# How do you listen to long pieces?



## Air (Jul 19, 2008)

Is it important for you to listen to the piece as a whole? Or are there more valuable ways to spend your listening time?


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## Zombo (Oct 5, 2008)

I listen in one shot if possible, if not, I pause and resume later.


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

Most of the time I go for a one-shot go-through when I listen to a piece for the first time. If I can't (boring or whatever) I'll wait a couple of days and try it again.

Usually for the pieces I'm already familiar with, I'll listen to them straight through, especially if they're less than an hour long (the major perk of listening to Mahler for about 5 months straight: those pieces people look at and say, "Oh, that's long," I can listen to all the way through with absolutely no problem. Unless they're like ridiculously boring or something...


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## kiwipolish (May 2, 2008)

I voted "all the way through"; although if it was the Ring des Nibelungen, I would take a few breaks... This version I watch uninterrupted, though.


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## Yagan Kiely (Feb 6, 2008)

I either listen to the whole thing (normally on iPod during transportation), but mostly these days I just listen to things for educational purposes, so I just listen to the bit I want to.


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## marval (Oct 29, 2007)

I try to listen to the whole piece, without interruption. It is not always possible, but I don't want to skip bits.


Margaret


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## Lang (Sep 30, 2008)

I listen all the way through - even to Philip Glass.


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## opus67 (Jan 30, 2007)

I don't listen to Opera, and I have just started listening to Mahler. In fact, I have listened to only one symphony of his, and only twice in its entirety. So, in a way, I don't listen to long pieces at all... I've been accustomed to this music long enough that 30 to 45-minute works seems to be the norm. So, yes, all the way through.

But recently, I have hit a roadblock: Bach's _The Art of Fugue_. It's not boring/difficult (as in 20th Century difficult ), it is"complicated." It seems complex, and musicians say it _is_ complex, but I want to go beyond that and understand the music in terms of its basic structure. But at the same time it doesn't sound bland or cold to my ears. I've been listening to this work only about 10 Contrapuncti at a time, and mostly it's the first half.


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## Zombo (Oct 5, 2008)

Lang said:


> I listen all the way through - even to Philip Glass.


ouch, satyagraha is just too much for me, my brain hurts after 20 minutes.


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## kiwipolish (May 2, 2008)

opus67 said:


> (...) recently, I have hit a roadblock: Bach's _The Art of Fugue_.


 _The Art of Fugue_ is definitely not designed to be listened in one go! Many musicologists believe, in fact, that the Art of Fugue was an intellectual exercise, meant to be studied and not heard.


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## opus67 (Jan 30, 2007)

kiwipolish said:


> Many musicologists believe, in fact, that the Art of Fugue was an intellectual exercise, meant to be studied and not heard.


And many others say it was definitely meant as a work for a keyboard. Bach himself doesn't give us a clue by stating simply that it is "for music lovers, to refresh their spirit". To be listened to or to be analysed, any way it was meant to be appreciated, I want to understand it. The abstractness of it attracts me. Sadly, though, I don't know how to read a score. So, at least until I learn to do so, BWV 1080, for me, will be in the form of audible notes arising from a string quartet, a piano, or even a chamber orchestra.


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## Novelette (Dec 12, 2012)

If I choose to listen to any work, long or otherwise, it is because I want to experience it. So I listen to the whole work.

I try to listen to every chosen work in its entirety at least once.


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## BlazeGlory (Jan 16, 2013)

Somewhere in my extremely overused imagination.


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## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

World Violist said:


> Most of the time I go for a one-shot go-through when I listen to a piece for the first time. If I can't (boring or whatever) I'll wait a couple of days and try it again.


yes. Afterwards I will pick and choose, depending on my mood and time constraints. But if I like something a lot I will listen to it all the way through on many occasions.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Depending on my mood, I would listen to a whole symphony/concerto/suite through, if I had something to occupy the other half of my brain, like reading, writing or playing a game. Just sitting there with the music is a bit difficult for me, I need to multitask and to something else with the other 4 senses of my brain besides listening.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Huilunsoittaja said:


> Depending on my mood, I would listen to a whole symphony/concerto/suite through, if I had something to occupy the other half of my brain, like reading, writing or playing a game. Just sitting there with the music is a bit difficult for me, I need to multitask and to something else with the other 4 senses of my brain besides listening.


I find the same. Sewing and drawing are both excellent as complementary occupations to listening to serious music.


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## maestro267 (Jul 25, 2009)

Most of the time, I'll listen to any piece of music in full. I'll take brief breaks in some longer pieces. For example, I usually split Mahler 3 up into 3 parts. I, then II & III, then IV-VI. Each part amounts to around 30-35 minutes in length, which works better for me than sitting non-stop through a 100-minute piece of music.

I also like to read while listening, as Huilunsoittaja says. Usually it'll be the liner notes or something connected to the music. If it's a vocal work, sometimes I'll follow along with the libretto, especially if it's an unfamiliar work.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Like the audience at a performance I might take a mid-way break if it's an opera lasting +2 hours and in more that one act (and ditto with longer oratorios, cantatas and ballets) but never with anything else as I hate breaking the momentum of works like symphonies, concertos, chamber works, piano sonatas and masses, however long they are.


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## Crudblud (Dec 29, 2011)

Barring distractions or bodily functions, I usually listen the whole way through.


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## Novelette (Dec 12, 2012)

I cannot be engaged in anything that requires much focus. Folding laundry is about the most involved task I can perform while listening to long works without being distracted from the music.


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## Guest (May 21, 2013)

Crudblud said:


> Barring distractions or bodily functions, I usually listen the whole way through.


Yes, certainly when I've paid for my seat at the concert. I do refuse to applaud, though, if I'm not satisfied. People seated next to me sometimes seem 'disconcerted' when I show little enthusiasm after a performance. And I'll be damned if I'm going to stand in that passage in Handel's Messiah when every other idiot does so.


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

TalkingHead said:


> Yes, certainly when I've paid for my seat at the concert. I do refuse to applaud, though, if I'm not satisfied. People seated next to me sometimes seem 'disconcerted' when I show little enthusiasm after a performance. And I'll be damned if I'm going to stand in that passage in Handel's Messiah when every other idiot does so.


I think you are on the wrong thread !!


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## Guest (May 21, 2013)

moody said:


> I think you are on the wrong thread !!


Really Moody, in the words of Denis Healey (as you corrected me before) you are being a 'silly billy'. The thread title is "How do you listen to long pieces?" Yes? 
I have abstained (as I normally do), but I have chosen to 'extend' the topic into other 'interesting areas', notably how to listen to a rather long Messiah and resist jingoistic, 'knee-jerk' robotics. Does this warrant a complaint from your end to the Mods? Do tell.


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## Antiquarian (Apr 29, 2014)

I like to listen to a piece of music in it's entirety, if possible. I have the luxury of a private music room where I can endulge in an evening listening to Mahler's 9th, if I want, without interruption. Unfortunately, there are some pieces such as Messiaen's Saint François d'Assise which are nearly five hours in length. In such cases, I try to stop my listening at an appropriate point, and then resume it when the world allows.


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## mtmailey (Oct 21, 2011)

SYMPHONIES 2 & 4 of Anton Rubinstein are over a hour long each so i listened to a few movements at a time.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Bring lunch, take care of 'bodily functions' before starting the music. A catheter may be carrying things a bit far.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

'I listen to each movement at different times.' - I'm afraid I just haven't the concentration to listen for long. Maybe I never had. But I used to be able to read & study for hours at a stretch and I can't do that now. So I fear it may be an age thing!


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## Wood (Feb 21, 2013)

Ukko said:


> Bring lunch, take care of 'bodily functions' before starting the music. A catheter may be carrying things a bit far.


Here is just the thing so one doesn't miss that crucial aria. Includes female attachment and snap-on lid, what's not to like?


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Wood said:


> Here is just the thing so one doesn't miss that crucial aria. Includes female attachment and snap-on lid, what's not to like?


Between movements/scenes... that ought to work. Change of focus should be the minimum necessary.


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## Matsps (Jan 13, 2014)

Usually I listen to the entire piece, but there are exceptions. For example, Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto no.1, I only ever listen to the 1st movement (because personally I find the other movements are a bit mundane).


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## Svelte Silhouette (Nov 7, 2013)

Ukko said:


> Between movements/scenes... that ought to work. Change of focus should be the minimum necessary.


Totally agreed with your idea that change of focus should be the minimum necessary. I almost always listen all the way through a work unless something uncontrollable stops me doing. I hate the idea of listening to a movement or an act here or there as you lose the momentum if that makes sense. As an example, yesterday I listened to CD1 of The Fairy Queen then went to the loo and came on here for 10 mins or so before putting CD2 on and even in that time I felt I'd lost something. It's a bit difficult to explain as I know the work well and so I hadn't really missed anything but I won't be doing that again since I'll never need the loo again after Wood's suggestion :tiphat:

Siegfried, Gotterdamerung and Die Walkure sorted then


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## Wood (Feb 21, 2013)

RudyKens said:


> Totally agreed with your idea that change of focus should be the minimum necessary. I almost always listen all the way through a work unless something uncontrollable stops me doing. I hate the idea of listening to a movement or an act here or there as you lose the momentum if that makes sense. As an example, yesterday I listened to CD1 of The Fairy Queen then went to the loo and came on here for 10 mins or so before putting CD2 on and even in that time I felt I'd lost something. It's a bit difficult to explain as I know the work well and so I hadn't really missed anything but I won't be doing that again since I'll never need the loo again after Wood's suggestion
> 
> Siegfried, Gotterdamerung and Die Walkure sorted then


The Ring? You may have to go one better Rudy:










I'll get my coat...


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## Svelte Silhouette (Nov 7, 2013)

I think a 14+ hour listen would mean the suitable stereo seat would need leg, wrist and chest straps in case I nodded and fell off.

Actually, maybe some electrodes could be added to shock me into a waking state if I nodded but with all that liquid around who could say what might happen then :lol:


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## Wood (Feb 21, 2013)

RudyKens said:


> I think a 14+ hour listen would mean the suitable stereo seat would need leg, wrist and chest straps in case I nodded and fell off.
> 
> Actually, maybe some electrodes could be added to shock me into a waking state if I nodded but with all that liquid around who could say what might happen then :lol:


You do need to be careful. Here is what happened to me after such a marathon Ring session.


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## Varick (Apr 30, 2014)

I "try" to listen to a piece in it's entirety. Alas, life (and a wife) often do not allow for such a thing, and interruptions ensue. Nothing is better though, than pouring a delicious single malt scotch, lighting a cigar, sitting back, and enjoying a great piece of music. Those are my Zen moments.

V


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## Muse Wanderer (Feb 16, 2014)

I am obsessed about listening to a new piece in its entirety.

It just cannot be any other way.

Thus I hit virtual roadblocks at times. I remember being excited to listen to Mahler's 3rd after experiencing his magnificent second. 

As I peered onto its length I kept postponing the listening session for months and months. 

Here I am still postponing it for a better day. 

I may have to take a holiday away from everything (wife, work, kiddy, study, sleeping) just to listen to it!


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

I've completely given up listening to long pieces.

My predominant music listening: Haydn, Persichetti, Schuman, Schoenberg, Webern. All composers known for relative pithiness.

Why should I sit there for 80 minutes, when these composers can say it just as well in 25 minutes or less. Usually MUCH less!


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## Muse Wanderer (Feb 16, 2014)

I like both short and long pieces. Sometimes long ones build up the tension to such climactic levels it is truly breathtaking. 
I've also got the stamina to endure the Ring cycle.
The problem is finding the time!


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## Svelte Silhouette (Nov 7, 2013)

Muse Wanderer said:


> I like both short and long pieces. Sometimes long ones build up the tension to such climactic levels it is truly breathtaking.
> I've also got the stamina to endure the Ring cycle.
> The problem is finding the time!


Time is the issue for me as well 

I read on here the other week that someone was doing the ring in a day but even if I had the time and stamina I'm not sure I'd want anything more than one part at a time.

I think it's nice to separate out really big works with something else to appreciate their magnificent magnitude.


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

I hate to admit it, but I quite often set off to listen to a whole opera ..... and drop off at some stage. I do the same in favourite films, watching football, reading a book .... pretty much anything that involves sitting on the sofa for a while.

I remember a mate and I planned to watch the whole of a stage in the Tour de France on TV one year, a stage up Alp d'Huez and we watched this rivetted to the screen for five or six hours but BOTH of us fell asleep with 5Km to go and missed who won the stage


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## Whistler Fred (Feb 6, 2014)

I mostly aim for listening all the way through, although there are exceptions. If it's something divided into acts (opera or ballet, for example) I may take a break between acts. An intermission, if you will.

I've also have yet to make it through Morton Feldman's String Quartet No. 2 in one sitting...


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## Muse Wanderer (Feb 16, 2014)

Sometimes even half an hour is tough to find. Yesterday I managed to listen to Brahms clarinet quintet but no more time for anything but background music.

Today I had planned a day of Brahms and Sibelius, and here I am swaddling my newborn baby. He was born with Bach's violin sonatas in the background though just three hours ago!


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## Jim Norton (Sep 14, 2020)

Usually the whole piece through--in fact I prefer longer works to short ones where you can really "get into it." Brahms, Mahler, Bruckner, Beethoven, Elgar, Shostakovich, Rachmaninoff, and many other composers' symphonies and concertos are preferred. Opera I can live without.


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