A question that is three-dimensional, out of which the first refers to at least in today's age the platforms on which you stream music, from the vast number of streaming services out there; Spotify, Apple Music, Soundcloud and the rest of them.
Alternatively, someone could mean the manner in which you listen to music, or when you listen to music; while working or studying, when you are driving or traveling, in your free time or at a club.
Thirdly, do you listen to the top hits of charts and artists, or do you dig even deeper and go part by part of an album, from the first song till the last.
This question was particularly sparked in my head whilst having a conversation with a friend, where they went on to tell me that they preferred listening to albums, which allowed them to really see what the musician had intended to put out, a story, a drama, a pathway that they would take you down.
Obviously there are exceptions, where artists just compile a few tracks and put them onto an album or EP to release, but there still exist several musicians who draw a pathway for you to walk through.
From 25 minute songs, infused with mind-bending and electrifying riffs by Pink Floyd, to classic orchestral pieces of art by the likes of Beethoven, to lyrical verses that you are bound to sympathize with, to touching and stirring melodies by Eric Prydz; humans have possibly touched and proceed to surpass levels of epitome in almost every genre of music. If you listen to music, you know you have a home in a certain style/genre of music or an artist. Music is for everyone, whether it’s background music for you while you work, a stress-buster, pure entertainment or all of the above or something else, it doesn’t matter, if it fits, it fits.
As a species, humans have really really really really developed in terms of art and specifically music. Passionate artists putting in their time, effort and talents creating these beautiful pieces of art that connect with the listeners from miles away.
Personally, it is more than just music for me. There are probably not enough verbs or metaphors that could sum it up. However, the way the famous Rumi had a connection with the divine; how Bruce Wayne is synonymous with the dark or a chef and his knife; music is more than just an art form to me. My journey with music has only recently begun and I most definitely have not even covered about 10% of the plethora of the productions, lyrics and compensations in the music industry. It’s overwhelming at times, but it’s beautiful that music is being made everyday in every corner of the world, and is just waiting to be discovered. The agenda behind today’s post revolves around questions I constantly ponder, out of which we will focus on just two - 1) Is there a correct way to listen to music?
2) How do I listen to music?
To all the comedians reading this, I don’t listen to music with my ears :P Moving on, let’s walk over to the first question -
Q) Is there a correct way of listening to music?
A) Let’s make one thing clear, there is no right way to listen to music. If you like music, you like music. If you don’t, you don’t. It’s true, the latter population does exist, and that’s okay. Right?
The wrong way to listen to music is forcing yourself to like something because you think you should. However, I reached this conclusion after having phases of asking people if they paid attention to the lyrics, to the production, the arrangement and I’d often get very mixed answers or really bad lies. Oftentimes I’d be disappointed in these people because they weren’t appreciating this driving bass, this fat guitar riff or the poetry on these songs.
I lied, well not completely.
Completely standing by the fact that since music is an art form the appreciation will always be subjective and will depend on perspective! I’m fine with it, I swear.
But it extremely pains me to think about the fact that my peers and other individuals won’t feel the melody, the arrangement of sounds and the bass moving my bones and flesh in a groove the same way I do.
The fact that they won’t get the good kind of goosebumps when they hear the most fucked up relatable line in a song.
The fact that they won’t make the weird scrunch face when the song starts hitting different levels.
Many people will argue about how music is to be heard in a certain way, depending on the way they perceive it, and as we all know perceptions are different to each person. Trust me when I say this, none of us ever listen to the same song! What I mean here is that, even though we will be listening to the same song, I will register it differently from you, you will hear different parts of it compared to what I will hear and we will individually understand it differently.
I can go on, but I’m sure you’ve caught the drift. I have come to terms with the fact that everyone perceives things in a different manner, and not the way I think is right.
An album or a song is a piece of art that an artist pulled out of a void in their mind and turned it into audio for you to replay in real time. There has been effort, time and thought put into it, the majority of times.
Q) How do I listen to music?
A) Considering I grew up in a household where my father was not only professionally always around music but also extremely passionately deeply driven into music, it was a given that I would be obsessed with music. Whether it was a part of my upbringing or lawfully a legitimate can’t do without it relationship, it worked.
However, to answer this question, as you already know music is always playing in the OST of my life. I have found that this is probably the best way to source music. Why does this work for me? And why it will probably work for you as well - When passively listening to music while aimlessly scrolling through the internet and social media, while working, while working out, it is a very easy way to get through a lot of music, regardless if you do not at several points of those activities, have to stop to concentrate on the song that is playing.. It simply means, there has been nothing in the song that appeals to you. What I mean here is that, while I’ve been working on this blog, I have definitely paused a couple times to appreciate a certain few bars, a riff or two and a sax solo.
Now that you’ve sifted through several tracks, you can properly connect with the music in your free time and feel it, try empathizing with the emotions that arise from the synths, riffs, melodies, harmonies etc. feel it in your legs and your shoulders and your hips, let it flow all the way from the ears to the bottom and back up. In my head the right way or the way that I listen to music, the way I feel it is to play either the album/song from the start till the end, no breaks if possible. Just let the music come at you in its own way, feel the way it was made to be felt.
All in all, as I have mentioned several times in this entry, do not shy away from listening to music how you’d like to, music is an absolutely powerful device that can shift energies in a jiffy, make it yours and feel it how you’d like. :)
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