Most people today listen to music alone. Regardless of\u00a0whether you are in a crowd using ear buds, in your car or at home, your\u00a0listening experience is likely to be a solitary one.<\/p>\n
Much has been\u00a0written about the many changes that have come about from this style of\u00a0<\/span>listening, including the effect that ear buds have on our hearing, the changes\u00a0<\/span>in the way that music is marketed and the quality of sound that is produced as\u00a0<\/span>a result of that marketing. As a musician and a music teacher, I have an\u00a0<\/span>additional concern: as social listening declines, is a natural path to music\u00a0<\/span>appreciation being sacrificed?<\/p>\n <\/span>Music\u00a0appreciation is usually taught in the classroom the same way that other topics or concepts\u00a0<\/span>are:\u00a0bring attention to it, describe it\u00a0<\/span>and, if possible, make it experiential. The teaching becomes even more\u00a0<\/span>effective when the transfer of\u00a0<\/span>information is accompanied by a positive emotional experience.<\/p>\n <\/span>Listening with others in a social situation can offer the\u00a0same advantages that a classroom approach to music appreciation offers, but for\u00a0<\/span>most people, it\u2019s a lot more personal and relevant – and therefore a lot more\u00a0<\/span>fun! When several people listen to the same band, one is likely to comment on\u00a0<\/span>the sax solo while another will focus on a bass riff and a third might respond\u00a0<\/span>to the lyrics. As each person receives the opinions and reactions from another,\u00a0<\/span>attention is brought to an area of the music that might otherwise have remained\u00a0<\/span>unnoticed.<\/p>\n <\/span>Listening is not the only aspect of music appreciation that\u00a0is addressed in the classroom, nor is it the only one that is learned in <\/span>social listening experience. A formal curriculum for music appreciation will\u00a0<\/span>usually include a historical view of the music and a biographical look at the\u00a0<\/span>artist. Who doesn\u2019t share these types of details with friends when they are\u00a0<\/span>listening to music together? Fan clubs are built on less!<\/p>\n <\/span>If you find that listening is largely a solo experience for\u00a0you, try setting aside some time with one or two friends to listen to a wide\u00a0<\/span>variety of music. Background music during a party or a meal doesn\u2019t count. I\u2019m\u00a0<\/span>talking about real listening. Take turns playing DJ or work a \u201cyoutube party\u201d\u00a0<\/span>into your casual hang-out time with friends, family members or roommates. It\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>a cheap, easy and satisfying way to connect with people – and you might just\u00a0<\/span>find that you are also connecting more deeply to the music you love!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Most people today listen to music alone. Regardless of\u00a0whether you are in a crowd using ear buds, in your car or at home, your\u00a0listening experience is likely to be a solitary one. Much has been\u00a0written about the many changes that have come about from this style of\u00a0listening, including the effect that ear buds have on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1156","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-default","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/guitar-instruction-video.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/guitar-instruction-video.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/guitar-instruction-video.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guitar-instruction-video.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guitar-instruction-video.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/guitar-instruction-video.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1156\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/guitar-instruction-video.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guitar-instruction-video.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guitar-instruction-video.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}