3 | Preliminaries

Listening Skills

Peter Kun Frary

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The eminent American composer, Aaron Copland (1900-1990), identifies three levels of music listening: Sensuous, Expressive and Musical. These levels are not mutually exclusive and may be freely intermingled during listening sessions.

Sensuous

The sensuous level refers to the physical effect music has on the listener: the uncontrollable urge to move to the beat; trance-like states invoked by throbbing rhythms; shock at a sudden cymbal crash, etc. In other words, music can and will alter your state of mind and invoke body movements. And the sensuous level of music listening is big business: retailers use carefully designed music to get you buzzed up enough to buy more stuff.

Reflection | Consider both the emotional and technical aspects of music.

Expressive

Music invokes feelings and moods—expressions beyond the power of words. These feelings and moods belong to the expressive level of music listening. Obviously, music cannot communicate specific images or concepts without the association of words and/or pictures. However, consider the power of music in movies: film scores are cast like an actor and used to help you understand and anticipate the plot. For example, in Alfred Hitchcock Presents or the Twilight Zone you may anticipate that something terrible is about to happen due to the use of sudden loud sounds, discordant harmonies and jarring rhythms in the soundtrack.

Thus, how a particular piece of music makes you feel—excited, happy, nervous, melancholy, meditative, etc.—is an important part of your listening experience. And, as new styles become familiar and better understood, your emotional responses will increase in clarity and nuance.

Musical

The musical level—or intellectual level—involves listening for structural and other technical details. Consciousness of particular instruments, harmonies, rhythms, forms, texture, etc. are examples of this type of listening. Musicians, producers and audio engineers pay close attention to technical details when listening to music. When I edit audio tracks, I can easily spend hours—sometimes the whole day—listening to the smallest details of a three-minute song! I add markers to the track and keep an exhaustive listening log so I can make precise adjustments to the track the next day.

While this intellectual style of listening may initially appear daunting to non-musicians, most people already know how to do it. If you recognize particular artists or styles—distinguish Hip Hop from Heavy Metal or Elvis from Bruno Mars—you are perceiving and analyzing elements of style such as rhythm, instrumentation, vocal timbre, harmony, etc. But what if you can hear the difference but lack words to describe it? Take heart because the right words will come: we work on music vocabulary all semester!

Staff | You'll need new vocabulary to describe your musical insights.

The more you know about a particular style, the easier it is to recognize its elements and appreciate it. For example, a Metal fan easily distinguishes between different Metal bands and songs. On the other hand, that Metal lover may have difficulty telling a Wagner opera from Verdi or Mozart—not from a lack of good ears—but simply due to limited knowledge and exposure to operatic styles. Each musical style is a new language. Initially it may make little sense but as you study the style and practice listening you will begin to connect emotionally and intellectually to it.

Blue Zen | Empty your mind of distractions and focus on the music.

Get More Out of Listening

Avoid Distractions

Most of us listen to music for the pleasure and beauty of the sound, not considering its deeper meaning or technical aspects. To delve deeper into music—gaining access to the inner sanctum of its realm—we must elevate listening to a higher plane of involvement. While listening to music may seem like an easy task, we are conditioned to treat music as audio wallpaper. We turn off our ears and busy ourselves with social media, texting and thoughts of lost love and the impending weekend. Thus, the biggest pitfall for listening is distraction.

You need to extend effort to avoid distractions during listening sessions. First, set enough time aside to listen to the entire piece without interruption. Longer musical works are like movies: they don’t make sense unless you start at the beginning and recall how earlier events and characters relate. Second, don't do other things like homework or scrolling through Facebook and Instagram. Listening with distractions will result in little or no retention. Devote your full attention to listening.

Give yourself time to adjust to new music: anything unknown is apt to be somewhat uncomfortable. Be open minded and positive towards new or unknown music.

Listen for Detail

Most of us are polished at the first two levels of listening: sensuous and expressive. However, to be successful in this course you must listen effectively at the musical or intellectual level. In other words, you must listen actively rather than passively. Plus, the act of actively listening for technical detail helps maintain focus and deepens your understanding and, ultimately, enjoyment of the music.

Details Matter | Active listening teaches one to observe fine musical details.

Finally, don't forget to note the country, stylistic period, composer and title of the piece when listening. Too often students recognize a listening example on a test but neglect linking it to a composer or style during listening sessions.

Practice High Fidelity

Listen with quality headphones or full range speakers for best results. Music in this course has a full range of tones from deep bass to high treble. Smartphone and laptop speakers are unable to reproduce the bass range and you'll miss out on the full range of the sound. Headphones and stereo monitors allow you to hear a full range of tone and placement of musicians in the stereo sound field.

If you'd like to read about the author of this textbook, click on the link to the next page. Otherwise, click on the Elements link at the bottom of this page to start learning the secrets of music.

©Copyright 2018-25 by Peter Kun Frary | All Rights Reserved