Music teachers who strive to provide a broad range of experiences for their students are usually careful to include music listening among them. Although students have many opportunities to hear music in their everyday lives, most teachers agree that music listening involves skills that must be taught to children. Some might even argue that listening is the most important music skill that students learn. Although relatively few students graduate from their school music programs to go on to become active performers (even fewer become composers), virtually all are involved with music as listeners for the rest of their lives. Music teachers may be able to improve instruction by considering how people listen to music in everyday life. A number of researchers have investigated people's preferred circumstances for listening to music, why they choose the music they do, and specifically how their musical attitudes differ in and out of school settings. This article reviews the findings of such research efforts and discusses their application to the way music teachers share listening with their students.