Close Listening: Music for Emotional and Professional Growth

Music is the soundtrack to our everyday lives, whether it be listening to Spotify during a workout or playing the radio during your morning commute. However, sometimes that’s all music is to us: background noise, when there is greater meaning and emotion to be discovered when we treat it as more. This session will discuss the values of “close listening” to music — that is, paying attention to both lyrics and sounds present in various types of music. We will go over how meaning is created in music directly through words and indirectly through musical notes, providing examples that demonstrate its true complexity. Finally, we will share how “close listening” is a skill that translates both emotionally and professionally to wider life experiences. We hope to provide you with a basic toolset to begin practicing “close listening,” starting with music and expanding to many experiences where listening is a valuable skill.