How do you listen?

[Harpo]

Since everybody here listens to a lot of music, I'm wondering about your listening habits, e.g.:
Do you require complete attention to the piece, or can you multi-task—read, computerize, eat, etc.? 
Do you like music playing in the house all day long, or do you devote certain periods to it?  Can you tune music out while doing other things, or are you distracted by it?
Do you use earphones?
Do you prefer live concerts to CDs--or are they two different animals?
Do your housemates share your music listening habits or do they complain about the amount or type of music?

These issues affect my home life, needless to say....

[ChamberNut]

Good morning Harpo! 

Do you require complete attention to the piece, or can you multi-task—read, computerize, eat, etc.? 
Not necessarily, and often I don't pay complete attention because I'm doing other things.  I do prefer being able to give it my full, undivided attention.  But a hectic work/family life makes that a very big challenge. 

Do you like music playing in the house all day long, or do you devote certain periods to it?  Usually devote certain periods to it. It has to be loud enough so that I can still hear most of the details even if I'm in another room.

Can you tune music out while doing other things, or are you distracted by it? I can be distracted by it, if it is a loud orchestral work or something with a great deal of dissonance.

Do you use earphones? Often

Do you prefer live concerts to CDs--or are they two different animals?Two different animals.  I love the atmosphere and experience of a live concert.  Nothing can really match that.

Do your housemates share your music listening habits or do they complain about the amount or type of music?My wife listens mostly to folk, Beatles and hippity-hop.  Although she'll often put on the Chamber Music cable radio station on.  She enjoys some of the classical music I listen to, but I can't have it on all the time.  She can only take so much of it.

[Bulldog]

The only time I don't give music my complete attention is when I'm driving.

I don't play music in my home all day long.

Headphone use is frequent.

I prefer home listening to concerts.

My wife does not share my musical interests but never complains.

[DavidRoss]

Do you require complete attention to the piece, or can you multi-task—read, computerize, eat, etc.?  As with anything else, if really listening I give it my full attention.

Do you like music playing in the house all day long, or do you devote certain periods to it?  Devote certain periods to it, seldom more than a couple of hours at a time.  Silence has its virtues.

Can you tune music out while doing other things, or are you distracted by it? I can tune it out if played quietly and it's not too obnoxious or too interesting.  Most good music beckons too much for me to concentrate on work if it's playing in the background.

Do you use earphones? With iPod when exercising or shopping with my wife or flying.  I use headphones at home sometimes for privacy (mine or others').

Do you prefer live concerts to CDs--or are they two different animals?  Two different animals. Real music is live performance and it's well worth the hassle and expense to attend several times a season.  Recordings have many virtues live music doesn't share, however.  Just as I'd rather not visit the concert hall to hear a recording, I'd also prefer not to have a real orchestra play in my living room.  But live chamber music works quite well in the living room.

Do your housemates share your music listening habits or do they complain about the amount or type of music?  My wife is a classical musician who shares many of my tastes, though she prefers chamber music to orchestral and has little patience with the rambling indulgence of Bruckner or Mahler (and cannot stand Wagner).  She also listens to more pop music than I.  Headphones (see above) minimize complaints when we would otherwise be at odds.

What about you?

[Opus106]

Yes, I can multi-task, although I would like to give my complete attention to the music more often.

I'm not in the house all day long, and I don't carry a portable player around, so I'm restricted to listening only at certain periods of time. In the evenings through mid-night, usually. Then again, there are times when I would prefer not hear any music at all, either because I'm not in the mood or because I know I wouldn't be giving the music the attention it deserves.

I don't use earphones.

Mostly CDs. I have been to very few concerts and mostly they were solo recitals or chamber music.

My family members don't complain -- often. They sometimes say it is loud, but that's about it. They enjoy a waltz or two, but nothing more.

[nut-job]

I believe to value music you must also value silence.  I listen to serious music only when I can devote my full attention to it.  This limits it to a short time each day, sometimes only half an hour, but I find this is the most rewarding way for me to do it.  I normally use speakers, but I have fairly serious headphones and a headphone amp for when listening at acceptable volume level for me would be unacceptable for others nearby.

[bhodges]

Do you require complete attention to the piece, or can you multi-task—read, computerize, eat, etc.? 

The former.  If I try to do something else, the music always wins and the other task suffers.

Do you like music playing in the house all day long, or do you devote certain periods to it?  Can you tune music out while doing other things, or are you distracted by it?

My goal lately is an average (sometimes much more, sometimes less) of two hours each day of dedicated listening, whether at home or at a concert.  But I could never have music going all the time; as several here have said, silence is crucial.  I'd even go further and suggest that people make a conscious effort to make silence a part of the day--and not just during sleep, either.

And as for "tuning out" music, increasingly we live in a world with a great deal of "aural debris" that is all but taken for granted.  If I'm not in the mood to devote time to focused listening, it's best to turn it off.

Do you use earphones?

Yes, with pleasure.  I live in an apartment with neighbors all around, who do not care to join me in listening to Berg's Lulu at high volume levels. 

Do you prefer live concerts to CDs--or are they two different animals?

The latter.  There is nothing like live music--of actually seeing the music being created on the spot--and many things like Mahler are just vastly better in live performance.  That said, I am grateful to live in an age in which something recorded can be heard hundreds, even thousands of times.

Do your housemates share your music listening habits or do they complain about the amount or type of music?

Happily, the sole potential complainer would be me, and I never have a problem with the amount or type of music. 

--Bruce

[prémont]

I always give music my complete attention except when it makes me fall asleep.

I don't play music in my home all day long.

Headphone use is infrequent.

I prefer home listening to concerts.

My wife does not share my musical interests but never complains.

[karlhenning]

Happily, the sole potential complainer would be me, and I never have a problem with the amount or type of music. 

The only complaint, is the pitch of desk-sag beneath the CD pile 

[Todd]

Do you require complete attention to the piece, or can you multi-task—read, computerize, eat, etc.? 

I can multi-task, and I often listen to music while working, but I prefer to focus my complete attention on music when possible.


Do you like music playing in the house all day long, or do you devote certain periods to it?

When I listen at home I devote time to listening to music.


Do you use earphones?

Only at work.


Do you prefer live concerts to CDs--or are they two different animals?

Different animals.  I have different expectations for concerts and recordings.  If I could hear everything live, I'd probably prefer concerts, but there's a lot of music I'll never be able to hear in person.


Do your housemates share your music listening habits or do they complain about the amount or type of music?

My wife likes some classical music, mostly classical era stuff, though she also likes Lulu for some reason.

[some guy]

I have fairly serious headphones and a headphone amp for when listening at acceptable volume level for me would be unacceptable for others nearby.

When I went to an audiologist about tinnitus, she asked if I used headphones and how loud I set them. I used them a lot and pretty loud.

She said that if the person next to you can hear the music, it's loud enough to be damaging your ears, damage that's not reversible. Also, since the sound is so close, your ears have a more difficult time readjusting, which contributes to tinnitus. So, since I want to keep listening to music, I cut down my headphone use and cut the volume dramatically.

So there's your ear protection advice, for free! (I had to pay for mine, of course.)

Otherwise, I listen to music a lot, with or without distractions. I also listen to a lot of what I call hospitable music, that is, music that neither interferes with nor is interrupted by environmental sounds. That also means I'm always listening pretty intently, even if the stereo is off. Oh, it's fun!

I don't have any housemates* at the moment, but I do have to adjust my listening to the schedule of the upstairs neighbor. She's pretty good about keeping her "crap" (as she puts it!) low enough, too.

Live is best of course, sonically, but how many things could one hear live in one lifetime? Plus, how many things could one hear dozens/hundreds of times--and with performers who are dead? So recordings are also good!

*the last one was a composer; she didn't listen to music a lot, and I got to hear sometimes the same bar dozens/hundreds of times!!

[karlhenning]

*the last one was a composer; she didn't listen to music a lot, and I got to hear sometimes the same bar dozens/hundreds of times!!

Oh, but that must drive anyone who is not the composer merde-de-singe.

[Franco]

I rarely listen to a piece of music with all my attention.  Of course, I have done this for a specific work (e.g. an opera), but mainly a large and eclectic selection of music is the background score of my life.  I have a wireless system and broadcast music from my iTunes library to several rooms all over my house, so there is no place where I cannot hear what is playing as I move around and do various things.

I have it on all the time wherever I am, from when I awake until I go to sleep.  The only time music is not playing is from Friday afternoon through Saturday sundown. 

Despite being primarily occupied with something other than simply listening, I am very much aware of what is playing, and often will stop what I'm doing to listen more intently - but generally, it's just there - all the time - and on a randomized play format, but limited to broad fields of genre so I don't often have to hear Muddy Waters followed by Milton Babbitt.

I hardly use earphones, except when I'm an listening to the iPod when commuting.  Amazingly my wife has never complained, unless something very dissonant (either classical or jazz) happens to play.

And then there are periods, sometimes lasting for months, when I do not listen to any music at all.

[Bulldog]

I prefer home listening to concerts.

My wife does not share my musical interests but never complains.

I like these two responses. 

[Dr. Dread]

Since everybody here listens to a lot of music, I'm wondering about your listening habits, e.g.:
Do you require complete attention to the piece, or can you multi-task—read, computerize, eat, etc.? 

multitask

Do you like music playing in the house all day long, or do you devote certain periods to it?

all day long

Can you tune music out while doing other things, or are you distracted by it?

depends

Do you use earphones?

sometimes

Do you prefer live concerts to CDs--or are they two different animals?

CDs sound better

Do your housemates share your music listening habits or do they complain about the amount or type of music?

yes.  complaints.

[Bulldog]

Do you prefer live concerts to CDs--or are they two different animals?

CDs sound better

Another answer I appreciate.  It's good to read this sort of feedback, certainly an antidote to the tired refrain that recorded music can't hold a candle to live concerts.

[karlhenning]

Another answer I appreciate.  It's good to read this sort of feedback, certainly an antidote to the tired refrain that recorded music can't hold a candle to live concerts.

Well, I had nearly interposed with:

CDs sound better

Not to me.



But then, (a) Symphony Hall's acoustics are legendary, and (b) the BSO are on excellent form of late.  (Apart from my usual — I hope not tiresome — remark on how being in the space is a richer sound than two (even excellent) speakers can provide.)

[Dr. Dread]

I don't plan on moving to Boston any time soon. Maybe next life...

[karlhenning]

I don't plan on moving to Boston any time soon. Maybe next life...

Come visit, then. Dude. We'll go to Symphony, and you can tell me which CDs sound better 

[karlhenning]

Same standing invite to Don, so long as he leaves his bulldog back home