Music Listening Activities
Listen, Read, Create music this summer & win prizes!
Listening to music, reading music and creating music help you become a better musician!
Talk with your teacher about some musical challenges and enter to win prizes!
I Love to LISTEN to Music - activity ideas
Why listen to music?
Listening to music will help students become better musicians by becoming aware of different musical possibilities. Students will become inspired by what others have done before.
Goal:
Get students to listen to music for enjoyment, develop critical thinking skills, improve playing by ear, and build community.
How it works
Choose one of the activities that would be appropriate for your student.
Practice the assignment in the lesson as you would another assignment.
Write the assignment in the student’s Music Assignment Notebook so they know exactly what to do.
After students complete the assignment, they can complete a raffle prize slip and receive a small prize and enter to win bigger prizes.
Here are some ideas to get you started with listening activities:
Discover music. Expand the student's palette.
Ask what are favorite songs that they already listen to. Encourage them to listen to more by that composer / artist. Tell your teacher about them.
Listen to music with a variety of moods. Find music that makes you feel relaxed, makes you want to dance. What is it about the music that makes you feel that way?
Introduce them to new sounds and instruments. What instruments do you hear when you listen to a piece of music?
Listen to music that you’re working on in your lessons.
Do a youtube search to find different interpretations of the pieces you’re working on. How are they different? What did you like or dislike about them? Why?
Critical thinking. Analyze music in an age-appropriate way.
Pick two pieces of music and tell your teacher about them.
Listen to different interpretations of the same piece. What makes them different?
Talk with your teacher about the different elements of music
Time / Duration: Steady beat, rhythm (long and short), tempo (speed)
Loudness: Dynamics (forte - louds and piano - quiets)
Texture: Combination of different layers of music (e.g. a lot of instruments vs a single melody line of music), melody, harmony
Timbre (pronounced “TAM-br”): what makes an instrument sound different than another instrument, for example, a piano and guitar sounding different, or two voices sounding different.
Form: How is the music put together? Does it have repeating sections?
Platforms. Introduce students to different ways of listening to music.
Streaming platforms. Apple Music, Spotify, Pandora, Amazon Music, Bandcamp
Radio: Learn how to listen to the radio
Websites: Minnesota Public Radio, Minnesota Orchestra education page
Physical: CD, cassette, record player
Environment. Become aware of music in your environment
Go outside and listen to the sounds of nature. What do the birds sound like? Waves from water, wind in the trees, etc.
Go outside and listen to man-made sounds. Children playing on the playground, cars, trucks, airplanes, trains, boats, steps on the sidewalk, lawnmowers, etc.
Listen to music during commercials - how does it serve a purpose?
Watch tv, actively listening to the music. How does music enhance the tv show?
Are you going to a sports game? What kind of music do you think you’ll hear there? Why do you think it enhances the sport?
Community. Connect with others through music listening
Ask an adult to share music that they liked when they were 18. Ask them about the music they like now.
Ask a friend to listen to music with you.
Playing by ear - Listen to music as a means to play by ear (using music theory)
Did you know before the internet people figured out how to play familiar songs just by listening to it? Give it a try! Ask your teacher for help to get started.
Amount of listening challenge
Listen to two pieces of music this week. Tell your teacher about them.
How much can you listen to music this week?
Listen to music as background music while doing another task.
Active listening. Listen to music instead of watching tv.
Ear Training
Did you know that your teacher took a special class in college to help them become better at ear training? Ask them to tell you about it.
Do ear training exercises with your teacher.
Craft project
Create something that people can listen to. It could be a wind chime, drum, dulcimer, castanets.
Create a drawing or painting while listening to music.
Resources for further listening:
Brighter Minds Music - Musician Playlist (did you know our doors are named after these performers?)