Listening to Music: Several Levels

Listening to music in the background often accompanies many people in everyday life: the radio can sound at home or in the car, and music in supermarkets and other places. However, I try to make listening to music a separate matter or a process that requires some attention. The transition to the expressive level allows you to get various kinds of pleasure from music, and it may not always be associated exclusively with positive emotions. If you listen to music in an attempt to divide it into the sound of individual instruments and understand the structure, then the sheerly musical level is connected (Copland, 2011). I cannot judge that professional musicians, having comprehended the third level, no longer experience different emotions from music at the second. However, in my opinion, this theory is erroneous or incomplete: if the masters of their craft did not enjoy the process, they would hardly gather full halls and continue their careers.

I also experience similar sensations when listening to music attentively. If the attempt to parse the melody into its parts is successful, you can hear an unusual move in percussion instruments or bass, which is sometimes no less intriguing than the piece’s central theme. Likely, the composers who have written such works are no longer fascinated by their decisions on an expressive level. However, I have often heard the position that composers write music that they, first of all, like to listen to themselves. Moreover, I believe that once having paid due attention to a particular work, having felt it and created a strong association with my impressions, it is impossible to descend from the expressive to the sensuous level in the future. At the same time, even negative emotions concerning what they heard can forever leave an imprint on this work, which will revive these feelings every time I listen to it.

Reference

Copland, A. (2011). What to Listen for in Music. Penguin.

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