Is listening to music enough to engage students in your Music Appreciation class?
Most likely, no. If you have a class full of musicians that may be a different answer. But in a class full of students with little practical music experience, listening to music may not capture their interest. I think one answer lies in giving your class some basic, yet direct experience with making music.
Anyone teaching general music or music appreciation will agree that the primary goal is to teach students how to effectively listen to music, to enrich their experience. Another goal is for them to learn how a musician thinks.
The college where I teach recently changed their curriculum design. The title of Music Appreciation was changed to Listening to Music. But I would argue that even for the seasoned musician, listening to music is a relatively passive activity. I believe that students learn better if they can experience music directly. That is challenging in the classroom, particularly if your resources are limited.
Why are students tuning out?
Experienced musicians may relish the chance to just sit and listen to a great work of music. And I observe many students wearing ear buds, listening to music throughout the day. But in the classroom, listening to music can be difficult for these same students. Play some music in your class for more than five minutes. Casually walk to the back of the room and observe the students. Are they on a smart phone, tablet or computer? Any heads on the desk? Anyone chatting with their neighbor?
Focus is difficult enough for any of us, but focus on listening alone is very difficult for any students without music experience. There is no basis for such students to relate to the experience of music making. Focus is also difficult because we live in a culture of distraction. But I’ll save that for another day.
Why is music experience helpful?
Listening to music is a passive activity. Until students really understand the components of music, it’s difficult to engage in active listening. It’s challenging for them to analyze what they are hearing and critically think about it. But if they get some hands-on experience, they can begin to empathize and understand more closely what goes into creating music. And the door to active listening has just opened.
How can I engage my classroom students and give them a music experience?
1) Engage your Music Appreciation class with relaxed, group musicking experiences.
Christopher Small coined the term musicking to express that music is a process not a noun. What better way for students to understand that process, than by doing it themselves?I have not read this yet, but it is next on my reading list:
Musicking: The Meanings of Performing and Listening (Music/Culture)
Using the voice is the simplest way to a group musical experience, but many students feel unsure and intimidated when it comes to singing. I find it helpful to go first and show them that I have a voice that is nothing special. Always sing in large groups; simple rounds are a great way to start. Depending on what music you choose, it may create opportunities to discuss concepts of melody, harmony, texture, form and timbre. Or world music, with examples like this:
If you have the ability to accompany on piano or guitar, that will add to the experience. I strummed a simple accompaniment on guitar while my students sang “Yellow Submarine” together and everyone laughed because it was lighthearted and fun. The key here is to open the door gradually.
Clapping, stomping and tapping, basically body percussion is also a non-threatening way to create music. Give each row in your class a simple task and rhythm and they will all feel the groove eventually. If you have access to percussion instruments, creating a drum circle or exploring world music rhythms would most likely be an appealing activity.
One summer I had only ten students in my music appreciation course. I had everyone buy an inexpensive recorder. The classes were longer, so I had ample to time teach them to play the recorder. On the last day of class, everyone played “Stairway to Heaven” with Smart Music accompaniment. One student shared this comment “Now when I sing in church I feel like part of the club because I know how to read music.”
In this video, a professor at Camden County College allows the students to vote on songs they want to analyze, learn and perform. Read the description to the attached video for more details.
If you have access to class keyboards, guitars or percussion – get creative and make use of them. It’s worth the extra effort to organize this into your course, because you will probably ignite interest in music!
2) Engage your Music Appreciation class with guest performers and hands-on experiences.
Demonstrate your own musical ability for your class. It doesn’t have to be long or complicated, but they will respect your ability to play or music. 
If that isn’t possible, invite a colleague or music student to perform for your class.
Create an instrumental “petting zoo.” This would be easiest with percussion or string instruments. Set up instrumental stations at different locations in your room and break the class into small groups. After you give a quick demonstration, allow the groups to play at each station at timed intervals. Provide hand sanitizer to avoid the spread of germs. Create a worksheet for the students to complete for a grade or extra credit.
Recently my music appreciation students became animated during a discussion of how the theremin is played. They didn’t believe an instrument could be played without touching it. So I created a hands-on electronic playground day for the class. I set up several music stations around the class using theremin, Electronic Wind Instrument (also with sterilizing spray for the mouthpiece), laptop with Garage band, and tablets with music apps that have basic synthesizer capabilities. The apps I used for this class included the following:
Bebot (iOS): This is a fun app. As you drag or your finger across the screen, the little robot sings. There are 30 presets and the ability to change sounds with synth controls, effects and scale settings.
Thumbjam: Thumbjam has 40 instrumental sounds and 100s of scales to choose from. This app seems to have a lot of capabilities including recording, creating loops and downloading additional sounds.
And intuitive music making apps:
Nodebeat: (Android and iOS) Node Beat allows you easily create ambient music. There are 20 scales and 12 key signatures to choose from. The tempo and rhythmic divisions can be manipulated. The sound and waveform can be sculpted and there is capability to record and share.
Sphere Tones (Android) Sphere Tones is a free application for Android, available at the Googleplay store. It is quite similar to Nodebeat.
Yes, it was a lot of extra work for me to bring everything in, reorganize the course schedule to accommodate the workshop and create a worksheet for the class. But it was worth it because it stimulated a lot of interest and curiosity!
3) Engage your Music Appreciation class by allowing students to express their personal taste in music.
I survey my students during the first day of class to find out what they are interested in. Typically, everyone tells the class their name, major, grade, home and areas of musical interest. Following up on this, I may ask the students to provide an example of a piece of music they like that pertains to a topic we are covering in class. For example, if we are talking about rhythm and tempo, I might ask who has a song in mind that is a particular tempo and so on. Even with this simple example, many students are still reluctant to participate. I have found that students are more willing to share the music they like in a private project that is between them and myself only. And after doing the project, students often express how much fun they had creating it.
Have the students make a Music and Identity Project. I can’t take credit for the original idea, but I have used it in my class with good success. I came across this idea some years ago in a blog by Nick Jaworski. His site is called Moving Forward With Music. I give my students some guidance about how they can approach the project. They can use Audacity, Garageband, Powerpoint, Keynote, Prezi, Google Slides, iMovie or MovieMaker. Their goal is to select 4 to 5 pieces of music with which they identify. Then they explain/write about why the music is meaningful to them and what aspects of the music they like.
This semester I plan to pair up two students with quite opposite tastes in music. I am going to ask them to interview each other about their taste in music. Each student will explain why they like a particular style of music and how to identify that style. Their goal will be to persuade the other student to listen to their music to give it a chance. It’s an exercise in being more open minded, communicating and learning about other styles of popular music. Students will write a short paper about what they learned in the interview as well as their observations.
4) Engage your Music Appreciation class with composition.
If learning basic notation is a component of your Music Appreciation class, you can have students use a free web-based notation program. The benefit to this approach is that students can immediately hear what they have written. Also, once a time signature is applied, most programs won’t allow too few or too many beats in a measure. Both Noteflight and Musescore are relatively easy to use. Also there are sources of training either in the manual or help onsite or in videos on YouTube. Notation can be played back and there is a print feature.
Students can also create compositions easily without notation using Garage Band. This particular software is only available on the MAC or iOS platforms.
Audacity is a free, cross-platform software that allows multi-track recording and editing. There are beginner tutorials on YouTube and a manual at their site.
5) Engage your Music Appreciation class with a fun music video project created on YouTube.
This is a project my students have really enjoyed. I show the class how to set up a YouTube account and use the YouTube video editor. (There is plenty of help at the site.) I show them how to search for Creative Commons videos and how to search for the free music. The assignment is to choose a short clip, or edit a longer clip to 30 seconds. Copy the same clip and set each clip with different music. The goal is to create two contrasting meanings for the clip using different music. The students write an essay about the ideas they were trying to create with the video clips. They write about how the chosen music communicates with an audience.
This assignment not only generates a lot of discussion, but also lends confidence to those students without prior music experience. Students may express that they aren’t creative, or cannot be creative with music since they have never played an instrument. This assignment is a way for them to be creative with music and learn from doing so.
Certainly the means to engage your class in participation are only limited by your creativity. There are other ways to give your Music Appreciation class a direct music experience. Take a field trip to a live concert or show is another idea that comes to mind. Assess your resources, consider your goals for the class and see what can be done. Make it memorable and fun–I guarantee your students will appreciate that!
One of my favorite parts of teaching, especially in the college classroom, is the continual need to be creative. Perhaps this plays to my nature as a musician, but I also see it as a chance to experiment and try new ideas. Human creativity is at the core of music, so being creative in the classroom is yet another way to express that concept. And hopefully get your students engaged as well!
Keep music in your heart,
Susan