Your Questions Answered: Musical Literacy

I was gratified to receive some nice comments, both public and private, after my post announcing that I was discontinuing the Friday Performance Picks. Let me first clarify that I will continue writing and producing other materials for Professor Carol. (She did not fire me and I did not quit.)

One of the comments to my post raised some good questions. Much of the writing on this site addresses those question in general terms, but I think it’s worth addressing them more specifically and expanding our answers.

The questions go to the heart of why and how one should listen to music. The answer on one level seems obvious, but our modern culture clouds many obvious truths.

Before going further, here are the questions:

1. You say that repeated listening is the key to musical literacy. I’d love to hear you explain what you mean by musical literacy, and what happens when we listen repeatedly to one piece.
2. [Y]ou say listening to good music is essential and that we should make it a habit. I would like to hear your thoughts on how and why and when that listening is essential and how we can make it a habit.
3. [Y]ou said we can chart our own paths through the repertoire. How do you recommend that those of us who are lost in the middle of the woods in the middle of our lives begin to chart a way out?

Let me begin with No. 1 and the issue of musical literacy.

In 1987, E.D. Hirsch published his book Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs To Know. He defined cultural literacy essentially as knowing a culture’s language, stories, symbols, vocabulary, and grammar. If you search “scientific literacy,” you will find similar criteria: an understanding of its terminology and methods and the ability to engage in reasoned discourse about science.

If you do an online search for musical literacy and land on Wikipedia, you will find a densely worded entry with a hodgepodge of definitions, which will likely convince you to abandon any desire to explore the topic further. Ignore it. It serves better as a list of things you might learn about music if you pursue it as a career.

The musical literacy that I advocate has rather modest goals. By musical literacy, I mean knowing a sufficient amount of music to identify some basic stylistic elements and to place them in some historical perspective. It includes knowing basic facts about musical instruments and different types and kinds of music. It doesn’t mean knowing all of music history or being able to hum the themes of all of the Beethoven symphonies. It does not apply only to people who read music and play an instrument.

It’s rather like being mechanically literate in the sense that you know generally how your car works even though you can’t make your own repairs.

I mean the kind of musical literacy that helps you move beyond a passive engagement with music to a more active and rewarding enjoyment.

But let’s back up a step. What do I mean by knowing music? The answer is, of course, rather subjective. Music is more abstract than visual art or literature, and because of this it may be more difficult to describe or assess one’s knowledge or familiarity with music. But I feel safe in saying that listening to a work of music once will not result in any familiarity worth noting. You may read an important novel just one time and be able to claim some reasonable knowledge of it when you finish, but remember this: even with one read, you will have immersed yourself in that novel and spent hours getting to know its characters and the unfolding of its plot.

Contrast that with listening to a Classical-era (18th- or early 19th-century) symphony, which will require maybe 25 to 35 minutes. A “long” symphony from the late 19th century, such as one by Mahler, will require a little more than one hour. If you were to invest even half the time required to read a novel into listening to a symphony, you would surely know the symphony well. And, as a bonus, you would likely remember it in much greater detail (a topic we can address later).

Knowledge of literature begins with reading some books, and knowledge of music begins with listening to music. And I don’t mean just any music, but musical works of some depth and significance. Just as you might pursue a Great Books program, you can launch your own Great Music program.

There is no bright line that you cross to become musically literate. It is a process of discovery, and you will hopefully find each step more rewarding than the last.

If this whole idea is new to you, you might start with identifying some musical works of depth and significance (our materials will help you do that) and choosing perhaps a dozen of them to serve as benchmarks for various styles, genres, and eras. Listen to those works several times until you have sufficient familiarity to anticipate where the music is going.

As a point of comparison, remember that most people achieve this kind of familiarity easily with pop music. (They can sing along with their favorite songs.) In the same way, it does not require special talent or skills to take on the world of musical masterpieces, just a desire to apply your natural talents to a more robust musical universe.

Once you have a reasonable familiarity with your several benchmark works, you can start to make comparisons. You can note the difference between works from the Baroque era and, say, the Romantic era. Gradually, you will form preferences. Indulge those preferences and enjoy process of discovering new music in the same way you enjoy reading a new book or seeing a new film.

You might also consider sharing your musical experiences with others. It’s probably easier to find a local book club than a music club, but having one or two others with whom you can compare notes can be a tremendous help. Online groups might offer some assistance, but they can also be distractions and degenerate into snob fests. It would be better to have one friend as a companion in this endeavor. Throughout my college days as a music major—with a clear imperative to learn as much music as possible—I usually found at least one student colleague with whom to share suggestions and insights.

Because of its abstract nature, talking about music can be difficult. It is not your inadequacy that makes it hard. Music is invisible and passes by quickly in time, which makes words often inadequate. That’s why sharing your thoughts with another person can help you build a vocabulary for discussing music. And doing that clearly is a sign you are achieving musical literacy.

Also, while it may seem difficult to begin, it is not. Professor Carol and I often hear many people say they don’t know where to begin. I usually suggest that people start with whatever they already like. As an example, if they’ve heard and liked Rhapsody in Blue by Gershwin, then Gershwin is a good place to start. If they heard some beautiful music played by a string quartet at a wedding, then string quartets might be a good starting place. If that seems too vague or not very helpful, an online search for musical masterworks will turn up plenty of lists. Professor Carol and I have a couple of our own lists that can help get you started.

In future posts we want to offer more detailed suggestions about how to continue building your knowledge of the repertoire. The question of why you would do this  could take us deep into the philosophical woods. Or it might point out that we all have different and individual reasons for devoting time to music. We’ll open that discussion at another time. I hope you will offer your own thoughts on the matter, but I’m confident that for all of us one short answer will be because music is good for our soul.