”? 

Misheard lyrics have spawned plenty of memes and jokes as well. “Last night I dreamt of San Pedro” from Madonna’s “La Isla Bonita” becomes “Last night I dreamt of some bagels” and Pat Benatar’s “Hit me with your best shot” comes across as “Hit me with your pet shark.”

Quote from “Funniest Misheard Lyrics,” USA Today, July 27, 2020.

You don’t have to have an auditory processing disorder to experience some challenges related to auditory processing. If you’ve ever misheard the lyrics to a song, you know what I’m talking about.

Auditory processing is the foundation of audiation, an important musical skill of hearing music in our head. Musicians are familiar with audiation, but musicians may not be familiar with the long list of skills that are included in auditory processing, which is required for audiation.

Students learning to play the piano are learning to audiate. They are listening with a new set of rules. When we teach students how to develop a musical ear, we can use knowledge of auditory processing to maximize their success.

What is Auditory Processing?

“Auditory processing, simply defined, is what happens along this pathway and what the brain does with the auditory signal from the ears. It has a number of different aspects…”

Auditory Processing – What Is It? (Hearing Vs. Processing) By Lori Riggs from NACD.org accessed April 15, 2024.

What is Audiation?

“Audiation is the foundation of musicianship. It takes place when we hear and comprehend music for which the sound is no longer or may never have been present. One may audiate when listening to music, performing from notation, playing “by ear,” improvising, composing, or notating music (see types of audiation).

Audiation is not the same as aural perception, which occurs simultaneously with the reception of sound through the ears. It is a cognitive process by which the brain gives meaning to musical sounds. Audiation is the musical equivalent of thinking in language.”

Take from “Audiation,” from Gordon Institute of Music Learning accessed April 15, 2024 from https://giml.org/mlt/audiation/

Auditory Processing includes these skills.

• Auditory sensitivity: perception of sound loudness, like when there a buzzing noise coming from somewhere inside the piano that’s driving you crazy.
• Auditory attention: being able to “tune in” to auditory input.
• Auditory discrimination: the ability to distinguish between different sounds or words, like mishearing lyrics.
• Auditory tonal processing: the correct processing of sounds or tones.

Auditory tonal processing is the foundation, providing the ability to perceive basic sound properties. Auditory discrimination in music builds upon this foundation, allowing you to make finer distinctions within the musical realm.

• Auditory memory: the ability to store and recall auditory information, like remembering what the music sounds like.
• Auditory sequential processing: how many pieces of information one can listen to (receive), store, and recall, like singing a short melody back to the teacher.
• Temporal processing: related to the “time” aspect of the auditory signal, like learning the rhythm of a piece.
• Auditory figure-ground processing: the ability to attend to and process an auditory stimulus in the presence of background sound, like when we ask students to voice the melody.

Activities to Add to Piano Lessons Inspired by Auditory Processing

All ear training exercises require a student to execute auditory discrimination. These are some of my favorite creative ways.

Same or Different: I will play two sounds, and students will tell me if they are the same or different.

Smack: I will repeatedly play a sound or sound pattern and ask the students to smack the table when they hear the sound change. Kind of like Duck, duck, goose.

Stand up high and bend down low: I will have students stand tall, reaching high if the direction of the sound is moving higher. They will creep down lower if the sound is moving lower.

Sunny and rainy hands: jazz hands for major chords and raining ringers for minor chords

Swaying or hopping: I will play musical excerpts legato or staccato, and students will step side to side, swaying for legato and hopping from one foot to the other for staccato.

Forward-backward-hop: students take steps forward if the sound is going higher, steps backward if the sound is going backward, and hop in place if the sound is repeating.

Why does it matter?

A piano player won’t be able to purposely and consistently create a sound they can’t hear. If you want your technique instructions to be meaningful, students must be able to hear the specific auditory changes.  Auditory processing skills like discrimination (telling notes apart) and sequencing (understanding the order of sounds) can play a big part in a student’s ability to learn and internalize music.

The key takeaway?  Auditory processing is a fascinating piece of the puzzle of learning piano.  Awareness of all the different types of auditory processing may help you customize ear training exercises for your student.