What to Listen For in Music
NOTE: Go HERE for the latest and best-organized listening resources for Copland's book, "What to Listen For in Music". Once you get to the new site, bookmark it for all future use.
You are currently at the home of course pages for the 2019 offering only. I will remove them soon, and will provide resources and updates only at the new site in the future.
If you took my OLLI course in 2018 or 2019, thanks for attending and for the questions and suggestions that stimulated me to grow and improve this site.
Once more for emphasis: All resources here are expanded, updated, and improved at the NEW SITE.
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Beginning of old stuff
Welcome to Aaron Copland's Little Book, What to Listen For in Music, an eight-week course during Spring Term at OLLI-USM, the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Southern Maine.
IF YOU ARE NOT HERE FOR THE COURSE, but are looking for resources to help you read or review Copland's What to Listen For in Music, click on "Resources by Chapter" in the right-hand column, then bookmark that site for future reference.
OLLI Students:
Use the links in the right-hand column to navigate through course materials. These pages were created during the spring 2018 offering of the course. In any subsequent offering(s), I might update these pages, but only slightly, as the course proceeds.
Course Text
What to Listen For in Music by Aaron Copland (1939, 1956)
Recommended Edition: Publisher: Signet; Reissue edition (February 1, 2011) ISBN-10: 0451531760 ISBN-13: 978-0451531766. Available at the USM Bookstore and at Amazon. There are other editions available, including eBook and Kindle, but their page numbers may differ from the recommended edition. You will probably find such discrepancies inconvenient during discussion or when you try to find videos of musical excerpts in the text.
Course Description
Do you — like me, music lover but non-musician — believe that you would enjoy music even more if you could recognize what is going on? If so, Copland’s timeless book (required text) is for you. Read and talk about it with me. After discussing Copland’s crisp descriptions of elements and forms, hearing his simple examples, and listening to the larger pieces pieces he recommends, we will see if we can hear and understand more, even in our own favorite classics, jazz, or pops. Let’s add understanding to our joy in music. No prior musical training required.
Format
This is a discussion class and music-listening class. I expect you to read assigned chapters in Copland before coming to class to discuss them. (How can we discuss something if not everyone has read it?) I will aim to facilitate discussion, and try to answer questions if no one else comes forth. I might supplement Copland's text where it seems useful. We will also listen to and discuss musical excerpts and performances, all of which you can listen to later, on your own, through links provided on each class page.
Not Big on Classical Music?
Some of the more sophisticated aspects of music are found primarily in classical music. If you are not fond or, or familiar with, classical music, then before getting into Copland's book, read this short essay: A Note to the Classically Insecure. You should find it encouraging, especially if you are afraid that wading farther out into classical music will soon lead you into deep, murky water. It's likely that you already know more than you think, and you simply lack the vocabulary to express it. If you are not a big fan of classical music, don't worry: Copland's book and these resources can also enhance your enjoyment of any kind of music you listen to -- that is, if you like the idea of understanding more about music. You need to listen to classical music in order to come face to face with more complex forms of music; you simply have to go where such forms are easily found. As we will see, many composers -- popular, jazz, country, hip-hop -- have classical training, and draw on classical forms.
A Little Bit of -- dare I say it? -- Science
Each class will end with a short (5-15 minutes), light, stand-alone segment, "The Science of Music". Topics will include air, sound waves, how instruments produce sound, how ears work, and sound reproduction by loudspeakers, headphones, and hearing aids. No science background required.
Schedule, Spring term, 2019
Thursdays, March 21 through May 9, 12:45 - 2:45 PM, in Wishcamper Center, room 203.
