Listening to music

[moustache]

How do you listen to music?? Are you listening to it for a mystical/religious/aesthetic experience or just as entertainment?

The last 100 years have been a time of dramatic change for music lovers.The age of recording has introduced many to the love and passion that could have only previously been experienced in the opera house,symphony hall or drawing room. Depending on the genre of music you listen to,of course.
Some types of music are not meant for "background distraction" or to compliment a film or stage show.

For myself.classical music requires a detachment from ones personal needs and preoccupations with ones surroundings.It requires a mental attitude that helps one to glimpse new worlds and feelings.To concentrate and pay attention one can listen to the music's argument unfold and gain insight to it's resolution and inner meanings.It requires WORK.Yes,it can be beautiful as well.But pop,rap,folk,etc do not really require deep insight to understand them.
How do you,listen?
To do so,i like to close my eyes and listen with no distractions.
To turn off tv's,lights if possible,any distractions.

Sometimes i do the same with jazz.
But other than these two genres,i usually don't concentrate.Pop and most other forms of music do nothing for me.Not to say i don't appreciate them or respect them.I simply do not derive a benefit from todays popular music.

How do you view music in your life?
Does it hold a central place in your activities?
Do you attend live concerts or depend on the cd/iPod/LP??

Always wanted to read others views on this.A book i'm presently reading about the 20th century and recorded music fascinates me.
As you can tell,classical is MY passion!!!!


JD in Vancouver,Wa

 

[CharlieH.]

It depends on my mood. When I'm working on something, I always like to have music playing in the background to provide some inspiration and/or to keep me awake. I listen mostly jazz and vintage pop, and I find these jumpy, happy tunes to be very stimulating, both creatively and physically. I never work in silence unless there's some very heavy concentration required.

And on other occasions, I simply play a CD and just immerse myself into the tunes.

In all, I can't live without music, but I don't think I can thoroughly express that need in words.

 

[Harp]

...I confess, while listening to Mozart's piano concerto #9,
(Alfred Brendel), I always imagine Nadjia Salerno-Sonnenberg...
...and without her violin....

 

[moustache]

...I confess, while listening to Mozart's piano concerto #9,
(Alfred Brendel), I always imagine Nadjia Salerno-Sonnenberg...
...and without her violin....

I have had the pleasure of meeting Ms Sonnenberg twice.She is a delightful person and an even more delightful violinist!!She played the Shostakovich VC#1 that took my breath away!!And her Sibelius was stunning as well!

Alfred Brendel is THE best living exponent of Beethoven (in my humble opinion).

JD

 

[Harp]

You lucky dog!!!!!

 

[RedPop4]

Yes, to all your questions. Although, I don't get that deep into Classical, and I don't listen to today's pop.

 

[pigeon toe]

For me, music is usually a social or interactive thing. Yup, I'm one of those nerds you see driving with the windows rolled up singing their heart out to whatever the listen to!

I love driving or walking to music, or dancing to it, kissing to it, listening to it with friends, falling asleep to it, everything. I get really emotionally attatched to music as well. I can no longer listen to one of my favorite musicians because everytime I hear one of her songs I tear up, because I associate it so much with a depressing time in my life. Music brings out so many emotions for me, both good and bad.

I really enjoy going to shows, but even though I love a wide range of genres, I usually only go to psychobilly shows or concerts by really amazing older musicians like Wanda Jackson or Dick Dale. I don't really go to indie concerts (too boring) or punk shows (too rough) often, even though I love that music too.

 

[bingolittle]

..i love old country, bluegrass music......some of it is so old, it makes hank williams sr sound uptown!....i like it for the rawness and the 'nothing held back' attitude..

 

[TheKitschGoth]

I hate being without music, I've always got something playing.

pigeontoe > I do the same as you when driving.

Whether it's live or recorded I love it. I concentrate better with music playing, so sometimes I have background music. Sometimes I'll sit in my room with the lights off, just listening. Never really got on with classical music, I like some, but I guess a lot of it was forced on me so I associate it with dull music lessons and being talked at.

 

[GOK]

..i love old country, bluegrass music......some of it is so old, it makes hank williams sr sound uptown!....i like it for the rawness and the 'nothing held back' attitude..

:eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap

Some of that stuff is just great!

I'm probably a bit of a music philistine because I never actually play it just to listen. I tend to go to gigs for that. I generally put music on to do cook to, to get ready to or to sew to. Sometimes if friends come over to play boardgames etc. appropriately themed playlists get put on (ex. pirates!). Other than that, I don't bother. I'm not one of those people that has a need to have music on and I often go for days and days without listening to anything. I do actually prefer quiet! However I feel I ought to point out that this is due to having almost constant headaches, so very often having music on can exacerbate the problem.

When I do play it though, I love nothing better that to sing along at the top of my voice! lol

 

[Brian Sheridan]

I listen to music alllll of the time...Itunes has a couple of great streaming radio stations that plays vintage music, cool jazz, and secret agent music. I like the irony of my high-tech Ipod being full of monophonic, scratchy recordings from the 1930's.

BRS

 

[HoosierDaddy]

I enjoy most all types of music. It can get tiresome for me to continually listen to the same style. I enjoy radio stations that play a variety of music. Perhaps more "easy Listening"on most occassions.
I always have music in the background while doing artwork.
Several years ago,I was intrigued with a PBS series about the history of the "Blues". The raw beginnings...Howlin Wolf..leading to Stevie Ray...ending with the amazing British versions of the blues that had great infuence in my younger years. Following that..a series on "Bluegrass"! A style of music that I, previously,had little interest in,although growing up in the midwest. With this series of the history of Bluegrass,I had a chance to listen to the "masters" singing that haunting music,capturing my ear and resulting in a much greater appreciation for that style of music.
HD

 

[Mike in Seattle]

I'm one who works better with some sort of music in the background most of the time. I have the luxury of working at home, so I can pick and chose what I want to play, how loud or soft, etc. Having iTunes on my desktop computer that broadcasts either to my headphones or to the speakers throughout the house is great. We've usually got something playing softly (usually instrumental) in the background for dinner parties, and usually something livelier and louder at parties in general. I have an iPod Nano for traveling or use in the car (my car stereo had an iPod connector option), and I find it a lot more convenient that making my own music-mix cassettes years ago, or burning CD's more recently. You just pick out the performer, style, or whatever parameters in iTunes, have it move copies to the iPod in a matter of a couple minutes and then out to the car or wherever with several hours of songs. We've got playlists for various dinner parties, holiday or seasonal parties, all vocal, all instrumental, and needless to say, I've got several for different types of music for the 20's through 40's. Now that the holidays are over, I'm driving around town with a playlist of Mora's music. Sometimes it's a selection of old radio shows. But then there are times where just having silence is nice.

 

[Section10]

I must be the odd one, because I never listen to music on my own. I'm not even sure if my truck radio works. Most music irritates me, yet I'm not really against it. I think classical would have to be the best followed by old hymns and some old jazz and even some new age sounds alright. I've gotten into the habit of being alone with my thoughts and I get enough enrichment from just doing that. I like quiet times and though my wife plays the radio sometimes, when I'm alone nothing is ever on. Continual music is a very recent phenomenon in the history of mankind and people have done just fine without its constant presence for centuries. Yet, to each his own and if it works for you that's fine.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I really don't like silence -- so when I'm home I've always got the radio going, tuned to the local public radio station, which plays classical music in the morning, and a mix of genres in the afternoon before the news programs begin. In the car, I have a bunch of homemade CDs of 1930s dance-band and personality 78s, and mostly listen to these if I'm not listening to vintage radio programs on cassette. I've never had an iPod -- I've seen my niece ruin two of them, and they seem awfully flimsy for something that expensive...

I don't like headphone listening -- I don't want to enclose myself in some kind of private bubble. I like ambient sound along with my music!

I really don't listen to contemporary music, and really never have, not even when I was a kid. It's not that I militantly dislike it as much as I just don't *get* most of it. Occasionally I'll hear a current song I like, usually something with a jazz tinge to it, but mostly it all sounds the same to me.

 

[Fletch]

In the car

I read this and pictured you owning this kind of car.

Loew's Grand, Atlanta, 1952

 

[Fletch]

Oh um...

What do I listen to? How do I listen?

95% of my ambient music is vintage pop/jazz, 90% of that from the 1930s.

I hear it primarily in 3 ways:
1) by iPod while walking around in the outside world.
2) by iTunes via computer, on borderline crummy monitor speakers.
3) by home "stereo", typically either on CD or original 78.

I have a nonworking portable acoustic phonograph and a nonworking tube table radio. I may get the phono repaired but have been told the radio (a 1941 Zenith) isn't worth the cost to fix it.

I prefer ambient noise too. I even don't mind surface noise to a degree.

As I am a professional quality musician and singer (my way of saying "no gigs") and hopelessly deranged, I often sing along, play or imitate instruments.

 

[moustache]

What do I listen to? How do I listen?


I have a nonworking portable acoustic phonograph and a nonworking tube table radio. I may get the phono repaired but have been told the radio (a 1941 Zenith) isn't worth the cost to fix it.

The tube radio might not be a lost cause,Fletch.Many ham radio and electronic supply houses carry tubes of all types.Ask a ham operator (if you have any local hams that repair)and maybe he can help out.I'm a wee bit too far away,otherwise i would give it a try.Radios from 1941 are not very intricate.The circuits are easy enough.SOme tubes can replace those extinct models.

JD

 

[Lady Day]

I listen to music alllll of the time...Itunes has a couple of great streaming radio stations that plays vintage music, cool jazz, and secret agent music.BRS

YEAH THEY DO!!
I listen to music all the time. I dont have a TV, so I have playlists that are background music while I do suff, and there is stuff that I listen to for the enjoyment of listning.

I sometimes put my head between my big speakers so I can get that suround sound feel and I can listening to the small nuances of songs. There is always things to discover.

LD

 

[Mike in Seattle]

I listen to music alllll of the time...Itunes has a couple of great streaming radio stations that plays vintage music, cool jazz, and secret agent music. I like the irony of my high-tech Ipod being full of monophonic, scratchy recordings from the 1930's.

BRS

Which streams or podcasts on iTunes do you recommend?