Active Listening in Elementary General Music
Listening is the primary way we interact with music - both in formal learning and informal learning, as well as inside and outside the music classroom.
Because listening is such a substantial way of musical knowing, how can we encourage students to develop their listening skills in our music classrooms? One primary way is through active listening.
Though creative listening experiences can certainly be active, this post will focus on convergent listening experiences, rather than divergent experiences.
What Makes Listening Active?
Active music listening happens when students listen *and* perform another task.
They might listen and pat a steady beat. They might move to a choreographed dance based on the form of the music. They might hum along with the melody. They might raise their hands when they hear a specific musical element.
The key quality in active listening is that the student is asked to listen for something specific, and then do something with that musical prompt.
Active Listening Prompts:
Here are some prompts you can use in your classroom right away to develop active listening skills.
Sing:
Sing along with the melody of a piece when you hear the main theme come back in
Sing the bass line
Sing a specific instrument part
Play
Keep a steady beat with the music
Play the main theme
Improvise with the music
Move:
Move to the theme / subject of the piece (teacher directed or student directed)
Follow the melodic contour of the melody
Copy the teacher’s motions to show the form
Work in small groups to make your own movement piece that follows the form of the music
Move to the expressive qualities of the music using musical vocabulary: Flow: free / bound; Speed: slow / medium / fast ; Energy: Smooth / sharp ; Weight: Strong / light / passive / active
Read:
Follow a listening map
Follow a listening map written by another student (“check” their work)
Read an important rhythmic or melodic phrase / motif
Read a specific instrument part
Read graphic notation to a melodic phrase, rhythmic phrase, dynamics, or tempo
Write:
Write your own listening map in iconic notation
Write an important rhythmic or melodic phrase / motif by ear
Write graphic notation to a melodic phrase, rhythmic phrase, dynamics, or tempo
Write the form using shape icons
Improvise:
Clap your own improvisation along with the music
Improvise steady beat motions
Arrange:
Use soundtrap to change the dynamics or the form
Play the melody or the rhythm to a main section on classroom instruments
Invent an ostinato to accompany the recording
Compose:
Work in small groups to make your own movement piece that follows the form of the music
Create your own piece that has the same emotional effect. Listen to check your work.
Framing Active Listening Experiences
Develop a lesson focus:
Young musicians are capable of interacting with many musical elements at once, and they can perceive many threads in a listening example. However, depending on their age and their previous background with music listening, this probably isn’t the case right away. It’s a good idea to have a single lesson focus. That single focus might be pitch, timbre, form, dynamics, etc.
Sourcing active listening materials:
When we talked about creative listening, we were looking for materials students may have less experience with. In active listening, we can include music that’s unfamiliar, but we can also add music from students’ own recreational lives. Again, this is because we can develop a deeper understanding of music when we’re already familiar with it in a structural sense. When we choose new music for our students, just like with creative listening, it’s a good idea to select materials we suspect students will be drawn to. Popular music, Western European classical music, and music from global sources are all great options here!
This is not dumbing down listening experiences for our students. Rather, it’s giving young listeners something to aurally hold on to.
Time:
You don’t need to listen to the whole piece! Young musicians will have the most success when listening experiences are short.
Repetition:
There’s a link between how familiar we are with a piece and our preference for it. The first time we hear a music, we don’t get the opportunity to really understand it. After several listenings, we start to develop a more realistic picture of the work. When we provide shorter listening experiences over several lessons, students are able to build familiarity.
One of the most practical reasons to incorporate active listening in elementary general music is its flexibility!
Students can listen actively
In socially distanced, in-person classrooms
At home in virtual learning
In hybrid learning situations
It’s a beautiful of example of resilient pedagogy, and a way to cultivate holistic musicians.
