ABSTRACT
Intercultural encounters in music provide unique challenges to listeners that require the development of new ways of experiencing often-complex sonic environments. Engaging students in the deeper critical thinking processes needed to develop the skills for intercultural listening is one of the more difficult aspects of current classroom teaching. This chapter describes a case study on Chinese-Canadian opera aimed at developing critical listening skills in recognizing intercultural encounters expressed in music. Intercultural encounters in music can be defined as reflecting open and respectful exchange or interaction between individual voices or communities from different cultures. Contemporary use of the term interculturalism in the academy, however, is often inconsistent and frequently employed to describe any work that claims to represent more one culture in performance. Canadian society reflects a plurality of cultures and histories marked by a global flow of influences, and musical expression offers one space in which to consider the discontinuities and tensions created by the intercultural encounters of its citizens.
