Background. Music listening has a fundamental role in music education. When listening to classical music at school children show difficulties to focus their attention on the music, which is often unfamiliar and complex to them. Some music educators have proposed strategies to develop children’s listening skills. Research has suggested the benefits of both movement activities and visual materials to enhance music perception in non-musically trained children.

Aims. The ‘Active music listening’ approach, created by Belgium music pedagogue Jos Wuytack, who has been inspired by pedagogues such as Dalcroze and Orff, aims to teach children to understand and enjoy music better. It demands children’s physical and mental participation, before and during the listening activity, and it uses visual perception to enhance musical perception.

Short description of the activities. This workshop demonstrates teaching strategies for children and young people to learn the musical materials of orchestral pieces through verbal, vocal, instrumental or bodily performance (e.g. singing, playing, moving, dancing). Subsequently, they listen to the music while following a ‘musicogram’, which is a visual scheme representing musical elements and form. During the listening activity, participants recognize musical themes, various elements and form, and therefore the music becomes more familiar to them, which is essential for their appreciation and enjoyment of it.

Implications for practice. Listening to music at school may also be a window for learning other arts and school subjects, within an interdisciplinary perspective in music education. Being an expression of human culture throughout times and across spaces, music relates to our physical and social world (e.g. History, Geography, Sciences) and to other artistic expressions (e.g. Dance, Theatre, Literature, Painting). As music teachers, we need to actively participate, listen to, experience, feel and understand music, to be able to share with our students our enjoyment and passion for music.