Whether you’re listening to vinyl on a $10,000 home stereo or to old cassette tapes on a Walkman with $3 headphones, you can upgrade the most crucial part of your listening equipment for free.
That most indispensable piece of gear, of course, is you–it’s your brain. The conscious development of keen listening skills is overlooked by many, but it’s crucial to your enjoyment and understanding of music.
Over the next few days we’ll be examining the nuts and bolts of good listening. I’ll tackle common causes of listener distraction, outline ways to prolong your attention span, and offer short exercises that you can do in five minutes or less to have the most satisfying aural experience possible.
Try this simple exercise
First, find a new piece of music, something you’re interested to hear. Find a comfortable place to sit down. Put on headphones or get really close to the speakers. Set aside everything else you have on your mind; none of that matters here. All you need to do for the next few minutes is listen. Ready? Settled in? Great.
Press play.
Now focus all your attention on what you’re hearing, and hold it there until the piece is finished. It’s possible that you’ve never done this–until a year ago, I hadn’t.
I think you’ll be surprised by the detail you can hear even on a first listen. The important thing is to maintain focus on the music–don’t do anything else while you’re listening. Set the phone aside. Turn off the ringer. Let the music wash over you, let it manipulate your mood, let it overflow your mind.
Experienced musicians and listeners alike can benefit from this exercise. We musicians can sometimes tend to overthink music and forget what a visceral, emotional experience it can be. I try to set aside some time every day to forget about my album-in-progress and just listen.
In the next post I’ll cover some common causes of listener distraction and a few simple ways to hold your concentration.
If you enjoyed this article, please be sure to bookmark this site, subscribe to the feed, or follow me on Twitter (see the blue button on the right side of the screen there?) to receive Good Aural! You can also sign up by e-mail below–and comment to let me know what you chose to listen to!
[…] […]