Deep Listening

Deep listening requires teachers to use their abilities in analytical listening, conducting, performing, arranging, and communication to engage students in understanding music on a more in depth level.  Whatever music is used should be played in its cultural and historical context for students to get the most out of it.

There are three phases of deep listening:

1. Attentive Listening- The teacher uses diagrams that highlight points of interest in a piece to focus the students' listening.  With each listening, the students should be prompted to note something new, like themes or motives, melodic shape, dynamic changes, timbral changes, or sectional forms.
2. Engaged Listening- The listener participates by tapping the beat, playing an ostinato, singing a melody, or performing a groove.  The students have to listen to the piece carefully, multiple times, to discover patterns in order for this to work.
3. Enactive Listening- Involves the students in deeper levels, for example, learning and performing pieces in the style of a work of music.  It takes repeated focused listening in order for this to be successful, and because of the sophistication, it is most appropriate for middle school to adulthood.