LaSalle University

MUS-150A - Art Of Listening

Listening Assignment No. 3

Due Wednesday, February 29, 2012.

While I realize that this assignment may be overwhelming so early in the course, please note that I don't expect this assignment to take more than an hour of your time or go over a page or so. If it does, you're probably doing too much!

Study the Elements of Music.

Go back to your "Top 5 Selections of Music" that you listed in Listening Assignment No. 1. Choose one of those selections (preferably No. 1). Listen to it several times (at least 3), and write a description (no more than 2 pages) of how the elements of music are used throughout.

You can work from the general to the specific; i.e., Discuss general uses of Pitch, Duration, Dynamics, and general description of Timbre, and comment on style of melody (conjunct/disjunct). Do you hear a steady beat? Can you tell the meter (2s or 3s)? Are there cadences - complete and/or incomplete? Do you hear phrases in the melody? etc.

Then focus on the specific elements that interest you as you listen more and more. You might be drawn to the sounds of the particular instruments as they blend together, or by the overall driving beat or pulse with recognizable accents or rhythms.

I'd like not only a description of the sounds you hear throughout, but I would also like an introductory paragraph or summary on WHY you chose this particular piece. You should certainly have some sort of feeling for it to be willing to spend time listening over and over (I would suggest listening once to make observations and jot down some notes, then alternate between listening and writing.

As in the first listening assignment, I do not suggest putting the music on in the background while you are writing, as it then becomes simply Muzak, and you are not getting the full effect of the assignment. Remember, I want you to be Listening, not just Hearing!