• WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

Standardized mental techniques / training for better listening?

Albiepalbie

Member
Joined
Dec 22, 2022
Messages
28
Likes
15
Im sure all that you advocate will add to everyone’s appreciation and enjoyment - but is relatively speaking a great effort compared to what I do
What I describe in my previous posts is not an intellectual study of the mechanics of music
I don’t read music or play an instrument
My deep listening technique is simple and I’m sure open to anyone to develop their own version
Relaxing into the rhythm of the music
Your breathing following the rhythm of the music listened to
We all do it anyway - not just listening to music - reading watching a film
A bit of practice/ training allows music to take it to another level as it affects us all in a deep subconscious
 

bluefuzz

Major Contributor
Joined
Jan 17, 2020
Messages
1,043
Likes
1,772
I'm thinking more about tactics to improve our enjoyment of audio
I find understanding what I'm listening to in as many ways as possible increases my enoyment of the music. What I mean by understanding is for example having a basic knowledge of:
  • room acoustics and how to measure your room and gear
  • psychology/cognition - 'how music' works in the brain
  • hifi electronics - how do dacs, amps, speakers, microphones etc. work
  • signal theory / sampling theory
  • how and why musical instruments sound the way they do - why does a flute sound different to a guitar
  • music synthesis - how do analogue and digital synthesisers relate to acoustic instruments
  • luthiery - what it takes to build a good musical instrument
  • at least a rudimentary ability to play at least one instrument
  • music theory - classical vs folk traditions etc.
  • 'western' vs other cultural musical traditions
  • musical creativity - how and why musicians/composers/producers do what they do
  • history/sociology - the cultural milieu the music was created in and for
  • biographies/interviews with the musicians/artists you arre listening to
Challenge your preconceptions of what you like and what you think 'sounds good'. Listen to genres of music you think you don't like. Seek out the well-regarded and popular artists of any genre. Seek out the extreme, challenging, experimental and avant-garde. Try and analyse why you do or don't like particular artists/songs/genres. Listen to music from other cultures, countries, languages and time periods to that you are used to.

If you really don't like the weird foreign stuff then what you do like will sound even better and you may even have found out why ... ;-)
 

Mal

Active Member
Joined
Sep 30, 2022
Messages
157
Likes
61
I find understanding what I'm listening to in as many ways as possible increases my enoyment of the music. What I mean by understanding is for example having a basic knowledge of:
  • room acoustics and how to measure your room and gear
  • psychology/cognition - 'how music' works in the brain
  • hifi electronics - how do dacs, amps, speakers, microphones etc. work
  • signal theory / sampling theory
  • how and why musical instruments sound the way they do - why does a flute sound different to a guitar
  • music synthesis - how do analogue and digital synthesisers relate to acoustic instruments
  • luthiery - what it takes to build a good musical instrument
  • at least a rudimentary ability to play at least one instrument
  • music theory - classical vs folk traditions etc.
  • 'western' vs other cultural musical traditions
  • musical creativity - how and why musicians/composers/producers do what they do
  • history/sociology - the cultural milieu the music was created in and for
  • biographies/interviews with the musicians/artists you arre listening to
Challenge your preconceptions of what you like and what you think 'sounds good'. Listen to genres of music you think you don't like. Seek out the well-regarded and popular artists of any genre. Seek out the extreme, challenging, experimental and avant-garde. Try and analyse why you do or don't like particular artists/songs/genres. Listen to music from other cultures, countries, languages and time periods to that you are used to.

If you really don't like the weird foreign stuff then what you do like will sound even better and you may even have found out why ... ;-)
Measuring the room, and taking a PhD in room acoustics or electronics or instrument building, might be something that engineers enjoy 'cause they like physics, but what does it have to do with enjoying music? All you need to know is that the room, bad recordings, can affect the sound, and that of it sounds bad ("too bright") some equalisation might be needed. Then you play with "Sound Equaliser app" for a few minutes until you are enjoying the music... job done, no PhD needed...

Again, science types might enjoy learning how music works in the brain, but that has nothing to do with enjoying music. You can spend a year learning how to cook a Michelin five star meal but the rich excutive eating it doesn't bother taking that course. The proof of the pudding is in the eating, not in the making of it. All you have to do is eat the pudding there is no need to learn how to cook it (likewise, you just need to listen to the music, no need to learn the science of how it gets neurons firing...)

Why do you need to play even one instrument? How is learning how to, say, make Minestrone soup going to help our scoffing executive appreciate a five course 5 star Michelin meal? How is learning the saxophone going to help him appreciate Beethoven's 9th? OK, becoming a great sax player is a great thing, but don't expect to it necessarily improve your general listening skills. Only listening to more music will do that, just as eating out at several restaurants will train our scoffing executive to appreciate food better than learning how to make soup. (Of course he could do both... learning to make soup is a useful skill, but as he's an excutive he might prefer listening to music as another hobby rather than making soup...) One should only bother learning an instrument, beyond forced(?) beginner lessons as a kid, if you are driven to it as a serious calling, something you must do, or if it is the least oppressive way to make a buck. Or do it if you find it to be as fun as other hobbies you might do. (Personally, there are lots of other things I'd rather do, so I'm not learning to play...)
 

Albiepalbie

Member
Joined
Dec 22, 2022
Messages
28
Likes
15
Measuring the room, and taking a PhD in room acoustics or electronics or instrument building, might be something that engineers enjoy 'cause they like physics, but what does it have to do with enjoying music? All you need to know is that the room, bad recordings, can affect the sound, and that of it sounds bad ("too bright") some equalisation might be needed. Then you play with "Sound Equaliser app" for a few minutes until you are enjoying the music... job done, no PhD needed...

Again, science types might enjoy learning how music works in the brain, but that has nothing to do with enjoying music. You can spend a year learning how to cook a Michelin five star meal but the rich excutive eating it doesn't bother taking that course. The proof of the pudding is in the eating, not in the making of it. All you have to do is eat the pudding there is no need to learn how to cook it (likewise, you just need to listen to the music, no need to learn the science of how it gets neurons firing...)

Why do you need to play even one instrument? How is learning how to, say, make Minestrone soup going to help our scoffing executive appreciate a five course 5 star Michelin meal? How is learning the saxophone going to help him appreciate Beethoven's 9th? OK, becoming a great sax player is a great thing, but don't expect to it necessarily improve your general listening skills. Only listening to more music will do that, just as eating out at several restaurants will train our scoffing executive to appreciate food better than learning how to make soup. (Of course he could do both... learning to make soup is a useful skill, but as he's an excutive he might prefer listening to music as another hobby rather than making soup...) One should only bother learning an instrument, beyond forced(?) beginner lessons as a kid, if you are driven to it as a serious calling, something you must do, or if it is the least oppressive way to make a buck. Or do it if you find it to be as fun as other hobbies you might do. (Personally, there are lots of other things I'd rather do, so I'm not learning to play...)
Each to their own
All one needs to do is listen
Nobody needs guidance- most people do that bit without a care in the world - and enjoy it

Improving and getting the best from that listening experience is what obsesses the members of this site and sites like it

Then it gets complicated

In the end we all want the same thing really
 

bluefuzz

Major Contributor
Joined
Jan 17, 2020
Messages
1,043
Likes
1,772
no PhD needed
I didn't say anything about a PhD. I said basic knowledge or understanding.

When you listen to music does it just go in one ear and out the other without impinging on at least one brain cell? I find it hard to imagine enjoying any art form without having some curiosity as to how and why it was created ...
 

Albiepalbie

Member
Joined
Dec 22, 2022
Messages
28
Likes
15
I didn't say anything about a PhD. I said basic knowledge or understanding.

When you listen to music does it just go in one ear and out the other without impinging on at least one brain cell? I find it hard to imagine enjoying any art form without having some curiosity as to how and why it was created ...
 

Albiepalbie

Member
Joined
Dec 22, 2022
Messages
28
Likes
15
The endless fascination comes from the way music does impinge on the brain cells so immediately
More than any other art form in my experience
Anything that heightens or improves that impingement becomes part of the experience
Hence our audiophile obsessions and endless hankering after the next bit of equipment that’s going to take us to that ideal sound that’s just out of reach
 

RonSanderson

Member
Joined
Nov 30, 2022
Messages
30
Likes
27
It sounds to me that you would like to listen to the music, and appreciate it, rather than just hearing pretty sounds.

I recommend highly these programs, What Makes it Great, by Rob Kapilow.

Rob breaks down the marvels of composition so anyone can understand why some music is as good as it is. For those of us without a background in music, performance, or composition, this is a real ear-opener.

Try out a sample program online and see if he helps you to be able to really listen, instead of just hearing.
 

Albiepalbie

Member
Joined
Dec 22, 2022
Messages
28
Likes
15
It sounds to me that you would like to listen to the music, and appreciate it, rather than just hearing pretty sounds.

I recommend highly these programs, What Makes it Great, by Rob Kapilow.

Rob breaks down the marvels of composition so anyone can understand why some music is as good as it is. For those of us without a background in music, performance, or composition, this is a real ear-opener.

Try out a sample program online and see if he helps you to be able to really listen, instead of just hearing.
Thankyou very much for the recommendation- will certainly check this out !
 
Top Bottom