OT: Is this you too? Can you still listen to music purely for enjoyment sake?

[obxa]

 Is it just me??  

 

My wife always finds it amusing that I'm usually seeking talk or news on the radio during long travel.  She jokes that I'm a musician who hates music.  LOL.  Of course that's not the case.  Old habit as the last thing I wanted to hear after a gig was any more music.  But truth is,  I do find it hard to just "listen" without a critical ear anymore.  

 

Maybe because of having to learn so much material on a weekly basis,  and sometimes being burned out-  I find it almost impossible to just listen for enjoyment.

I may get in a minute or two,  but then I'm analyzing, listening for chord changes, solos,  drawbar or piano voicing,  harmony, production, etc. etc.   Going to concerts or live shows, easily do the same thing, or I simply get bored after a few songs. 

 

As a lifelong insomniac who also has tinnitus, if I'd ever try to listen to those ocean or forest sound things to relax, I'd immediately spot the loop points in the audio and then I'm focusing on those instead.  Static white or brown noise is the only thing I can successfully use for sleeping. 

 

 Besides music,  I also do Voice-Overs. So it also affects listening to books on tape,  or guided mediations.  Because  it's spoken word, I can focus more on content.   But my mind will easily trigger after hearing a bad edit point, or some other anomaly.   Then I'm focusing on vocal delivery, inflections and cadence, accent, or other production elements. 

 

So I wonder- has anyone else experienced this?   I'm not ruling out professional help, but curious if others have found ways to deal with it. 

[ProfD]

Same here.  I believe it is par for the course especially among musicians who've been playing for a long time. 

 

I can still listen to music for enjoyment but not from the perspective of background noise.  I'm analyzing it on some level. 

 

No professional help required.  You have already come to the right place.😁😎

[TommyRude]

Stop listening.  Get a dog.  You'll be fine.  The enjoyment will come back when it's ready.

[timwat]

Yes, and I agree with all the helpful responses.

 

I'm pretty sure this is why God created single malt scotch, Labrador retrievers, and beautiful hot women who can't sing well.

[David Emm]

Not just for enjoyment, but also to keep me from becoming a serial killer! I'm not always in the mood for music due to my own version of the OP's conundrum, but its a big relief to know that I'm only rarely NOT in the mood for something ambient or a few upper-ionosphere groups like Oregon or Ozric Tentacles. Those two are quite different, but they hit the same hoo-hah chakrah spot for me. I'm also surprised to be filtering out pop crapola with relative ease, far more than I was able to do when I was younger & more elitist. 

 

BTW, a small fan works for me, but if you're going to consider a proper white-noise generator, don't bother with the cheapos. You have to spend bigger bucks to get the models that don't loop. I learned that one first-hand. It was like riding a skateboard with a rock stuck in one wheel. G'dunk G'dunk G'dunk ARGH!!    

 

It might not be cost-effective (mind your power bill!), but Eurorack mavens could also devise a white-noise source that'd be a winner. There are worse forms of madness.

 

Getting a dog has several things to recommend it, but don't forget that they need more upkeep than a CS-80. 🐩

[drawback]

37 minutes ago, ProfD said:

Same here.  I believe it is par for the course especially among musicians who've been playing for a long time. 

 

I can still listen to music for enjoyment but not from the perspective of background noise.  I'm analyzing it on some level. 

 

No professional help required.  You have already come to the right place.😁😎

+1.  I don’t put music “on” just to listen to it, but my wife has impeccable taste and sets up stuff I wouldn’t dream of (or wouldn’t even know existed). So I equally enjoy, analyze, and picture myself playing along with it because it’s new to me. But if she doesn’t instigate music, I spend most of my time in silence, unless of course I’m playing it.

[Docbop]

I noticed that way back when I started seriously getting into playing and later as a recording engineer.   I couldn't just listen to music no matter how much I tried I would start trying to take it apart and do deep dives into whatever I was listening too.   Then I got to where even when I go to bed noticed I wasn't falling asleep because I was doing deep dives on the songs.  For bed I switched to talk radio for awhile and it eventually turned into the same thing and would fall asleep.... You stupid <fill in the blank> haven't you ever read <fill in the blank> did you sleep thru history class in school.    So got to where I could only fall asleep to silence.   

 

The thing keeps me up some nights now is if I've been studying some music concept and I'm awake analyzing it.  

[MathOfInsects]

I have always had a very bad filter for ambient sound, particularly music. I'm often the only one at a table who even knows there's music playing, let alone being able to hear it as if it were the same volume as the rest of the conversation. 

So I never put music on as "white noise." I can't ignore it well enough.

 

But I do 100% put music on for enjoyment from time to time, and don't find it annoying at all to take it in various ways--what's happening harmonically or what the organ player did that was cool or what effect they put on the voice, or whatever. I love that--to the extent that I even notice I am doing it. It's just part of taking in musical sound for me. 

I particularly favor music I haven't heard before. Putting my kids in charge of the in-car listening is a secret endeavor by me to hear new stuff all the time. 

There are a couple i-device white noise apps that let you design the mix of sounds you want to hear, and they will be combined randomly for hours. I highly recommend this as an option, so you don't get distracted by loop seams, which is annoying AF. 

[Adan]

I think it's always a challenge to turn off or even turn down the part of your brain that has been trained to operate at a professional level.  As a lawyer, I can't help but dissect the logic of everything I hear and read, even down to my children's bedtime stories (which often draws the evil eye from my 6 yo daughter.)  I find it's easier to live with that than to fight it.  Music, being a "serious hobby," is a little easier, and yet I still listen more often than not with a critical ear.  I have to go farther outside my abilities to something like the visual arts to really relax and just enjoy.  There's nothing unusual or wrong about any of this, it's just the way we function as humans with limited mental flexibility.

[timwat]

40 minutes ago, David Emm said:

Getting a dog has several things to recommend it, but don't forget that they need more upkeep than a CS-80. 🐩

The same is generally true for beautiful hot women who don't sing well.

 

And for those who do.

[Philip Clark]

I try not to listen to the same song twice.

 

THAT is fun.

[Ed A.]

There was a time that I would analyze everything I listened to, but I don’t seem to do that anymore for some reason. I can listen to music for pure enjoyment now without picking it apart, and it’s much better that way IMO. My attitude now is that I don’t care how it was done, I just care if it’s good music or not.

[bill5]

At the risk of getting my membership card revoked, I don't always even care if it's "good" music necessarily. I can absolutely have ambient, repetitive, a child could have written this "white noise" music in the background...in fact, it's the only music I can really have on when I work because it's so unobtrusive, and sometimes it's just plain relaxing. 

 

As for listening more intently and being analytical about music, I think that can offer a higher (or at least different) level of enjoyment than a purely emotional one....appreciating clever lyrics, a deft chord progression, a great solo, whatever. But I don't feel the need and in fact could never do that ALL the time. Of course it varies with the music too; I generally listen to jazz much more intently because it lends itself to that, whereas pop or disco songs that I like are just for the general "fun" of it even though it might not be "great" music.

 

 

 

 

 

[El Lobo]

3 hours ago, obxa said:

 My wife always finds it amusing that I'm usually seeking talk or news on the radio during long travel. 

I just had this conversation with a really great drummer. Driving home after the gig, the last thing we want to hear is music. There used to be some good late-night talk show hosts in the SF Bay Area and we were wistfully remembering how we would listen to those guys on the way home from gigs at 2 in the morning. Now the lefty-liberal talk show hosts are gone and there's nothing but sports and right wing talk. 

 

I think this topic has hit a chord (pardon the phrase). For some time now, I keep the car radio on a classical music station. And lately I put on classical music streams at home. I find that a lot of classical music can be either in the background or foreground and I can mentally let it be in either place. Sometimes if it's a favorite or really well-performed piece it automatically jumps to the foreground. The recent thread on Yuja Wang led me down the rabbit hole to some really terrific performances. Many people think of her as the best living classical pianist and I can agree with that. Because I can't play classical piano or other instruments, I tend not to analyze the music or think about it as much as just let it be there. My mother played classical piano and if I hear something that she used to play, it stands out and I can't help but listen to it.

 

But at night when I'm going to sleep, I put on a 50's and 60's oldies channel that I set to turn off after an hour. I enjoy listening to those tunes and I do analyze them. I'm listening for the production, the arranging, the little licks and instrumental phrases that make some of those records what they were, like the guiro scratch on the 2nd beat of every bar in Stand By Me. I'm fascinated by how somebody had to think those things up, somebody had to arrange the strings or figure out the backing chick singers' parts, or the horn line in a pop song that becomes part of the signature of the tune. I fall asleep to that. 

[Old No7]

3 hours ago, timwat said:

I'm pretty sure this is why God created Jack Daniels, Labrador retrievers, and beautiful hot women who can't sing well.

 

There, I fixed that for you.  (My avatar made me do this!)

 

Old No7

[El Lobo]

I'd put in Redbreast Irish whiskey, but to each his own.

[Old No7]

14 hours ago, obxa said:

 Maybe because of having to learn so much material on a weekly basis,  and sometimes being burned out-  I find it almost impossible to just listen for enjoyment.

I may get in a minute or two,  but then I'm analyzing, listening for chord changes, solos,  drawbar or piano voicing,  harmony, production, etc. etc.  

 

Interesting dilemma....  I've not experienced that yet, and I've been playing keyboards for 55 years.

 

For a different viewpoint... I'm actually going in the other direction.

 

I do listen for fun and relaxation, sure.  But ever since I got my Tascam DP-24SD recording deck, I find critically listening to songs, evaluating the mix, mic placement etc. etc. is fascinating and enjoyable for me.  Getting into recording, mixdowns and mastering has opened up a whole new world of music for me. Now, in addition to being a keyboardist and musician (also played trumpet in concert, marching and jazz bands), I'm learning how to be a sound/recording engineer.  It's fascinating, and I'm loving it.  The science, vocabulary, tools, tricks and skills needed have re-energized me as a keyboard player; and in some way, I think the mix is helping me to be even better at both.

 

Maybe you need to take a break from being so serious about music and just try to enjoy it?  (See Ed A's post above.)  But I do understand that might be hard to do if that's the way you're wired.

 

Either way, I'll wish you well in this.

 

Old No7

[obxa]

Thanks for the replies everyone.  I've been warming up to  different spirits (the distilled kind). Sample the little bottles and still searching for a fav.   Got two Pugs who think I'm the absolute best melodica player. 

 

It's reassuring some others have experienced this.   I'm thinking out loud it's more about finding a way to turn off the analytical side.   Or at very least,  taking a vacay once in a while.     Was recently in UK & Spain on honeymoon where I had two weeks off from all things music and gig stuff.   Duh!  (smacks  forehead....)  Now that  I think about it, that was an incredible refresh.   Hadn't taken a vacation since 2021, so there 's likely something to that...

 

1 hour ago, El Lobo said:

And lately I put on classical music streams at home. I find that a lot of classical music can be either in the background or foreground and I can mentally let it be in either place. Sometimes if it's a favorite or really well-performed piece it automatically jumps to the foreground.

 

 I often lean towards jazz before I start picking things apart too much.   Have found myself going back to classical and film music because it's long form and at least more to chew on.  That's a great point that it lends itself better to equally being background or foreground. 

[CowboyNQ]

I too do not listen to recorded music for “fun”.  I can always find something else to do.  I prefer a 24-hour news and current affairs channel in my car radio.

 

I am constantly learning new songs for the various projects I’m in, and I just like a break from music when I can take one.

 

Also, I never have music on “in the background” as I can’t focus on work when music is playing.  Or if I do manage to focus on work, it means I’m not hearing the music, so what’s the point?  My brain can’t seem to devote enough resources to both tasks simultaneously.

 

Conversely, I really enjoy live music.  Could be one bloke with a guitar in the pub or a big concert.

 

 

 

 

[Stokely]

I listen to audiobooks, heck I do so while doing dishes or on walks as well as the car.

I rarely listen to music, it's been this way for many years.   Because I almost never have the radio on--and when it is, it's either NPR or a classic rock station or sports--I am almost completely clueless about pop music from the past 30 years.  I do watch oddball stuff on youtube, like a capella groups.  I mentioned in another thread I don't think I know any Beyonce or Rihanna songs other than the fact that I heard Pentatonix do medleys of their tunes   Kanye West, any country act, Taylor Swift...not a single song could I name.

When I first got out of college and was starting work in a small studio, the problem was that I couldn't listen to music without analyzing the mix.  It probably drove non-engineer friends crazy.  "Listen to that groove!"  "Hmm, kick drum is a bit loud for my taste, and I wonder which reverb unit they used on the vocals?" etc.

[ProfD]

14 hours ago, timwat said:

The same is generally true for beautiful hot women who don't sing well.

 

And for those who do.

I totally dig the recurring theme in your posts in this thread. 😁

 

Considering the war on masculinity, it warms my heart to know that some dudes still have an appreciation for that organized noise too.😎

[Dave Bryce]

I listen to music for fun all the time, pretty much every day.

 

I listen to my airpods when I walk my dogs.  I listen to the collection of tunes on my iPhone when I’m in the car…

 

…and, somewhere around 4 o’clock most days, I switch the turntable on and spin records up to and through dinner, basically DJing for my wife (and myself, of course).  She calls it “The Golden Hour”. 😊

 

Heck, I’m listening to the airpod shuffle as I type this. 😏

 

dB

[Montunoman 2]

Every week I listen and chart tunes I’ll be playing at gigs. Then I listen and transcribe ( mostly bebop) heads and solos for personal growth. So on my down time, my ears need a break, so I listen mostly to NPR, podcasts with interviews of musicians I admire,  and audio books that I choose in hopes of being a better player. Right now, I’m listening to “The Practicing Mind” 

[Bill H.]

When driving I listen to a lot of house (the genre). Got exposed to this stuff as a DJ. It's relentless beat just keeps me going.

 

I also listen to a fair share of new music, and (kind of a guilty pleasure) like it best when it's stupid, dumb, and (very important) so catchy you can't get it out of your head... the kind of stuff only the young are capable of coming up with. If any of you caught Steve Lacy singing Bad Habit at the Grammys... there you go.

 

What I don't listen to is classic rock and oldies. It's some of the best popular music written in my lifetime, but I'm just so sick of  hearing it. 

 

Kind of another subject, but I've found that two ambient noise machines put in opposite corners of the bedroom work best. I just have them on very low, and they bathe the room with sound you can't really locate while masking the loops. I don't use them all the time, but do sometimes. 

[Stokely]

As an aside, if you ever find yourself driving toward a big city at night (for me, for years it was Atlanta), bring up Tangerine Dream's Exit Album, specifically Remote Viewing   

I'll put in DJ sets while doing cardio at the gym.
 

 

[Al Quinn]

I listen to music for enjoyment a lot. I particularly like listening with AirPods while riding my bike or walking on the beach. But, I never listen to music on the way home from a gig, concert, or session; I need quiet after hearing a lot of music. Sometimes after practicing I continue hearing the music in my mind and don’t listen to music because I’m guessing it would disrupt some sort of constructive process that’s taking place. Is it true? I don’t know.
 

When I was younger I could/would listen to music all of the time but I find now, at 64, I can’t have music on if I need to concentrate on something else. For example, I always turn the music off when driving through the NYC metropolitan area because I need to hear and understand the directions from my GPS; missing a turn can be regrettable and result in a frustrating waste of time.
 

I’m not analytical when I listen to music; I just listen to stuff that sounds and feels good to me because that’s all I aspire to do when I play.

[obxa]

1 hour ago, Bill H. said:

What I don't listen to is classic rock and oldies. It's some of the best popular music written in my lifetime, but I'm just so sick of  hearing it. 

 

Seems the consensus is NPR is the safe haven for most of us.    So agree on Classic rock- great stuff,  but on any given day you can hear the same exact tired daily playlist across the nation's stations.   Have been known to walk out of a store until "Hotel California" finishes playing.   Still work in the oldies business,  having to transcribe & learn so much of it, good on that too.  I swear this isn't a joke:  Last MRI I had,  tech said all they had were CD's.  Choices were: Motown, 90's, Country, and Kenny G.   Chose Motown.   Talk about negative reinforcement.   Hopefully won't be a next time, but I'll bring a Mahler CD.

 

3 hours ago, Stokely said:

When I first got out of college and was starting work in a small studio, the problem was that I couldn't listen to music without analyzing the mix.  It probably drove non-engineer friends crazy.  "Listen to that groove!"  "Hmm, kick drum is a bit loud for my taste, and I wonder which reverb unit they used on the vocals?" etc.

Exactly!!   That's the other part of my brain I can't shut off.    Like many here, I wear a bunch of hats.  Worked as an engineer for many years and do the VO, music, and production for a local comedian's cable show.  I'm feeling the recurring theme is probably just taking a break.

2 hours ago, Dave Bryce said:

…and, somewhere around 4 o’clock most days, I switch the turntable on and spin records up to and through dinner, basically DJing for my wife (and myself, of course).  She calls it “The Golden Hour”

I give Dave high props.  Got a turntable for Christmas, not yet set up.  Hope dusting off the old CTI,  Blue Note, and Vox records -  and the ritual of placing the needle, can rejuvenate some of my early enthusiasm. 

[Dave Bryce]

11 minutes ago, obxa said:

I give Dave high props.  Got a turntable for Christmas, not yet set up.  Hope dusting off the old CTI,  Blue Note, and Vox records -  and the ritual of placing the needle, can rejuvenate some of my early enthusiasm. 

If your experience is anyting like mine, it'll feel like an old friend has returned.  A really good and fun old friend. 😊

 

dB

[ProfD]

At this point, my turntable is another instrument.  I scavenge vinyl for audio waveforms to pop into my sampler.😁😎

[Tusker]

Listening to music for enjoyments sake .... I find it fun to listen some other kind of music I don't normally perform and turn off the music brain.