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

[Outkaster]

I can't turn that off,  music is too much of a part of me.  I dissect it as I listen to it, especially if there is a cool chord change or lick. I will rewind it 40 times sometimes just to hear that small part.

[ProfD]

11 minutes ago, Outkaster said:

I can't turn that off,  music is too much of a part of me.

Yep.  We're all basically saying that music has become so ingrained within us that we always listening in one way or another.

 

Admittedly, music is an opiate that I'll never kick.😁 

 

If I could no longer play keys, I'd be one miserable man.🤣😎

[Outkaster]

1 hour ago, ProfD said:

Yep.  We're all basically saying that music has become so ingrained within us that we always listening in one way or another.

 

Admittedly, music is an opiate that I'll never kick.😁 

 

If I could no longer play keys, I'd be one miserable man.🤣😎

 I totally get that.

[ElmerJFudd]

Like the carpenter whose house is falling apart or hires a carpenter because he just doesn’t feel like working when he’s home.  It’s understandable.  
 

When music is your work and your hobby, quiet time is good. 

[marino]

I don't see any other reason for listening to music, other than enjoyment.

Like most aged musicians, I have had an overdose of music over the years, but I still search youtube for things I am not familiar with, follow some students' advice, etc. I have noticed that I like switching genres quite often; probably, that helps to keep my ears fresh. In particular, in this period I don't lean toward jazz like I used to... after a while, my brain wants to hear a different sound.

Also, I can't have music when I'm concentrating on something demanding, or after a gig or an intense music session of any kind. I think it's just normal.

But if I'm cleaning the apartment, of course it's music all the way. However, in this case I prefer to hear something I'm already familiar with, so I can fill the holes with memory when I miss something.  

[marino]

6 hours ago, ITGITC said:

I don't care what kind of music you enjoy.  Continue listening and supporting other musicians.  Keep promoting it in the school curriculum.  Make good music and remind people that a life without music would surely be less fulfilling.   It's up to us to keep it viable.

 

+ 5000000

[jazzpiano88]

These day's I listen to music of my youth about 50% and 50% exploring new music for both enjoyment and analysis of what's going on.  

When not listening to music, it's continuously playing in my head anyway.

[Tom Williams]

On 2/7/2023 at 5:46 PM, obxa said:

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.

I always get analysis paralysis when I attend live shows of peers (unfortunately including church worship bands).  I rarely go to "pro" shows, but when I was doing that (mostly the symphony) the skill levels were generally far enough up there that I could just enjoy the music instead. 

 

On 2/7/2023 at 5:46 PM, obxa said:

 

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. 

I thought it was just me!  Even if the loop point is 20 seconds, I'll find it.  My current noise generator was advertised as non-looping, but I found little cllcks and clinks on all the noise programs; happily, it's undetectable on a couple of fan recordings.   (Tangent: sleep schedule messed up by Covid, I'm listening to "Fan recording #3" while typing this on my laptop in bed.)

 

I feel a lot less lonely in my mutant hearing now.  Thanks for posting this!

On 2/7/2023 at 5:46 PM, obxa said:

[...] 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.

I don't do voiceovers, but I am supersensitive to aural patterns.  There are some Youtube science videos that initially sound human-narrated, but then a weird pronunciation or rhythm will register as "That's not a foreigner -- that's a machine!"  But it's so close to being right that it then becomes creepy.

 

I'll add another place where this hits me: parties.  My in-laws think I don't like them, because their parties have three or more conversations going plus children playing plus a football game on a TV set -- all of which overwhelms me.  After as little as 10 minutes I would find myself leaving the house and laying down in my car just to decompress from the audio chaos.  I understand cognitively that parties are supposed to be like that, but my brain just can't handle it.

[Theo Verelst]

Apart from nerdiness and IT-like obsessiveness I can imagine a desire to be accurate about music, but most of the lacking felt in all kinds of music, for two different main reasons might be as a consequence of the music or it's recording indeed lacking clarity or musical perfection. Then there is the "learning curve" versus "progress", musically speaking, the latter honestly pretty much ended in the early 90s.

 

Good music, also poetically well made, reproduced in a proper way (a lot of work) still attracts me as much as when I was, say, a teenager, and all those wonderful tapes of great music I never heard I would love to listen to as well, but feeling really challenged is harder to get by.

 

T

[Baggypants]

On 2/11/2023 at 2:07 PM, ITGITC said:

But, for me, the bigger issue is finding new music

Here is a list of, just under, 36,000 radio stations for you. Go wild! https://www.radio-browser.info/tags

 

I like Vintage Obscura for really odd european pop stuff. Somafm stations are quite eclectic too

[Dave Keys]

So glad I found this thread - I thought it was only me! I think ears can also get fatigued. I'm teaching Piano all week as well as gigging, and frankly, the last thing my ears want is more sound at the end of a day or after a gig. Definitely enjoy having some mad discussions with guitarist or singer on the drive back after a gig, or some speech based radio if it's just me. 

[ProfD]

On 2/11/2023 at 9:07 AM, ITGITC said:

But, for me, the bigger issue is finding new music I want to listen to and make my own by learning it to perform it.

 

I want to go to the source, turn on a station and find new music that I love WITHOUT HAVING TO THINK ABOUT IT.

 

And, of course, I like the music of which I am familiar.  I especially like the music I listened to in high school and college (most of us do).  But I have yet to find a station or playlist that nails the idea of "If you like THAT song, you'll love THIS  song."

 

Nevertheless, I continue to search.  Still love music and I'm optimistic that there is still good music out there for me that I have not discovered.

 

And finally, I don't care what kind of music you enjoy.  Continue listening and supporting other musicians.  Keep promoting it in the school curriculum.  Make good music and remind people that a life without music would surely be less fulfilling.   It's up to us to keep it viable. 

OK.  I'm going to type something most musicians and listeners would rather not accept but it's free of charge...🤣

 

IMO, the older one gets, the harder it will be to discover new music that provides a similar aural experience of yesteryear. 

 

The music on which one grows up i.e. soundtrack of their life is forever etched into the brain.  It is the filter through which all subsequent music will be consumed.

 

Rest assured that you are never going to hear new music that knocks your azz the way Steely Dan did back in the day.

 

IOW, you are not going to find any new music to love. You will be able to appreciate new music if it passes through that proverbial filter.

 

Otherwise, you're better off creating or playing the music you want to hear.  Take tunes you already love and reharmonize them. 

 

Listen to newer music for ideas and take elements from it to make those reharmonizations fresh.  It could be a sound or a drum loop.

 

The fact that there is no shortage of new music is a testament to the fact that artists and musicians are still creating and playing it.  😎