Experiencing Music
Chapter 3 Section 1
Quote
• “If a man does not keep pace with his
companions, perhaps it is because he hears a
different drummer.”
- Henry David Thoreau
Essayist(1817-62)
• What does this mean? How does this pertain
to life and music?
Listening to Music
• Our ears are among 5 of the sensory organs
through which we experience the world
around us.
• What are the 5 sensory organs?
• Aural- hearing related experience to music
Levels of Listen
• We have different levels
of listening that we will
discuss.
• Perceptive, Casual, and
Sensuous
What senses are being used in this scene?
Levels of Listening
• Music sometimes blends into the
background, becoming part of the ambientsurrounding noise.
• This is also known as “elevator music.”
• You usually just casually listen it and even
tune it out at times.
• This is known as Causal Listening.
Levels of Listening
• In other situations, music may command your
full attention.
• You don’t just hear the music, you listen to it
actively.
• You become so absorbed in it and yield to its
emotional and physical power.
• This is known as Sensuous listening.
• This is when you get “goose bumps”.
• Can you think of a time when you have had that
feeling before?
Levels of Listening
• For some people, listening can go further than
just the sensuous listening.
• This level is called perceptive listening.
• Perceptive listening- listening to and
appreciating a musical work for its full range
of technical and expressive properties.
• The more fully we understand music, the
more apt we are to have a heightened
response- a peak experience.
Perceptive Listening
• During the peak experience, we are so caught
up in music both sensuously and perceptively
that we lose ourselves in it.
• Time appears to stop and we feel transported
to the music.
• We call this the aesthetic experience.
• Aesthetic- characterized by a heightened
sensitivity to the content, form, or emotional
impact of an artistic work or event.
Level of Attentiveness
• None
Causal
Listening
Sensuous
Listening
Perceptive
Listening
• Oblivious <------------------------------------------------------------- Peak Listening
• None
Awareness;
enjoyment
Goose bumps;
strong emotional
response
Impact of Music
Analytical;
appreciation for
technical aspects
Listening
• Listen to the recording of John Philip Sousa’s “Washington Post
March”
• For each situation below, place them as (a) casual listener, (b)
sensuous listener, or (c) perceptive listener
• Situation 1: You are sitting in the reviewing stand at a Fourth of July
parade. The crowd around you is talking noisily, and vendors are
hawking refreshments. The band is approaching in the distance, and
the sounds of the march are faint.
• Situation 2: The band arrives at the reviewing stand. The musicians
each turn and face you as they play. You can feel the beat of the
drums. The brilliance of the woodwinds and high brass slices the air.
You feel stirred by the music.
• Situation 3: While in class, you are analyzing various musical aspects
of the march. You are focusing on the social function of the music.
Listening
•
•
•
•
•
Answers to the recording:
Situation 1: casual listening
Situation 2: sensuous listening
Situation 3: perceptive listening
How could you turn any of the situations into
a “peak” listening situation?
• When you are not aware of other people and
there are no distractions.
Bell Ringer 9/27/12
• What are the 3 types of listening in order from
least important to most important?
Becoming a Perceptive Listener
• When you listen perceptively, you rely on your
knowledge of music to understand the music.
• These include melody, rhythm, harmony, timbre,
texture, and form.
• The more we know about these elements of
music, the better we can understand the music.
• Two additional concepts that will help you
become a perceptive listener are scale and
interval.
Learning the Scale
• Scale- a sequence of tones arranged in rising
pitches.
• In Western music, most of the scales that we hear
are either major or minor.
• In composing the “Washington Post March,” for
example, Sousa drew upon the tones from a
major scale.
• Major Scale- a sequence of eight pitches built on
the pattern of two whole(w) steps, one half(h)
step, three whole steps, and one half step.
W
W
H
W
W
W
H
Solfege
Listen to “Do-Re-Mi” by Harry Connick Jr.
Intervals
• The way a melody is constructed often influences
the way a piece of music affects us.
• A melody can move up by step or skip, down by
step or skip, or remain the same by repeating
the tone.
• Interval- the distance in pitch between two
tones
• To determine the difference in pitch between
two tones in staff notation, count both tones,
plus the lines and spaces between them.
Intervals
Listening
• Listen to these three familiar examples to see
if you can name the tune based on the
interval of the first two pitches.
• Do you know other songs with memorable
starting intervals?
• How many can you name?
Listening
• Example 1: Wedding March (Here comes the
Bride)
• Example 2: “Over the Rainbow”
• Example 3: “Somewhere”