Dictation/Musical Writing Approaches of Educators in Conservatory Solfege Course Exams

The solfege course, which is carried out in conservatories where western music is taught in Turkey, covers solfege, theory, dictation and ear training studies in terms of content. Solfege course, which contributes greatly to the development of basic music knowledge and skills of students, also forms the infrastructure of other practical courses. This course taught by educators with different teaching methods also brings with different measurement and evaluation practices. In the dictation studies carried out within the scope of solfege course, it is aimed to give the student the ability to write down what is given in ear training. This research aims to reveal the dictation exam approaches of educators who are conducting solfege courses in conservatories that teach western music. In this qualitative study, data as to the dictation exam approaches of the educators, the diversity of the melody dictations asked, the stages in which students have difficulty in writing dictation, the application areas of musical writing studies and the content of the dictation exam were obtained through a structured interview form from randomly selected 36 solfeggio trainers working in 21 conservatories. While some of the data obtained were interpreted according to qualitative analysis techniques, others were tabulated and interpreted by calculating percentages and frequencies. As a result of the research, it was found out that educators usually turned to single and double-voiced tonal tunes in simple and compound rhythms, that the stages in which students were forced according to their degree of musical perception vary, and that educators did not include official tunes of dictations.