Prelude
Intro to Active Listening
General Concepts
•Hearing versus Listening
•Active Listening
•Jonathan Goldman and the
creation of Dolphin Dreams
Hearing
Passive act of receiving and registering
the sounds that reach your ears.
e.g.--
• music in the background in stores, offices,
parties
• radio you listen to on the way to work or school
• environmental noises such as fans, construction,
other people, etc.
•soundtracks to TV shows, movies, advertisements
Listening
Paying attention to the sounds that
reach your ears.
e.g.--
• conversations with friends
• dialogue in TV shows, movies, news
programs
• classroom lectures
Active Listening
Requires your Active attention, allowing
you to become more consciously aware of
the sounds you are taking in.
e.g.--
• directions to somewhere you want to go
• instructions for assignments
• listening for certain sounds or instruments in a
piece of music
Definition of Music
An art form
whose medium
is organized around
sound and time.
Specific Concepts
According to the definition of
music—
Is Dolphin Dreams music?
Jonathon Goldman
• Jonathon Goldman wrote Dolphin Dreams for
his wife to be used during the birth of their
child.
• This type of music is often referred to as
sonic environments.
• He intentionally (“on purpose”) chose and
organized the sounds in order to achieve
certain effects.
Sounds in Dolphin
Dreams
Ocean surf
Human heartbeat
Chorus singing wordless lullaby
Chant: om
Dolphin sounds
Listening Experiment
• Click below and listen to this tune I
composed to test your active
listening skills. There are 6 sounds
used to make up the recording.
Three of them are the “drum set,”
one is the “bass line,” one is the
melody, and one is
“accompaniment” (sort of). See if
you can identify all six sounds.
Good luck.
• Lighter (Bic)
• Stapler
• Footsteps
• Dog
• Birds
• Chimes
Pauline Oliveros
• Now what do you hear?