# What Separates The Music You Love From The Music You Like?



## DiesIraeCX (Jul 21, 2014)

I'm sure all of us have those pieces of music that we don't just _enjoy_, but we _love_ (I don't think any of us like all music the same, even from our favorite composers). They are special to us in _some _kind of way. My question is, what is the "_It_" that separates the music you love from the rest of the pack? Is it something intangible, something you can't really put your finger on? Or perhaps it is because of musical reasons, like the intricacies of the orchestration. Maybe it's because you find profundity in that piece of music. A mixture of all of the above, something else entirely?

Whatever the reason is, I'd love to hear what you have to say on this. It's something I've thought a lot about.

In my personal experience, I find that the works that I love above all are able to provoke more than one type of reaction. There's an "intellectual" reaction, I'm in complete awe of the music as a physical construct of sound. From there, I'm in awe that this "physical construct" becomes alive, organic, like a living piece of music rather than just notes being played.

There's also an emotional reaction, whether it's terror or beauty, strife or peaceful euphoria. There is some kind of emotion there.

Lastly, there are the intangibles that are difficult to put my finger on. There's just something about listening to a special work that makes you feel that this is what life means, or perhaps it captures a vital element of what life means, not all of it. No matter that there's no words, it encompasses such a wide array of feelings and thoughts that language sometimes can't put into words. As I've said, it's difficult to put my finger on it. I do find that "awe" is something I often find myself in when listening to those truly special pieces. I'm in awe during the entire work, like I am right now listening to Mahler's 4th.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

What separates the music I like from the music I love?

About six feet of cabinet space.


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## JACE (Jul 18, 2014)

DiesIraeVIX said:


> Lastly, there are the intangibles that are difficult to put my finger on. There's just something about listening to a special work that makes you feel that this is what life means, or perhaps it captures a vital element of what life means, not all of it. No matter that there's no words, it encompasses such a wide array of feelings and thoughts that language sometimes can't put into words.


When it comes to music that we love, I think the ineffable, intangible qualities are the MOST important.

We can't help but try putting the feelings and thoughts that music evokes in us into words. But the glory of music is that it _transcends_ words, _transcends_ explanation, _transcends_ measurement of any kind!


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

Firstly, I think I need to feel a rapport with the composer. I don't make a practice of reading biographies of composers, but I just have to feel that I am interested in some intangible way in the composer, in the type of music the composer tended to write, in the style the composer wrote, in the period the composer fit, etc. Not to pick on any one type of music, but to be more precise: I am not a huge fan of the American minimalist school and so I simply don't relate or feel interest, even without hearing the music. Of course, there are exceptions that prove rules, Morton Feldman being one. No doubt, there are many more, but I'm probably not looking very hard for them 

Secondly, there is a kind of sound or compositional style I like in music. Music that doesn't fit into one of the myriad boxes I like tends to be uninteresting to me. This is rather vague, but the music I like has something about it that fits in with other music I like; music I don't like (ie., am not currently interested in) doesn't fit in. My taste and knowledge may expand over time and I might add a new 'box' (schema, I think it was called in Daniel Levitin's book _This is your Brain on Music_), of course.

Thirdly, there are knowledge and perceived complexity. I tend to like music that appeals to my brain. I like to be challenged, or tricked into thinking that I'm being challenged. I like to feel that the music, while it appeals to me greatly, is still withholding something from me that requires deeper listening, more knowledge, etc., for me to fully appreciate and unravel it. If music appears to give up all of its secrets too easily, I tend to feel (rightly or wrongly) that it is simple: I will tire of it quickly. I like to feel that I might be able to more deeply appreciate the music, if I arm myself with greater knowledge (about the piece, about the style, about music theory, about composition, either by listening more and more deeply or acquiring the requisite knowledge, etc.).


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I've never been able to pin down an answer to this question because these days it can change from one hearing to the next. I can hear a piece that impacts me on a level I can't even put into words, and I try to rave about it here in these forums. The next day it can sound just okay. Life was so much easier when I knew what I liked.

I think we may have too many choices which is both a blessing and a curse.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

JACE said:


> When it comes to music that we love, I think the ineffable, intangible qualities are the MOST important.
> 
> We can't help but try putting the feelings and thoughts that music evokes in us into words. But the glory of music is that it _transcends_ words, _transcends_ explanation, _transcends_ measurement of any kind!


I tend to agree with this, and that after much experience playing, a study of theory, technically analyzing pieces, and composing a bit myself.

Of all those points about music which can be discussed, when it comes to its emotional bearing upon the listener, that is an area which remains very much an aural Rorschach blot for each individual.

The OP reminds me of those various quotes (it is I think still in question as to "who said it first") about music beginning where language stops


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

I think the only music that I "hate" is predictable stuff that is emotionally manipulative but emotionally shallow at the same time. It can be sentimental if it's not too predictable; it can be fairly predictable if it's really professional and not too sentimental. But if it's both, then I find it worse than merely affected, sort of disgustingly cloying. 

That's pretty much limited to sappy pop music, especially new country and teen stuff, Christian contemporary, muzac, some smooth jazz, and so on.

But most music isn't that, and I like most music. I can't think of anything in classical music that leaves me feeling that way. 

Music that I really enjoy surprises me somehow. For the most part, the more surprising it is, the more I enjoy it. I love feeling the musical intelligence behind a piece. The music I love most is the music that leaves me thinking, "I can't believe anyone was able to make this music. How did they think of this?"


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## Xaltotun (Sep 3, 2010)

A personal connection, something that connects it to my general Weltanschauung - something that makes me _agree_ with it. There are a lot of fine, fine things that I don't agree with. But an experience of true greatness requires that I am converted, made a believer.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

science said:


> I think the only music that I "hate" is predictable stuff that is emotionally manipulative but emotionally shallow at the same time. It can be sentimental if it's not too predictable; it can be fairly predictable if it's really professional and not too sentimental. But if it's both, then I find it worse than merely affected, sort of disgustingly cloying.
> 
> That's pretty much limited to sappy pop music, especially new country and teen stuff, Christian contemporary, muzac, some smooth jazz, and so on.
> 
> ...


I find this true as well, but I'm not sure whether I love a piece because I find it incredible or find it incredible because I love it.

Love for another person tends to be like that too.


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## OlivierM (Jul 31, 2014)

Sometimes the border is very thin, between like and love. For instance, the thread I started about Ernest Chausson's Concert Op 21.
I have close to 20 versions of this piece (which suggests I love it), but some of them only make me merely like it. What I mean, is that if I had discovered that piece through some of these nearly 20 ensembles, I would probably have not given it the attention I gave it, when discovering it through Rogé, Amoyal & Quatuor Ysaÿe's performance, which is a wonderful bliss, and which made me want to listen to it hundreds of times.

So to sum up, very difficult question.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

Woodduck said:


> I find this true as well, but I'm not sure whether I love a piece because I find it incredible or find it incredible because I love it.
> 
> Love for another person tends to be like that too.


Yeah, but, people love me because I'm incredible, and that's the only side of that coin.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

OlivierM said:


> Sometimes the border is very thin, between like and love. For instance, the thread I started about Ernest Chausson's Concert Op 21.
> I have close to 20 versions of this piece (which suggests I love it), but some of them only make me merely like it. What I mean, is that if I had discovered that piece through some of these nearly 20 ensembles, I would probably have not given it the attention I gave it, when discovering it through Rogé, Amoyal & Quatuor Ysaÿe's performance, which is a wonderful bliss, and which made me want to listen to it hundreds of times.
> 
> So to sum up, very difficult question.


This has inspired me. I wish I had the talent to remake the old Persuaders' song into, "Thin Line Between Love and Like."


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## Clairvoyance Enough (Jul 25, 2014)

I tend to agree that pieces I just like are probably just a theoretical performance, played specifically to my taste and dictations, away from being pieces I love.


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## eipi (Aug 5, 2013)

For me, this question calls to mind Haydn and Mozart. I like every Haydn work I've ever heard, but I don't love any Haydn work. By contrast, I love dozens of Mozart works and like all the rest. The best explanation I can give is that, to my ears, Mozart had "beautiful ideas," and Haydn did not. What is a "beautiful idea"? It's not the product of skillful hard work; it's the product of dreaming something that is intensely pleasurable to oneself.


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## trazom (Apr 13, 2009)

It's the fact that the music I love is simply better than the music I like.

Edited: To add the 'wink' emoticon.


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## ptr (Jan 22, 2013)

Music I love gives me an intellectual orgasm, music I like just stimulates me intellectually!

/ptr


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## Skilmarilion (Apr 6, 2013)

Goose bumps.


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## Ian Moore (Jun 28, 2014)

The passion of the writer. It has to be something that changes your perception of the world to get me to love it.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Skilmarilion said:


> Goose bumps.


Basically, that's it! That elusive quality getting beyond the notes and moving my soul.
And it's not always about the composition. It's the interpretation and performance.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

I like music that has pattern and that has emotional verve. If it has pattern and verve in spades, I love it. And if it has pattern and verve and old associations, I love it so much that it's part of me and I will never get sick of it. 
Examples of music that I came across in childhood and are now part of me are - Purcell's Rondeau from Abdelazer, Handel's March from Scipio & the Bach Gavottes from Orchestral Suite No. 3, BWV 1068.
Examples of music that I've come across more recently and that has pattern and verve in spades are Diego Ortiz, Passamezzo - Dowland's Lachrimae Pavan - and Lully's suite from Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme.
*Love - love - love!*


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

science said:


> Yeah, but, people love me because I'm incredible, and that's the only side of that coin.


Regrettably, on TC I can give you only a "like."


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

What separates the music I love from the music I like?

I can easily find the music I love.


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