Abstract
In most school orchestra classrooms, direct instruction from teacher to student is the primary strategy used to develop new techniques and refine notes and rhythms. Connecting that direct instruction to the concepts involved will help students transfer that knowledge to additional pieces and begin to teach themselves. As teachers, we should develop strong listening skills in our students so they begin to work independently and transfer their conceptual understanding. This article will share strategies to guide your students’ listening development.
We must teach our students how to listen from the earliest development points. When one considers the complicated cognitive processes that are required, especially from beginning students, it is not surprising that listening falls to the back of the line behind left-hand and right-hand movements and notational decoding. Without sequential instruction in the techniques required to listen, these skills may or may not develop. Guiding students to integrate listening and performance skills takes time, and often, we feel as if teaching listening skills uses more sacred rehearsal time than is comfortable. To ensure that students listen and comprehend what they hear, students must learn to listen away from the instrument. Such instruction allows the student to focus only on the sound without being distracted by kinesthetic or decoding tasks.
Teaching Guided Listening and Observation
Guided listening and observation are critical strategies for developing listening skills with younger players. Auditorily, we must help each student break apart the wall of sound heard when first listening to polyphonic sound before they can develop the ability to discern differences in their performance and that of others. They must also be trained to look for visual cues of performance errors around them before the sounds caused by these errors can be understood and rectified.
“ Auditorily, we must help each student break apart the wall of sound heard when first listening to polyphonic sound before they can develop the ability to discern differences in their performance and that of others. ”
Students start their listening development in general music. Our job in rehearsal is to help them connect what they hear with what it takes to produce those sounds. When first introduced to a new piece, listening to the “whole” provides the young listener not only with a concrete aural understanding of the piece being studied (even before their fingers can produce the notes) but also a model of characteristic tone, intonation, and articulation. Young players recognize how their parts fit within the piece while not playing. Students often become even more enthusiastic about a work when they hear all of the parts, especially if those students play in a less-melodic section of the orchestra. Students can better judge all other performance elements with a more robust familiarity with characteristic sound. After initial instruction on how to listen and what to listen for, students can move most of their listening practice outside of rehearsal.
Once students are more comfortable with the fundamental sounds of the piece, we can use audio/video recordings to guide students to hear macro elements of performances. Guided listening at a macro level starts with big-picture questions such as “Do they play well together?” or “Were the notes and rhythms accurate?” These questions encourage each student to assess what they hear. Only after they have developed this fundamental listening level can they move beyond “Was it right?” to “What was wrong with it?” At first, students may only be able to focus on one element at a time, such as rhythm, without being distracted by differences in tone, note length, intonation, or balance. Much like a kaleidoscope, students must singularly bring each element into focus before being heard in combination. Teachers must guide students in moving each element to the foreground of their listening to recognize its unique characteristics within the total sound. Once each component is heard, the teacher can begin to encourage students to assess their own playing in that component and develop the ability to fix their mistakes.
String students benefit from visual cues to help them with the ensemble elements of playing together. Teaching students to process visual aspects of performance by other players will allow them to diagnose those problems in their own playing. Using guided “watching” of recordings of orchestras at their level will enable students to become aware of visual differences that match what they are hearing, such as bow placement, bow distribution, and left-hand issues that cause intonation problems. Using video recordings (with the sound turned down) allows students to focus on problems they see between sections that they might not recognize when playing or when distracted by the errors in sound that they may hear.
Strategies for Teaching Listening Outside of Rehearsal
Multiple strategies can be used at beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels utilizing recordings found on video websites like YouTube. Teachers can provide links to recordings for beginners to listen to that will provide excellent performance standards with accurate intonation, bow distribution, and playing skills. As students begin to understand what high levels of playing sound like, using additional “less-than-stellar” recordings can encourage students to recognize their errors compared to better performances. Students should compare from an aural and visual point of view. Using these recordings outside of class and away from their instrument allows them to focus on listening only.
Guided listening at each level encourages students to process what they hear more thoroughly and what it takes to produce the sounds they hear on their instruments. Table 1 suggests focus strategies to guide students in what to listen/watch for at each level.
Strategies for Teaching Guided Listening and Watching.
As students move into middle school levels (years 2–4), the focus of listening moves from determining accurate notes and rhythms to elements of interpretation. Teaching listening at this level allows students to develop greater musical awareness of interpretive ideas that differ between performances. Students start to pay attention to dynamics, hairpins, note spacings, and phrasing. Students are instructed to listen to multiple versions and compare and contrast what they hear. Listening to various interpretations also suspends the idea that a piece “must” be played one way. You can have great discussions about what performances they like best and develop the ability to explain “why” they feel this way. These discussions may encourage students to play more musically because the ensemble produces the interpretation.
From a visual point of view at the middle school level, students can look for consistency within and between sections regarding bow placement and length. They can also begin to recognize problems with instrument hold and left-hand placement. Once they can see these things in others, the teacher can discuss how these problems will impact the sound, and students will begin to recognize them in their own playing.
With greater independence at the high school level, students can better use their experiences to codify what they hear and see. Students can not only listen/watch but also begin to diagnose “how” they might fix the problems they hear/see using multiple URLs of their concert pieces. Doing this outside of rehearsal allows them to focus more entirely on listening while also developing the independence of guiding their practice to fix the problems they recognize in the recordings. Using guided listening reflection questions like those in the following list helps students to move beyond the correct notes and rhythms they hear to the more musical elements of their playing:
Listen to the performance. Do you hear any errors in intonation or inaccuracy of notes? How might they be fixed?
Visually analyze the performance. Describe the left-hand techniques you see demonstrated (think vibrato and shifting). How do those techniques impact the performance heard?
Watch the performance again. Are all the players in each section in the same part of the bow? Are they all using the same amount of bow? Which bow placement/amount do you think will produce the sound you would want?
Notice phrasing. Musically, what do you see each section doing that shows that students are playing and phrasing together?
Choose your favorite version. What is it about the interpretation of that performance that you like (think phrasing, dynamics, articulation)? How is it different from how your orchestra has been rehearsing?
Listen carefully while only looking at your part (not the video). What musical ideas do you hear that you did not expect? How did these ideas improve/detract from the performance?
Rehearsal time is sacred. It may be that we need to refocus our rehearsal time by placing more of the responsibility for diagnosing errors in the hands of our students (as is developmentally appropriate). Using guided listening outside of rehearsal will encourage students to focus their listening skills. Having students write reflections about what they hear/see from each URL will assist them in recognizing errors and developing their remediation plans. Their practice time will be more focused because they have determined what needs to be practiced. Writing reflections will also help students to build a vocabulary of what they hear to discuss how their technique compares to recordings. One might be concerned that this will take up practice time, but as we teach our students to teach themselves, their practice time will be much more productive. Our students will begin to hear their errors in rehearsal and fix them before we do! Balancing the responsibilities for improvement across the ensemble will also help develop lifelong learners who will continue to grow beyond their K-12 experiences.
Footnotes
Charlene Dell (