Summary Of How We Listen To Music

Writer and composer, Aaron Copland, in his book, “How We Listen,” divides listening into three planes: the sensuous, the expressive and the sheerly musical. Copland argues throughout the work that “[listeners] can deepen [their] understanding of music only by being a more conscious and aware listener.” (Copland, 15) Copland’s strategy of breaking the text up with the three planes of listening helps the reader understand his message in a more complete way.

The great and respected Aaron Copland was an American composer known for his ballad scores. In his essay, “How We Listen To Music” Copland wanted avid music listeners to realize that you can not just be dazed. His mind had sorted out three planes of listening for us: the sensuous plane, the expressive plane, and the sheerly musical plane. He simply defined each plane, illustrating it, and then contrasts between the three. With this people will be a cautious of their music surroundings.

Music is a key factor in my life, now and has been for as long as I remember. Music is one thing that can control my mood and emotions unlike any other. The sounds and melodies of the composition have the potential to sway my moods from a dark gloomy state all the way to a joyous and soothing harmonic atmosphere. Music allows me to control how and what I want to be, or represent. Music is almost like picking out a favorite outfit. When one picks out an outfit to wear they most likely pick an outfit that expresses them and how they are feeling at that direct moment. They have the ability to change shoes, accessories, or their hairstyle to make it

Music has been known throughout time. It can help us through everything. There are so many solutions with music to help a person go through so many situations. Music can affect many people in many different ways. Without music some people would be lost and would have no motivation. Music can provide inspiration and insight through education. Music has influence on suicides, killings and shootings, and provocative actions. It can also influence good morals, respect, allowing differences, health, and much more. Music can come in many forms and categories and music is very good for the world.

Culture and experience establish some of one's tonal sensitivities also. Hence, somebody like Sacks may perceive the diatonic scale more “natural” and more orienting than the twenty-two-note scales of Hindu music. Yet, there does not appear to be any intrinsic neurological inclination for specific sorts of music, any more than there are for particular languages. The main imperative components of music are discrete tones and rhythmic organization.

When I am feeling down music is my go to. It helps me cheer up and it gets me back to the old me. Hip Hop and R&B music helps me relax when it has been a difficult day. I usually get headaches a lot, and it tends to helps with my pain. I focus more when I am listening to the type of music that I really want to connect to at that time, and it helps me get things done faster. When I do not listen to music, I feel that I am not in my right state of mind. Anytime I get frustrated I must listen to music to calm myself down so I do not blow things out of proportion. When I am depressed, it helps me not think about what is going on in my life.

One turns on the radio while doing something else and absentmindedly bathes in the sound. A kind of brainless but attractive state of mind is engendered by the mere sound appeal of the music(pg 939)”. Copland is saying that the sensuous plane is listening to the sound of music. Just listening to the sound of it. He also states that we as human we are attracted to the sound of music and always draw to it. It is the first part of the process to listening to music because as human, if we like the sound of it we continue to listen to it. We live the sound and vibe that we get from it. It is like the hook for us to listen to music. The second is expressive plane which he states is “ Here, immediately, we tread on controversial ground” and “all music has a certain meaning behind the notes and that meaning behind the note constitutes, after all, what the piece is saying, what the piece is about.” This is when we try to find meaning in our music, like what is the artist message or main point of his music. The third plane stated Copland states is “the pleasurable sound of music and the expressive feeling that it gives off, music does exist in terms of the notes themselves and of their manipulation.” Copland means in his last step to understand music is to understand the notes that make the music. Sheerly plane also has “the melodies, the rhythms, the harmonies, the tone colors in a more conscious fashion.” Copland states the

Chapter 1- 3 made me chance the way I listen to music; I did not realize all the elements needed to make music; such as, the sound, Rhythm, melody, and harmony, this essential elements work together perfectly to make music. Moreover, Key, texture, and form are elements that structured music. Key or tonality states to the central note; notes in a specific scale (Major Scale or Minor Scale) are used by melodies. Additionally, there are three basic musical textures monophony, polyphony, and homophony. the way in which music ideas are systematized is called form; the most common music forms are the ternary form and binary form. Finally, chapter 3 explains all types of instruments by the type of sound they produce

The video covered three main topics. The first topic was how the brain processes music. The brain recognizes a melody as a pattern. Pitch is determined by the number of sound vibrations per second, and the tone color of the instrument being used determines the amount of harmonics. If several instruments are playing, the brain picks out each by separating the pitch of the melody. The eardrum vibrates differently for low and high notes; also, the cells at the base of the cochlea register low notes and the cells farther up perceive high.

Music is something that can impact a person’s life in a negative or positive way. Ways it impacts my life is by how it helps me exercise, how it tells my story, and how it helps me relax.

At first sight it can seem that music is nothing special, but just a set of sounds without any strong

Music, one element of life although altered, molded, and crafted has continued to strike the curiosity in our imagination from century to century. Music is an experience for everyone from the most musically devoted students and teachers to the concert audience and even the individuals simply listening to the radio throughout their daily activities. Music is one aspect that appeals to the variety of individuals in the world despite their differences in belief, personality and culture. Music is one of the only elements of life that allows us as individuals to enjoy something cohesively. The mystifying element that we call music almost seems impossible to define but Aaron Copland, one of the many renowned composers and conductors of the 20th century, attempts to condense the idea of how we as listeners analyze and evaluate music in his book, What to Listen for in Music. This book written upon a, “compilation of lectures he had given at Manhattan’s New School for Social Research” defines the aspects of how we listen and evaluate music, what aspects of music we should analyze, how both as a combination create the aesthetic of music we enjoy as listeners (Copland vii).

Listening to music usually positively affects one’s emotions for music can change a mood to a more enlightened state of mind. However, the brain is very efficient at processing music

For me music is an escape to another world where I can loose myself even for just a few minutes while i’m driving or doing my homework. Music is like a book you have to take it one note at a time. There is a lot of things to help people escape like sports but music is mine.

Arguably, language is the one thing that sets humans apart from animals. The capacity to share thoughts and ideas through the spoken word allows humans to function as a group, enabling humanity to function as an entity greater than the sum of its separate individuals. Music shares similar properties, as it is also transmitted and perceived through sound. Both have the potential to connect people and are innate properties of the human being. The aim of this paper is to discover further links between the two based on empirical evidence. The main sources that will be consulted are articles produced by Dr. Aniruddh Patel, a pioneer in the field of music psychology, with works ranging from music cognition to rhythm perception.