Sound reasoning: a new way to listen

Music is designed to express itself completely in sound. At its greatest, it creates a particularly concentrated, gripping and all-enveloping experience. It is able, with itstransient presence, to create a sense of loss, longing or renewal, and to involve us emotionally in its destiny.

Sound Reasoning is designed to help you listen. This course encourages you to be self-reliant--to get up closeto the music, without mediation or interference. Too often, listeners may feel that they need pre-concert lectures, program notes and other verbal explanations to fully appreciate a musical work. These certainly may enhanceand supplement one's enjoyment. But, ideally, a musical performance is a direct conversation between performers andlisteners. No matter what your knowledge or training, you should be able to enjoy music withthe fullness of your thoughts, should be able to explore and interpret it with confidence. The fundamental premise of thiscourse is that, if you listen attentively and think constructively about what you are hearing, your awareness willprosper and your direct connection to the music will thrive. The course assumes little or no prior musical background. Theability to read music is not required. A minimum of musical terminology will be invoked. When it is necessary, all termsare defined in a glossary easily accessible by hyper-link. Most importantly, musical examplesare interpolated directly into the text, making it easy to evaluate all the concepts that are introduced.

Music's sounds lack literal or fixed meanings: as such, the experience of a musical work is a very subjective one. Thiscourse will not teach what to think. It will show how to think, to arrive at your own balanced and carefully consideredopinions. A subjective perspective is strongest when it is built upon objectively verifiable observations. You will learn todevelop a concrete understanding of the music's progress. The poetry and conviction of your interpretation will grow outof this concentrated hearing. You will also have the confidence to test others' views against your own perceptions.

Our musical awareness now stretches further back historically and wider geographically than ever before. It is important to be prepared for music both familiar and unfamiliar. Conventional musical training usually begins with a strong grounding in the elements,conventions and terminology of the classical repertoire. The risk of that approach is that it often leaves listeners at aloss in the face of music where these terms and conventions no longer apply. Sound Reasoning addresses this problem by focusing on style-transcendent principles. The concepts explored in thiscourse apply to any piece of music, no matter when it was written. Composers of different historical periods and traditions have dealt with theseconcepts in different ways. But the concepts themselves are timeless: They are the issues with whichany piece of music is engaged.