Active or passive...Poll

[Harry]

What a curious idea. I workout during listening, so I am a active listener.
I sit still but am active also. o, dear I am confused now....

[mn dave]

I guess it depends on how much of your focus is on the music.

[Harry]

I guess it depends on how much of your focus is on the music.

Ahhhhhhhhhh, totally my friend, totally

[mn dave]

I have music on all the time. However, if I really must concentrate on a task, then I turn it off.

[Florestan]

Totally passive. The only thing I can do, if need be, while listening is reading.

[Henk]

If possible I listen to classical music actively, I focus on the music. I listen jazz as background music when I am reading. Works fine.

[karlhenning]

I have music on much of the time.  However, when I really must concentrate on the music, then I ditch the task.

[ChamberNut]

Aren't we all "passive aggressive", according to some GMGers (past and present)? 

[Harry]

Aren't we all "passive aggressive", according to some GMGers (past and present)? 

That was a nail deep into our flesh Ray!

[Kullervo]

The terms are a little confusing. Harry says he is an active listener because he listens while he does his workout, and Florestan identifies himself as a passive listener, by which he means that he doesn't do anything else when he listens.

I assumed that "active" listening would be listening to music and doing nothing else, while "passive" would mean to have music playing while one does some other activity. I guess it depends on whether or not you consider concentrating on music an activity.

That said, I am an "active" listener, in that I devote my undivided attention to the music while I am listening. I think that one can't really dig deeply into a piece unless one listens in this way, but I speak only from my own experience.

I think it also has a lot to do with what you are listening to. I notice devotees of the baroque, classicism and the early romantics tend to be passive listeners, while fans of late romantics, modernists and contemporary composers tend to be active listeners.

[Sarastro]

What a curious idea. I workout during listening, so I am a active listener.
I sit still but am active also. o, dear I am confused now....

Unless you are Julius Caesar, you can't perform two tasks simultaneously with equal success. If I'd worked out, I'd have concentrated more on working out. Actually, once I brought Turandot to the gym and very soon understood it was a dumb idea. I couldn't concentrate on the gym, all my thoughts were about Turandot.

So yeah, I join Florestan here. Though sometimes I take a player and listen while walking -- just because there is nothing to concentrate on, just watch the path and don't fall. And sometimes during the boredom physics lectures I listen to music in my head. 0:) And then it is the only thing I do, physics exists no longer.

PS: And that is why I stopped doing sport activities; now there is more time for music I can afford.

[Bulldog]

The terms are a little confusing. Harry says he is an active listener because he listens while he does his workout, and Florestan identifies himself as a passive listener, by which he means that he doesn't do anything else when he listens.

I assumed that "active" listening would be listening to music and doing nothing else, while "passive" would mean to have music playing while one does some other activity. I guess it depends on whether or not you consider concentrating on music an activity.

That said, I am an "active" listener, in that I devote my undivided attention to the music while I am listening. I think that one can't really dig deeply into a piece unless one listens in this way, but I speak only from my own experience.

That's also how I see it.

[not edward]

The terms are a little confusing. Harry says he is an active listener because he listens while he does his workout, and Florestan identifies himself as a passive listener, by which he means that he doesn't do anything else when he listens.

I assumed that "active" listening would be listening to music and doing nothing else, while "passive" would mean to have music playing while one does some other activity. I guess it depends on whether or not you consider concentrating on music an activity.

That said, I am an "active" listener, in that I devote my undivided attention to the music while I am listening. I think that one can't really dig deeply into a piece unless one listens in this way, but I speak only from my own experience.

I think it also has a lot to do with what you are listening to. I notice devotees of the baroque, classicism and the early romantics tend to be passive listeners, while fans of late romantics, modernists and contemporary composers tend to be active listeners.

Seconded, for the most part.

Often, though, when trying to come to grips with a work in a style I might find difficult (typically by a composer new to me who I don't "get" initially) I will listen to it passively two or three times while letting the idiom sink in, and then switch to a more active listening pattern.

[Kuhlau]

I try to actively listen to the music as much as possible, in order to better appreciate it. But there are also times when I'm happy to treat lighter works as aural wallpaper.

FK

[ezodisy]

George Costanza style all the way

[Kullervo]

George Costanza style all the way

What?

[greg]

Unless you are Julius Caesar, you can't perform two tasks simultaneously with equal success. If I'd worked out, I'd have concentrated more on working out. Actually, once I brought Turandot to the gym and very soon understood it was a dumb idea. I couldn't concentrate on the gym, all my thoughts were about Turandot.

It's possible for me. True, your thoughts will mainly be on the music, but exercise doesn't require much thought anyways. 
With that said, I almost never listen to music while working out. 

[adamdavid80]

My favorite time to play music is when I'm teaching.  Each stereo in each gym can bring out different elements fo the recording...I played the Beaux arts Trio Hummel disc today in 4 different places, and the piano was gorgeous at one location, at anoter I really heard the violin to the front.  Great way to have parts and runs come out and surprise you.

it also influences the pacing of the class, of course.  Mozart PCs a little more energetic and kinetic...Clara Haskil or solo Uchida, a little more ballet in feel.  One thing that REALLY didn't work at all is Brahms concertos.  His Rubinstein quintet went down a treat, though.  Ravel or Debussy, hit or miss, depending.

If there's a sudden explosion in Manhattan of classical music purchases by yoga practitioners, the world has me to thank/blame.

[Lethevich]

What?

Doing the exact opposite of what naturally comes to mind (Seinfeld)

[ezodisy]

Doing the exact opposite of what naturally comes to mind (Seinfeld)

More or less. Ever see the episode in which he tried to combine his 3 favourite things: food, tv and sex? Genius