Oh I get it, I practice Vajrayana Buddhism and a lot of the tradition is still transmitted orally and in person.
But the gist of that method actually sounds a lot like how my music teacher approaches things, he won't let you move on in your improvisations on a new tune until you can get a feeling from playing just half and whole notes on the changes. His teacher was Lennie Tristano so he's very driven by developing that ear instinct.