# Keep your classical listenings on control / My personal way



## Colisisau (Jun 22, 2014)

Hello, excuse me if my English isnt the best but I try my best

In this post I want to share with you this way that is only my own way to make sure I didnt miss a concert , or a symphony, neither any song nor anything.

So what I do is simple, since I love to listen symphonies for example, I created a list , ( which I will show you now ) to control which I have already listened to , and so I propose it to myself like an achievement , to listen , for example, to Haydn´s symphony 23 for one, two , three or more times, ( doesnt mean I will not listen it again and again if I want to )

In a beggining, I just wanted to keep all Haydn´s main melody of every of his symphonies in my mind , and maybe I could get it if I listened them all once and once, then I realized it was impossible , I wanted to be like " hear any symphony, I know which is that one, yeah , I can even sing the whole symphony " , at least for me its impossible, but of course I recognize every of them... this is the way I kept using

1 - Made a list , whatever you want to take control of your listenings, name your list ( mine is called " Sinfonias de Joseph Haydn ) thats in spanish yeah

2- Is your list made on something that has a clear number of pieces / works ? ( in my case symphonies, and yes, we know how many Haydn´s symphonies there are ) So I just put the number and then some references on how to control it

3 - I wrote the symphonies numbers from 1 to 104 including Concertante, and then besides these numbers I put 4 hyphens which are the first 4 listenings. Then a number " one ( 1 ) " up the last hyphen means I have listened it more than four times, but five times,

A circle means I have listened it more than four times, but six times

Yes, a square means I have listened it three times more than four ( seven times )

Here are the pics of my pretty old list, maybe you can zoom it and see some of the things I have just commented since, I repeat, this is my personal way ( ye I didnt put much effort on doing a good letter )



http://imgur.com/ADLiSjd


Front :

http://es.tinypic.com/r/4uz8ug/8 ( rotate it )

A little more closer :

http://es.tinypic.com/r/9tg07t/8

And so thats my way to control what I have listened and Im always happy to mark a hyphen after listening some good music piece. You can apply this for everything, songs of an album, cds, whatever.

Did you like this idea ?


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

I would be curious yo know whether anyone else does something like this. I don't keep lists. When I buy a CD of a work that is new to me, I'll listen to it several times to familiarize myself with it. Eventually, I will remember the work in my head.


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

Yup. I have all my CDs in a notebook in composer order (with appendixes for vocal and instrumental compositions) and I put a mark next to the CD every time I listen to it. I use different symbols for each year (so a triangle for 2014, a circle for 2013 etc) so I can tell if it is some time since I last heard a CD.

Of course, it is of no use except for me, but I like it (I like lists in general - sigh!)


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

I don't want to remember anything about any work I've heard, except that I liked it. That never quite happens, but often I come close enough. OK, there are a few hymns I enjoy wallowing in - and Yankee Doodle on a fife is usually welcome.


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## ptr (Jan 22, 2013)

Nope, my listening has been spinning out of control for years! 

/ptr


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## Blancrocher (Jul 6, 2013)

ptr said:


> Nope, my listening has been spinning out of control for years!
> 
> /ptr


If I had access to your collection, mine would be too :lol: I'd be like a kid alone in the candy store.


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

The OPie sounds like a completist. There's great danger there.:devil:


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

I keep track of the number of times I listen to an album (not individual works). I don't record when I listened, however. My aim is to prevent albums from getting skipped. A scan of my list of albums instantly reveals albums with lower play counts: those are the ones I choose from when I decide what to listen to next... unless I absolutely must hear a specific piece right now, of course  I mostly always play a disc numerous times--often enough until I feel that I have _truly_ heard it--before removing it from the player and incrementing the play count: my mind tends to wander, a significant amount of my listening is while doing other things, etc.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Well, this is an intriguing idea. Though I'm already doing something like this for books, it never occurred to me I might need to avoid skipping a selection of music. I play more or less at random and I use random play on my iPod. I had faith in its ability to get around to everything eventually, but looking at the number of plays reveals 4 or 5 plays for a few pieces and zero for many others. It does seem a little weighted, but then how can we knows there is such a thing as true randomness? 

So maybe I should try something similar to Colisisau. But I already have all my collection on a spreadsheet, so it will be an easy matter to put an extra column for the number of listens. I think I would only count fairly serious listens and not when I have headphones on as background at work.


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

Weston said:


> I think I would only count fairly serious listens and not when I have headphones on as background at work.


I wonder about that too. I draw the line at 'counting' those CDs that I fall asleep listening to - and I can fall asleep to anything that I like - absolutely anything!


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## Varick (Apr 30, 2014)

Holy Crap at this thread!

I had no idea there were people out there (especially this many) that did this kind of bizarre stuff like me.

V


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Keeping a list of the collection (old-fashioned media CDs, LPs, plus MP3s) is more than enough as regards lists for me. The library concept usually rules out skipping the acquired works themselves; whereas I trust my judgment when wanting to substitute specific recordings, I don´t like sufficiently. In that last-mentioned aspect, the overall criteria are quite stable: at least one relatively objective version with good sound, and then a representation of further ones with a more original/exciting approach, dullness however being generally prohibited. To me, once-identified dullness is very rarely a subject for revision .


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## Badinerie (May 3, 2008)

I used to keep lists and records of albums, how often I listen to them ect and my thought on them. After so many computer database losses I just gave up. 
Nowdays I treat my collections like a big swimming pool. I'll just walk over and jump into which ever end I feel like on that day, Shallow or Deep regardless of where I swam yesterday.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

I keep a mental list of things I've heard/performed, and also various mental wish-lists of things I've heard/performed. But none of it is written down, save my Flute Repertoire list.


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## opus55 (Nov 9, 2010)

Thought about doing somthing similar, yes, but I thought it'd be too weird if people find me do that..


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

Varick said:


> Holy Crap at this thread!
> 
> I had no idea there were people out there (especially this many) that did this kind of bizarre stuff like me.
> 
> V


Plenty of people out there have painted model airplanes, watched snooker on the TV, read cookery books, done jigsaws, put their shirts on one colour of coathanger, eaten with a favourite knife and fork, done Sudoku, remembered the final word on the only occasion they completed the Times cryptic crossword (31 years ago - 'Spillikins') .... oh, hang on .....!!!!!


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