Hearing
A person speaks, a musician plays, a bird sings, an inanimate object is struck. This creates pressure waves which travel through the air to the outer ear or pinna. The…
Deep Listening is the art of experiencing sound in all its glory. In everyday life we filter out so much of the information entering our ears that we are frequently only perceiving pale ghosts of the sounds we could be experiencing.
This website, part of a pilot research and development project supported by Arts Council England, provides theoretical background and practical tips and techniques so that anyone from pre-school child to professional musician can embark on the intensely rewarding journey that leads to a deeper experience of sound and music.
PHOTO CREDIT: Rob Godman with Professor Stephen Morris
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I differentiate ‘to hear’ and ‘to listen’. To hear is the physical means that enables perception. To listen is to give attention to what is perceived both acoustically and psychologically… The journey to deep listening is a voyage from our outer to inner aural worlds. The more we can sensitise ourselves to our innermost experiences of perceiving sound, the more…
Listening
Deep Listening
Deep Listening
Practical Applications For Instrumentalists
Listening for Resonance The opening of “Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten” by Arvo Pärt The experience of this magical work is immediately intensified with the application of deep listening…
Practical Applications For Conductors
A lesson from Wilhelm Furtwängler I was sitting at my timpani – I had studied composition and conducting so I always had a score open on my timpani, which I…
Practical Applications For Educationalists And Workshop Leaders
For the Youngest Listeners Take the group outside to their play area and ask them to walk around and try to hear a sound they have never heard before. Ask…