Classical Listening Posts Up For Your Enjoyment

It's a cold and snow day here in Kansas City, the Conservatory has closed its doors against the cold and against faculty and students, and you're wondering what to do with your day.

We say open your ears, listen, and then see what we have to say about that music. The students in 352WI have completed their first set of listening journals after listening to music from the Classical Period that is off the beaten track a bit. I've listed the pieces they each covered; you can find their blogs in the blogroll on the right. Find a few that strike your fancy, follow the links, enjoy their their thoughts, comment, and join our online community.

Derek Jenkins: Mozart’s Concerto for Flute and Harp in C Major, K. 299 and Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf’s Symphony No. 1 in C major, “Die 4 Weltalter” (The 4 Ages of Man)

Edgar Palacios: John Bray’s The Indian Princess and Make a Joyful Noise, a collection of sacred hymns

Jacque Conover: Padre Anotonio Soler’s Works for Harpsichord and American Psalmody, Make a Joyful Noise

Karen Anton: John Bray’s The Indian Princess and Four Regimental Marches by Amalie, Princess of Prussia

Katie Kalinowski: William Billings’s The Continental Harmonist and a recording of Orchestral Music from the Mannheim School

Kevin Sweet: Padre Anotonio Soler’s Works for Harpsichord and John Bray’s The Indian Princess

Marcus Wiggins: William Billings’s The Continental Harmonist and Mozart’s Concerto for Flute and Harp in C Major, K. 299

Mary Ann Lucas: Maddalena Laura Lombardini Sirmen’s Concerto No. 5 in B-Flat for Violin and Orchestra and Mozart’s Concerto for Flute and Harp in C Major, K. 299

Mike Herrera: John Bray’s The Indian Princess and Make a Joyful Noise, a collection of sacred hymns

Paul Shinn: Mozart’s Concerto for Flute and Harp in C Major, K. 299 and American Psalmody, Make a Joyful Noise

Peter Lawless: Mozart’s Concerto for Flute and Harp in C Major, K. 299 and Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf’s Symphony No. 1 in C major, “Die 4 Weltalter” (The 4 Ages of Man)

Tom Marks: Salieri’s (yes, that Salieri) Falstaff

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.