Select one listening example from the text that you don’t know particularly well. You can select any piece at all, however there would be some advantage in picking something that is 5 mins or under. You may also select a smaller excerpt of a much longer piece.
Block off a minimum of 30-40 minutes, ideally more, and exclusively listen to your chosen selection, specifically “repeated listening.” Over and over, listen to your selection. Put the phone away. Submit to the music. Don’t do anything else in this time you create for yourself except listen. In approximately 200 words, describe your experience. What changed for you over repeated listenings? What new perspectives did you attain?
Decided to do the “Surprise” Symphony No.94 (Haydn).
Generally when I listen to a new piece, I don’t really do any technical music analysis; I just note what I liked/did not like hearing. So for my first listen to the piece, I really liked the opening motif, as well as the contrast between the opening variation and the more dissonant variations. I mainly listened to what the strings were doing, even when the other instruments had the motif. As for the fotississimo sections, I proceeded to jump at every one, to which I always laughed or smiled after. Because I found it funny, I found the piece more engaging.
As I listened and re-listened, I started to pay more attention to the musical aspects (I even tried to do a form analysis in my head, but got lost). Each listen I tried to focus on different aspects (like rhythm, use of periods, or different instruments), but usually got derailed by a small things I didn’t notice the previous time.
I did notice that the more I listened the more I got a little tired of the motif every time it was played like the first variation (aka in the strings, with it mainly being straight eighth notes). As the piece became more familiar, I jumped less, though I still remained somewhat tense.
As an experiment, I did this with a familiar piece of music that is slightly shorter (Come Back Home – Oneus). Being familiar, I didn’t do any analysis, just enjoyed it. But similar to what happened with the other piece, I did begin to get bored (especially after doing some analysis). Around the 15 min mark, I completely lost focus on the piece and ended up staring at my pop-corn ceiling (and started tracing patterns). By minute 30 I really, really wanted a new song. The entire experience reminded me of listening to Christmas music in a retail store; slowly going mad with bizarre rage. It’s been 2 months and I still haven’t listened to Come Back Home yet. I need a break.
