Listening to Music
Boy has it already been one month since I blogged? It only feels like it’s been…one month. My b, my b.
Recently, whenever I listen to music in the car, I wonder how other people listen to music. What I mean is, what do people think when they’re listening to music. And I don’t mean that in a scientific way, really, but just a curious, “Hey, what do you think about when listening to some phat beats?”
See, I’m a musician. I’m not particularly great or whatever, but I know how to play some music and I know basic music theory. So when I listen to music that I really like, I try to figure out what exactly the musicians are doing. I try to dissect parts of the song or the whole song, to get an idea of how it was made and why it sounds so freaking awesome. This is probably due half to my generally curious nature and desire to understand everything, and due half to my desire to write amazing music1 and be really cool. I’ve noticed, though, that since being in a band and developing an interest in writing music, I definitely pay more attention to the individual elements of a song.
It’s also possible that I like occupying myself with the finer details of the music to avoid the boredom of driving. I don’t think I really dissect music as much while I’m sitting around on the computer, but maybe that’s because I’m usually doing something else, too.
Oh, I also always sing along really badly when I’m listening to music. When I’m at home, I keep it subdued so as not to subject my entire family to my singing. In the car, when I’m alone, I go all out and get really into it. I’m one of those drivers. Sometimes I’m secretly afraid of there being hidden cameras in the car, because there used to be a reality show that secretly taped bad car singers like me.
I’m sure there are plenty of people who have similar listening habits, but there are probably plenty of other types of listeners, too. That’s what I’m curious about. I wonder how other people interact with the music they like. Does everyone consider what the musicians are doing, what the chord progression is, what the rhythm of the song is, or is that only generally musicians? It doesn’t seem likely, but I don’t know. That’s a weird thing to ask random people. Unless you’re a blogger like me!
So…what do you think about while listening to music?
1It should be noted that it’s mostly a desire, as I barely ever write music. Usually when I want to, I seem to forget everything I know about music, or my brain doesn’t know how to tell my fingers what to do. Mostly my brain is just full of thoughts about songs.
Hello, my name's Josh and I might be a hipster (you decide!). I've been blogging and designing in some form for the past eight or so years and I think I'm starting to get the hang of it (once again, you decide!). I love indie music, coming of age stories, sarcasm, video games, and aesthetics. At the moment I'm working part-time and going to college with hopes of being a web designer. 
Posted by Ashley — Tuesday, December 20th 2011
I’m not a musician, but I do have a tendency to focus on individual instruments over repeated listens of a song – I love drumming and have a particularly deep respect for really talented drummers, so I love to pick out subtleties and tags in a song’s beats. I like to focus on strings, too.
More often than not, though, I’ll often attempt choreographing the song in my head. Which I’m pretty sure is a dancer-only thing, haha. And like you I sing along vehemently.
This is all, of course, when I’m only listening to music and not just using it as a backdrop to other activity.
Posted by The Ice King — Tuesday, December 20th 2011
I would like to start a reality tv show where we put hidden cameras in cars and watch people sing badly.
Posted by Clem — Tuesday, December 20th 2011
I definitely notice the technical details in music, especially the drums for obvious reasons. It’s kind of cool, but sometimes it annoys me that I can’t just listen to a song without my brain being like, “Ooh, listen to that crash!” or “Wow, that was a pretty cool fill!” or even “I could totally play this.” And with the songs I know how to play, it’s especially annoying.
I don’t sing along because I’m never alone and I can’t sing, but I dramatically lip synch. It’s pretty fun.
Posted by Josh — Wednesday, December 21st 2011
That is probably the best thing (only good thing?) about driving. You get to blast your music and just sing along no matter how much you suck at singing.
Posted by Renaldo — Tuesday, December 20th 2011
I am a fan of Klezmer. This music is very clarinet and accordion heavy. But that is not even scraping the surface of the genre. The character the musicians give to the music, that’s what I listen for. If George Harrison didn’t go out and say it, I could still hear his guitar weeping gently. Some instruments are pissed, others, desperate. Some songs evoke such powerful emotions if you tear away the words and pay attention to what the instrument is saying. Next time you listen to even vocals, don’t think of the words.
Posted by Jamie — Tuesday, December 20th 2011
I tend to not pay attention to any specific instrument unless it’s one I particularly love (steel guitar, mandolin, saxophone, etc).
Otherwise.. I just jam OR try to figure out what the composer was really talking about when they wrote it.
Posted by Robmarie — Wednesday, December 21st 2011
I like to feel the music. I’m a very visual person so I like to imagine settings or film/writing sequences I would do, if the music’s good!
Posted by Anneli — Friday, December 23rd 2011
I used to be a musician. I’m not sure if you ever really stop being one, but I used to at least be really into music. Singing, writing, composing, dawdling with multiple instruments, the works. Then a few years back, I just randomly stopped. Not sure why.
I still love music the same, though. And the way I listen to music hasn’t changed. I hardly ever try to analyze music too deeply (unless I specifically was trying to figure out how to play/sing something). I like to just get lost in it. I also sing along to everything. And then I headbang. A lot. :)