George Pratt

Up and Running: An Update on the RAMP Unit's Work at Huddersfield Polytechnic

The unit for Research into Applied Musical Perception ( RAMP ) was set up in the Music Department of Huddersfield Polytechnic in 1985. Led by Professor George Pratt, then newly appointed as Head of Department, one of its primary tasks has been to explore the possibility of creating a course of aural training for undergraduates that would be radically different from those of conventional examining boards: a course that would be of more direct interest and use to musicians. An initial report on the research was published in BJME in July 1987 Vol. 4, No. 2 pp. (115–138), and a book , Aural Awareness: Principles and Practice was published in May 1990 by Open University Press. In this article Professor Pratt and his current Research Assistant, Simon Cargill, give a taste of the Huddersfield course as it now operates.

Traditional Harmony Reassessed

This article begins with a defence of the study of traditional harmony in schools, colleges and universities, despite the welcome and invigorating competition from expanding conceptions of the role and content of music in education, and in society as a whole. But if this study is to retain a place in our curricula it must be taught quickly and effectively. It must limit its demands on teaching time while expanding the techniques for developing facility both in sound and in the symbols used to notate it.