Musical Rorschach Tests

Music is like a Rorschach test. We all hear what we want to hear.

I recall a listening experience in high school music history.

(Yes, my HS actually offered a semester course in music history. It was a great jump start for college.)

My teacher played a piece of music and asked us to write a description of what the music was saying.

My own response was NOTHING like the composer intended.

I wasn't alone.

I remember there being as many descriptions of the music as there were students in the class.

Kind of like how the ink blot cards of a Rorschach test have different appearances and garner varied responses to each image - as varied as the viewers themselves.

Just as this test has often proven to be difficult for researchers in the field of psychology to study the test and its results in any systematic manner, and the use of multiple kinds of scoring systems for the responses given to each inkblot has led to some confusion.

So too is the struggle with teaching listening in music class.

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Until recently I'd never really thought about music listening experiences in this way.

Too often we tell the students what they are going to hear, but really that in itself does not teach independent listening skills.

Too often we tell students what they are hearing WHILE they are hearing it.

[Egads! How can they listen if someone is talking through the music??? This is a futile attempt, at best, to guide listening experiences, in my opinion.]

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How then can you teach an emotion or an image in music?

One of the first things that comes to mind is by actively engaging students in the listening experience.

Active engagement means giving the students something to do whilst the listening experience takes place.

I have found that students respond best when this is guided engagement. As they become more experienced their responses do not need as much guidance as perimeters within which they engage.

This one thing elevates the listening experience far above the passive music listening experience where students are either just sitting and listening or, worse yet, the music is merely background music.

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It's difficult, as teachers, to let go and let students explore and find things within the music that draws them.

Engage the students in the listening and let them LISTEN!

Like responses to the inkblot cards of the Rorschach test, responses to the music will be varied.

And it's OK if students don't see it as you do.

You will Listen. You will Hear.

You will Listen. You will Hear.

An international student said this as he prepared the class for listening to one of the songs on his playlist.

It struck me that these two statements in one breath describe the ways people listen to words, sounds, music.

The statements describe the two ways of listening to music: passive listening and active listening.

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Passive listening can best be described when you have music on as background music to keep you company or to avoid being in silence.

You may or may not realize when music is playing in the background though I imagine many would notice silence.

Many of my students say they have to have music on when they study.

Even now, as I write this I have music playing in the background.

I am not really listening to it - hence the passive listening.

I realize it is on - most of the time - but do not listen for specific musical elements or lyrics.

It just keeps me company.

In my office I have the radio on nearly all day because it helps me focus on the task I am doing at the time and aids my tuning out the cacophony of music that is going on outside my office in the practice rooms.

Sometimes I don't even realize I'm hearing the music...or responding to it.

[Read an earlier blog post titled "I Can Hear You!"]

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Active listening is actually paying attention to the music.

Active listening is the goal of every music teacher as they guide a listening lesson in music class.

Active listening is the goal of every ensemble director as they encourage their musicians to listen to each other.

Active listening allows the listener to notice both the obvious musical elements as well as the subtle nuances that the blending of sounds, or sonority, creates.

Active listening on the surface does not take musical knowledge. It just takes an attentive ear to hear such things as when the instruments are playing and when the singer is singing.

In depth active listening is enhanced with musical knowledge. I find it is most helpful to understand music theory and musical form. Being able to hear the harmonic changes or being able to recognize repetition and variety in a piece of music really engages the listener.

At times this can be a curse. 

[Read an earlier blog post titled "Do you Listen to Music? Absolutely Not!"]

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So next time you realize you are hearing music, consider whether you are actively listening to it or are you passively listening, or just hearing, it?