# When something suddently click about the music you're listening



## Praeludium (Oct 9, 2011)

... and you're suddently able to enjoy it a lot !
Has it ever happened to you ?

I was listening to Schulhoff's 11 Inventionen and it just clicked. I absolutely loved it and I think I'll now be able to explore this kind of music very easily and naturally.

Also, listening to Hopkinson Smith playing Vieux Gaultier made me love french baroque music, while I used to think it was shapeless, strange and not really enjoyable.


I love when those clicks happen, it make me feel so good !

What were your major "clicks" ?


edit : can a moderator edit the awful mistake in the title please ? Sorry, english isn't my mother-tongue...


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## Kieran (Aug 24, 2010)

Your English is fine! 

That's an interesting topic because this occurred with me when listening to Mahler's Fifth. It was impenetrable, indecipherable, dense, coded, twitchy, contrary - and I persevered with it until one day I found I was listening to wholly different, unfamiliar and beautiful work, which had the same title. It clicked with me in a way that it hadn't before and since then I love it...


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

This has happened to me with a number of composers and works. Sometimes I just leave them aside for a while, and it becomes something more inviting, like Sibelius's excellent Fourth symphony, and other times the music just seems to untangle before your ears, like Schoenberg's Suite for Piano.

And anyone who goes out of their way to correct the English of a non-native speaker is a jerk. Don't worry about them.


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## Chrythes (Oct 13, 2011)

I rarely enjoy the classical era, especially Mozart, but I always enjoyed his violin sonatas.


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## julianoq (Jan 29, 2013)

It happened to me with Bruckner a few time ago. I tried hard to enjoy it months ago when I was pretty much new to classical music, but was not able. I listened to the 8th performed by Karajan and nothing happened.

I let it aside for some time and tried again. I don't know exactly what changed in this time, if it was only my knowledge on classical music that evolved and let me appreciate it or something spiritual also played a role (since after 15 years of atheism suddenly a religion "clicked" for me), but I listened to the same symphony and it was awesome since the beginning. The adagio, that was boring months ago, now was superb. Now I can say that Bruckner is one of my favorite composers, I listen to it daily and love it.


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## apricissimus (May 15, 2013)

Happened to me once while listening to Bach's French suites. It had a few things going against it: 1) I never really "got" Bach, 2) wasn't a fan of baroque music in general, 3) hate the harpsichord.

But for some reason I think finally appreciated Bach for the first time. There was nothing significant leading up to it; it just all of a sudden reached me for no reason at all as far as I can tell. And it clearly happened at a particular point in the middle of listening. In a flash it hit me.

Bach still doesn't move me like some other composers do, but it's easier now than it once was.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

I just had that happen with Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathustra. I've listened to that on and off for a looong time, but it finally clicked last week. Then there was last November, when Berg's Violin Concerto finally made sense. 

I'm waiting for it to happen with Coltrane's A Love Supreme. But still, I'm happy with two clicks in six months.


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

Praeludium said:


> ... and you're suddently able to enjoy it a lot !
> Has it ever happened to you ?
> 
> I was listening to Schulhoff's 11 Inventionen and it just clicked. I absolutely loved it and I think I'll now be able to explore this kind of music very easily and naturally.
> ...


Major clicks last night with listening to Feldman's Crippled Symmetry and it was like an OMG moment when the instruments coordinated in a way that brought chills to me.

Very haunting and that pattern-based composition is just moving to me. So ethereal.


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## arthro (Mar 12, 2013)

It's always a fantastic thing when that happens ... I'm still waiting for it to happen to me with Bruckner, julianoq.

However, that said, when it comes to contemporary music and modern jazz, it's what I actually expect to happen.

I.e. the first few listens I expect it to be total uncoordinated noise. At that early stage, I just look for interesting sounds without really liking it. But after this, there really has to come a "clicking moment" where I suddenly see/hear the patterns or some sort of storyline or evolution. If not, I abandon.


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

Every single Mahler symphony and song has been an eye-opening experience... with the musical analysis provided by one of our finest TC persons here, I deeply appreciate getting the autobiographical elements of Mahler's life and why he selected which text of poem for the basis of the vocal sections. For me, that is a key to the riddle for understanding Mahler.

Also I didn't realize how much Mahler disliked city life. I'm a city type of guy but like having peace in nature too so I identify strongly with what Mahler is personalizing here.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

I remember struggling to get Berg's Violin concerto. I even saw it live, and I never got it. Then one day, it clicked. I hope it's because all the efforts I put in suddenly got together in my head and fell into place.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

It happened with Schoenberg's Piano Concerto. Sounded like meaningless, random notes on first hearing.

But I reasoned "Trust Mitsuko Uchida. Why would she record crap?"

So for three weeks or so I played it over and over until my brain was finally comfortable with the new vocabulary and yes, it "clicked"!

Now the Schoenberg is one of my favorite concertos-a hauntingly beautiful, nostalgic piece!


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## FLighT (Mar 7, 2013)

This is why I continue to re-visit works I'm not really passionate about, especially the more contemporary ones. I've had too many "it speaks to me now" moments over the past 50 years to deny myself the miracle of discovery that music can be for me.


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## Clairvoyance Enough (Jul 25, 2014)

This phenomenon is the basis of my frustration with people who write off entire periods of music. Once you go through enough of these enlightenments you start to realize that it's just a disservice to the brain's plasticity to suspect that there isn't another one waiting in whatever genre you've been pretending you'll never "get" just because your ears weren't brought up in the right place or time frame.

One of my favorite "clicks" was Glenn Gould's Bach. Until I tried other pianists I didn't appreciate the uncanny clarity of his recordings. Another one would be opera which is one of the most exhilarating realizations to have and I wish more people would try for it. 

Honestly though, since I'm pretty certain I like most classical music now, the big one I'm waiting for is Jazz.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I've recently had these clicks with Boulez, Derives 1 and 2, and Schoenberg, Suite, op. 29, and also with Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time. These were huge breakthroughs and were quite sudden as you describe. That doesn't mean I've gotten the rest of their works, but I have made a lot of progress.

My next breakthrough might be with art song, but that has been slowly growing on me by increments.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Manxfeeder said:


> I remember struggling to get Berg's Violin concerto. I even saw it live, and I never got it. Then one day, it clicked. I hope it's because all the efforts I put in suddenly got together in my head and fell into place.


I just noticed I said the same thing last year. Oh, well, I still like it.


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## isorhythm (Jan 2, 2015)

Shortly before joining this forum I had a big "click" with Boulez, Sur Incises in particular. Since then I've come to like quite alot of his later music...though I haven't yet come around to the mighty Second Piano Sonata.


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