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This may come as a surprise to many of you, but one of my New Year’s affirmations is to spend more time listening deeply to music than I did last year. You see, I’m usually listening to soundscapes that I’m currently working on. And when I am focusing on that, I usually prefer not to be distracted or influenced by other artists’ recordings.

     But now that I’m nearing completion on these projects, I’m looking forward to auditioning several dozen CDs I’ve been waiting for the right time to check out.

     That concept, of there being “a right time” to listen to a particular piece of music, is often a subtle factor. When you listen while doing something else, using “regular” music as a generic background

sound conditioner usually means you are not paying attention to the nuances in the recording. It’s like a Cliff’s Notes of the sound world.

     On more than one occasion, I’ve pulled out a CD that didn’t resonate with me while I was doing something else. This time, I was listening with “new ears” and was surprised that I had missed at least one noteworthy song on the album. When was the last time that happened to you?


Today’s survey:

     Do you remember the first time you ever really, really got totally immersed in a song or an album? What was the title?

     How long ago was that?

     When was the most recent time you really got into the music, so deeply that the “you’” who was

listening melted into the music being heard?

     Consider: Listening to music by yourself, compared to listening with someone else. Back in the ’60s, my friends and I did a lot of listening together. (Sure, some of that was because some of us didn’t have our own stereo systems, but it was also more cool to listen with a little help from your friends.)

     Nowadays, when I ask my friends or folks who attend my workshops, I find very few people admit to intentionally listening to music together.

     I’d like to suggest we bring back “listening parties” in 2010. I’d also like to suggest that the music you listen to may appear to change depending on with whom you are listening.