Rhythm Lab
Feel the big beat and the smaller beats within it. Explore duple and triple patterns, echo what you hear, and keep the pulse going internally when the sound stops.
Open Rhythm Lab →Listen, respond, and internalize the beatFor everyone who wants to learn · All ages
Hear the music.
Understand it within.
Develop your audiation skills in Rhythm, Functional Harmony, and Melody Labs—then bring all three together in Song Lab.
Audiation means hearing and understanding music internally—even when the sound is absent. Begin with listening, explore a pattern, then carry the music through a moment of silence.
Functional Harmony Lab
Hear how chords give a phrase direction. Compare home, departure, and the pull toward resolution. Imagine a settled ending before hearing it.
Explore harmonic function →Guided function practice with familiar tunesMelody Lab
Listen to a complete tune, follow its melodic shape on the light-up keyboard, then imagine and sing a phrase back. Reveal note names when ready.
Explore melody →Familiar melodies and a synchronized keyboardSong Lab
Bring rhythm, functional harmony, and melody together in a song. Upload a recording, listen for the pulse, find musical home, and hear how the melody and harmony tell one story. Imagine it, then sing it back.
Open Song Lab →Audio upload and song explorationPractice with purpose
From hearing sounds
to thinking music.
Listen. Experience the phrase in its rhythmic and tonal context.
Imagine. Continue the pulse or melody internally during silence.
Respond. Sing, tap, move, or play it back. Notice what stayed with you and try again.
Counting, syllables, and movement are optional supports. Begin with sound and understanding; introduce notation when it helps.
The foundation · Edwin E. Gordon
Seven stages of
preparatory audiation.
Gordon grouped these developmental stages into three types: Acculturation, Imitation, and Assimilation. AN8BUILD uses this foundation to inform listening and response activities, while welcoming learners of every age.
01 / Acculturation
- 1Absorption
Take in the musical sounds around you through listening.
- 2Random Response
Make sounds or movements in response to music, without yet matching it.
- 3Purposeful Response
Begin trying to connect your sounds and movement to what you hear.
02 / Imitation
- 4Shedding Egocentricity
Notice when your response differs from the musical pattern you heard.
- 5Breaking the Code
Begin echoing tonal and rhythm patterns with some accuracy.
03 / Assimilation
- 6Introspection
Notice how your singing or chanting relates to breathing and movement.
- 7Coordination
Bring singing and chanting into coordination with breathing and movement.
Stage names and framework: Gordon Institute for Music Learning · Preparatory Audiation ↗. Descriptions summarized for AN8BUILD.
A place to begin
Want a guided first experience?
Explore listening, echoing, musical home, and internal hearing through the existing guided activities.
Try it with Twinkle → Browse guided learning →