How We Listen Aaron Copland Summary
Aaron Copland’s essay of How we Listen divides the listening of music into 3 different planes, (1) the sensuous plane, (2) the expressive plane, (3) and the sheerly musical plane. In each of the sections, Aaron defines illustrate and compares the planes against each other. Copland says most people listen to music in the primitive “sensuous plane”, listening simply for sheer pleasure. The “expressive plane” is when listeners try to find the meaning behind the notes, what the piece is saying, and what the piece is about. The third plane goes into the aspects of music and how it should be listened to. Copland had started his essay in an attempt to explain listening to music but ends off persuading the reader to enter into a more active kind of