Critical Listening in the Ensemble Rehearsal: A Community of Learners

What Is Critical Listening?

Critical listening is an amalgamation of two common threads in music education: critical thinking and music listening. Considerable literature is available on both topics and often presented in combination with other areas, such as metacognition, reflective thinking, peer interaction, cooperative learning, active listening, and others (see Sidebar 1). Critical listening, in this sense, refers to a music listening exercise framed by focused and sustained dialogue between teacher/conductor and students, resulting in a heightened sensitivity in listening skills, acquisition and understanding of musical vocabulary, and demonstration by performance. Before presenting critical listening as a teaching and rehearsal strategy, let us examine these two common threads.

Listening in Music Classes

American music educator and philosopher Bennett Reimer (1932–2013) proposes that “all people . . . interact with, experience, and enjoy music through its essential behavior—listening.” ² Traditional listening exercises in the general music room emphasize the understanding of specific compositional and musical elements such as dynamics (“Is it loud or soft?”), instrumentation (“Listen for the trumpet”), structure (“Raise your hand when you hear the B section”), thematic material (“Sing the main theme”), and so on. Secondary-level music appreciation classes combine listening with historical and contextual information. In both these settings, the listening is determined by a curricular agenda (e.g., studying Baroque style) and usually leads to some form of written assessment of the learning.

Yet, music teachers often struggle with the inclusion of listening activities in their classes. Specifically, ensemble directors, facing hectic schedules and concert pressures, are reluctant to devote valuable rehearsal time to listening and are often hindered by limited training, resources, and materials. ³

But research reveals that listening activities are useful when supported by effective teaching and classroom dialogue. In a well-structured listening activity, students are more receptive to new music, are more attentive, and have a more meaningful listening experience. ⁴ Likewise, listening exercises coupled with peer interaction in a collaborative ensemble setting result in greater student engagement in music learning. ⁵

Today’s student is surrounded by a “plethora of opportunities to listen to music.” ⁶ Students are regularly decorated with electronic devices and earbuds as they access music streaming services. Our students listen to music all the time, and although a 2015 Nielsen study reports that the average American listens to music twenty-four hours per week, ⁷ the study does not offer any information about the qualitative nature of that listening—how people listen to music. ⁸

Let us bring this into context for the choral teacher in the opening scenario with the obvious questions: Do the singers listen to choral music? If they do listen to choirs, how do they listen? What, specifically, do they hear? Consider your high school singer, earbuds in, smiling as he or she listens and sings along to an Eric Whitacre piece. I recently observed a cluster of teenagers at a festival choir rehearsal, each listening to an electronic device and chatting away at the same time. Comments included “I just love Moses Hogan” and “Do you know Gjeilo’s ‘The Ground’?” This tells me that young people do listen to choral music. But how? And more important, beyond the simple (and often heard) “I like it” or “I don’t like it,” how do they discuss choral music? And how might a listening activity in our rehearsal generate a more independent, thoughtful, and responsive performer? This conversation is developed through the lens of the choral teacher and chorus rehearsal but is fully applicable to any ensemble setting, band, orchestra, chamber groups, world music ensembles, and so on.

Critical Thinking in Rehearsals

More than three decades of research has underscored critical thinking in the music classroom. The premise of NAfME’s 1989 book Dimensions of Musical Thinking ⁹ was to share specific applications of thinking research with music teachers. The publication, grounded in principles of Bloom’s taxonomy ¹⁰ and an outgrowth of the popular Dimensions of Thinking framework by Marzano and colleagues, ¹¹ called for music teachers to engage their students in increasingly higher-level thinking skills. At that time, choral conductor and researcher Hilary Apfelstadt challenged choral teachers:

Developing critical thinking skills in the choral rehearsal is an attainable goal. Given a clear understanding of what constitutes critical thinking, and a framework upon which to build strategies, the choral director at the high school level can enable students to learn not only musical skills, but thinking skills as well. ¹²

Since then, other discussions have proposed benefits of critical thinking and music listening to include “analyzing, synthesizing, comparing and contrasting, developing criteria for judgment, sequencing, making connections, recognizing patterns . . . and reflection based upon affective responses and prior musical experiences.” ¹³

One researcher suggests four criteria for successful critical thinking activities: The teacher (1) structures an atmosphere of cognitive challenge, (2) plans a specific incident of intellectual dissonance, (3) helps the student develop a repertoire of questions to activate the reasoning process, and (4) critical thinking culminates in a sense of success. ¹⁴ In agreement, Apfelstadt believes that “teaching for development of critical thinking skills demands that we engage our students in situations where they will be challenged intellectually, not merely expected to comply with our demands.” ¹⁵

But as recently as 2013, music education researcher Matthew Garrett reported that “a disconnect might exist between the value that teachers place on critical thinking as reported in the research literature and the observed function of critical thinking in the classroom.” ¹⁶ Although Garrett states that a common definition of critical thinking is challenging, he proposes a working definition as “teacher-student verbal interactions focused on the three levels of cognitive processes: analyze, evaluate, and create, as identified in the revised Bloom’s taxonomy.” ¹⁷ When we link these critical thinking concepts with a musical listening episode, a model materializes that is useful in the ensemble rehearsal.

A Context for Critical Listening

Critical listening, then, is the merging of a musical listening exercise with critical thinking skills as students explore and expand their “critical ears.” A critical ear is not just a criticizing ear. It is the ear of a student who can hear certain aspects of an ensemble’s sound or presentation and articulate that hearing into musical vocabulary (i.e., comments on tone quality, dynamics, phrasing, intonation, etc.). Students with a critical ear who can express their musical thoughts might then propose what must occur in the rehearsal to improve the group’s performance.

Other researchers have previously defined the term critical listening “as a combination of perception and critical thinking” ¹⁸ or, more pointedly, an “active process.” ¹⁹ Additionally, “music listening . . . may be one form of learning particularly suited to constructed meanings and reflections through critical thinking.” ²⁰ In the critical listening exercise explored in this simulated choral rehearsal, singers hear (perceive) particular characteristics of choral singing, discuss what they hear, and apply it to performance. The important point is that listening activities in the ensemble setting—any ensemble—are paramount to a student’s music education. As David Zerull, band director and Shenandoah Conservatory professor, advocates,

[w]e have a limited amount of time to expose students to music and refine or develop their musical listening—their musical ear. Within this limited time-frame, developing to the fullest extent possible each student’s capacity to make and experience music takes on new urgency. A serious effort to balance development of individual performance skills and musical imagination must be considered. This more complete music education can be accomplished by infusing the traditional rehearsal with more music listening activities. ²¹

Critical Listening in Ensembles

Scenario 1 revisited: “Let’s do some critical listening of another choir singing this piece,” states the teacher. Students settle in their seats; it is midpoint in the rehearsal, a vocal break. Directions for the listening are given by the teacher: “Write down two specific things you hear. Anything you hear is valid.” The listening begins from silence. The best possible recording is played on the best possible sound system. The teacher pauses the recording ten seconds in because two students are chatting. The point is made—one cannot listen while speaking—and the recording begins again. The choir listens to a section of the piece—thirty to forty seconds—before the teacher presses the pause button and turns to the choir.

We have rejoined the in-progress choral rehearsal where the teacher is leading a critical listening exercise. Her fundamental goals, framed by a personal philosophy of music teaching rooted in the National Core Arts Standards, is for her students to be better musicians who are artistically literate, enjoy successful performances, and be lifelong participants in music-making, hopefully as choral singers.

In aiming for these goals, the teacher considers several important factors in the lesson planning. First, conduct a critical listening exercise after the ensemble has rehearsed the music but before the final performance. The students’ listening is more focused on musical details if they are somewhat familiar with their parts and have a sense of the larger structure of the piece.

Second, select the highest-quality recording available or even two excellent recordings with differing interpretations. ²² Technology provides instant access to many exciting musical performances. Likewise, recording and immediate playback of a rehearsal in progress are teaching opportunities begging for student feedback.

Third, channel the conversation to thoughts on ensemble sound. In so doing, teachers may scaffold in appropriate terminology (choral, band, or orchestral) and thus provide a better understanding of musical details that contribute to improved performance.

Finally, direct the ensemble to perform the music incorporating their suggestions from the conversation. In the words of Reimer, “the combination of intensive listening while creating the very sounds one is hearing (along with others who are also doing so as in a group performance) is as powerful a musical experience as people can have.” ²³

The baseline conditions for a critical listening exercise are thus set: Students are somewhat familiar with the piece, recording and playback are of high quality, the teacher provides appropriate prompts for the listening, and the goal is evident—apply what is learned to future performances. Continuing with our scenario of a live-action choral rehearsal, here are four ideas, social and pedagogical, that drive a successful critical listening exercise.

A Community of Learners

Scenario 2: Choir members have their heads together, in pairs, discussing quietly and busy scribbling on paper. “Well,” asks the teacher, “how are you doing?” They are considering the prompt “recommend two suggestions for the singer to produce a lighter tone quality.” “Wait!” cries an alto. “We haven’t finished yet!” The teacher glances at the clock to see how much time is left in the rehearsal. After all, the students are, observably, deep in conversation. “All right, twenty seconds, and then let’s see where we are.” “We’ve got some ideas,” offer a pair of tenors. “Twenty seconds, and we’ll begin with you,” replies the teacher.

A critical listening exercise achieves the maximum pedagogical effect in an ensemble room that is an established community of learners. Here, students eagerly grasp learning and make meaning of their musical experience, comparing and sharing their ideas with one another. Led by a teacher who creates an atmosphere of approval and mutual respect, this classroom environment is one that encourages participation and perhaps even risk taking. ²⁴ As students “construct mental objects that not only correspond to auditory events presented by a performance,” they also realize that these are “legitimately different from the mental representations of other listeners.” ²⁵ In an established community of learners, the air is alive with vigorous interaction, musical conversations transpire under careful guidance and monitoring, and students learn to embrace opportunities for divergence and flexibility in their thinking. ²⁶

Music teachers recognize that the social fabric of the large ensemble room is unique compared to any other room in the school as students work and grow together toward a common goal of performance. Teachers must impress in the mind-set of this community the craving to “go beyond the page,” to explore the specific repertoire on a deeper level and, as a collective, to achieve a better understanding of excellence in performance. Although ensemble members will learn specific knowledge and skills, essentially this is “about fostering in students a disposition to develop their musical individuality.” ²⁷ This “mini-community of practitioners” is a place where “the corporate unit . . . can achieve levels of expertise beyond the capacity of a single member.” ²⁸ The desire of the students to present the best possible performance is boosted by their personal and individual commitment to serve the established community of learners.

Use of Questions and Dialogue

Scenario 1, revisited again: Following the initial listening, the teacher asked an open-ended question: “So what do you hear?” In the dialogue that ensued, the word deeper was offered to describe the choir’s sound. The teacher’s next question was for the student to further clarify his meaning of the word deeper. The teacher carefully tracked the discussion, often following a student comment with connecting strands such as “Someone add on to that” or “What else?” Also, the teacher wrote down notes that will assist her in follow-up.

The teacher began the conversation via the mode of questioning, immediately establishing an open “atmosphere of inquiry.” ²⁹ The teacher guided the student responses with follow-up questions—“chaining—asking additional questions,” ³⁰ which move from the broad to the specific. ³¹ Clearly, the impetus for a successful dialogue is on the teacher (see Sidebar 2), who must know and practice effective questioning techniques. ³² Musician/educator Jody Kerchner of Oberlin Conservatory, in her discussion of “empathetic leadership” in the classroom, advises teachers to engage in “respectful listening” as they “question and listen with the intent to discover and understand their student informants.” ³³ Kerchner proposes five motives for asking questions, all supporting the idea of a community learning through dialogue:

A competent facilitator frames the conversation in such a way as to create an “association of ideas” in which the discussion is an “orderly sequence leading up to a conclusion,” ³⁵ with the conclusion, in this sense, demonstrated by performance. And while dialogue often begins as an open class exchange, it may occur in pairs as students share with each other in a “think aloud.” Indeed, “thinking aloud in specific ways, guided by carefully constructed questions, has been shown to be an effective tool for learning.” ³⁶ Cooperative learning exercises may also increase the level of engagement by students. ³⁷ To keep the activity fresh, diversify the response format, moving between large-group discussion, peer group activities, or working in pairs. Kerchner’s guide to levels of questioning ³⁸ is particularly useful for teachers in planning dialogue based on Bloom’s revised taxonomy (see Sidebar 3).

Repeated Listening

Scenario 3: The students continue to explore and share their thoughts until the discussion illuminates useful musical terminology (e.g., choral vocabulary). The student using the word deeper for darker was referring to the tone quality of the choir on the recording; in this case, they were listening to a professional adult choir, not a choir of high school–aged students. “So”—the teacher pauses—“how does a choir (or an individual singer) make a darker sound? And let’s examine this word darker a little bit more.” The students do not respond at this point; the teacher says, “Let’s listen again. And this time, keep this idea of darker sound in mind. Where, exactly, do you hear a darker sound?” and pushes the play button.

The key element to a critical listening is multiple listenings of the same brief selection of material as listening to an entire song presents too much aural information for processing. The objective is to focus more intensely on a shorter section, namely, the first verse and chorus, and cull as much musical thinking and vocabulary as possible from that section. A listening is followed by group reaction, and a second listening occurs when the teacher feels the need to refocus or reinvigorate the discussion. By listening repeatedly to the same short excerpt, students are drawn to new details in the music, and “the knowledgeable listener may structure and restructure a listening experience so that each time a given selection is examined the experience may be assimilated in a different way.” ³⁹

The practice of critical listening exercises is clearly based on the spiral curriculum ⁴⁰ structure: listen, discuss, perform; listen again, more discussion, perform again; and so forth. In each cycle, the students’ listening skills are sharper and more focused, the dialogue and discussion are richer and more meaningful in terms of understanding the complexities of technique and performance, and in the musical response, students exercise increased musical independence.

Configure the critical listenings to incorporate the various learning styles of the students, namely, aural, visual, or kinesthetic. Listenings conducted without score will focus on aural skills. Another listening—with score in hand—may draw attention to specific phrases (“Follow on page two”) or a particular part (“Any thoughts about the tenor line on page two?”). Likewise, responses from the students may be oral (“So, tell me what you heard”), written (“Write down what you hear”), or even physical (“This time, take your hand and shape the phrase for me”). Every student response to the repeated listening generates new and useful musical information for further discussion, understanding, and performance. More importantly, written responses provide teachers with assessment data of student learning. Figure 1 provides a sample (and useful) worksheet for this purpose, directly from the Model Cornerstone Assessment for Performing Ensembles.

OPEN IN VIEWER

Figure 1

Music Model Cornerstone Assessment for Ensembles. Artistic process: performing; Ensemble level: accomplished, advanced

Artistic Literacy and Performance

Scenario 4: Several hands are raised as the pause button is pushed again; this time, the teacher has no need to prompt discussion. “Well,” begins a junior soprano, “I certainly understand why we are using this term darker, and I think that the sopranos sing way too heavy, and that gets in the way of the second phrase on page two.” “Yes, but is that because you have to slide that French vowel over all those notes?” asks an alto. “Let’s look at both of those issues,” says the teacher. “Open your music to page two, and follow—one more listening, and then we will try some singing.”

As the students think and respond to each other’s perceptions, the discussion moves naturally toward improving the musical skill and performance level. Just from this thirty-second interchange, the following choral issues are set for further dialogue: tone quality (darker sounds), balance of parts, phrasing and musical interpretation, the difficulty of singing French vowels, and slurring vowels over a long phrase with breath support and consistent tone. Now, the teacher can introduce (or review) appropriate musical terminology and specific choral vocabulary and guide students during another round of listening to “monitor their ability to hear not only their original perceptions, but also the perceptions shared by other students.” ⁴¹

The final step, and indeed the crux of the critical listening exercise, is for the students to demonstrate their new learning in performance. The exercise has come full circle: This choir sings with new ears and voices as well as sharper minds. Now the individual student is challenged “to function as an independent musician, capable of solving musical problems.” ⁴² As noted authors David Elliott and Marissa Silverman state in the 2015 edition of Music Matters,

[w]hen student . . . performers develop their own interpretations of compositions, the possibilities for deepening their musical and personal satisfaction, confidence, pride, self-growth, identities, and happiness increase exponentially. Classroom musicing and rehearing becomes increasingly reflective, informed, discerning, dynamic, dialogical, interpersonal and intrapersonal, and transformative. ⁴³

When the teacher records a rehearsal run, the dialogue and conversation shift to the students’ performance as opposed to an unknown ensemble. Whether taping a “before and after” set of performances ⁴⁴ or recording as a piece is rehearsed, ⁴⁵ teachers provide students with the opportunity to reflect on the effectiveness of their individual improvement and contribution as well as the group’s most recent interpretation of the repertoire. Step by step, our ensemble performers are becoming better musicians.

Enduring Understandings

Scenario 5, two months later: The teacher presses the stop button on the recording. The students are silent for a few moments, and then one bass raises his hand: “That is a fine performance of this piece,” he says, pointing to the octavo in his hand, “but I believe there are a few issues that could be addressed. For one, . . . ”

A critical listening exercise used in a large ensemble rehearsal places us in the heart of the National Core Arts Standards of 2014. This updated framework guides music teachers to engage their students in the four primary artistic processes: creating, performing, responding, and connecting. Underpinning the eleven Common Anchor Standards are “enduring understandings,” key musical ideas and processes that when “mastered through a variety of activities is demonstrated by the student’s ability to explain, interpret, analyze, apply and evaluate its core elements.” ⁴⁶

Through regular critical listening exercises, the students will experience these understandings and view their musicianship with new eyes. Students improve by thoughtful, focused, and independent performance; the ensemble progresses in levels of achievement sooner in the rehearsal process. Indeed, the dividends of invested rehearsal time in critical listening are evident in the musical growth of the individual student and gratifying performance by the ensemble. A critical listening exercise is a dynamic and suitable avenue to enduring musical understandings for our students.