ABSTRACT
People are now spending time listening to music at a level unsurpassed within history. This chapter assists by giving practical ideas for how to “tune up” students’ “musical plane” listening ears. This type of listening leads to a deeply satisfying aesthetic experience. Learning to perform the skill of listening well alleviates many problems for the student and for the teacher. Music, the art form that requires listening, is a perfect conveyance for helping students develop into excellent listeners who have “attention and focus” for all kinds of listening tasks. The aural art, music, cultivates the skill of perceptive, involved listening. The beginning of listening instruction is helping students attend critically to what they are hearing. Music education research provides a clue for teaching listening successfully.
