Aaron Copland How We Listen To Music Analysis

In “How we listen to music” by Aaron Copland from McGraw-Hill What to Listen for in Music (1988), the author has organised the listening process so that it had been split into three parts: the sensuous place, the expressive plane, and the sheerly musical plane. Aaron Copland thesis is that each plane of listening has its own function and advantages and knowing about them can help us enhance our listening experience. The purpose of Copland’s essay is to educate his readers on the three main ways people listen to music, and to inspire readers to listen in a more compound way. In the authors casual analysis, Copland tries to for sees his readers’ questions and objections at many points in the essay. He includes the thoughts of his readers to

stress his point and to engage the audience. Copland further informs and convinces his readers using allusions. The writer references specific composers and symphonies with the hope that readers listen to them on their own.

When people listen to music they listen on all three levels. The first level, the sensuous plane, is considered to be the simplest form of listening, and is where individuals listen to music for just for the enjoyment of it. On the sensuous plane, people listen without thought or concern, and is used as an escape to go to a place of dreaming while they do not actually listen. Copland has the belief that all music contains an expressive force and that the meaning behind the notes and voices is what the piece has to say and what it means. Though music has an expressive power, no one can actually determine it does, and although majority of individuals want music to have a specific meaning, they only get a general concept and even though most listeners don't realize it, they listen to music on a third level. This level of listening, the musical plane, comprises of both the melody and the rhythm of the notes and each of us need to become more aware of music on its sheerly musical plane. Unconsciously, people listen to music on all three planes, although, ideal listeners judge and enjoy the music at the same time. The understanding of the music is deepened when people become listeners who listen for something and we all should strive for a greater level of active listening by being more mindful and attentive.