Maria Medby Tollefsen

I’m an Associate Professor of aural training located in Tromsø, working at the Arctic University of Norway, Academy of Music. I am also part of an international staff teaching at the aural training post-graduate in Conservatorio Arrigo Boito (Parma). I regularly give aural training methodology workshops all around Europe. Contact me at maria.m.tollefsen@uit.no.

Recent events

Sentiamoci a Parma 2026 took place in Parma, Italy, from April 15th to 18th, 2026. I contributed with three workshops: Entering the 20th music through the aural training class, Rhythm literacy for beginners: Top-down and Bottom-up approaches, and Give me 5; subdividing in five and the polyrhythm five against three.

European Association for Music in Schools‘ conference of 2026 was arranged in Vienna, April 8th-11th. I contributed with the paper presentation Research Literacy as Democratic Practice: Exploring Music Teacher Students’ Engagement with Research-Based Knowledge (Leikvoll, Blix & Tollefsen), and the workshop Amplifying Voices: Integrating Female Composers into Music Education Curriculum.

Tartu Ear Training Forum And Workshops was arranged in Tartu, Estonia, February 6th and 7th, 2026. I contributed with four workshops: Learning basic harmony through singing, improvising, and listening, Discovering and learning changing meters through song and movement, Stravinsky’s Histoire du soldat – accessing a repertoire through the aural training class, and Entering the music of the 20th century through the ear training class.

This year’s edition of The Ear Training Symposium in Catania/ Sicily is was held in November 2025. I contributed with a workshop about methods in basic harmony learning and a workshop about using Stravinsy’s Histoire du soldat in the ear training class.