Listening
“I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Ernest Hemingway (1899 - 1961)
My PT at Musselburgh Grammar School, Bob Paterson, is a champion of the enthusiastic greeting. Salutations never begin with “Have you done…” or “Could you give…” but rather “Did you see…” or “have you heard..” Yesterday, he drew my attention to a fantastic resource on the website of Learning & Teaching Scotland. The alphabetical and (aurally) illustrated guide to the musical concepts for all levels of Higher Music is a Herculean achievement. The high quality audio examples are well chosen and the definitions very well worded. Why do I think this is so good? My experience is that many pupils recognise most concepts but find it very difficult to put them into words. Most people would struggle to convey a verbal idea in music and it is similarly difficult to do the reverse. These illustrated concepts bring both modes of expression together. In addition to being an invaluable aid to pupils studying higher music a visit to this site might prove interesting to anyone who is interested in music but uncertain on some of the vocabulary of the subject.
Unlike most websites, clicking on one example does not bring to an end the previous one and the overlap afforded by this can give you an insight into the mind of Charles Ives, who occasionally viewed a single sound source to be an unnecessary maximum.
Bob, was so enthusiastic about this he even took the opportunity to show me it in front of his class when I popped in to say hello. I thought it looked fantastic! Hopefully the students will think in exactly the same way! Ollie
Comment by Ollie Bray — November 4, 2006 @ 3:31 pm
[...] year I flagged up a great resource for pupils and teachers of Music put together under the auspices of Learning & Teaching [...]
Pingback by Alan Coady’s Musical Blog » Listening 2 — November 25, 2007 @ 12:34 pm
[...] year I flagged up a great resource for pupils and teachers of Music put together under the auspices of Learning & Teaching [...]
Pingback by Connected Blog » Listening 2.0 — November 27, 2007 @ 7:12 am