Listening lessons can provide beautiful opportunities for a breath of fresh air in the music room!

At times, these may look like using activities that are, on the surface, “just for fun.” However, they add an element of curiosity, imagination, and artistry that can flow into our regularly-scheduled curricula.

In this podcast episode I shared thoughts on “one-off” lessons that are not connected more broadly to the curricular sequence. One of the functions of a “one-off” lesson, in addition adding a fresh activity into the routine, is that there are times we need breathing room in our teaching schedules! One class in a week might be ahead or behind the others, we might want to rest our voices, we might assign a listening lesson with a substitute….

Ultimately listening interactions invite students to music with curiosity, agency, and collaboration.

Structures for Listening Lessons

Perhaps more important than finding the “perfect” one-off fall listening lesson is the way we more broadly encourage musical thinking and curious listening.

To that end, today we’ll look at structures for listening lessons that can be used with many different pieces, genres, and musical aims beyond a single fall-themed lesson.

Pieces to Use

For these listening opportunities, consider using fall-themed music such as:

October by Fanny Mendelson
Autumn Leaves (pick your favorite version!)
Maple Leaf Rag
Astor Piazzolla: ‘Autumn’ from The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires

Finding a Listening Focus

Regardless of the piece, consider finding a listening focus for the experience, such as rhythm, timbre, melody, form, expression, etc.

The examples we’re looking at today deal with beat, melody, and mood.

From there, it can be helpful to narrow in on a smaller section of the work, such as a 30 second segment. This allows for repeated listening of the target section, which builds familiarity.

First Experience: Listening with Curiosity

Suggested Time: 2 - 4 minutes

When students first hear the piece, we can direct their listening through a few questions.

With younger students, we might offer a few musical questions around one specific focus area (such as rhythm or mood). For students with a good amount of listening experience, we might display questions from multiple listening categories (rhythm, melody, form, etc.) and ask students to pick their favorite things to listen for. After a while we can narrow down the questions to the specific focus area of the lesson.

Questions for Curious Listening

Here are a few questions to get started. As you listen to your selection there may be additional musical characteristics students can tune into as well!

Rhythm:

Do you mostly hear long sounds, short sounds, or a combination?
Do the long and short sounds stay the same the whole time?

Pitch & Melody:

Do you hear high sounds, low sounds, or sounds that are in-between?
Do the sounds move all around, or mostly stay the same?

Timbre:

How many instruments do you think are playing?
Do they make sounds that are scratchy, smooth, light, heavy?
Do they all play at the same time, or are there sections where some instruments are more prominent than the others?

Dynamics:

Is the volume of the piece big and loud, or small and quiet?
Does the volume change?

Form:

Are there any parts that seem to repeat?
Are there phrases or larger sections that happen more than once?

Mood:

Is there a story happening in the music?
If it were the soundtrack to a movie, what scene would this be?
Why?

When the selection is finished we can discuss student answers and share the name, composer, and genre of the piece.

Noise During Listening

It is normal for students to talk during listening experiences! Students process information verbally, and they will have many things to process as they listen. At the same time, we want to make sure the sounds of the listening selection - not the sounds of student voices - are the most prominent.

To that end, consider asking students to whisper when they have a thought as the music plays. I find it helpful to establish the difference between whispering and talking before the music begins

Turn to your shoulder partner and practice whispering……..

Turn to your shoulder partner and practice talking as quietly as you can…….

When you hear the music, you may whisper. You may not talk. Show me an example of what you may do…. (students whisper)..... Show me an example of what you may not do…. (students talk quietly)...

If necessary, we can pause the music and practice the difference between whispering and talking quietly.

Second Experience: Active Listening

Suggested Time: 2 - 3 minutes

This is a nice time to draw students’ attention to the purpose of the selection - rhythm, form, timbre, etc.

In active listening, students listen as they perform another task. Depending on what the purpose of the selection is, help students narrow their musical focus by performing an action. This is where having a shorter selection (about 30 seconds) can be helpful so students can develop familiarity with the work.

Here are some examples of active experiences that can help prepare students for the next activity. All activities take place with the focus section of the recording playing.

Beat: Pat a steady beat, or do a simple body percussion routine
Rhythm: Clap a repeating rhythm along with the recording
Melody: Trace the melodic contour, point to the melodic contour on the board, or sing the melody on solfege
Timbre: Mime playing instruments as they come up in the recording
Dynamics: Create a small shape with your body, and a wide shape. Follow the teacher’s directions for showing large and small.
Mood: Show facial expressions and body language for serious, playful, contemplative, peaceful, etc.

Repeated Experiences: Creative & Collaborative Listening

Suggested Time: 7 - 10 minutes

Students extend the work they prepared with active listening by creating their own way to show the musical focus.

Depending on the amount of group work experience students have, it can be helpful to give directions first and ask students to come up with three possible ideas. When students have their individual ideas, they can get into groups of two to five (depending on the age and activity) and collaborate.

During the work time, alternate between giving students time to collaborate without the recording playing, and with the recording playing so they can check their work. At this point in the lesson students may talk quietly when the recording is playing.

Examples of Creative Listening Invitations:

Here are some sample ideas to consider.

Beat:

Students create a four-beat or an eight-beat body percussion steady beat ostinato. They might check their work with the questions:
- Does the beat ostinato match the music?
- How will you handle parts where the beat goes away, speeds up, or slows down?
When they’re ready, students turn to their shoulder partner and find a way to combine their ideas.
After a few moments, ask students to play their ostinato four times in a row.
Pairs of students combine with another group, creating a group of four. In their group of four, students find a way to combine their ideas.
After a few moments, ask students to play their ostinato four times in a row to check their work.
- Can everyone in the group play the pattern?
- Is it a steady beat, and not a rhythm?

Melody:

Pick one line of high and low sounds you hear (perhaps the main melody, perhaps another melodic line like an instrument) and paint the melody in your mind.
Find a way to show the melody with your body while your feet stay on your spot…….. Do you have ways you could show it without using your hands?
Students combine with two or three people close to them to create a small group.
Which part of song are your group members showing? How does it connect with one you’re doing? Would you like to continue doing your own movements for your own melodic line you picked out? If so, how do the other people’s movement idea fit with yours? Or would you like to combine to show one melody together?
Give students a few moments to try their ideas, and check their work
- Do your movements match the high and low sounds of the song?

Drama:

What is this piece about? Is this piece about people (like people looking for something or shopping for a sweater)? Is it about objects (like leaves falling or rolling apples)? Is it about a place (like a mountain with trees changing colors)?
Why do you think that? What do you hear that could give you a clue? (Consider dynamics, interesting melodic lines, new instrument entrances, etc..)
Students make a mental map of the story in their mind, and act it out in place.
- What musical cues are you using in your story? Could you explain how the music impacts your story to someone else?
Students combine with other movers to create a group of three or four.
Give students time to coordinate their movement scenes and rehearse.
What happened right before this scene? Students choose a starting pose.
What happens at the end of this scene? Students choose an ending pose.

FINAL Listening Experiences: Listening and Evaluating

Suggested Time: 7 - 10 minutes

When students are ready, we might invite them to share their creative ideas with the class.

There are several ways this might be facilitated, depending on the age of the group and their experience level.

One of the most simple structures is for half the class to perform while the other half of the class listens and watches. Consider having a “bravo” signal at the end of the sharing to celebrate the performers, such as silent applause, a smile, a thumbs up, or a school hand sign. After giving feedback, students switch roles so the audience is the performer and the previous performers are the audience.

Giving Thoughtful Feedback:

In order to give thoughtful feedback, the audience needs to listen to the music, and make connections to what they see in the groups.

Encourage students to give measurable observations about what they heard and saw.

Examples might be

I noticed that Ava, Maggie, and Charlie’s group were showing a high melody and their movements were high the whole time, even when they were showing the ups and downs of the melody.
I noticed that the group in the corner were interacting with each other and switching places.
I noticed that the people in Luke, Zion, and Liam’s group were all moving at different times with different instruments, but they were all making eye contact with each other.

Listening as a mindset

Listening is one of the most fundamental ways we interact with music.

Outside the music room, students may use creative and active listening as their primary way of musical knowing. This is a skill that has far-reaching implications for how students engage with music.

When we teach listening skills we have an opportunity to invite imagination, student-agency, and collaboration into the learning process.

Fall Listening Lessons for Elementary Music