Over the past three years, David Butler (Ohio State University) has been observing aural training classes at some of the leading conservatories and schools of music in the U.S. and Canada, trying to determine what's currently going on in aural training programs, what the rationale seems to be for these activities, and how much (or how little) aural training is based on a solid foundation of broadly recognized educational principles, or is guided by music cognition research. This session will be the first presentation--an interim report--on some of Butler's findings.