How to listen to music

Sunday, January 28th, 2007 // Paperhouse

“Hey, what is this guy going to tell me that I don’t already know?”

Okay, on some level, I’m not going to tell you anything — it’s just a reminder. I find that some of my friends don’t know how to sit down and appreciate music, and then they get confused when they don’t enjoy it nearly as much as I do.

I’m kind of done with the article now. Sit down and enjoy it. Good music is usually good because it rewards intense concentration and repeated scrutiny by getting better.

Musician and theorist Brian Eno once said, “Ambient music must be able to accommodate many levels of listening attention without enforcing one in particular; it must be as ignorable as it is interesting.” Note that he made that a defining characteristic of ambient music, implying that it shouldn’t hold for other types. That means that the majority of music is not designed to be ignored. Really fantastic music may grab you if you just have it on while surfing the internet, but equally amazing music may be unassuming and you’ll miss it. This, I think, is what happens to my friends.

Music can be roughly divided into two types, with some overlap: There’s music for sitting and music for dancing. So, the first time you get a new album, figure out which type it is, and use it for that. If you can’t figure it out, sit and listen — good dance music will force you to get up and dance, mostly. Good music for sitting will just make you hate it if you try to dance.

Don’t lie down, you’ll fall asleep. Sit in an armchair, lean back, and close your eyes. Invest in a good pair of headphones — they’ll give you more sound quality per dollar than speakers, and have aspects all but the best speakers cannot duplicate (hello killer stereo separation).

The last important part of listening is your mood. I like listening to music that complements my mood and doesn’t try to force me into a mood I don’t have. For example: Don’t listen to Coil if you’re feeling happy — it’ll sound dumb, listen to it late at night and get scared. For example, I’m listening to some funk from ’70s Bollywood action films right now and becoming much more energized about this column than I would’ve been otherwise. But be careful of this, too; I was vaguely upset last week and listened to Stars of the Lid (example song title: “Lonely People (Are Getting Lonelier)”), which resulted in a little bit of a six-hour, what’s-wrong-with-my-life depression.

It’s not hard: sit down, pay attention, and match the music to your mood. You’ll enjoy music more.