GMG Classical Music Forum

My choice: at most 60 minutes.

As an opera fan, my attention span better be long...and it usually, but not always, is.

I've followed performances of e.g. Parsifal and Die Meistersinger without my attention wavering at all, but have also dozed off in Tristan and much shorter works. So, the answer is: "it depends"  ;). On what does it depend? I really don't know... ::)

And good evening to you, Florestan. Good to read you on GMG.  :)

Quote from: ritter on October 17, 2021, 09:48:40 AM
good evening to you, Florestan. Good to read you on GMG.  :)

Thanks and likewise!

My attention span is about......... Oh wait..... Let me get back to you..... Just got a text..... And checking my Facebook.... Instagram........ Twitter........ TikTok.

:P :D

What is this question?

It's as long as I find something interesting. That's why it can be hard to pay attention in somewhere like school, where you are forced to take classes you don't care for, compared to going on a random deep dive marathon for two hours after midnight because you randomly get burning curiosity about something that won't let you sleep.

Or is this just about music? Similar answer would apply.

It horribly suffered through computers and the internet. I can do long pieces, like operas or St. Matthew in concerts but I rarely go to concerts nowadays and on recordings I usually split them up.
So I'd say about one disc or about one hour, although I can get already impatient, the longer Mahler symphonies or Bruckner 8 do try my patience sometimes. Fortunately most of my favorites pieces are of the typical suite/sonata/concerto/symphony length, i.e. 10-45 min. and often split into shorter segments of 2-15 min. I think my attention span is good enough for most of them.

Whatever it takes for the work to be performed.

Realistically, and as much as I wish it was longer, 30-60 minutes is probably it. It's going to be much less if I can't do anything else while listening to music. I have to be doing something with my hands and eyes, even if it's following along with the libretto. But sometimes I have to take time off doing that for a scene or two.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Eb-0VYN0k8

Your baseline attention span may be largely determined by your biological clock/circadian rhythm. This is one thing that I think society largely doesn't understand or hasn't realized yet. The rest of the factors determining attention may be other things such as personal interest, but that's secondary.

People with ADHD and people with ADD have the same problem, the former are extroverts and the latter are introverts. They are both stimulation-seeking, but one is more external (hyperactivity) and the other one is more internal (daydreaming). They seek stimulation constantly as a way to stay awake and avoid falling asleep due to their bodies thinking that their bedtime is 2am, while they have to wake up at 7am like everyone else (and others may easily get a great sleep because their bodies say that 11pm is bedtime), so their baseline attentiveness (which is really just wakefulness) is higher.

So the price of creating a society with a well-regulated clock (where everyone has the same schedule) is that some people will be left out due to their biological mismatch. Some of us may have inherited some sort of genes to become nocturnal, which may have historically been beneficial towards helping to keep night watch for protecting the tribe, or whatever other reason. So getting this gene is maladaptive to modern society for the most part. If you can get lucky enough to work evening shifts (helped me greatly in the past before), then that might help your attention span.

I chose 30 minutes to an hour, but this is pushing it I think.

Oh well, I'm bored 🥱🥱...

🤠😎

Almost infinite, simply as long as I want.

Having listened to a number of Wagner operas live, as well as some of Feldman's longer works, I had to choose the last one. (PS, I do think it's fair to know the approximate running time of a work, to shore yourself up mentally. "Would you like to hear Feldman's Second String Quartet?" is a little disingenuous if the invitee doesn't know it's six hours long.)

--Bruce

My attention span is.......what was the question again?

I chose more than 1 hour because my favorite TV show is "Columbo" and that's 75 minutes.  8)

Quote from: Brian on October 18, 2021, 11:27:26 AM
I chose more than 1 hour because my favorite TV show is "Columbo" and that's 75 minutes.  8)

With how many commercial breaks? ;)
It's been ages, but I saw a few Columbo episodes on German TV long ago, I'd have thought they had a more rounded duration like an hour or 90 min. Maybe 90 min with commercials (although we used to have far fewer commercials?

Quote from: Jo498 on October 18, 2021, 12:02:43 PM
With how many commercial breaks? ;)
It's been ages, but I saw a few Columbo episodes on German TV long ago, I'd have thought they had a more rounded duration like an hour or 90 min. Maybe 90 min with commercials (although we used to have far fewer commercials?

When they originally aired, there were two lengths, 72 minutes which became 90 minutes with commercials and 95 minutes which became 120 with ads. I have the DVD set so I am not sure if they still use those advertisement times when broadcasting today. Have heard that some episodes have had scenes cut to fit more commercials.

My favorite composers are Wagner, Mahler, Bruckner, and so: Whatever it takes...

Sarge

Whatever it takes. But it depends on the day.

Three to five minutes without caffeine. 30 to 180 minutes with caffeine, depending on dosage.

During tolerance break days I mostly function via multitasking.

Quote from: amw on October 18, 2021, 02:24:56 PM
Three to five minutes without caffeine. 30 to 180 minutes with caffeine, depending on dosage.

During tolerance break days I mostly function via multitasking.

:laugh: Can relate, except I don't take break days from coffee.

I would say 4 hours, being quite concentrated. More of that is less probable. The work I heard at this length that made me more patient and wanting to pay attention to details the more, was Wagner's Götterdämmerung. Epic in a high degree, the music is just glorious. If I had to choose a Wagner opera to a desert island, it would be it.

Mine is about 3 minutes. But that's on a good day.

Quote from: (poco) Sforzando on November 02, 2021, 09:57:50 AM
Mine is about 3 minutes. But that's on a good day.

sorry I didn't manage to get to the end of your post befor............

My attention span is:
Haydn, not Bruckner
Mozart, not Wagner
Boccherini, not Mahler

Thus, I primarily enjoy Classical, not Romantic...

8)

Quote from: Gurn Blanston on November 02, 2021, 12:30:46 PM
My attention span is:
Haydn, not Bruckner
Mozart, not Wagner
Boccherini, not Mahler

Thus, I primarily enjoy Classical, not Romantic...

8)

If you put it this way...

Chopin, not Bruckner
Schumann, not Wagner
Mendelssohn, not Mahler.

Thus, I primarily enjoy Romantic, not Romantic...


No, wait, something's wrong, ain't it?  ;D

Seriously now, many (most?) Romantic symphonies and concertos are in the 30-45 minute long range, ie not much longer than Mozart's Jupiter or Haydn's Oxford. And the quintessentially Romantic genres of Lieder and piano works (impromptus, moments musicaux, nocturnes, ballades, etudes, preludes, scherzos, rondos, fantaisies etc) are actually very short. That Romantic music is long and bloated is a myth based on a few instances which are rather the exception than the norm.