Q. What is earsense?

earsense is a web site devoted to educational appreciation of music. It exploits the most basic principles of hypertext, the language of the web, to offer multi-media presentations using prose, metaphor, music notation, sound, images and a rich set of relationships in the form of hyperlinks. The goal of earsense is to provide fresh, intelligent and multi-dimensional exposures of some of the masterworks of Western music so that you can develop your own, personal and meaningful relationship to them; so that they might become an enriching part of your life.

Q. Who is the audience for earsense? Is it for me?

It is helpful to first explain what earsense is not, or rather, what existing resources have inspired earsense to be what it is, namely, something different. Most music resources fall into one of two camps. First, there are materials for the "beginner", for those who may be literate and cultural but have no formal training in music, perhaps not even any experience playing an instrument. These musical resources are often big on history, with cultural linkages to politics, biography, related developments in the other arts, critical reaction, or, oddly, even somewhat esoteric details about publishing, ordering, categorizing, performance and the like. They shy away from details about the music in particular simply because the technical vocabulary is impervious if not outright daunting. They might go as far as mentioning terms like "fugue" or "sonata" but certainly offer no general description of what those things are (too much ground to cover; can't do it every time). This first kind of resource is often disappointing precisely because it talks about everything around the music, but leaves the music itself as a black box. History, biography or a related connection in the visual arts very rarely helps one navigate through the purely aural aspects of music; it is quite rare for a particular piece of music to actually be about any of these non-musical abstractions. There has to be more to work with. Unfortunately, the majority of concert program notes, pre-concert talks, CD liner notes and easily approachable books on music fall into this camp.

The second general camp of educational materials on music do just the opposite: they plunge fearlessly into the technical details of the music itself. They may speak eloquently and insightfully about the structural details of the music but do so by assuming a basic working knowledge of music or worse, a very detailed and even specialist knowledge of the music. These resources assume that you can easily "read" a snippet of music notation, a discussion of harmonic modulations, that you know all about "fugue" and "sonata" but just need to grasp the innovative nuances of the particular fugue or sonata at hand. Worse, to find a reasonably detailed discussion of, say, a particular symphony, you might have to dig through a whole book on orchestration, harmony or form. If the first kind of resource falls short, this kind of resource is too much: it is overwhelming, intimidating, obscure. It can do a worse disservice to the music than the first camp if it falls into the wrong hands: it opens the musical black box but promptly creates a new one, built from technical obscurity, which, makes the unexplored feel unsuccessfully explored, opened but hopelessly closed again, with a new black box that remains forever impenetrable. Just about every resource that is not in the first camp falls in this second camp. There are wonderful exceptions, but, outside of both camps, very few.

Put most simply, earsense aims for the middle ground. earsense is most interested into confronting the real details of the music itself. As for the first camp, earsense assumes the much of the cultural, historical and biographical information you might want is easily found elsewhere. As for the second camp, earsense draws from its vast resources but is challenged with the mission of collating its information into a more accessible whole, providing some of the missing essential background in a new accessible way, excluding much of the detail that is esoteric, and capturing the very specifics of each musical piece with a general vocabulary and a generalized approach using diagrams and schematic, visual representations that are surprisingly missing from much of the advanced literature. earsense uses musical notation in small doses. Traditional musical notation is compact, eloquent, essential for isolating a specific bit of music and pinning down on the page as it actually as, as the composer and performer actually work with it. But every snippet of musical notation is in fact an icon representing the fact that you can click on the notation to actually hear it play. You don't need to read music to vividly and directly experience the music it represents. Compared with materials that are mute in this way (any traditional printed materials), earsense can make a specific, detailed presentation of music literally come alive in sound. This is due to the simple power of the web and hypermedia.

So: who is the audience for earsense? One clear test might be to answer the following question: have you ever tried to discover more about music only to be disappointed by either materials that are too non-musical (the first camp) or overwhelmingly technical, too much about the music (the second camp)? If you have had the desire but remain unfulfilled after unsuccessful forays (or before even having attempted any), earsense may just be perfect for you. earsense is for anyone with a passionate interest in music, a desire to deepen as well as broaden it, a willingness to acquire some new skills, to challenge your mind and your powers of perception, and to devote some among of recurring quality time to the project. The absorption of complex masterful music takes repeated exposure, and a sustained attention to go with it. It is not necessarily quick, certainly not instant. In some ways, it is quite simply a matter of habit, discipline and commitment. earsense is for those who are willing to establish, cultivate and refine their own personal relationship to the music featured here. Perhaps you will now recognize more clearly if this is you.

You don't have to read music (though you may find you will learn), you don't have to understand any music theory (if you need it, you will eventually find it at earsense), you don't have to know anything about Classical music, and you don't have to be a musician. If you are comfortable reading this prose, you should be comfortable reading just about anything you find at earsense. The key factor is your desire. Then again, if you don't already know what you are missing, you might use earsense as a guide, as a means to generate your desire. In the end, you must participate.

While earsense may be less technical, comprehensive, traditional or academic than resources composers, musicians and musicologists might usually want, we feel that earsense offers a unique perspective including occasionally novel or even profound insights. While earsense does not claim to make ground breaking discoveries on the cutting edge of musicology, it does claim to offer a correct, comprehensive, and uniquely structured set of resources that are currently unavailable in any form. For the professional, earsense is bound to be entertaining, useful, refreshing, perhaps inspirational. That is our goal.

For anyone, the ultimate answer is the nature of your own experience at earsense. Try it. See if you like it.

Q. Can I read more about earsense in general, in more depth?

Yes. You might try the earsense overview with its own multiple perspectives, or the earsense user guide for a practical tour which leads right into the heart of earsense content and experience.

Q. Can I hear anything at earsense?

Yes. Every time you see an image of traditional musical notation, you can click on it to "hear" it. In addition, there are many pages that feature complete compositions either in MIDI or MP3 format. You can hear these by clicking on links such as "music" or "play". The links should be clear from their context. The time to download the music files should be acceptable even when accessing the web using conventional phone lines.

Q. Why can't I hear anything?

If you are not hearing any sound when you click on an appropriate link, you may need to check your sound settings in a number of different places. See the sound setup portion of the earsense user guide.

Q. I can't read music. Is earsense over my head?

No. earsense is constructed so that every time you see an image of traditional musical notation, you can click it to hear it. Musical notation is concise, richly meaningful and elegant: it is perfect for a visual representation of something you can listen to. You might find that, over time, you will actually learn how to read basic music notation by habitual association with how it sounds. Avoid feeling intimidated. Music notation is easier to read than you think. If you have enjoyed music with any relish and attention, your ear and your mind are likely more musical sophisticated that you think. Relax. If nothing else, treat the musical notation as an elaborate visual icon for "play".

Q. Why isn't the sound so great?

earsense uses MIDI files and medium quality MP3 files. These technologies offer a reasonable solution given the issues of network bandwidth, copyright and the desire for acceptable sound. The listening experience afforded by earsense should be reasonable though not necessarily high fidelity. You should consider the quality of your computer's speakers, headphones or your connection to a stereo system. Please be aware that, ultimately, earsense recommends that you invest in high quality recordings of the music featured here and use them as the ultimate listening experience to accompany the earsense commentary. You can easily acquire CDs and even convert them to MP3 files yourself so that you can have the music handy on your computer as you browse the web.

Q. Do I need a high-speed connection to the internet to use earsense?

No. We have tested and largely lived on the most modest phone connections to the internet. MIDI files are quick to download. The MP3 files used at earsense are small snippets which should load just as quickly. If you have a higher speed connection to the internet, you should have no problems what so ever.

Q. Where do I start?

There are many places to start. earsense is designed so that you can essentially dive in a variety of places and move around from there as you see fit. If there is a central design feature operating at earsense it is that nothing is sequential or linear, there is no "right way" of learning, everything is relevant in its own way and on its own time schedule and everything is interrelated. For the most part, you can start just where you are, follow a link and let that lead you onwards to the places of interest and import as determined by your own instincts. That said, earsense does have some organization, a loose sense of order and progression. Here is a modest list of potential entrances to the core of earsense content. Pick one or more and be on your way.

What is a fugue?
How about a wonderful piece of music
Do you know about Dmitri Shostakovich?
Start with a visual diagram
Tell me more about Bach
Read any good books lately?
Got some thought provoking words about music in general?
What's all this talk about texture?
Show me some interesting musical notation
Want to listen to some great music?
How about another piece?

Q. Once I have started, how should I "keep going"?

Musical experience is never ending. You can listen to and contemplate a single masterwork over and over, for days, weeks, months and years. The music featured on earsense is timeless: created long ago, it endures. Depending on your own experience, it might take more than one go for a particular composition to speak to you. The first answer to "how to keep going" is to garner some patience and stay where you are. Perhaps the simplest instruction is "go away for a while and come back again". Deep experiences come from repetition and iteration, from master works that reward each return visit with a new or varied encounter. From any particular earsense page, you can follow the links to something new (see the navigation section of the earsense user guide) and eventually find your way back (through a new forward path). From a particular selection of music, you might move between prose, notes, visual representation and the sounds of the music itself. Kind of like viewing a painting from different spots in the room. Follow a link to a word definition in the related vocabulary and after reading and contemplating, follow the links it offers. Move to the "next" or the "previous" piece. Check out the bibliography or suggested external links to pursue a tangent, flesh out a specialty or just see what other folks have to say. You can always print out an earsense page or two and take it with you where you will listen closely to your own music, in your own space, in your own time.

Perhaps you are already inspired and motivated to make a systematic pass, a comprehensive tour of earsense and the complex, multi-part musical work it features. Great! earsense is organized with you in mind. First check out Bach and the fugues in the Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1. Be sure to work your way through the vocabulary. How? Why not one fugue a week (or a day)? A vocabulary term once a day (or a week). Pick a term such as stretto or sequence then study (listen in conjunction with earsense meta-music) all of the fugues with that aspect in mind. Now, challenge your experience and your knowledge with a second set of examples: Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 2, or, more adventurously, check out Shostakovich's Op. 87. You get the idea. earsense covers a great deal of music involving lots of listening time, reading, browsing, reflecting, and listening again. earsense is designed to support a multitude of explorations, each beginning in a different place and progressing through a unique choice of relationship links. How you keep going is ultimately the product of your satisfactory interaction with earsense, your initiative, you discipline and your desire.

Q. Where are complete high-fidelity recordings of music on earsense?
Q. Why can't I hear the whole piece?
Q. What's up with MIDI files?

earsense does not provide complete, high-fidelity music in conjunction with its commentary. earsense is not the music, it is about the music; earsense is not music but meta-music. Due largely to copyright, expense and bandwidth, earsense is not (yet) able to provide the complete experience. Think of earsense as a book, an elaborate CD liner note, a class or your own reflections. Use it in conjunction with your primary, high-quality, complete, portable, legal and flexibly accessible music experience whether that be a concert, your walkman, a long drive in the car, you and your beloved home stereo, or even you at your computer using your own CDs or MP3 files. Where legally possible, earsense provides partial musical samples to capture the essential aspects of a composition.

Due to the speed of loading, the relative high fidelity, and the generosity of the creators, earsense does provide MIDI files of many complete musical pieces. MIDI files are, in a nutshell, computer scripts for directing your computer "machine" to generate sound. MIDI files exploit your computer as though it were an elaborate player piano. While that is technically accurate, it is a bit crude. MIDI files can be lovingly crafted by a skilled artisan to render an acceptable musical experience for certain kinds of music. earsense gladly makes use of them as a minimum provision and, in fact, a reasonable one given the goals and the constraints of the web. As musical essence, as basic rendering, as modest demo to illustrate a point, concept or theme, MIDI files a fantastic tool. Given your computer setup and your willingness to tinker, you can even customize the way MIDI files play.

Nonetheless, the music featured on earsense was created specifically for arguably the most expressive and nuanced performances our culture can muster. After the composer, the full experience depends on a complex system that includes instrument, performer, time, training, the transmission of a complicated aural culture, acoustics, recording, the parameters of retransmission and the multi-faceted attitude of the listener within an inner and outer state that is conducive to a proper listening. Yes, it is that complex. The ideal way to listen to Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier is to have a highly specialized, rare and expensive artist-performer sit at your recently tuned grand piano (or period Harpsichord) and play the preludes and fugues as you desire, when your mood, your timetable and your multi-faceted musical senses are fully available. A MIDI file is a far cry, as is moderate quality MP3 file, what to speak of visual distractions of your computer screen, the unlikely place of your cubicle, the kind of day your are having.

It is not all that bad. The chief variable you can control is your own attitude. There is more music to hear in a rustic street band that most of us ever have the personal resource to apprehend. Find a musical reproduction setup that suits you reasonably well, then give it time and attention. earsense is here to supplement your experience, to tweak your attention, and thereby your attitude, and through your attitude, your own, personally meaningful attention, ultimately filling even a modest musical "reproduction" with ever satisfying earsense.

To help you locate and select fine recordings of music to accompany our meta-music, earsense provides some recommendations.

Q. Why all the multiple pop-up windows?

earsense has tried to use a simple, efficient and widely available means of web presentation to enable you to maintain more than one point of focus with reasonable flexibility. With just a bit of preparation on your part, this appears to be a workable scheme. Once again, there are variables. It may likely be different than your experience with other web sites. See the windows portion of the earsense user guide for a bit more orientation.

Q. Why is the earsense style so, well, plain?

earsense is about music, the supreme artistic manipulation input for your solitary sense of hearing. As such, earsense endeavors to minimize non-aural distraction, to frame its materials in way that is essentially static, to place its content rather than push it. earsense is not selling anything that the music does not have inherently. The earsense style is intentionally very spare, efficient, well-organized but quiescent. Our models are fine books, libraries, museums and the private realm of your own reflections. The feature content of earsense concerns master works of art that are hundreds of years old and yet more vital today in themselves than much of what inundates us day to day. They deserve their own space, they don't need to be hyped, and they will wait for you. It is precisely and only your personal attention that brings them to life. earsense offers thoughtful companionship, but not a dazzling hard sell. See the style section of the earsense user guide for a deeper commentary.

Q. I like the diagrams, but where's the bouncing ball?

Animated visual supplements to music can be compelling. But they are also time consuming and even problematic in the resource constrained and highly unstandardized world of the web. At present, earsense resources are unable to fruitfully approach the idea. But there is a deeper philosophical angle. Great music speaks to the ears and to your sustained aural attention to its details which are precisely details for the ears and the larger system of mental and emotional consciousness that produces your full fledged earsense. The most important relationship you build with music is with its sound. It is at once purely abstract and purely sensuous. It is revealing that the most profound musical experiences tend to cause the listener to close her eyes. The visual can easily become a distraction.

An otherwise static sample of music notation or a still visual diagram provides a set of cues that your mind must actively connect to the details of the listening experience. It places the burden of sustained identification on your own inner musical consciousness. This assures that you will be not passive; it challenges you to actively hear. The bouncing ball is in fact your own awareness, driven at once by the progression of the music, the pattern matching of your earsense, and the sustained animation of your consciousness. You are the bouncing ball.

Q. Is there a search feature on earsense?

Currently, no. The need for a search feature is well noted; it will be added. Stay tuned.

Q. Will earsense add more musical features in the future?

Absolutely. We have lots of ideas, plans, dreams, well thought out schemes. We only lament the times it takes to produce them and the limited time and resources we have. earsense will evolve and expand as time passes. Please stay with us. If you would like to be informed of new features as they arrive, contact earsense.

Q. Does earsense feature only "classical" music?

Presently, yes. Classical music, in the broad sense of Western Art Music, is a vast terrain spanning hundreds of years of important artistic creativity, complexity and history. It is the central mission of earsense to chart certain threads and highlights of this rich tradition in an effort to show that it is not just "Classical music" but a diverse and multi-faceted universe of musical experience that is vital, fulfilling and inexhaustible

Classical music appears to be a specific, even limited genre largely because of its lack of currency in contemporary popular culture. It is further pigeonholed by unfortunate and negative associations with class structure, wealth, race, snobbery, intellectualism, religion and history, what to speak of television commercials for diamonds, luxury automobiles and investment brokers. Because of its longer time frame (a movement in a classical composition may last up to 15 minutes, the entire piece an hour) and its relative abstraction (no dancing, videos, light shows or even talking), Classical music is not featured by popular media and, for most people, is simply not a known reality. earsense is dedicated to an alternative trend.

All of this is not to say that Classical music is necessarily "better" or "more worthy" than any other genre. It is more that in a fantastically diverse and productive global music culture, it gets short shrift. Like any musical genre, its "meaning" or its "artistic success" is based on a set of acculturated expectations, a vocabulary, a set of forms, a history of expression and innovation, a context. These conditions are hard to obtain in our modern world of sound bytes, instant gratification, fractured attention, hype and sell. earsense is committed to providing an alternative, to enable this specific category of musical experience to sing.

On the other hand, common principles and techniques of musical rhetoric underlie much of the music we enjoy whether it be pop, rock, jazz, musical theatre or a blend. A study of Classical music yields tremendous insight into other genres. And it is just as true that familiarity with and direct reference to popular genres yields insight into Classical music. Such comparisons and contrasts show both how multiple genres are similar and also how they are distinct. As such, earsense may well incorporate non-Classical musical genres into its feature presentations in the future. Until then, we still have a vast terrain to explore under the deceptively simply rubric of "Classical Music".

Q. Does earsense ever get out of date?

No. earsense features musical master works that are eternally enduring highlights of our music culture. The creations of Bach and Beethoven are finite and complete. They will never be deprecated, upgraded to a newer version, rendered incompatible, unsupported or out of stock. This is a refreshing prospect compared to many of the resources on the web. While earsense can only ever represent a partial, incomplete view of our profound and enduring musical culture, that view remains eternal and eternally relevant It is our mission that earsense will never go away and that, over time, it will only expand.

Q. Can I get on a mailing list to find out about new content at earsense?

Yes. Contact earsense.

Q. Can I ask a question that is not in this list?
Q. Can I offer constructive feedback?
Q. Can I contact earsense?

Yes. Contact earsense.

Q. How does earsense stay alive?
Q. How does earsense make money?
Q. Is earsense a business?
Q. What's the catch? Is this just another kind of fly-by-night e-deal?

earsense is a non-profit organization devoted to educational music appreciation. Our mission to provide meaningful resources for free, using the most accessible medium currently available: the web. Our financial needs and responsibilities largely center on two issues: a) keeping earsense on the web (e.g. hosting) and b) buying the time to create our feature materials. We have things in the works but we are quite open to suggestions and new means of support. If you have creative ideas for helping to fund earsense, we are all ears. Please contact earsense, As for "catches", "scams", hidden costs, or undisclosed ways in which we might exploit you, the answer is: no, there are no such things nor concerns for you as and audience. That's it!

Q. How long has earsense been around?

earsense first appeared on the web in 1997. The knowledge, passion, and the desire to do something like earsense are much older than that. In many ways, earsense is the evolving product of many years of gestation. We still have a long way to go. Now that we are "here", we hope to be so indefinitely.

Q. Does earsense have some kind of aesthetic, moral, economic or political agenda?

Economic, political or moral, no. Aesthetic, yes. earsense is dedicated to cultivating a rich musical existence. earsense is chiefly fascinated by classical chamber works with supreme aesthetic merits; it is the explicit agenda of earsense to explore, celebrate and ultimately promote these things. It is the mission of earsense to make musical presentations easily accessible to you, at least more accessible than they have been in the past. If nothing else, earsense is motivated by the awareness of something incredible that is outside the experience of many. Our chief agenda is to share.

Q. I did a search for earsense on the web and discovered several Buddhist sites. Is there a connection?

No, and yes. earsense was chosen independently from its relationship to the Buddhist term earsense. On the other hand, the cultivation, activation, experience and reflection of earsense is profoundly akin to the Buddhist concept of mindfulness. The conception, implementation and realization of great music is a daunting feat involving discipline, difficulty, practice, patience, compassion, and the greatest demand for presence of mind - to be in the moment, free of distraction, consonant and coordinated, integrated and open. This is true of the performer and this is true of the listener. The fruits of this highly cultivated experience are inspired and exalted, ravishing and ultimately inexpressible. Sounds a bit like Nirvana. While there is no explicit or even conscious Buddhist subtext to earsense, there is an exquisite parallel. As earsense strives for the sustained cultivation of music appreciation through practice, reflection and ongoing commitment, Buddhism is a stunning metaphor. It certainly suggests that our musical lives are or can be spiritual.

Q. Does music itself ultimately answer all questions?

Yes. It is also raises so many more beautiful ones that you would never imagine if you had never heard it.