How do you listen to classical music?

[Kullervo]

I'm not sure if this topic has been covered here before, but I thought it was a good question since classical music is so often very personal for me.

I like to listen to music in relative silence, on headphones, by a window. I usually sway/move my legs/arms in time with the music, depending on what it is. Listening for me is a mixture of expectation and memory. I try to guess what is going to happen next, and compare it with what has already happened. Often I have a mental image of what is "going on" in a certain piece, but not always.

Anyone else?

[Mark]

I listen whenever and wherever I can. I get a lot of listening in while commuting to and from London ... so I try to keep my 'air conducting' to a minimum on the train.

Headphones have long been my main way to listen to all kinds of music, classical included. Indeed, 95% or more of my listening is done in this way; sometimes at inadvisable volume, hence the mild tinnitus in my right ear. But I always say that I can't fully appraise a work until I hear it intimately through headphones - and on many occasions, works I didn't care for through speakers have come alive through cans.

[George]

I listen through HP when away from home, when home I prefer speakers. If my girlfriend is home and I want it loud (or not Mozart/Chopin or Bach) I listen on my HD 580's.

[Mozart]

I listen through HP when away from home, when home I prefer speakers. If my girlfriend is home and I want it loud (or not Mozart/Chopin or Bach) I listen on my HD 480's.

Just make sure once in awhile to say "yeah baby". 

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

I drive a customized 1969 Chevy El Camino with tinted windows, hydraulics, 1000W amplifiers and 25" subwoofer. I like to cruise through the neighborhood listening to my new CDs at full volume. I find I enjoy listening most between midnight and 4 am. Last night I was comparing different versions of Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra ! While we were listening, my homeys and I cruised for some tacos and cervesas down around Whittier and Atlantic; it was cool!

I have a license plate frame that says: My other car is also an El Camino!

[The Mad Hatter]

If it's dedicated listening time, it's usually by my computer or on my bed (don't have much by way of personal space), or on the train, and always with a score if I can get one.

[hornteacher]

Either:

1) in the car going to/from work
2) on my iPod while doing pretty much anything
3) over my sound system with a full score and a pencil to mark things of interest

[DavidW]

Either:

1) in the car going to/from work
2) on my iPod while doing pretty much anything
3) over my sound system with a full score and a pencil to mark things of interest

You forgot (4) with Hilary Hahn in your lap.

[George]

You forgot (4) with Hilary Hahn in your lap.

I assumed that one. 

[hornteacher]

You forgot (4) with Hilary Hahn in your lap.

[Florestan]

Most of my listening is late at night, headphones on.

[Don]

I listen very carefully with my full attention except for music that can't stand up to total attention.

[beclemund]

On my commute to work mornings and evenings, as background sound at my cube at work and with headphones on (so as not to disturb the wife) in quiet meditation at home.

[jochanaan]

More and more I find myself listening to what I myself play, or "hearing in silence" as I study a score, or merely hearing in my mind.  But every once in a while I'll put a CD on my computer with its Cambridge SoundWorks speakers (compact and inexpensive, but they still sound impressive).

[Ubloobideega]

I listen to it while eating ice.

[DavidW]

I listen very carefully with my full attention except for music that can't stand up to total attention.

That's what I do now, and simply don't bother with music that doesn't require my full attention!

[DavidW]

sometimes i listen while eating dead bodies

I think you need sexual release, you're getting all filled up with silliness and hysteria.

[Don]

sometimes i listen while eating dead bodies

Do you prefer rat as the main course or appetizer?

[Kullervo]

I'm bumping this thread -- I think it's a genuinely good question, and I'd like to see more answers.

[marvinbrown]

I'm bumping this thread -- I think it's a genuinely good question, and I'd like to see more answers.

  How do I listen to music?  Usually on cd player with speakers (never on headphones-I need to protect my eardrums ) 
   
  It is very  important for me to "feel" the music-thats the first indicator that I am starting to connect to it and understand it.  Repeated listening is CRUCIAL.  I need to hear a new piece of music many times before I can pass my own judgment on it. Sometimes it helps to listen in the dark....shut down all senses except sound. 

Finally there is this X factor (partly linked to my tastes and preferences) that I can not define that makes me prefer Mozart over Haydn and Wagner over Mahler and of course J.S. Bach over Handel

  marvin