# Listening and piece selection methodologies



## ZJovicic (Feb 26, 2017)

How do you listen, and how do you choose what to listen to?

Do you prefer listening to works that are new for you (first listening) or things that you're already familiar with? How much of your listening time goes to new works, and how much to the works you listened to in the past?

When do you enjoy the piece the most... on first listening, after a couple of listenings, or when you're very familiar with it?

When you tackle a new piece, do you listen to it a couple of times in a row, before passing to something else? Or perhaps you add new pieces in a group and dedicate some time to a certain group of new pieces until you familiarize yourself with it, before passing to new stuff?

Do you listen mainly for enjoyment/experience, or for knowledge. By knowledge I mean knowing the piece well enough to be able to recognize it, to sing/hum in your mind parts of it, and to be able to enjoy it on a new level later?

Should all pieces be enjoyable on a first listening?

Do you use "movie method" or "album method" ?

Movie method is what I do with movies: I watch movie just once, and then watch the next one. On rare occasions, I watch some movies for the second time, usually my favorites, or if it happens to be on TV, usually a LONG time after the first watching.

The album method is what I do with albums and classical CDs that I actually buy: I listen to it in its entirety at least 5-6 times in the first month after purchase, not necessarily in a row, but I do listen to it several times, in relatively short time.

With the advent of basically free access to music on Youtube, etc... I am getting closer to the movie method. Listen to a piece, move onto the next one. But not exactly... it's actually something in between. I spend less time dealing with a single piece, but I usually try to listen to it multiple times in a relatively short period of time, to try to remember it and appreciate it more deeply. But usually not as long as I would do with physical CDs.

How are works "supposed" to be listened to? I know for example, in early eras, compositions were often composed ad hoc, for certain occasions and they weren't meant to be preserved, but just played on a single occasion or couple of occasions.
Furthermore, even if compositions were to be preserved, before 20th century it was IMPOSSIBLE for an average listener to listen to a piece multiple times in short period because there was no sound recording... So if you listened to a certain symphony performance, and you liked it very much, you'd have to wait till the next performance, which could happen who knows when...

I guess for that reason works in 19th century and before HAD to be more accessible, because they were meant to be listened to just once. Just like movies or novels. If movie was such that no one can get it on first watching it would be a failure of a movie. People didn't have the luxury to listen to something 10 times until they familiarize themselves with it enough to let it "sink in" so that they finally "get it"...

Perhaps it's an interesting question in a deeper, more philosophical sense... is music supposed to be a unique experience... that is, listening to one piece just once, or it's something that's supposed to be repeated... (like most popular and folk songs are meant to be repeated etc...). But perhaps each repetition is still unique... as you listen to it at different times, in different moods, different contexts, and each time it adds something new to your experience.


----------



## MusicSybarite (Aug 17, 2017)

Most of time new stuff. I prefer to have 100 recordings of different works than 100 recordings of an only work. In general, I listen to complete works by a composer (e.g. symphonies, concertos, string quartets) in chronological order, but not always. It allows me to understand the evolution or changes the composer has developed. I try to balance new repertoire with known one.


----------



## Nate Miller (Oct 24, 2016)

I like to listen to what I am on the hook to have to play next

when I listen to something, I immerse myself in it. I will listen to it over and over...to the exclusion of everything else. Sometimes for days on end.

I like to have a playlist of pieces I will be working on that evening going while I am at work, then when I get home and work with the score, I have the music in my ears already. 

but this is different than listening for appreciation


----------



## bharbeke (Mar 4, 2013)

There's a lot of questions to ponder in the initial post. In general, I try to find a balance between listening to new works and old works. Listening to a work for a 2nd time can increase appreciation for it or just be a sure thing to enjoy when you need it most.

With the length of classical pieces being what they are, I will not typically listen to the same thing twice in a row, and there has to be something appealing from a first listen for a piece to be given another listen.

All pieces should be enjoyable on the first listen, assuming the performers are doing an adequate job of interpreting them.


----------



## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

I tend to devote my listening time to one composer at a time, for weeks. That way there are no disturbing stylistic clashes to distract me and turn me off.


----------



## AeolianStrains (Apr 4, 2018)

hpowders said:


> I tend to devote my listening time to one composer at a time, for weeks. That way there are no disturbing stylistic clashes to distract me and turn me off.


I do similarly for new composers. I also love _reading_ about a composers with whom I'm newly introduced. When I hear a particularly striking piece, I tend to find other versions to see how they compare, as well.

That said, I'm mostly an album-listener. The performers had an idea of a pairing, so I try to see how that plays out. For that reason, I also dislike the chopping up by record labels of older albums, with a recording by so and so in 1972 and another in 1978, when originally they were published separately with other pieces. I can see why they would do that in certain cases, but it becomes harder to find that earlier pairing when they do that.

I also like to order my albums primarily by year of publication of the recording. It helps me see what the performers in their context. Just more and different ways of consuming music.


----------



## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

My cd's are not arranged in any order. When I want to listen to music, I open a drawer or look on a shelf and pick something that speaks to me at that point in time; I love being surprised at my findings. Of course, the main negative of my slovenly approach is that I don't know where any disc might be. Must be that I give top priority to the big surprise over knowledge/logistics.

I listen for the experience of enjoyment and potential illumination. I don't pay any attention to old/new/genre etc. Lately, I've been listening to about 7 discs a day and it's usually 7 different composers. That doesn't count the works I acquaint myself with that are listed in the TC games.


----------



## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

bharbeke said:


> All pieces should be enjoyable on the first listen, assuming the performers are doing an adequate job of interpreting them.


That hasn't been my experience. Many works that I treasure did nothing for me on a first listen, sometimes not even after a few. At the other end, the music I enjoy on first listening often goes downhill fast with repeated hearings.


----------



## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

A lot of questions here. Most of my listening these days is unstructured. I listen to one thing and as I am listening I often know what I want to listen to next. Sometimes I start things but find they are not right for my mood and I abandon them. Sometimes I am in the mood for something contemporary, sometimes for something familiar, sometimes for a more obscure piece from a period that I know lots of music from well.

I do sometimes listen to numerous versions of a piece from different performers back to back. It can go on for days. I find this a very rewarding experience and one that I feel takes me deeper into a work and the many things that can be found in it. 

When I was first listening to classical music I would listed again and again to a record but I don't do that now. In those days it never occurred to me to have more than one version of a piece and I loved getting to know a piece and what it could "do to me". Having numerous versions is now something I want to do - the greater the piece, the more versions I want to hear. If I am listening to something new, in a musical language I am familiar with, I do expect to like it (or not) on first hearing. But it is only after a few listens (over a few months) that I can be sure what I think of it as I find my mood affects the way I hear things. 

With music that is contemporary I will probably not know the musical language so well - although my comprehension increases as my listening broadens - and may try several things to get into it. These might include concentrating on it as I listen or having it in the background for repeated unfocused hearings. I love the feeling when something contemporary suddenly clicks and starts talking to me! Or sometimes I hear distinctive "riffs" from such a piece in my mind's ear when I am not thinking about it - then I know I am ready to give it a serious hearing.

There is also modern music that seems more traditional (symphonic, tonal) and I often find with this that the experience of listening is pleasant (or more) but doesn't grow on further listenings. I still don't know how impressed I am with, say, MacMillan or Holmboe or Aho for this reason. Sometimes, though, I do fall in love with such pieces.


----------



## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

I started reading the book The Rest Is Noise
https://www.amazon.com/Rest-Noise-Listening-Twentieth-Century/dp/0312427719
so I tend to listen to whatever I am momentarily reading about. 
before that, it was inspiration from TC, music offered by youtube or my wish to explore a particular composer/direction.


----------



## Beet131 (Mar 24, 2018)

Bulldog said:


> My cd's are not arranged in any order. When I want to listen to music, I open a drawer or look on a shelf and pick something that speaks to me at that point in time; I love being surprised at my findings. Of course, the main negative of my slovenly approach is that I don't know where any disc might be. Must be that I give top priority to the big surprise over knowledge/logistics.
> 
> I listen for the experience of enjoyment and potential illumination. I don't pay any attention to old/new/genre etc. Lately, I've been listening to about 7 discs a day and it's usually 7 different composers. That doesn't count the works I acquaint myself with that are listed in the TC games.


I really admire your spontaneity, Bulldog! You're always surprised by what you pull out of the stacks of cd's, and that may make it a fresher experience for you. I am quite the opposite; usually pretty methodical about what I want to listen to, and it reflects a more deliberate approach to listening (much like hpowders). I listen for a better understanding of the music as well as pure 
enjoyment. So, I may also listen to the same pieces of a composer for days and days on end. But then, an idea may come to me and I listen to a dozen different composers in the space of two hours, picking out specific parts.


----------

