Worth Remembering

Dr John is quite active in musically protesting what's going on and in trying to keep the music scene going.

I have become convinced that the most reliable and effective way of creating a satisfactory and enjoyable musical listening experience, is to remember what you hear.

That is not as easy as it sounds, as many mental obstacles, not the least the remains of the day, can leave the listener with a flawed memory of the experience.

When reading an enjoyable novel, it is a common experience to lose yourself in the story. There are many worthwhile pieces of music that can provide a life altering experience, but require the listener to focus in new and different ways that require concentration.

What is a listener to do?

First, I think the listener has to simply remember what is heard.

These are all new concepts to me. I know many people who can do this without effort. I am having to teach myself to do this.

So far, I am reaping benefits.

Bach seems much more expansive than he once did, with an energy of such clarity and power that it makes me feel as if I were being spoken to.

The Haydn Trios don't electrify me the way Bach does, but seem to produce the loveliest mental state, and are filled with relaxing fun.

Chopin is beyond my powers of description.

Debussy's stasis, his "fog", begins to make sense.

I thing I'll go give "Gnu High" another few listens. I have it on good authority that it is worth the effort.

quote:

Originally posted by mikeeschman:

I thing I'll go give "Gnu High" another few listens. I have it on good authority that it is worth the effort.

Speaking of memory music, all you had to do was mention Gnu High and it immediately started playing in my head as clear as a strong radio station.

Hope it grows on you.

All the best,
Fred

Repetition is really the key to familiarity. I don't set out to memorize what I listen to but it just comes as a natural byproduct of extensive listening. I'm like Fred in that a small cue or suggestion is all it takes and I will instantly be replaying something in my head. Depending on the piece, for me I don't often replay the piece like a CD from Bar 1 to the end; often, it is just a motif or an important phrase or section that I camp out on, sometimes for days at a time. It might be just 10 bars in the middle of a huge Beethoven or Schubert piano sonata.

With any music (classical) that involves a piano (or chamber music) I usually can place the piece or certainly name the composer by hearing as little as a bar or two. I can only do this because I have listened and played this music for the majority of my life. I cannot do this as well for say Symphonic music (except Beethoven or Schubert, mainly) because I have spent very little of my time listening to this form of music unless it is in the form of a Concerto.

Sometimes, I remember something that is so familiar and yet it stumps me and I cannot name it. I'll attribute this to age...

Although, it is good to remember that the musical memory is probably the last thing to go. I've heard reports that many Alzheimer's sufferers who aren't aware of who they are anymore can instantly be brought to life by playing music they were familiar with from decades earlier.

Regards,
Doug

With reading fiction, the reader can evoke a willing suspension of disbelief, and become totally empathetic to the characters and environment in the story. When that happens, the story can unfold with life and vigor. The reader can experience the new and unfamiliar.

Not all books indulge in the unknown, but the ones that do are striking, and change their readers in unexpected ways.

Music can bring emotion to a listener, the way a story can create a slice of life. It also has a vocabulary. In learning reading, the first tool out of the box is memory, so we may have a vocabulary. So it is with music.

Of course, none of this is essential to enjoying music. But should curiosity compel the listener in this direction, there is the possibility of the new. It is a special kind of thrill.

My musical tastes are changing, and my efforts at study are driving these changes. And interesting thing is that all the music driving this was discovered on the forum. I think that says a great deal about the quality of the forum.

Anyone else going through changes :-)

I think it can make a good read. Of course, I could be wrong. Hope not, I'm having fun.

A final thought.

For most of us, speaking and listening are as natural as breathing, and clings in the memory without effort.

For many of us, these same powers extend to reading and writing.

Music is most definitely a language in the same sense that English is a language.

But I find it an unnatural act to react to some music in a similar vein. This bothers me, as it is music I am missing, and music is too fine a thing to let go of easily.

I know I can't have it all, but want more than I have.

It seems Bach is anxious for his listener to hear, understand and remember. That sentiment seems dilute in some more contemporary works. The tonal pallet is a more diverse creature than it was, as is everything. There is more to listen for. Strange fruit :-)

Habit seems the best course to listening with open ears. Here's to new habits!

Hope it works.