Music has great formative potential; therefore, music education makes a special contribution in the overall formation of the individual. In the 20th century, music education emphasized musical performance. Recently, many scholars have rediscovered the value of listening - a complex activity that involves the individual at the cognitive, emotional, and physical level - and a didactics of listening has been developed. In 2008, the Free University of Bolzano has inaugurated, in its Degree Course in Training of Nursery and Primary School Teachers, a teaching program about this dimension of musical experience (Educazione all'ascolto musicale, i.e. Education to music listening). This program, in which I teach, is one of the few on this subject, possibly the only one in an Italian Degree Course in Education. The paper, on the basis of theory and experiences, will discuss the formative potential of music listening. On the basis of several examples it will demonstrate how it is possible to realize a music listening education in the Primary School with the support of media and technologies, and the important contributions it makes in the education of the individual and of the citizen. Particular attention will be given to the education to classical music (the general problem of the relationship between the young generations and the Classics has been discussed also in the recent Conference ICERI 2009). By listening, it is possible for the younger generations to discover the music of authors like Bach, Mozart, Beethoven etc., to understand how these composers and their music are an essential part of their culture, and to understand better the world in which they live. A specific example will regard the Fifth and the Ninth Symphonies by Beethoven and their importance for understanding contemporary culture and society.
