How to listen
In today’s day and age music is everywhere. Spotify, the largest music streaming platform (up until now, which is seeming like it’s the beginning of its demise), built its company off of the slogan “Music for every moment.” And as a result, it is playing all of the time. Pop music’s on 24/7 at the big retail store where you buy toilet paper; soft indie might be on low when you’re waiting for your coffee…you may even put on a playlist at home because silence is becoming more and more strange to us modern humans.
But even though you’re hearing it nearly constantly, you’re really not consuming it in any real or deep way. One of the most important and simplest ways to become a better musician is close listening. It is a skill that takes patience and practice. You’ll find that once you start close listening, your own creativity will blossom. You will, whether consciously or not, begin to find ideas and inspiration for your own music. Here are some tips and exercises you can actively incorporate into your life to become a better listener:
Note the form
Ever listen to one of your favorite songs that is just so crazy and out there that you think, ‘this artist must not be human’? Maybe it’s unlike anything you’ve ever heard and it feels so complex and otherworldly that you feel like you can never measure up to that level of creativity. Well, similarly to how writing down your feelings in a journal makes them feel less overwhelming, writing down the form of a song can simplify it for your brain. Even if it’s not the typical song form, chances are it has some sort of structure that makes it stand up. You can also figure out how many bars each section is, and if there’s any sort of notable changes in tempo, key or instrumentation between sections. If you aren’t familiar with song form, check out this article.
2. Draw a ‘sound map’
This strategy is particularly helpful if you are working on production or arranging skills. Put on a pair of headphones or listen to a song on a pair of monitors. As instruments come in and out, draw a picture of where you experience them. It doesn’t matter if you can’t draw, just writing “bass” at the bottom and “snare drum” to the right will do the trick. This will help you understand where different instruments live in a physical space, and how to either naturally achieve this or manipulate it for music production.
3. Reduce distraction
More of an obvious one. Rather than listening in the background, try making music listening its own activity, as you would watch a movie or read a book. Get cozy, put a record on and make sure you’re using a nice sound system. Try to sit still for the entirety of an album. Just relax, and let your mind do anything it wants to do. Maybe you’ll find yourself paying attention to something specific in the tracks, or maybe the music will bring up memories.
4. Pick your focus
In any given piece, there are many different elements at play. To name a few: lyrics, chords, melody, harmony, rhythm, timbre, etc. Try focusing on a different one with each listen.
5. Live in a song, album, era, or artist
Before music was streamed, it was a physical product. You’d save up all your allowance money for weeks just to get the new record, tape, or CD (even iTunes worked this way to an extent). Because you waited so long and worked so hard to get this particular album, it might have been all that you listened to for weeks or even months. You got to know this record like it was a friend. Repetition is an excellent tool because the more you listen, the more things you notice. Try only listening to one piece, one work, one genre, whatever category you want to zoom in on. Really learn about the sequencing of songs in an album, or how different artists of the same scene may have influenced each other, or how two different artists cover the same song.
All in all, the way we absorb art (not just music) today is pretty surface level compared to how we experienced it in the past. And it’s insidiously chipping away at the quality of art because half-assed listening inspires half-assed creation. So this could be a deeper issue than just making your own music as great as it can be. By close listening, you can make a positive impact on art making as a whole in this short-attention-span society.
