How do you listen to new music?

[Norseman]

I sometimes like to read the music along with the first (or second) listening, if I have the score or sheet music available.. On one hand, it's easier to learn and follow the music this way, (and you're practising your score reading skills) but on the other hand, it takes away some of the "surprise" of listening to a new work, as you will to a certain degree know what's coming..

And as some others have mentioned, three "listens" often seems to be what I need to "get" the music. But that depends on the piece of course, some very light pieces might require less, some more difficult music might require more. But if there's nothing particularly attractive about it upon the first listen, I might not give it another go..

[Superhorn]

   You  are  absolutely  right  to  give  music  repeated  hearings.  There  is  simply  no  substitute  for  this, although  you  may  really  enjoy  SOME  works  at  first  hearing.  The  more  you  listen,  and   keep  giving  the  music  a  chance, the  easier  it  will  become  to  understand  things  in  the  future.  Practice  makes  perfect.  This  has  worked  for  me  countless  times.
  Music  that  completely  baffled  me  on  first  hearing   almost  always  starts  to  meke  more  sense  with repeated  hearing.  Don't  give  up !!!
  You  won't  regret  it.

[DavidW]

It's funny that in grad school I used to listen to music in the background all of the time, but now it's impossible.  If I do that, I just don't work.  I listen to music instead.  So music listening is more of a treat for me to give my undivided attention to.

I need multiple listens to really like something, I start warming up to it after a few times but really need to listen to something at least a dozen times to really start loving it.  I know that probably many of you feel like you have to move on because you see that huge cd collection, and it makes you nervous seeing them collect dust.  Well my collection is stored away in a closet so I can listen to the same music as much as I want without getting nervous about getting time in with the other cds!

[Elgarian]

I've made a breakthrough in my listening habits.

In the days when I thought I was almost exclusively a late Romantic fan, I was incredibly slow on the uptake. During the first listening to something like a new symphony, I'd get almost nothing from it, no matter how hard I focused. I think I have a poor musical memory or something. Anyway, over the years I developed my own version of the 'background' method described by others here. Basically, this was to play the music while I was doing something else (I don't mean talking - I mean doing some job or other - or eating lunch while reading a newspaper). After 2 or 3 such playings, enough of the subliminal absorption process would occur for the music to start to feel 'familiar' - and from then on, I could actually sit and listen to it properly. But sometimes it would take more listenings even than that. I love Elgar with a profound love, but it's taken me years to get to the point where I feel that I have the beginnings of a really worthwhile grasp of what's going on in the violin concerto.

(Opera has never been a problem in that way, though. Something about sitting with a libretto, following the words, and with imagined images of the unfolding drama, seems to make the music easier to absorb, even on first listening.)

But then not very long ago, I discovered Baroque. I thought I hated the stuff; thought it was clinical, and artificial. But no one had ever told me I should listen to Baroque operas; and particularly Handel operas! Suddenly, listening to music became easy! I don't need any of this subliminal absorption any more. The tunes are so easy to lock onto, the music so infectious, that although it goes on and on getting better the more I listen, that initial tough teeth-gritting getting-to-know-you process simply doesn't need to happen. Baroque and roll. The easiest way into music that I've ever found..

[mc ukrneal]

I have to admit that I have done all of the above at some point.

When I get a new disc (or group), I'll usually play all of them fairly quick in order to see if the piece sounds like what I expected. I'm just exploring. I'll play some a few minutes, fast forwarding from track to track, and I'll let others play for longer if I get into. I will typically scan through the booklet as I'm scanning through the disc. This is all played on the stereo. Then, I'll rip it. And then I'll listen to it at some point in the future depending on mood. Some will get ear-marked for the car too. I generally try to listen to new discs when I get them, otherwise, they can get lost or forgotten.

I don't really try to analyze the music too much at first, but just try to enjoy it.

[Sorin Eushayson]

When I hear a work for the first time I try to give it my undivided attention without over-analysing it.  I try to listen to it the same way I might if I were at a concert (assuming I'm not at a concert in the first place!); I just try to enjoy the music as much as I can that first time and trust that, if it is, indeed, good music, it will connect with me immediately.  That first listening generally sets the foundations for my future listenings of the work; getting a good first impression of the piece is important, methinks.  I usually don't make up my mind until at least the third hearing, which is also about the time I become comfortable and familiar with the piece...

Now, if I get a new recording of a work I'm already very familiar with I refuse to succumb to temptation and give the tracks a quick preview on my music player!  A good, solid first hearing is in order here!

Anyhow, that's how I roll. 

[karlhenning]

Just Do It™

[Sorin Eushayson]

Just Do It™

Be careful - you don't want Nike™ coming after you! 

[karlhenning]

Muat be all those Nike™ logos I saw around town at the time of the Nike™ Boston Marathon!

[drogulus]

    I can't use music as background. If I'm reading a book and put on music I put the book down, or I turn the music off. This is in contrast to Web-based reading, where I read and post here and watch TV news. With unfamiliar music I do tend to employ total immersion, playing pieces over again. Or if I can't do that for some reason I'll go back several times over a period of days and try to "get" a piece.