“The miracle of hearing. Musical hearing between artistic ambition, creativity, and science”

26. Jahreskongress der Gesellschaft für Musiktheorie

Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Institute for Music, Media, and Speech Sciences, Department of Music Education, October 02–04, 2026

Call for Papers

Based on Robert Schumann's remark “The most important thing is the cultivate the sense of Hearing” (Musikalische Haus- und Lebensregeln, Hamburg and Leipzig, 1850), the topic of musical perception will be addressed from a wide variety of scientific and artistic perspectives, whose unbroken relevance and urgency is becoming clearer than ever in the light of the unsatisfactory attempts to contribute to this field of study so far. The aim is to hold an interdisciplinary conference with experienced artists, scientists, and educators from the fields of ear training, music theory, and composition pedagogy, as well as from the cognitive sciences, neuroscience, and musicology. The conference will address questions of contextualised complex musical perception and the role of ear training as a core subject in music education, as well as aspects of composition pedagogy with children. For this purpose, we would like to examine various approaches to the development of listening skills and explore which models and theories of musical perception can enrich music education practice. We are looking forward to vivid discussions and new insights into musical perception and invite you to submit your abstracts (max. 300 words). In addition to the usual formats, it is also possible to offer short teaching units on practical ear training for all participants.

Section I: Musical perception and form
Beethoven's Hammerklavier Sonata or Messiaen's Turangalîla- Symphony: who would not perceive their beginnings as "prägnante Gestalten" (“memorable shapes”)? Can “Prägnanz” be measured? What are the qualities and affinities of the musical „Gestalt“ based on? Why does something that is, at the moment of listening, is still half suspended in the future nevertheless presents itself as a "whole"? Such questions target the subjective side of the perception process, but can hardly be answered with current methods of music psychology. The current tendency to parameterise complex problems has been repeatedly criticised (most recently Hartmut Rosa 2026) and causes unease among music theorists as well. Section 1 will therefore explore possibilities for a music-theoretical return to the intellectual traditions of phenomenology and “Gestalt” psychology, as suggested by Tobias Janz (in: ZGMTH 2010). There is great potential in the philosophical approaches following Edmund Husserl and Christian von Ehrenfels, to whose musical questions among other things “Gestalt”psychology owes its origins. Both traditions developed in close interaction, and their guiding ideas – such as “Prägnanz” and structural affinity – are likely to prove valuable for the analysis of musical temporal forms.
We welcome interdisciplinary contributions on the phenomenology of hearing and on musical “Gestalt” and time perception, as well as those that examine the historical role of Gestalt psychology in music theory and draw connections to the current state of neuro- and cognitive science (hearing types, brain hemisphere functions) as well as to related disciplines such as image theory, linguistics and sports science. This could lead to fruitful overlaps with Section 2.

Section II: Musical Perception from the Perspectives of Neuroscience, Cognitive Science, and Psychoacoustics
Eberhard Zwicker described research on hearing and listening as an “practising oneself in being surprised”. Contemporary neuroscience and cognitive science can now characterise this “wonder of hearing and listening” with much greater precision. Musical sound processing in particular demonstrates how finely the brain encodes temporal and spectral features through sensory integration and the complementary interplay of the two hemispheres, how strongly processing pathways differ across individuals, and how the interface between objectively measurable parameters and conscious musical experience emerges from these processes.

At the heart of this section are (the) topics of individual profiles of hearing/listening and sound perception, ranging from elementary features to complex qualities such as harmonic complexity, rhythm and melody. Topics for discussion include among others fundamental tone salience (present/absent), the weighting of individual partials/overtones, timbre as an overarching perceptual dimension, and links to relative/absolute pitch, synesthesia, preferences and auditory imagery (“audiation”; Gordon, 1998). Further guiding questions include: what implications can be drawn from current research findings for higher music education, for example in pedagogical contexts and entrance examinations? Can these findings contribute to a better understanding of the substantial insecurities that are often associated with the time and again “unloved secondary subject” of ear training/aural skills (Westermann, 1995)? Contributions from both research and practice are welcome. We invite submissions that present methods, theoretical syntheses or empirical data and that demonstrate how individual auditory profiles can open new perspectives for diagnostics, support and trainingincluding pattern-recognition processes and conscious musical experience. Productive overlaps with the other sections are explicitly welcome.

Section III: Music education approaches between music theory, ear training and artistic standards
Based on the premise that listening is a way of understanding music, we would like to discuss various music education approaches to acquiring listening skills as the foundation for all musical and compositional activity. We will focus on historical and current methods in the field of ear training/listening education from elementary music theory to university-level disciplines, using both traditional teaching materials and modern digital media. We will also address the complex interrelationships between music theory and ear training, as well as international comparative studies of current methods. In the context of inner hearing, the section will further address questions of improvisation and composition pedagogy, especially with children.

Section IV: Free Topics and Open Student Section
This section will be devoted to free topics on the one hand, and enable students to gain experience in presenting their own work and offer constructive feedback and contact with international specialists on the other.

Formats

Possible formats (times include time for questions and discussion):

Individual lecture (20 min. + 10 min. discussion)
Lecture panel (60, 90, or 120 min.)
Lecture recital (30 or 60 min.; 90 min. for multiple speakers)
Workshop (60, 90, or 120 min.)
Discussion forum (60, 90, or 120 min.)
Book presentation (30 min.)
Project presentation (poster, installation, etc.)
Practical ear training (15 min.)

Other formats may be proposed to the organising team (please outline and justify in the abstract).

Abstracts should be no longer than 300 words.

Closing date for abstract submission: May 10, 2026.

Contributions in German or English can be submitted exclusively via ConfTool (https://conftool.com/gmth2026) after creating a user account.

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Registration and participation fees

The registration for the conference will also take place via conftool. Participation fees are:

Regular participation fee: €55
Reduced participation fee (students): €40

Location

Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg
Institute for Music, Media, and Speech Sciences
Department of Music Education
Kleine Marktstraße 7
06108 Halle (Saale)

Organisation team

Dr. Christine Klein, Prof. Jens Marggraf, Markus Ritzel, Luis Ramos, Rebekka Albrecht, Holger Best, Dr. Lutz Felbick, Prof. Christoph Göbel, Prof. Elke Hofmann.

Contact

gmth2026@musik.uni-halle.de