How do you hear music?

[(poco) Sforzando]

I for one like the technicalities. I find them emotionally moving.

[Karl Henning]

I for one like the technicalities. I find them emotionally moving.

+1

[Monsieur Croche]

Oh, dem British public schooled old boys... lol.

The man managed, quite deftly in one fell swoop, to insult the intelligence of the entirety of the music-making and music-listening public... with those few rare true hermaphrodites included, I suppose.

And I, with my American version of a background of 'public schooling' -- i.e. a (private) Arts Academy prep school -- say to what this British Old Boy said, "Pish-tosh and cobsnuts."

So, there.

[Florestan]

what are technicalities? theory?  and how do they differ from emotions?

Technicalities differ from emotions in exactly the same way as knowing that tears are produced by an excitation of the lacrimal glands differs from crying. 

[(poco) Sforzando]

Technicalities differ from emotions in exactly the same way as knowing that tears are produced by an excitation of the lacrimal glands differs from crying. 

From a play I read:

SYLVAN Do you know I spent an afternoon once tracing the key relationships in the scherzo from Beethoven's first Rasumovsky Quartet. It's this wonderful, kaleidoscopic piece where Beethoven is juggling six, seven themes in the air, and I found that even though it touches almost every key center, the one key it never uses is the simple, basic subdominant. And I found that fascinating.
GODFREY Can't you just enjoy your music without thinking about it so much?
SYLVAN But I enjoy thinking about it.

[Parsifal]

Technicalities differ from emotions in exactly the same way as knowing that tears are produced by an excitation of the lacrimal glands differs from crying. 

Do you enjoy a dish less knowing what ingredients make it delicious? Why would you think recognizing the harmonic structure of a piece would make it any less moving?

[Florestan]

Do you enjoy a dish less knowing what ingredients make it delicious?

No.

Why would you think recognizing the harmonic structure of a piece would make it any less moving?

Well, I cannot recognize anything nearly resembling harmonic structure....

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Actually, I prefer not to know what I'm eating. Ignorance is bliss, I'd probably not eat a lot of stuff if I knew exactly how it was made.

This is why I prefer to eat healthy............

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Do you enjoy a dish less knowing what ingredients make it delicious? Why would you think recognizing the harmonic structure of a piece would make it any less moving?

I think this is a good analogy.

[Karl Henning]

Actually, I prefer not to know what I'm eating. Ignorance is bliss, I'd probably not eat a lot of stuff if I knew exactly how it was made.

"Secret sauce"

[Monsieur Croche]

I don't understand the premise of that claim.

...who wants pizza? I'll order.

Bacon, Black Olive, and Mushroom, please.  Thank you very much.

[Monsieur Croche]

Technicalities differ from emotions in exactly the same way as knowing that tears are produced by an excitation of the lacrimal glands differs from crying. 

Oh my word.  That is rather perfect:  one is dry, the other wet, lol.

[(poco) Sforzando]

Well, I cannot recognize anything nearly resembling harmonic structure....

You most certainly can. There is not the slightest doubt in my mind that you could easily identify a dominant seventh chord, a plagal cadence, an appoggiatura, a diminished seventh, a modulation, and much more whenever you hear any of these things, and I assure you that you hear every one of them often. You just may not have the vocabulary to identify what you are hearing.

[Florestan]

You most certainly can. There is not the slightest doubt in my mind that you could easily identify a dominant seventh chord, a plagal cadence, an appoggiatura, a diminished seventh, a modulation, and much more whenever you hear any of these things, and I assure you that you hear every one of them often. You just may not have the vocabulary to identify what you are hearing.

That is certainly true.

[Niko240]

"The problem with listening, of course, is that we don't. There's too much noise going on in our heads, so we never hear anything." Philip Glass

I completely agree with this, as I'm always trying to quiet my mind while listening to music.  So if an emotion, memory, image, etc., comes to me, I take it in and then pass it by going back to the music.  It's often quite hard for me concentrate, especially on music rich in complexity.  So I guess how I hear music is that I try to listen to it as best as I could.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

I completely agree with this, as I'm always trying to quiet my mind while listening to music.  So if an emotion, memory, image, etc., comes to me, I take it in and then pass it by going back to the music.  It's often quite hard for me concentrate, especially on music rich in complexity.  So I guess how I hear music is that I try to listen to it as best as I could.

I'm sorry to hear that you have difficulties in concentration and this affects your listening. Has this always been the case? Do you find yourself not being focussed with other things as well? I'm very curious about this, as listening to music is as easy as breathing to me.......

[Karl Henning]

It can require effort to resist internal distractions.  A good meditation.

[Niko240]

I'm sorry to hear that you have difficulties in concentration and this affects your listening. Has this always been the case? Do you find yourself not being focussed with other things as well? I'm very curious about this, as listening to music is as easy as breathing to me.......

It takes disciplined listening for me to hear technically sophisticated, emotionally complex music.  Another area that requires this sort of discipline for me is philosophy, which I enjoy reading.  Is the music of Webern "as easy as breathing" to you?  I think that you might be a better listener than I am.  Usually I'm trying to keep myself out of the experience, perhaps along the lines of a dissolution of the ego.   

It can require effort to resist internal distractions.  A good meditation.

That's true.  I don't meditate or practice mindfulness so listening to some of the composers discussed on this forum is closest to achieving a clear state of mind without internal distractions. I've asked several people who know a lot about meditation if it would help me understand a piece of music with less listens, but haven't gotten convincing answers.  It probably helps resist internal distractions, but being a good listener, or listening to music deeply, is another ball game.   
[/quote]

[Karl Henning]

I've asked several people who know a lot about meditation if it would help me understand a piece of music with less listens, but haven't gotten convincing answers.  It probably helps resist internal distractions, but being a good listener, or listening to music deeply, is another ball game.

I think you're right, there.

[millionrainbows]

This may all change. In fact, I guarantee it.