In Gordon's Music Learning Theory, what term describes the internal hearing and understanding of music in the mind without external sound?

• A. Audition
• B. Imitation
• C. Audiation
• D. Transposition

Answer: (C)

Internal hearing and understanding of music without external sound is audiation. In Gordon's Music Learning Theory, audiation is the cognitive process of hearing music in the mind—recognizing rhythms, melodies, and harmonies, predicting what comes next, and grasping musical meaning even when no sound is produced. It’s like thinking in music or having “inner hearing,” which lets a learner understand and plan music mentally before or without actually playing it.

Audition refers to listening with the ears to sounds outside the mind, imitation means reproducing something after hearing it, and transposition is moving a piece to a different pitch. These don’t capture the mental, internal aspect of music processing that audiation describes, which is why audiation is the correct term.