Chapter One Outline: “Learning to Listen Actively”

What is active listening?

            A framework for improving your listening experience that will enable you to enjoy music more

 

Why is active listening important?

It allows you to recognize, analyze, and interpret musical elements

It is a means of allowing you to pay attention to music on different levels

It teaches you to use both your emotions and your intellect in listening

 

How do you become an active listener?

            Tune out distractions

            Give the music your undivided attention

Concentrate on the beginning

Listen more than once

Move from emotional to active listening

 

What are the basic elements of music?

            Melody: a succession of musical notes arranged as a recognizable unit; tune

            Harmony: a way of understanding notes that are played together

            Rhythm and meter: the organization of music in time and a repeated pattern of weak and strong beats, respectively

            Timbre: the distinctive sound of a given instrument or voice; distinct from

 pitch or volume

            Form: the way musical material is organized; often marked by repetition, contrast, and/or variation

            Texture: the relationship between melodic and harmonic elements; how many layers of notes are happening at the same time

 

Genres

            Music may be wholly instrumental, combined with words or drama, or a mixture of these

 

Antonin Dvořák

            Czech nationalist composer who often used musical elements characteristic of his homeland. Known especially for the Slavonic Dances and his Symphony No. 9 “From the New World.”

Slavonic Dance in E Minor, Op. 72, No. 10

Engaging melody, implied narrative, strong dance rhythms, brief duration

                        Note especially the manipulations of melody and rhythm

                        First written for piano, four hands, which was one of the most popular

formats for music in the late nineteenth century due to the popularity of home music-making on the piano and the burgeoning availability of sheet music. Dvořák later transcribed this work for orchestra.

 

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

            Austrian composer who excelled in every contemporary genre and is perhaps the most universal Western composer in history. Music characterized by formal elegance, melodic beauty, and harmonic richness.

            Symphony No. 40 in G Minor

                        Numerous repetitions or variations of the opening material interwoven with contrasting sections

                        Thematic development analogous to character development in storytelling; motives as characters

                        Listen especially for form

 

J.S. Bach

            Concerto in D Minor

                        Written for harpsichord and orchestra

                        Exploits contrasts between instrumental timbres and is quite virtuosic for the harpsichord

            Original Instruments

                        Many instruments popular in Bach’s day, such as the harpsichord, have either changed remarkably in the last three hundred years or have been neglected in performance. Proponents of original instruments suggest that new and exciting ways of listening to early music can be achieved with performances on original or recreated instruments of the time period.

 

George Crumb

            Twentieth-century American composer who employs unusual performance techniques, unconventional instruments, and highly dissonant harmonies to create evocative pieces

            Black Angels

                        Written in response to the Vietnam War, symbolic use of the numbers 7 and 13; unusual playing techniques, and unorthodox demands on the performers

                        Listen especially for the unusual timbres, harmonies, and the changing textures

 

Guide to Orchestral Instruments

            Bowed Strings: Violin, Viola, Cello, Double Bass

            Plucked Strings: Harp, Guitar, Sitar

            Woodwinds:  Flute, Clarinet, Saxophone, Oboe, Bassoon

            Brass:  Cornet, Trumpet, Piccolo Trumpet, Horn, Tuba, Trombone

            Keyboard: Organ, Clavichord, Harpsichord, Piano, Celesta, Synthesizer

            Percussion: Snare, Bass, Tom-tom, Cymbals, Triangle, Gong, Timpani,

Xylophone, Marimba, Vibraphone, Glockenspiel, Chimes