# How do you listen?



## JeffD (May 8, 2017)

If this has been discussed elsewhere I apologize.

I am just curious. I have a friend who has classical music on all the time. Not the local classical music radio station, but CDs. He comes home from work and before he takes off his coat that stereo is on. Till bed time. Sort of the sound track to his life.

I have another friend, in the DC area, who listens to WETA all the time. (What's interesting there is how wonderfully WETA programs their music to match the time of the day.) 

Years ago the thing to do was to listen through high end earphones, for the best fidelity and to avoid disturbing others.

What do you folks do? Does it include adult beverages or other mind altering? Do you have a cigarette or pipe? Do you follow along with the score?

Do you play mostly through your computer, or through a stereo? Do you mostly watch videos of performances?

Do you listen while driving? Or through ear buds while taking a walk. 

There is a scene in Out of Africa, where Denys Finch Hattan, setting up a camp site in the middle of absolute nowhere, takes out his gramophone, that he has lugged all this time, and plays Mozart. Do you take classical music with you when camping or boating?


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## Klassik (Mar 14, 2017)

JeffD said:


> I have another friend, in the DC area, who listens to WETA all the time. (What's interesting there is how wonderfully WETA programs their music to match the time of the day.)


We no longer have a classical music radio station here in Houston. Well, technically there is one on an HD Radio substation, but I usually don't have my HD Radio tuner hooked up. The station is not very good anyway.



> Years ago the thing to do was to listen through high end earphones, for the best fidelity and to avoid disturbing others.





> Do you play mostly through your computer, or through a stereo? Do you mostly watch videos of performances?


I rarely listen to classical music through headphones. I prefer listening to it through loudspeakers on my home stereo system. Sometimes I will listen to it on my computer through computer speakers.

I use CDs most of the time, but I do have a few classical records and cassettes. I also stream music from YouTube.



> What do you folks do? Does it include adult beverages or other mind altering? Do you have a cigarette or pipe? Do you follow along with the score?


Adult beverages? Sometimes, but rarely. I don't smoke, but I do have a mighty corncob pipe! :devil: That's a story for another thread though! :lol:

I usually sit on the couch and focus in on the music while I'm listening to it. I generally don't listen to it has background music, but sometimes I will play some familiar classical music as background music after work when I have a few minutes to relax.

Anyway, I usually listen to a warm-up piece before I get to what I really want to listen to because sometimes sitting on the couch and focusing in on the music in the evening will lead me to doze off. I'll put on what I want to listen to once I'm physiologically ready to focus in for real.



> Do you listen while driving? Or through ear buds while taking a walk.


I generally don't listen while driving. Listening to classical music in the car is difficult due to the dynamic range of many classical recordings and since I can't focus in on the music.

I have an exercise bike near my stereo system. Sometimes I'll "go for a ride" while listening, but that does not happen too often. I like to take walks, especially while on break at work, but i don't listen to music then.



> There is a scene in Out of Africa, where Denys Finch Hattan, setting up a camp site in the middle of absolute nowhere, takes out his gramophone, that he has lugged all this time, and plays Mozart. Do you take classical music with you when camping or boating?


I don't go camping or boating. I do listen to Mozart though!


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

I most often listen to classical music in the hour or two before sleep when my mind is quiet and clear and the day's events and distractions have been dealt with. I most often listen via headphones, using CD player, iPod or iPad. If listening to a familiar work but a new, different performance on YouTube, I'll watch the video. If the work itself is new to me, I will listen only so that I can entirely focus on the music. If at home during the day, I'll listen to a classical music FM station on loudspeaker, but not too loud (neighbors, shhhhhh!).


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

JeffD said:


> If this has been discussed elsewhere I apologize.


There was a short-lived thread with the exact same title about 6 years ago, but worth further discussion.

The vast majority of my listening is on a mono earbud (electronically combines the two channels) off a MP3 player but with memory foam ear tips because they stay in the ear and don't cause itchiness. This is the one (pictured below) I use and after 1 year it is in great shape. Has special cord that does not harden and crack like the typical PVC cord will. I wear this most of my waking hours that I am not at work. I can listen more in one ear because I can stay connected to the world with the other ear.


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## gardibolt (May 22, 2015)

The iPod has completely revolutionized my classical music listening. It was always a pain to get everything set up, and then I was stuck in one place, and as a result I didn't really listen all that often. Now I listen to classical music pretty much everywhere I go short of the movie theater---at work, in the car, walking the dog. Hell, thanks to my SleepPhones I also listen sometimes when I'm trying to get to sleep or if I wake up early and want to get back to sleep and stop my mind from racing. The iPhone is not nearly as useful since it doesn't natively shuffle by album, which is how I have all my classical music set up (each composition as a separate album). The late lamented iPod Classic does it beautifully. Apple likes to break things that are working well, just so they can break them. Finally, I'm getting the good out of my classical music collection that was always hidden away.

Sometimes headphones, sometimes speakers, sometimes IEMs (though I can only use those for about an hour a day or my ears start getting irritated).


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## JAS (Mar 6, 2013)

What is the make of the mono earbud? I don't think I would want it to listen to music, but it might work well for me at work, when I have to listen to one of the ridiculous training videos.


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## dillonp2020 (May 6, 2017)

It depends. I usually only play classical in my room on my speaker system. I listen to both CDs and vinyl. The former more often than the latter. I spent a considerable amount on my speaker system and turntable, and the sound quality reflects my investment. Can't do classical on headphones. I can't really hear all it, even at the highest volume. My listening is primarily done while I am working. I only listen to symphonies and operas with not other distractions.


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## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

Much of my listening these days is of 19th century music of lesser-known composers with some Beethoven on the side after a lifetime of listening to every conceivable work in the tradional tonal category. I also listen to a fair amount of various popular music. 

All of the listening is on iPhones or an iTouch using music files that have been carefully edited using Sony Sound Forge and CD Architect. So, for instance, I'll listen to a 3 hour sound file of continuous piano concerto adagios (that are not from the usual suspects) on an iPhone SE with Bose Soundsport, On-Ear or Q25 headphones depending on where I am. Practically no CDs these days and no listening on stereo systems anymore (been there, done that).


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

I primarily use my ears to listen.
When those aren't available .... I remain a staunch hanger-on-er to traditional "stereo equipment" -- a tubed integrated amplifier outputting into two quality near-field speakers. I divide time between vinyl and CDs, having a too large collection of each, with some minimal moments of the year spent dragging out the tapes (both cassettes and reel-to-reel, which my system is also set up to support. There are some items in my collection that are _only_ on tapes.).
Radio listening for me is largely constrained to when I'm driving my old Jeep, which is now seriously outfitted with Sirius. There is only one serious classical station, not counting a MET opera station, and, no, Sirius, the SPA station is _not _classical! Fortunately I appreciate jazz, and Sirius gives me a couple of choices there, too. Two, in fact. No, Sirius! The SPA station is _not_ jazz!!!
I like the ability to choose what to listen to and now in my waning years I can generally choose when to listen as well. But I also treasure the adventure of the radio programming, though radio is still primarily stuck in a traditional sense of classical music. Very little avant-garde going on there, in comparison to my disc collection which sports thousands of avant-garde/new music offerings.
Headphones are less satisfactory for me than open air speaker listening, but my Sennheisers get a fair amount of workout nowadays, especially when I want to enjoy some of the really out-there avant-garde stuff, loud, and don't want to get those looks and/or comments from the other person(s) in the house at the time. Which is why it's sometimes great to be alone. I am known to play some pretty wild stuff pretty wildly loudly (concert level, of course) when home alone. The spacial ambience of speaker sound -- the increased depth, soundstage, stereo imaging -- still blows headphone sound away.
Sunday afternoon I'll be at a live concert -- the Mahler _Resurrection_ performed in Heinz Hall by the Pittsburgh SO. So I'll be certain to take my ears along for that.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

JAS said:


> What is the make of the mono earbud? I don't think I would want it to listen to music, but it might work well for me at work, when I have to listen to one of the ridiculous training videos.


www.Scansound.com. They have quite a few of those mono earbuds, they are called one-bud.


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

Pretty much all of the above. I have my computer connected to a DAC and a pair of AudioEngine 5s. I have two standalone systems, and several different pairs of headphones for use with portable players or DAC/headphone amps respectively.

While I still have my CDs, I have ripped them all and the music is on a server available to my various systems (including the portables). Also Tidal is available on all my players.

I am retired and thus no longer have a commute, so most of my listening is done at home.

More details on request.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

I always listen to my CD's except for some sampling on Naxos Music Library. Cd's are always playing in my car - mostly baroque and classical-era music; romantic era music with its wide dynamics doesn't work well in the car. I never listen to classical as background music.


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## bigboy (May 26, 2017)

jegreenwood said:


> the music is on a server available to my various systems (including the portables).


Is this a homebrew set up you have going?? If so it sounds pretty nifty- how did you do it?


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

bigboy said:


> Is this a homebrew set up you have going?? If so it sounds pretty nifty- how did you do it?


At this point it's more a hodgepodge than a homebrew. I started my computer based system with Squeezeboxes and the Logitech Media Server, which sits on my computer. Not long after, Logitech closed down the Squeezebox line, but they thoughtfully left the necessary centralized software available. As much of the code was open source, there are still a number of developers maintaining and even improving it, and five years later it still works.

In the meanwhile planning for the future, I also bought JRiver's media center (which I use with my computer based system) and when the first of my Squeezebox players died last year, an Auralic Aires Mini (which was a bargain with a free year of Tidal).

Probably more than you wanted to know.


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## Agamemnon (May 1, 2017)

JeffD said:


> He comes home from work and before he takes off his coat that stereo is on. Till bed time. Sort of the sound track to his life.


It looks like your friend (ab)uses music to be muzak. I don't always listen to music in a very focused way but I don't want music to be muzak. Just like it is pointless to put on a movie and then go ironing: just like a movie music delivers an experience and you have to immerse yourself into it to experience it. Also I hate it when peeple say they like classical music for relaxation. I think the goal of music is to immerse into a new world of feelings and experiences. I don't think Mozart and Beethoven wrote their music to be muzak or for relaxing! In fact, I have always find it awkward when people even sit still at Mozart's 20th piano concerto: when I listen to it I jump and bounce around because this music makes me wild and very excited. Which this music is supposed to do, I think.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

OP: I simply sit in my chair and listen to the music, just like I would any other music.


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## Tallisman (May 7, 2017)

I listen via CD, mainly. More open - I feel trapped with headphones


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## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

hpowders said:


> OP: I simply sit in my chair and listen to the music, just like I would any other music.


That's usually what I do too. I don't like to do other things while I'm listening to classical music. I would miss too many details if I engaged in multi-tasking.


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## Dave Whitmore (Oct 3, 2014)

I usually listen to CDs. Occasionally I'll have a classical radio station on. I also have several classical LPs. I don't listen with headphones. Sometimes I'll have the music on while I'm online. Other times, especially if it's something I haven't heard before I'll give it my undivided attention.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

I don't like headphones either, it's if one is nor in this world, _no offence to anyone please._


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

CD's on audio equipment, no headphones.

In the car, suitable pop/rock songs from a USB stick.


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## danj (Jun 1, 2017)

I work on a computer 8 hours a day, 5 days a week as a software developer. I listen, via Spotify, through my noise-cancelling, pricey Bose QC35s. Best headphones I ever bought.

If not, I have CDs in my car and just pop one in. Although not a big fan of this because I have a ton of CDs and I can't have time to fumble around. I have long commutes (40ish minutes average to and from house)


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## Andolink (Oct 29, 2012)

All of my listening takes place here










mostly at night in the dark (I'm a night-shift worker) with attention focused only on the music.

The only time this stereo system plays background music is when we're entertaining guests at the house.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

It's a bit strange I guess, but I rarely listen to classical music or any other music for that matter, while driving, so when I buy a car, the super-wattage of a potential car stereo is not relevant to me, and I simply order the base stereo system, for the few times I will listen to it.

If I travel away from home for a week or so, I bring my iPod-that's practically all classical, but my prefered way of listening is at home in my listening room (an unneeded bedroom), no headphones, to CDs at moderate volume.


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## Agamemnon (May 1, 2017)

While driving the car I never listen to classical music (yet listen to rock/pop). This has two reasons; a) classical music is often dynamic so you easily miss out the softer parts while the car motor is running b) classical music demands some focus while I want to focus on the road/traffic when I am driving.


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## Clairvoyance Enough (Jul 25, 2014)

I'd say 80 percent during walks, 20 percent while at the computer. It's had its advantages and disadvantages. I don't like to kill the vibe of my stride with all those lame slow movements, so I have these huge patches of ignorance in the oeuvres of even my favorite composers and pieces. On the plus side I still have a bunch of music by my favorite dudes to discover for the first time. On the other hand, I've been saying I'd go back and do that for awhile now and I still haven't...


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## Sonata (Aug 7, 2010)

Agamemnon said:


> It looks like your friend (ab)uses music to be muzak. I don't always listen to music in a very focused way but I don't want music to be muzak. Just like it is pointless to put on a movie and then go ironing: just like a movie music delivers an experience and you have to immerse yourself into it to experience it. Also I hate it when peeple say they like classical music for relaxation. I think the goal of music is to immerse into a new world of feelings and experiences. I don't think Mozart and Beethoven wrote their music to be muzak or for relaxing! In fact, I have always find it awkward when people even sit still at Mozart's 20th piano concerto: when I listen to it I jump and bounce around because this music makes me wild and very excited. Which this music is supposed to do, I think.


Or maybe he's just so enthusiastic about the the music he just likes to listen to a lot of it. That's kind of how it is for me. I just can't help but try to cram in one more peice of music because I'm eager to hear it


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## Annied (Apr 27, 2017)

No headphones in this household either. I mostly play music when I'm doing something else that doesn't require my full attention. Ironing is a good example as are some of the stages in bookbinding. 

I do find that I always end up doing whatever the "other" thing is in time to the music, so something pacey if I'm emulsioning a wall is always good. On the other hand, I stopped listening to music in the car when, to my horror, I realised I'd was doing 60mph in a 30mph zone because "The Flight of the Bumblebee" was playing on the car radio.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Agamemnon said:


> While driving the car I never listen to classical music (yet listen to rock/pop). This has two reasons; a) classical music is often dynamic so you easily miss out the softer parts while the car motor is running b) classical music demands some focus while I want to focus on the road/traffic when I am driving.


Driving I do listen and I drive quite well with music, tuning it out as the traffic situation demands. Where I have trouble driving is if I have a passenger who wants to hold a conversation. I just don't do well in that situation and will miss turns or take a habitual route. Years ago when I was on the forestry crew of a city, the guys love to have me drive so they could distract me and we would end up somewhere else, which resulted in our getting to the job site later. They loved it for two reasons: it was funny to see me go the wrong way (not on a one-way street though) and they liked the extra "wind shield time" on the clock.

I have no non-classical on my mp3 player. I will listen to some non-classical in the car but also classical, depending on the mood.

I rarely listen to music at work as work is too distracting.


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## Vox Gabrieli (Jan 9, 2017)

I love disturbing others!


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## TwoFlutesOneTrumpet (Aug 31, 2011)

I mostly listen to music in my house and pretty much all classical. I have two set ups. One in the basement with loud speakers where I don't need to worry about my family and play as loud as I want Another in the family room with headphones and headphone amp. I choose one or the other depending on how I want to experience the music.


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## JeffD (May 8, 2017)

What do you think about this idea? Putting classical music on in the background, while working or doing chores, as a way of gaining familiarity with it. 

I generally cannot listen this way because I am a hard listener, and would find it distracting. But I have found that having it on in the background (ok, like Muzak) is somehow changing my brain, and when I do get the chance to listen hard to the piece, it is not entirely new to me. I wonder if I can perhaps hear it better because I am past the novelty of it.


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## JeffD (May 8, 2017)

Is playing classical music in the background degrading the music to the status of Muzak, or is it upgrading the background music of our lives? (I agree it is not like listening hard to a piece that has your full attention.)


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## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

JeffD said:


> Is playing classical music in the background degrading the music to the status of Muzak, or is it upgrading the background music of our lives? (I agree it is not like listening hard to a piece that has your full attention.)


I don't know. All I know is that, for me personally, it would be unsatisfying to listen to classical as background music. It would be like putting on a DVD of a movie, and then doing chores and talking on the phone while watching it. You'd miss many plot twists and narrative details, and it would be hard to track how things got from point A to point B. That's how I feel about classical music. I experience each work like a narrative, with a plot in which musical events unfold. If I miss out on an event because I'm busy doing something else, I won't be able to follow what comes next.


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## Krummhorn (Feb 18, 2007)

Our local university operates a PBS Classical music radio station and has installed 'translators' (additional towers with a different frequency) so that everyone in this region can listen to the music. They even have a tower installed in a town 75 miles from where I live. They've really gone the extra mile to promote Classical music here in Southern Arizona.


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## Sonata (Aug 7, 2010)

JeffD said:


> Is playing classical music in the background degrading the music to the status of Muzak, or is it upgrading the background music of our lives? (I agree it is not like listening hard to a piece that has your full attention.)


I don't see it as degrading, but I don't see music as a religion and I doubt the composer would be offended. If so they'd need to get over themselves  Mostly kidding. But seriously, if I save music for concentrated listening....I just don't have that kind of time to listen to the number of works that I want to listen to. Certainly, an unfamiliar opera, a Mahler, Bruckner, or Shostakovich symphony, or and string quartets beyond the classical period, I need to save for concentrated listening.


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## Melvin (Mar 25, 2011)

As for background music, it depends on what it is. In my opinion, Haydn quartets and baroque music can make for fine background music. With baroque music, I can easily follow it's logical structures in the background while I'm focusing on homework or something else. I think the word for "Muzak" in Telemann's day was "Tafelmusik".
Also certain piano music can be very enjoyable in the background, if it is not too complex. Something like Satie is perfect: You get to absorb the mood. Often the pieces are short, so it's ok if you phase in and out sometimes.
But complex modern music usually won't work as background music. If you don't give it 100% of your attention, it often becomes nothing more than noise. You'll miss out on the key plot points and have no idea what's going on or why!!


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Gabriel Ortiz said:


> I love disturbing others!


So you are the guy blowing RAP out the car at the stop light with the body panels rattling from the sub woofer, eh? :lol:


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