Despite music being ubiquitous, the ability to listen to music has become a lost art. Music is something that we play in the background while we do other things. Most popular music is written in a way that accommodates our non-listening. The melodies are very simple and repetitive, and will be heard multiple times over the course of a 2-3 minute song.
Contrast this with the opening of Bach's prelude in C minor, BWV 549. It starts with the statement of a theme in the pedal. It's the subject of the sentence, so to speak, and if you miss it, you can't follow the story. It's a bold statement, a mordent, that moves up by sequence, and is stated more emphatically up the octave. The pedal line then moves in an exciting disjunct motion in another sequence before a final cadence and mordant brings us back to where we started. If you're not paying attention, you miss all the drama and you just hear, “organ plays in background.”
To really listen to good art music, you have to listen, which means not doing other things like having a conversation, reading a book, or doing math problems. Here are five suggestions for listening to music:
- Just listen. Put away your device and others audio/visual distractions. Try 30 seconds or more of silence before you even hit “play.”
- Does this music make you imagine a story? Some music does this more than others. In my teaching, I often ask this question of elementary students. The specifics of the answers vary widely, but they generally can communicate the feeling of a piece.
- Does this music have a text? If so, having the text in front of you will be very helpful. This is easy for popular acts, but harder for classical and sacred choral music. If you have a CD, the liner notes should have them. Sometimes you can find the text with some searching online. Good composers pay VERY close attention to the words they set, and so should you.
- Listen to the same piece more than once. You can listen multiple times in a row, or have a piece accompany your life throughout several days or a week. Good music stands up to repetition.
- If you're not shy, or no one is at home, you can conduct, dance, clap, and sing along with anything from Holst to Josquin.
And here are three things to avoid:
- Answering the question, “this sounds like something I would hear [at some location or event.]” For example, you hear a Mozart piano concerto and say, “this sounds like something from a fancy party in a movie.” This is like looking at a great piece of art and saying, “this looks like something from a museum.” Tell me more. What did you hear?
- Having a conversation while the music plays. This is perfectly fine in some settings. It would very strange if you avoided conversation at a restaurant for this reason. However, if you're at a classical concert, you can wait until after to say, “look at those circle bell thingies! They go ding!” Also, if you're in church, no one wants to hear you give the color commentary on the divine worship. Some people might want to pray. Be respectful of those people. Be more like those people.
- Listening to complicated art music while you commute. There are times you want to listen to a favorite piece, or maybe you just really like the classical music station. But, at least where I live, surviving traffic takes a lot of energy, and you'll miss 80% of the music. There is a time and a place for podcasts, simple music, and prayers for deliverance from danger.