# Your heartstring



## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

Sometimes it happens to me, that while listening to, say, Shostakovich' String Quartets I find myself listening only to the gorgeous sound of the violoncello, forgetting all the rest. Or, in Wagner, that I find myself only listening to the 'Wagner' Tubas, just because I love their deep&mighty brasssound so much. So my heartstring is touched by these instruments so much, that I let the music just play on while purely enjoying and concentrating on 'my' favourite instruments. Perhaps some of you have similar but different experiences with their heartstring being played upon......


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## regressivetransphobe (May 16, 2011)

Liszt, including his most ostentatious trash.


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## Kopachris (May 31, 2010)

The woodwinds in Tchaikovsky's music. Also, this is not right:


> violincello


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Clarinets maybe?

Simply the symphonic orchestra in its fullness is what moves me the most. The whole wave of sound, _symphony_ "resounding together," has most impact on me.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

With orchestral music I find myself taking in the whole gestalt -- or rather whatever combination of instruments the composer may have chosen to predominate. With chamber (and oddly enough with jazz and rock) I find myself focusing on just one instrument more often. 

For example, it's fun for me to focus my attention on just the continuo of a concerto grosso maybe for one listen. You hear nuances that way. 

With orchestral music it can be dangerous. Dvorak's Symphony 9 may be forever ruined for me when I became too aware of the ubiquitous triangle -- just as the SNL "more cowbell" sketch ruined a lot of 70's rock for many people.


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## Meaghan (Jul 31, 2010)

Huilunsoittaja said:


> Clarinets maybe?


You have good taste.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Weston said:


> With orchestral music I find myself taking in the whole gestalt -- or rather whatever combination of instruments the composer may have chosen to predominate. With chamber (and oddly enough with jazz and rock) I find myself focusing on just one instrument more often.


I'm that way also about orchestral music. But it is fun with jazz and also soul/funk groups like Tower of Power to single out how each instrumental group interacts with the ensemble. As far as heartstrings, when I'm listening to jazz, when the sax plays, everyone else has left the room.

I never thought about singling out one instrument in an orchestra. I'll have to try that sometime.

That particular technique works well with pre-Baroque vocal music, where individual lines are encouraged to be followed independently as well as corporately, to the degree that singers with different vocal timbres would take different parts just to emphasize the different lines. From what I understand, people would come to hear music just because their favorite tenor was going to be singing in a particular polyphonic piece.


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## kv466 (May 18, 2011)

This is definitely something that has always happened to me but I think it also helps to piece the entire work together knowing all of the different components...after so many hearings, most works I love I'll find myself following one instrument more than the other depending on the circumstance or stereo equipment or even mood...


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