Welcome

We live in a world that takes music for granted. Music bombards us in stores, waiting rooms, on TV and the internet, surrounding and enveloping us - yet we rarely hear it. Instead of listening, we talk over music, using it as the soundtrack of our lives, letting it slip by almost unnoticed except in its absence. Instead of listening, we use music to define ourselves, dividing the world into people who like certain genres and forms of music and comfortably settling into our niche, rarely venturing outside it.

This blog is a gateway to a group of students at the University of Missouri-Kansas City's Conservatory of Music and Dance who are dedicated to listening. They are exploring music often overlooked or even unheard and engaging it. They are writing their impressions, their reactions to this music on their own blogs and creating a community of listeners who hear with their ears, their minds, and their hearts.

Under the list on the right, you'll see the list of these students. Go to their blogs, read their thoughts, listen to the music with them, comment on their ideas, and join their community. Begin to listen to your world.