Copland's What To Listen For In Music

In his own original work What to Listen for in Music, Copland describes three different crucial planes that we each must experience in order to “actively” listen to a piece of music. The first plane being the sensuous plane, which describes when one listens to music for mere pleasure. It is how we listen to music when we are not truly thinking about what we are listening to. This would include listening to music in the car or while we exercise. We get a sense of satisfaction when we hear a song that pleases our ears. The second plane would be the expressive plane; this would be listening to music in order to find meaning in a song. Copland quotes on page 9 of his book, “All music has an expressive power, some more and some less, but that all music has a certain meaning behind …show more content…
One would be listening to how the notes interact and how the timbre effects the whole song. Many people who listen to music this way get lost in studying the backbone that they forget about listening for the deeper meaning. They forget about the raw emotions that the artist was trying to get across to the listener within their work. It is easy to tell the different types of planes that different artists are trying to reach. Artists that play heavy beats with repetitive sounds and lyrics are appealing to the sensuous plane. They are trying to reach those people who are intrigued by loud noises and bass drops. Artists such as Rihanna, Justin Bieber, and Drake are some popular examples of singers on this plane. These musicians know what will sell and are doing their best to get their tune on the top chart. Some artists that come to my mind when I think of the expressive plane would be Adele and Coldplay. They put more effort in writing music that makes one think. Adele said once in an interview, “I don’t make music for the eyes but for the ears.” This is just one of many quotes from her that show her true motivation to her