MU 1030 Guide to Better Listening Form
Theoretical Minimum
By the end of this course, you should be able to approach any music with curiosity, precision, and cultural awareness.
Keep these three questions in mind every time you listen:
- What am I hearing, without judging it?
- What musical elements am I recognizing?
- How might this music connect to its cultural context?
First Listening
Listen to the entire recording one time without taking notes.
Do not worry about understanding everything. Do not try to identify every instrument or remember every detail. Simply listen from beginning to end.
When the music is over, take about 30 seconds before writing anything.
Your first impression
Write about the first thing you remember after the music ends. It might be a voice, an instrument, a rhythm, a melody, a sound that surprised you, a moment that caught your attention, a feeling you experienced while listening, or something you cannot quite explain yet.
Listening Notes
Listen again. This page is your workspace. It does not need to look neat or complete.
Write down anything that helps you remember what you hear.
- words or short phrases
- a timeline of important moments
- sketches or descriptions of instruments
- arrows showing changes in the music
- timestamps
- your own symbols
- questions
- ideas you cross out when your thinking changes
Describe the Sound
Describe the sound in language that allows another person to imagine it. Imagine you are talking to someone who has never heard this music.
Do not rely only on words like “fast,” “slow,” “happy,” or “sad.” Use your own words as precisely as you can.
- voices
- instruments
- rhythms
- energy
- texture
- density
- movement
- changes in the music
- anything else that stands out
Listen More Closely
Listen one more time. Slow yourself down. Pay attention to what the musicians are doing.
- What sound do I notice first?
- Which sound keeps returning?
- What changes?
- What stays the same?
- Is one instrument or voice leading the music?
- Do I hear one musical layer or several at the same time?
- Does the music seem carefully planned, spontaneous, or somewhere in between?
- What moment do I want to hear again?
- If I wanted someone else to notice one thing first, what would I point out?
Respond to the Music
Engage with the music in whatever way feels most meaningful and resonant for you. Writing is one option, but it is not the only one.
- draw, sketch, map, or work with color and shape
- move or dance
- sing, rap, speak, clap, or make another sound-based response
- make a short audio or video response
- write a poem, description, story, or set of fragments
- use another medium, form, or format that helps you engage with what you hear
If your response exists outside this form, briefly describe it here and keep the separate artifact for your weekly reflection submission.
Embodied Listening
Music is something we hear, but it is also something we experience in the body.
As you listened, did you notice any physical response?
- Did you tap your foot?
- Nod your head?
- Sit forward?
- Relax?
- Feel tense?
- Want to dance?
- Want to sing?
- Notice your breathing change?
- Notice your heartbeat?
Where do you feel the music in your body? Describe anything you experienced physically while listening.
The Social Life of Music
Music belongs to people, places, and communities. Think about the life this music has beyond the recording.
Questions
What are you still wondering about?
What would you ask the musicians?
What would you ask someone who grew up with this music?
What would you like us to discuss in class?
Preparing for Discussion
Come to class ready to participate.
If I called on you today, what would you say first?
- an observation
- something that surprised you
- a question
- an idea
- something you noticed after listening more than once
Reflection
Complete this section after class discussion.
Learning changes the way we hear music. Think back to your first listening and compare it with what you understand now.
- What do you understand now that you did not notice during your first listening?
- Did something discussed in class change the way you interpreted the music?
- Did another student’s observation help you hear something differently?
- What surprised you during our discussion?
- What questions do you still have?
- If you listened to this piece again next year, what would you pay closer attention to?
- In what ways has your understanding become deeper, more nuanced, or more informed?
Confidence Check
How confident do you feel in your observations today?
Download the Editable Working Copy
After Tuesday: download your editable DOCX and keep working in that same file. Open it in Word, Pages, or Google Docs, then add, revise, reorganize, or expand your responses after Thursday's listening and discussion.
Do not treat the downloaded DOCX as automatically finished. It is your working document. When your weekly reflection is ready, use Word, Pages, or Google Docs to export or print your revised document as a PDF, then upload that PDF to the correct Canvas assignment submission portal by the Friday deadline.
You may revise and upload again before the deadline. If part of your reflection takes another form, such as a drawing, audio file, video, movement or dance response, or another creative artifact, submit that material as part of your reflection as well. Your submission may include more than one file or format.
Creative Response Project • Milestone Meetings
Reserve one 10-minute individual meeting for each project milestone. Choose the milestone below, then choose the Thursday that works best for you. Appointments are first-come, first-served. Once another student reserves a time, that appointment is no longer available.
Milestone I • Project Concept Conference
Project Concept Conference
Milestone I gives us an opportunity to discuss the initial direction of your Creative Response Project, clarify your concept, and identify useful next steps.
One individual 10-minute conference
Appointment dates and windows
Thursday, September 10: 2:40–3:40 PM and 5:30–6:30 PM
Thursday, September 17: 2:00–3:40 PM and 5:30–6:30 PM
In person: Building 24E, Room 1211A
Do not reserve an appointment you cannot attend. Contact me and briefly explain why neither available date works for you so we can determine the appropriate next step.
Reservations are handled through Google Calendar. Students can see which appointment times remain available, but they do not see another student's private booking information.
Choose your Milestone I date
Each button opens the appointment schedule for that specific date directly in Google Calendar. Choose one date, then select any 10-minute time that Google still shows as available.
The two dates use separate Google appointment schedules. If a time does not appear after you open the correct date, that time is no longer available. Existing reservations remain in place.
Milestone II • Project Development Checkpoint
Project Development Checkpoint
Milestone II is a project-development conference. Bring concrete evidence of the work you have completed and specific questions, decisions, or problems you would like help resolving.
One individual 10-minute conference
Appointment windows
2:00–3:40 PM
5:30–6:30 PM
In person: Building 24E, Room 1211A
Do not reserve an appointment you cannot attend. Contact me and briefly explain why neither available date works for you so we can determine the appropriate next step.
Reservations are handled through Google Calendar. Students can see which appointment times remain available, but they do not see another student's private booking information.
Select the date below and choose one of the times Google still shows as available. All meetings are in person. Existing reservations remain in place.
Thursday, October 2210-minute appointments
Open this booking page in Google Calendar.
Thursday, October 2910-minute appointments
Open this booking page in Google Calendar.
Tuba/Euphonium Studio Weekly Listening Journal
What Did You Listen To?
First Impressions
Listen once without trying to solve anything. What catches your attention first?
- tone or sound quality
- energy or character
- phrasing
- rhythmic feel
- articulation
- something surprising, unusual, or immediately memorable
What Do You Appreciate?
Identify specific things you admire about the piece or performance.
Avoid stopping at “I liked it.” Point to something you can actually hear.
- sound, resonance, color, or projection
- breath and phrase length
- intonation
- rhythmic precision or time
- articulation and clarity
- dynamic control
- register changes
- style, expression, or musical character
Active Listening
Listen again, changing your focus each time. Which elements did you pay attention to?
What did you hear more clearly after listening again?
Try another way in
If it helps, respond through movement, singing, buzzing, conducting, drawing, mapping, imitation, recording yourself, or another medium or format. Then translate the experience back into musical language.
What Could You Borrow?
Identify one or two musical elements, techniques, or performance qualities you would like to bring into your own playing.
What is the performer doing that you could experiment with?
Compare Performers
If you know another recording of this piece, compare the performances. If this is your first encounter with the work, you may leave this section blank.
- How do the sounds differ?
- Does one performer use more or less vibrato?
- How do their tempos, articulations, phrasing, dynamics, or breathing differ?
- Which choices do you prefer for this music?
Turn Listening Into an Actionable
An actionable is a concrete practice goal inspired by something you heard.
What did you hear?
What will you do?
Connect It to Your Playing
How does this listening connect with something you are currently working on in lessons, scales, etudes, excerpts, ensemble music, or solo repertoire?
Questions & Reactions
What are you still wondering about?
What would you ask the performer if you could?
Did anything in the performance change how you think about the instrument, the piece, or your own playing?
Next Listening
If you listen to this recording again, what will you pay attention to next time?
Optional next-level challenge: listen until you can sing, buzz, or mentally follow substantial parts of the piece without relying on the score.
Download the Editable Working Copy
Download the editable DOCX and keep revising it in Word, Pages, or Google Docs. Add observations later as your ears, technique, and interpretation change.
Do not treat the downloaded DOCX as automatically finished. If a studio assignment asks you to submit this journal, revise the DOCX first. When you are ready, use Word, Pages, or Google Docs to export or print your revised file as a PDF, then follow the submission instructions for that assignment.
ETHNMUS 50A • Midterm Part III Oral Defense Scheduling
Midterm Exam • Part III Live Oral Defense
Parts I and II are completed in class on Thursday, October 29. Part III is a separate in-person live oral defense. Appointments are 10 minutes.
Part III oral-defense scheduling
General oral-defense signup is available on the three dates below. All appointments are in person and are scheduled in 10-minute increments.
If none of these general signup periods works, do not choose a time you cannot attend. Your TA will schedule any remaining oral defenses after Monday, November 2.
General Oral-Defense Signup
Thursday, October 29: 3:00–7:00 PM
Friday, October 30: 8:00 AM–7:00 PM
Monday, November 2: 8:00 AM–7:00 PM
All appointments are in person and scheduled in 10-minute increments.
After Monday, November 2, any remaining oral defenses will be scheduled directly by the TA.
Open the oral-defense booking page directly in Google Calendar.
ETHNMUS 50A • Critical Reading & Listening Guide
ETHNMUS 50B • Critical Reading & Listening Guide
TUBA
- The Brass Gym | Focus On Music
- Daily Routine - "The Bell Scales" | William Bell, ed. by Abe Torchinsky | Encore Music
- 20 Minute Warm-Up Routine by Michael Davis, performed by Gene Pokorny | Hip-Bone Music
- Complete Method for Tuba by J.B. Arban | Encore Music Publishers
- Complete Vocalises for Tuba by Giulio Marco Bordogni, ed. by Wesley Jacobs | Encore Music Publishers
- Ten Studies for Low & High Tubas by Johannes Brahms, ed. by John Van Houten | Encore Music Publishers
- Sixty Etudes Op. 5 for Tuba by C. Kopprasch (For High Tuba); Sixty Etudes Op. 6 for Tuba by C. Kopprasch (For Low Tuba) | Encore Music Publishers
- Fifty Etudes for Tuba by Boris Grigoriev, ed. by L. Keating Johnson & Wesley Jacobs | Encore Music Publishers
- The Complete Solfeggi for Tuba by Guiseppe Concone, ed. by Wesley Jacobs | Encore Music Publishers
- 18 Preludes for Tuba by Hubert Collinet, ed. by Wesley Jacobs | Encore Music Publishers
- Loud Playing for Tuba by Wesley Jacobs | Encore Music Publishers
- 24 Progressive Vocalises for Tuba by H. Panofka, arr. by Wesley Jacobs | Encore Music Publishers
- Tuba Players Orchestral Repertoire Vol. 1-16 by Abe Torchinsky (Links: 1, 2, 3, 4, & 16) | Encore Music Publishers
- Hal Leonard Advanced Band Method for Basses/Tuba by Harold W. Rusch with Special Studies by Arnold Jacobs (p. 46-64) | Hal Leonard
- Six Suites for Cello Solo by J.S. Bach, ed. by Pierre Fournier (Not Required) | International Music Company
- Mastering the Tuba by Roger Bobo (Not Required) | Editions Bim
- Technical Studies for Bass Clef Instruments by Clarke-Gordan | Carl Fischer
- 70 Studies for BB flat Tuba by Vladislav Blazhevich Vol. 1 & 2 | Robert King
- The Complete Boosey & Hawkes Tuba Scale Book | Boosey & Hawkes
- The Brass Gym by Sam Pilafian and Patrick Sheridan | Focus On Music
- Thirty-Six Studies for Trombone with F Attachment by O. Blume | arr. and ed. by Reginald H. Fink | Carl Fischer
- The One Hundred by Wesley Jacobs | Encore Music Publishers
- Low Etudes for Tuba | Phil Snedecor
- Low(er!) Etudes For Tuba | Phil Snedecor
EUPHONIUM
- The Brass Gym by Sam Pilafian and Patrick Sheridan | Focus On Music
- Rochut-Bordogni - Melodious Etudes - Books 1, 2, and 3
- Arban - Complete Method Bass Clef Euph-Trombone
- Guggenberger - Basics Plus: Studies for 1 or 2 Bass Clef Brass Instruments
- Ervin, Tom - Rochut Duets
- Kopprasch - Sixty Selected Studies for Trombone - Books 1 and 2
- Leiby Rochut for Two Too
- Mueller, Robert - Technical Studies (Book 1)
- Payne - Euphonium Excerpts
- Tyrell - 40 Progressive Studies for Trombone
- Vining - Rangesongs
- Voxman - Selected Studies for Trombone
- Ervin, Tom - Sixty Counterparts - Voxman Selected Studies Duet Accompaniment
Tenor TROMBONE
Selected Tenor Trombone Study Material
Detached
- Arban - Famous Method
- Bordner - First Book of Practical Studies
- Bordner - Second Book of Practical Studies
- Cimera-Hovey - Method Cimera - 170 Studies
- Cimera - 79 Studies
- Hering - 50 Recreational Studies
- Hering - Forty Progressive Etudes
- Hering - 32 Etudes
- Ostrander - The F-attachment and Bass Trombone
- Blume - 36 Studies
- Kopprasch - Sixty Selected Studies
- Miller - 60 Studies
- Mueller - Technical Studies
- Raph - Classic Vintage Studies
- Slama - 66 Studies
- Tyrrell - 40 Progressive Studies
- Voxman, ed. - Selected Studies
- Bitsch - 15 Rhythmical Studies
- Boutry - 12 Etudes de haut Perfectionnement
- Bozza - 13 Etudes Caprices
- Charlier - 32 Etudes de Perfectionnement
- Couillaud - 30 Modern Etudes
- Maxted - Twenty Studies
- Pichaureau - 20 Etudes
Legato
- Bordogni/Rochut - Melodious Etudes, Books 1, 2, 3
- Busser/Couillaud - 12 Etudes Melodiques
- Cimera - 55 Phrasing Studies
- Fink - Introducing Legato
- Fink - Studies in Legato
- Sieber/Raph - Introductory Melodious Etudes
Clef Studies
- Blazhevich - Sequences
- Edwards - Studies in Clefs (Before Blazhevich)
- Fink - Introducing Tenor Clef
- Fink - Introducing Alto Clef
- Kahila - Advanced Studies in Tenor and Alto Clefs
- Sauer - Intermediate Clef Studies
Jazz Studies
- Elkjer - Jazz Fragments
- Gale - 24 Jazz Etudes
- Johnson, JJ - Exercises & Etudes for the Jazz Trombonist
- Lipsius - Reading Key Jazz Rhythms
- Nightengale - Easy Jazzy Tudes
- Nightengale - Get Prepared for 20 Jazz Etudes
- Nightengale - 20 Jazz Etudes
- Snidero - Easy Jazz Conception
- Snidero - Intermediate Jazz Conception
- Snidero - Jazz Conception
Warm-Up/Routines
- Marstellar - Advanced Slide Technique
- Marstellar - Basic Routines
- Ostrander - 20 Minute Warm-up
- Remington - Warm-ups
- Remington/Hunsberger - Warm-ups
- Schlossberg - Daily Drills and Technical Studies
- Vernon - The Singing Trombone
- Vining - Daily Routines
Bass TROMBONE
Selected Bass Trombone Study Material
Detached
- Aharoni - New Method for Bass Trombone
- Arban - Famous Method
- Faulise - Inline Double Valve Bass Trombone - The Basics
- Hering/Stanley - 32 Etudes
- Ostrander - The F-attachment and Bass Trombone
- Raph - Double Valve Bass Trombone
- Blazhevich/Vernon - Low Range Studies
- Blazhecich - 70 Studies, bk. 1, 2 (tuba)
- Faulise - Inline Double Valve Bass Trombone
- Gillis - 70 Progressive Studies
- Gillis - 20 Etudes
- Grigoriev/Hawes - 50 Etudes
- Knaub - Technical Studies - Pi a la Bone
- Kopprasch - 60 Selected Studies (tuba)
- Maenz - 20 Studies
- Ostrander - Basic Studies
- Slama/Sauer - 66 Etudes
- Tyrell - 40 Advanced Studies (tuba)
- Kahila - Semester of Studies
- Maenz - 12 Special Studies
- Ostrander - Shifting Meter Studies
Legato
- Bordogni/Rochut - Melodious Etudes, Bk. 2, 3
- Fink - Studies in Legato for Bass Trombone
- Sieber/Raph - Introductory Melodious Etudes
- Bordogni/Roberts - Bel canto Studies
- Bordogni/Ostrander - Melodious Etudes
Low Studies
- Low Etudes for Tuba | Phil Snedecor
- Low(er!) Etudes For Tuba | Phil Snedecor
Clef Studies
- Edwards - Studies in Clefs (Before Blazhevich)
- Fink - Introducing Tenor Clef
- Fink - Introducing Alto Clef
- Sauer - Intermediate Clef Studies
Jazz Studies
- Nightengale - Undertones
- Snidero - Jazz Conception
Warm-Up/Routines
- Marstellar - Advanced Slide Technique
- Marstellar - Basic Routines
- Ostrander - 20 Minute Warm-up
- Remington - Warm-ups
- Remington/Hunsberger - Warm-ups
- Schlossberg - Daily Drills and Technical Studies
- Vernon - The Singing Trombone
- Vining - Daily Routines
Professional Organizations
Solo and Chamber Ensemble Competitions
Solo
- Pasadena Showcase Instrumental Competition
- Burbank Philharmonic Hennings-Fischer Young Artist Competition
- Leonard Falcone Competition
- International Euphonium and Tuba Festival Competition
- Jeju International Wind Ensemble Festival Solo Competition
- Markneukirchen International Competition (Open to Tuba in 2022)
- International Women's Brass Conference Competition
Open to Solo and Chamber Ensemble
- Southwest Regional Tuba Euphonium Convention Competition
- Music Teachers National Association Competition
- Concert Artists Guild Competition
- Young Concert Artists International Auditions
Chamber Ensemble
Summer Festivals
International Orchestra Festivals
- Verbier Festival Orchestra (Switzerland)
- Schleswig Holstein Music Festival (Germany)
- Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra (Switzerland)
- Pacific Music Festival (Japan)
- Youth Orchestra of the Americas (Latin America)
- American Institute of Musical Studies (AIMS) Graz (Austria)
- Prague Summer Nights Festival (Czech Republic)
Orchestra Festivals Within the United States
- Tanglewood Music Center
- Aspen Music Festival and School
- Music Academy of the West
- Spoleto Festival USA
- National Repertory Orchestra
- Brevard Music Center
- Round Top Festival Institute
- National Orchestral Institute
- Eastern Music Festival
- Texas Music Festival
- Sewanee Summer Music Festival
- Chautauqua Music School Festival
Southern California Professional Training Groups
- American Youth Symphony (generally auditions late August)
- The Hollywood Highsteppers (open enrollment; brass band; led by Marc Gaspard Bolin and Mike Bolger)
Instrument Repair in Southern California
- Brass Medic, La Crescenta
- Robb Stewart Brass Repair, Arcadia
- Sawday Horns (Don Sawday; brass designer for Eastman Instruments)
Sheet Music
Tubas and Euphoniums for Sale
In Southern California
- The Horn Guys (Pasadena)
- Brass Ark, La Crescenta
Audition Resources
- Musical Chairs
- Audition Cafe
- TubeNet Audition Page
- TromboneExcerpts.org
- AFM Audition Advertisements (requires AFM membership)
“The Colorful Feelings of Jazz”
For her Final Project in Jazz in American Culture, 50A, at UCLA (2022), "The Colorful Feelings of Jazz," Lexis Hsieh attempted to convey the “historical background of blues, women in jazz, and the joy of freedom of expression through the experience of color.” I feel the medium enabled her to convey her ideas in a way that not only made sense to me (a layman of the visual arts), but is presented so that non-artists can grasp the thoughts and concepts she introduced as well.
"Mamba's Rag" composed and performed by
Lev Boraz Beaumont
For his Final Project in Jazz in American Culture, 50A, at UCLA (2022), Lev composed and recorded an original ragtime tune. He performed it on both the guitar and banjo--with different tunings and finger picking styles, too!
“Genghis Blues: Hybridization and Heterogeneity of Sound in Tuvan and Delta Blues Blend"
Zibaa Uyghur Adil
For her Final Project in Jazz in American Culture, 50A, at UCLA (2022), Zibaa Uyghur Adil researched Paul Pena and Kongar-ol Ondar's album, Genghis Blues. Zibaa Uyghur Adil utilized the visual podcast/essay format to present her findings.
"The Roots of Jazz Music"
Krishnaya Coleman-Salgado
For his Final Project in Jazz in American Culture, 50A, at UCLA (2022), Krishnaya Coleman-Salgado submitted his painting "The Roots of Jazz Music." This piece conveys such richness and depth.
Jazz without the Patriarchy: A Podcast Episode
Anandita Pandey
For her Final Project in Jazz in American Culture, 50A, at UCLA (2022), "Jazz without the Patriarchy: A Podcast Episode," Anandita Pandey synthesized course material and supported the materials/details from our class reading/lectures/discussions in relevant and interesting ways.
I feel the podcast platform worked beautifully!
You can follow her work on Spotify (click the link to the left).
The Endurance of Jazz Music Through Social Media
Bridget Carlson
For her Final Project in Jazz in American Culture, 50A, at UCLA (2022), Bridget Carlson collected TikToks that were related to jazz music, identified common themes, and analyzed how they might influence a wide audience of viewers. She concluded that TikTok is a uniquely beneficial environment for jazz music to exist and circulate. TikTok gives jazz wider reach and larger audience. Not only does it “make[s] the music more accessible to people who want to learn how to play it,” but it “promotes collaboration, reinterpretation, and improvisation.”
In her visual essay, "The Endurance of Jazz Music Through Social Media," Bridget discusses improvisation, heterophony, orality and literacy, instructional trends, reinterpretation/"spin"/"ragging," dance and corporality, authenticity, how jazz can help facilitate the "reemergence" of jazz, and social media as a tool for jazz artist to collaborate, find community, and promote themselves.
Her research into the topics and the amount of active viewing research (statistics, social theory, etc.) is impressive, AND her inclusion of—and how to view—TikToks was not only helpful, but ingenious.
Jazz's Role in Contemporary Music: a visual podcast/essay by Gavin Trent
For his Final Project in Jazz in American Culture, 50A, at UCLA (2022), Gavin Trent researched jazz's role in contemporary music: sampling jazz in hip hop, electro swing, and musical expression within Black American Music, in general. Gavin utilized the visual podcast/essay format to present his findings. I feel the visual podcast/essay format enabled him to convey his ideas in a way that not only made sense to me (a professional musician) but is presented so that non-musicians can grasp his thoughts and the concepts he introduced well. It was quite entertaining and insightful! His hard work is evident in this project.
"A Visual History of Jazz Through Music and Dance"
Madison Hart
For her Final Project in Jazz in American Culture, 50A, at UCLA (2022), Madison Hart researched
and reenacted jazz dance through American History; she refers to her project a "visual history of jazz."
For her Final Project in Jazz in American Culture, 50A, at UCLA (2022), Emily Rusting researched Billie Holiday's rendition of "Strange Fruit," one of the most powerful and moving songs in jazz history. The hauntingly beautiful track, originally written by Abel Meeropol, speaks to the horrors of racism and the brutality of lynching. Holiday brought an entirely new level of emotion to the song, her distinctive vocal style adding weight to the lyrics. Today, it still carries immense emotional power, and is a reminder of the need to confront racism and fight for justice and equality. With its timeless message, "Strange Fruit" remains an important part of our cultural and musical history.