Chances are that future music lovers are right now sitting in the orchestra, chorus, band, or general music class, waiting to be enlightened. True, they are working diligently in rehearsals toward excellent intonation in that Schumann transcription, and they seem to be loving the gem of a concert march they've been working on, but are they also getting the recommended daily allowance of musical vitamins? Are they broadening their musical education through exposure to ragas, klezmer, and spirituals? Assuredly, in first-rate high school ensembles, students will gain sufficient access to many masterworks. But will the students sitting in rehersal each day leave the program with a love for music and a strong awareness that ballet, opera, symphonies, jazz, folk songs, and world music exist beyond the rehearsals and concerts that constitute their own immediate experience? Will an early love of music enable them to carry the torch of music into the future, as musicians, teachers, or cultivated concert goers? The author of this article asks himself these questions, and describes how he steps down from the podium for a few minutes each week to listen, enjoy, and discuss a musical selection with the class. Listening activities offer a refreshing change of pace for teacher and students and may provide an alternate access to musical enjoyment for the student wrestling with motivation or struggling to keep up in rehearsal. The students' musical experience is enriched as they gain a lifelong appreciation for music. Enhanced listening skills enable students to listen more carefully to the specific repertory they are working on in rehearsals. In acquiring further listening experience and expertise, students listen critically to their own repertory and become more sensitized to subtleties of nuance and expression. Professional recordings provide excellent models for concepts such as style, tone, expression, and ensemble. Students' ears are opened, for example, as they are exposed to a well-played march, to a beautiful chorale legato, or to the groove of a big band; and they can begin to emulate such examples within their own playing. Recordings provide students with an awareness of how individual parts fit into the whole of a particular composition. Such aural awareness can only contribute to the crucial development and skill of being able to listen to the ensemble as a whole while playing one's individual part. Through writing a listening log, students gain another means of self-expression and a vehicle for responding to music. As students listen, react, and express reactions through writing and journaling, they are developing the tools and vocabulary to discuss both the technical elements and the expressive qualities within a composition--a key component of national and state standards. Figure 1 provides a sample of a listening log entry form, as well as a sample listening repetory.