Part 1: A Universal Approach to Music

Listening theory answers several fundamental questions about music, including perhaps the most basic one, “How do you listen?” It isn’t hard to think of a few answers right away: attending a live performance, listening at home with your eyes closed, or putting on some background tunes at work. We will dive into the answers that listening theory gives, but first we need to step back and ask an even deeper question. Is there, or can there even be, one universal approach to music?

Throughout my years of university study I have seen many people who want to discuss, teach, and deeply connect to music ask a similar question–how should we approach a study of music? Traditionally it has focused on a recognized canon of western music. In recent years, new approaches to music study have gained popularity, including the study of music and its connection to politics, the study of new genres such as popular music, and the study of how technology shapes modern performance, perception, and listening skills. Each of these new approaches offer unique opportunities as they challenge old systems of belief and education, such as the traditional role and importance of music theory, the role and prestige of classical music and its canon, and the lack of ethnic music in university study. 

There is value in these approaches, but none of them alone have what it takes to become a unifying, universal approach to music that can benefit all musicians. Consider what would happen if our approach to music was simply reduced to its political connections? What would happen if music’s role and importance was restricted solely to proper representation of ethnic or underrepresented groups? Or what might happen if the study of music focused almost exclusively on the current debate about what music theory even is? Each of these approaches have merit and offer opportunities to discover more in music, but unless there is something grounding, something unifying beneath all these approaches, then music loses its potency and potential.

In my experience, there is a universal approach to music. I have also noticed that it has become increasingly invisible as these new approaches to studying music have taken larger roles in university music education. 

The great constant in music is listening--the act of taking in and receiving the music. 

With so much focus on what music should be played, how it should be played and where, and by whom it should be performed, I feel that we risk ignoring the constant factor in this equation: listening. I don’t believe that any of these challenges or approaches should be ignored or discounted, but I do believe they need to be balanced with something that can apply to all music. In my estimation there is only one element that can unite all music: listening. 

This article is part one of a series on listening theory. Stayed tuned for part two next week.