Music Books and Journals
The books below are listed alphabetically by composer’s (or arranger’s) last name:
Brass, Reinhild – Discovering Pathways of Listening
Brass, Reinhild – Discovering Pathways of Listening
This book about Music Teaching as a Pedagogy of Listening by Reinhild Brass was originally published in German by Gerhard Beilharz, and has been newly translated by Veronika Roemer and edited by Sheila Johns.
“At the Widar School that she co-founded in Wattenscheid, Germany, Reinhild Brass developed an unconventional approach to music education for Grades 1 through 8 centering on movement, improvisation, and a variety of newly created instruments. The auditory paths discovered and explored in this process are presented here for the first time in a comprehensive narrative: a child-centered repertoire of exercises unfolds across eight grade levels accompanied by in-depth reflection. This book aims to encourage readers to take seriously the cultivation of listening as a part of the developing child's music education.”
Reinhild Brass is a lecturer in music at the Institute for Waldorf Education in Witten, Germany. During her many years of work establishing the Widar School Wattenscheid, a Free Waldorf School that she co-founded in 1979, she created an unconventional concept for music education in Grades 1–8, centered on movement, improvisation, and a wide variety of newly developed instruments. The listening paths that were discovered and explored in this process are described here for the first time in a comprehensive way: Across eight grade levels, a sequence of child-oriented exercises is developed and presented with in-depth discussion of their implications.
This book aims to encourage readers to take up some of the listening paths described here in their work with children – and in doing so, to discover many new ones themselves.