The liking of music

I certainly agree in principle, there are several artists that have "grabbed" at first hearing.
There are many more that don't do it for me, and now amount of re-visiting seems to make me change my mind.
There are also a few that have taken a while to really enjoy.

Once and artist is "registered" then their work seems to follow as being "good", not always though.

Appreciation of new music usally comes with repeated listening for me.

Of course, there are exceptions in both directions.

But growing into a love of some particular music would be my norm.

As far as jazz goes, the problem my friend lies in your ears :-)

quote:

That is probably why I cannot get into jazz music. It doesn't grab me and so I cannot introduce myself to it and enjoy it!

That's a great shame Jon.

Can't agree with you. I often find the opposite. I have listened once and set aside recordings as not my cup of tea only to listen again sometime later and begin to connect and realise the value and enjoyment in the recording.

regards
geoff

quote:

When you enjoy a piece of music, it is almost always on the first listen. Any subsequent listen clarifies and reaffirms the original evoked emotion.

Very hard to comment but I would say that very often I do not "get" a piece of music on first listen (through a hi fi ect) but get a feeling there is something good and or interesting there. This is born out by subsequent auditions in which (as you describe) everything becomes manifest.

We are listening to very crude devices (after all) so this is understandable. If I hear something in a live concert and it seems rubbish this tends to be born out hearing on hi fi. There are, of course, exceptions to all the above...


So,... in other words.... I'm clueless..

Bro

Personally I find the opposite, many of my very favourite recordings are ones that I did not like on initial listening.

Some music has too much to comprehend at first, and it is only through finding out what is happening in the music that you can enjoy the music.

I also find that different types of music do not immediately stimulate you, but you have to find what it is in the music that is its appeal.

I also find the opposite, if a new album by an artist is immediately accessible, it is often because it is too similar to past recordings, and not finding something new in their music.

As one example I know there are a few forum members who are fans of the band Tool, and many found the music impenetrable initially, but after returning to the albums, there came a point where the music just 'clicked' and then their albums became absolute favourites.

I have also found that I have not enjoyed a piece of music until I have seen it performed live, and then I have understood what is the intention of the piece. I can also say the opposite has happened through live performance too, one band who I had liked I saw live, and their music became transparent in its simple formula, and lack of any real depth (point?).

This does not mean that if you dislike something, repeated listening will make it accessible, but it does mean that often initial impressions are not enough to comprehend some artists.

Generally speaking if I've listened to a piece of music 3 times and I still don't get it I never will. Some pieces click the first time, but it's relatively rare and it's usually the second listen that I start to appreciate what's going on.

This is not my experience.

Your rapid upgrade path indicates you crave instant gratification. Your attitude to new music seems to be another manifestation of this trait. Try to be more patient.

Just an observation.

Jon, I am kind of halfway I think. When I listen to new music I often read or write or brush the dog, etc and if I stop what I'm doing to listen, that often becomes a firm favorite.

But on the other side if there is an artist, album, etc., that people I respect (forum members, family, friends, music/hifi journalists) really rate then I might try to find out what they all see in it. In these cases I might stick in there longer than I normally would. From time to time this pays off but not as often as my primary approach.

Gordon

Now, many people who have heard my music at various places know that to their ears its unconventional and to me it was on my first listen, but with my stubbornness to expand my musical horizons I give every album a good few listens, maybe up to a dozen before I partly reject it (I might like it in the future). It has served me well and now I am more open to more experimental and conventional musical styles. So Jon its a no to always liking an album upon first play but a yes to there being something in all music that can be enjoyed by us all if you give it time.


OTD..a sample where convention meets the experimental.

Skinny Grin



Dean...

Jon

Am I right in thinking you listen to classical music. Surely your not saying that one listen decides whether you like a complex classical work. No way can you capture the depths of meaning and subtleties of such compositions in one listen. You could easily cast aside great works after just a superficial listen if that is the case.

It is also true to a lesser extent in Jazz that just scratching the surface of an artists work is not the way to try and like it.

regards
geoff

quote:

As far as jazz goes, the problem my friend lies in your ears

Not the fact there are people out there that just don't like this stuff, my ears are fine, and they say that most jazz I have heard is crap.
Do you know there are even people who don't like classical music.

Jon

I find that on the first hearing of an artist, I know if I will like or dislike the artist over the long term. Genre doesn’t come into it. I listen to all genres but tend to only like a few artists in each genre.

One of my favourite artists is Gill Scott Heron. Pieces of a Man is a favourite album and pretty jazzy.

Maybe you haven’t yet heard an artist that you like who plays jazz.

Lady Day

Home is where the hatred is

Sound quality a lot better on vinyl.

Let me tell the ways I enjoy music.

The pearl of all pearls is pure music. Every delight is in the sound itself, as it makes its way to a conclusion. This would include Beethoven Symphonies and piano sonatas, Bach's Well Tempered Clavier, the symphonies of Brahms, and a number of other works.

Speaking of pearls, if you like them, you have to open a lot of oysters. I have no affection for the Beethoven String Quartets, which I attribute to a defect in my ear/brain mechanism. I have listened to all of them five or six times, and they still leave me cold. They will get more listens. The Beethoven I love is loved with an intensity like the Sun.
Well, he won't be writing anything new this year, so if I want more, I had best try to love what is at hand :-)

My other major category of loved music involves the use of the way back machine. There are some jazz, rock and R & B albums that put me back at a specific point in time and space the instant I hear them. People long dead share a drink with me, and my wife and myself are young again. Hard not to love that.

Hope this makes a little sense :-)

I do think nothing can replicate the thrill of hearing a great album on first listen, you can mebbe's appreciate it more as time goes by but it's that first thrill that I always remember.

As for jazz ..some jazz grabs me immediately (i.e. most of Coltrane's more mainstream material) some does need some "work" (the more avant-garde Coltrane stuff / Ornette Coleman) but when the avant-garde material does "click" it can be immensely satisfying.

We hear and buy/download so many more recordings now that we are mebbe's more blase' ....I know I listened more intently when I could afford to purchase only 1 LP every 2 months or so!

Some classical music displays all of its charms at first blush, such as Mendelssohn "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and Holst "The Planets".

Other classical music reveals a different face every time you listen, becoming a reflection of what lay in your mind and heart. This is the music you live with long term. This is where Beethoven and Bach make their home. This is the purest distillation of the human soul.

That is the fundamental musical dialog, the resolution of your feelings to and in a profound piece of music. Self renewing, the answer is different each time the question is asked. You are part of the music.

Think for a minute about the nature of any art. By nature, I mean the basic impulses that compel someone to create a work of art.

They arrive at that state, the state of being ripe with the germ of a new work of art, by following a time honored path.

First you learn to imitate all the things you love in the work of your predecessors, and you learn to present it in different ways. After some considerable time, this outpouring of reverence and sheer curiosity gives birth to a new voice - if you have been blessed with a voice.

Then you have a Beethoven, or a Bach or a Stravinsky.

If you are sensitive to this as a listener, it can be very rewarding :-)

It's not about chasing the first girl you meet ...

I'm often grabbed straight away, but have to be ready for the piece to grab me...

First listen to Bitches Brew was having read about it and I'd liked what I read, but playing it seemed to be a strange whirring noise for over an hour, and I really didn't like it at all. Cut forwards about 18 years and I was minding a pal's records while he was in Canada for a year and there was Bitches Brew... hmmmmm. Gave it a try, instantly tuned in and loved it. There are quite a few other things where I come back to them having not bothered for years and find I appreciate all sorts of things I'd missed first time around.

Other things are growers that grow on me by virtue of being on albums where I listen to the rest of it I like, and as time goes by the bits I didn't like so much come to stand out more and more. The title track pf King Crimson's THRAK stands up as an example here, originally too harsh and noisy and I'd push the "Next" button on the remote, but not any more.

Back to "jazz", just has to be the right jazz. It's like "classical" and "rock" in being a sweeping term so wide as to be devoid of meaning in telling you whether you'll like something. Having not really found most I'd heard prompt me to want to listen to it I was in a shop one day and Kind Of Blue was on: instant connection and I bought it on the spot, and that gave me a way in.

Pete.

If it sounds good on first hearing, I will persist, if not I probably won't.

Life's too short and music to wide ranging to try to like something just because you (or others) think you should.