Collaborative playful experimentation in higher education: a group ear playing study

Exploring how western classical musicians could develop their aural, improvisatory and creative musicianship skills through playing by ear is an area that has recently received noteworthy attention within Higher Education. This article describes a five-week Group Ear Playing (GEP) programme with first year, western classical undergraduate students. Data were collected through students’ weekly reflective logs, end-of-programme feedback forms and interviews. The students reported adopting a variety of learning strategies when they copied music by ear in their groups and particularly when they experimented with the musical material and improvised together. These strategies enhance our understanding of how playing by ear from recordings within a group setting could promote risk- taking, peer learning and interaction, collaborative playful experimentation and improvisation enabling a lifelong creative practitioner.