Listening Contexts and Settings

[Joseph K]

I've started this thread because I am curious about what people's favoured listening contexts are. Also, I added the 'settings', which I think is broader than 'context' because it encompasses all the infinite variables that contribute to how one responds to music at a particular time and place.

Do people have a favoured listening room or time of day? For me, I do most my listening after breakfast, lunch and to a lesser extent, dinner. Typically, I am lying side-ways, propped up on my left elbow on my bed, with my laptop in front of me. Often I think my preferred listening space would actually be a comfy chair, like a single-seat settee, mainly because in my current position the laptop might distract me in my listening. I do try to refrain from reading all but the simplest/least involving stuff when I have music on - I mean, when I started typing this, I had to pause Beethoven 3, for example.

What about music on the go? I used to listen to music on walks all the time, but not any more, preferring instead to see walking as an opportunity for a kind of mindfulness - also, I don't have an iPod and the last CD Walkman I bought seems to have fairly quickly gone sort of caput; plus, I am conscious of not wanting wax build-up in my ears. I think for a while though, listening to music on a walk was preferable to me to listening in my bedroom - being able to smoke while on a walk was a bonus (now I can vape in my room).

As for 'settings' I am struggling to know where to begin. I will say that some music I haven't listened to in a while kind of contains memories of how its particular expressive affect has moved me at a particular time in my life, and that with some of that it's like I know I won't feel the music like that again, but perhaps for the better (some melancholy music for example) while other music remains fascinating, indeed, required years before its true wonders were made apparent to me. Some music has had its affect blunted a bit through my becoming overfamiliar with it. Also, there have been times that, even if it's just smoking cigarettes, I've felt it necessary to have some intoxication alongside listening to music.

Anyway, I now have my daily routine which I follow, and I am systematic in listening to boxed sets, after which I will try to find a systematic way of listening to the fair few CDs I've bought but not listened to, or only rarely listened to. I quite like being systematic - but I wonder how people decide what they'll listen to? Another big topic, that.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

"Listening" - that is, serious, "full-attention" listening - is restricted for me to about 2 or 3 hours each day, preferably with a score, and usually with gaps between listens. Each year I give myself a collection of "set works" from different periods of history to spend most of my time getting to know (or to know better) - but this is not a rigid list, and I will as often pick up a work that I haven't heard in some time on a whim (as with the Sibelius Fifth a couple of days ago). Like you, I enjoy having systems, but have just as much fun smashing these to disrupt "routine" and "predictability" - and I'm talking about home listening here, rather than Concert-going.

Aside from this "dedicated" listening, I will also have works playing as a background to other activities - I don't really class this as "listening", but it does result in my attention returning to the Music at different points in a work, which can result in becoming aware of features that I'd overlooked on previous occasions - even the "intensive" listening sessions, so it can lead to new insights.

I play Music in the car, but never when out walking - I want to hear birdsong, insect sounds, wind in tree branches, and to exchange greetings with passers-by.

[Edgy 2]

I live in a small terraced house so don’t really have a listening room.
Comfy chair in the corner of the living room facing away from the TV (Mrs edge is a telly addict)so usually with headphones unless I’m home alone.
I simply have to listen to some Vaughan Williams at the very least every other day for the sake of my mental well being,his music has saved my life.
I need regular fixes of Howells,Finzi and Elgar too.
In the past I have used a lucky dip system whereby I pull a cd out of a box or drawer at random and listen.
A few weeks ago I made a decision to listen to every single recording I own once before returning to any of them,noting the date I listened,should take about 6 years at 3 cds per day.
As my records are randomly stored all over the house and not catalogued it’s just a case of working through each shelf,box,boxed set,drawer or pile and making sure I’ve got plenty of the above composers spread out among the discs

[Joseph K]

Thanks for the replies, Ferney and Edgy. Yeah, I too live in a small-ish terraced house, and likewise Edgy, have decided to listen to all of my CDs at least once, though the notion of giving any of them had not yet hit me... But the idea of getting rid of some of my books had occurred to me - I have a lot of stuff, to put it bluntly, and sometimes feel I'd like more space... Certain kinds of music or moods are more suited to headphones, I find...

[Serial_Apologist]

As a retired gentleman, most of my weekday listening takes place after finishing with telly at 11.15 am - a brain engaging procedure designed to put me in mind of the latest chatter masquerading as "news" - at which point I will seat myself in the comfy armchair triangularly sited in relation to the two stereo speqkers on my ageing hi-fi. cassette/CD player in the sitting room/lounge. If COTW is worthy of my attentions, this allows just enough time to listen to an LP. Anything music-wise broadcast on Radio 3 is usually to be heard on the Hitachi, behind me here in my "study" - and that normally means COTW, Jazz Record Requests (now on Sunday afternoons), jazz programmes (including "Freeness") on Saturday afternoons and at midnight, along with the New Music Show if it looks like it's going to be interesting. In the olden days I would record programmes on cassette - less so these days, because (a) cassettes have become hard to come by and there is very little spare room on the ones I have, which I like to keep; and (b) in any case there isn't that much contemporary new music in any genre that grabs me sufficiently for me to want to return to it. If something really good has been on, I try to return to hear it on the iplayer through the very fine speakers connected to the computer, hoping the bloke upstairs won't be disturbed. (So far so good!)

To be honest I like the sound of good music filling the room where I am, and have it on at the volume level I am comfortable with, which admittedly could be above what is convenient or tolerable to neighbours. So far, three lots of tenants in the flat above the other end of mine have not felt it necessary to complain, notwithstanding either the relatively (occasionally absolutely) leftfield character of my musical tastes, or my having advised them in advance that they might wish, and indeed would be welcome, to inform me if and when it all gets too much. Maybe they've all been too polite; maybe they like my choices. I never hear music coming from upstairs - only footfalls when anyone has children staying, the sound of upstairs' vibrating washing machine, and occasional bangs and buzzes from any home improvement being undertaken. Lateral disturbance, ie sounds going to or coming from next door - and I am in the end ground fllor flat of this part of the block - seem to be no problem, partition walls being of sufficient thickness to keep sounds of any kind beyond audibility. I think it's important to touch on these issues, since the last place where I lived - my late parents' house - was detached from both sets of neighbours, yet one of them would entertain 1950s rock 'n' roll jam sessions every Saturday night which would reverberate through two sets of external walls to my own considerable discomfort. And the last flat I had before that had sufficiently thin floors that following angry complaints from the couple downstairs I was literally reduced to watching telly from about two feet away with the sound so low I could not make out much beyond that distance. Furtunately here, all floors are of thick concrete.

There is, of course, nothing more fulfilling than sharing ones enthusasms with another, and I have been blessed with at least two relationships with women whose musical tastes coincided with mine. But for my own listening programming in these days of solitude, the hi-fi in the other room is essential. Like ferney (above) I like to have a comfy armchair to listen to it, with my feet raised, resting on a stool. Like for Joseph K, the listening experience approximates to mindfulness, with as little mentation interrupting the singleminded application of attention as possible so as not to miss anything. This even goes for music I am familiar with - I am of the view that whatever we experience, however familiarised, changes in relation to the circumstances in which we listen to it, and those include all the things that have happened to us (and affected us sub- or unconsciously) since the last time, as well as the physical and psychological conditions pertaining at the time: time of day/year, room temperature, mood, etc etc., reveals things not heard previousy or as differently inter-related.

Unlike ferney I programme my own "free" listening with consistency in what I intend listening to in mind. I could never, for instance, listen to, say, one of Mahler's late symhonies, preceded or followed by a Neo-Classical work of Stravinsky's, as the full emotional and intellectual weight of the one would eclipse the other and render it meaningless and time-wasting at that point in time. There was a point in the 1960s when I felt differently about this, and welcomed the cultural jolts offered by composers of polystylistic persuasions uses of quotation, collage or deliberate stylistic incongruity. But that was a phase, both historically and personally for me, that has now outworn its possibilities, and in my dotage I seem to have returned to music that represents inner-consistency and evolution from strong existing principles rather than the jettissoning of the immediate past, or attempts so to do. I don't tend to think, hmm, it would be nice to hear Miles Davis's "Filles de Kilimanjaro" right now, because I'm in the mood for it; instead I will decide on, say, a week's listening through of, lets say, all the recordings I have of music by The Second Viennese School, possibly alongside that of contemporaries directly or indirectly associated such as Schmidt and Zemlinsky, and try and get the feel of the era through their music. Listening to Schoenberg, Berg, Webern, Eisler, Skalkottas, Hindemith and Weill's works in the chronological order in which they were composed or first "came out" is a fantastic buzz for me: I will get the respective cassettes, LPs and CDs off the shelves and arrange them somewhere they won't be in the way, like an exibition of paintings designed to follow related developments from work to work the way one might follow an exhibition by say Kandinsky around the walls of a gallery.

The advantage of this disciplined way of listening to music is that the music is speaking for itself and one is immersing oneself in the time and circumstances of its making. The disadvantage, of course, is that when something else comes along that presents itself for ones listening - usually a broadcast, a live gig or concert, (but we are talking primarly about home listening here), or a recording I have been asked to review - then the primacy I have attached to the set listening programme has to be put temporarily on ice. For some reason this presents no problem whatsoever - a fact which presumably has to be put down to the mind's capacity for compartmentalisation.

How does one listen to music? What does one "get out of it"? I remember a discussion which took place on this forum some time ago, in which two protagionists argued over whether it was in fact possible to enjoy music on emotional and intellectual planes, and finding myself in accord with the viewpoint that found no incompatibility between these two response types. It reminded me of my father's frequent accusation of my mother, that she could only ever listen to music as abstract forms and patterns of notes without emotional significance, which, I now think, came from his in fact over-compartmentalised view of human response-abilities, as if only the one or the other is possible at any given moment, whereas I think people would not be moved to create anything other than the bare necessities of existence unless they were first moved.

Finally (!) all music does is recycle the feelings and means of musically expressing them that comprise us as motivated human beings through the received musical vernaculars of our respective cultures. One cyulture will have concentrated on one thing (harmony) another or, say, rhythm. Modern media have shrunk the world of perceptible possibilities alongside the globalisation of comunications and movement of peoples and their cultures. The way in which music has evolved from the ostensibly simple (monodic, primarily vocal with a pulse of some sort) to the formally micromanaged alongside various manifest recognitions of ultimate uncontrollability, has to do with the evolution of consciousness and our potential brain power in accordance with the demands of an ever-growing complexity surrounding how lives are now lived. One somehow needs to get to grips with this complexity as innerly expressed and outwardly reflecting, because it is the most authentic way for music to be, ie in accordance with the spirit of its day and age.

[Joseph K]

This even goes for music I am familiar with - I am of the view that whatever we experience, however familiarised, changes in relation to the circumstances in which we listen to it, and those include all the things that have happened to us (and affected us sub- or unconsciously) since the last time, as well as the physical and psychological conditions pertaining at the time: time of day/year, room temperature, mood, etc etc., reveals things not heard previousy or as differently inter-related.

My thoughts exactly. And thanks for the long post.

[richardfinegold]

I have a small bedroom that is my main listening room, with comfy recliner and my higher priced two channel gear. I also have a surround system on each of the lower 2 levels with midfi gear. My wife generally dominates one of them for video, the other was originally created when I had adult children living in my basement. I generally read while listening, or waste time on the Internet as like the present. I have several headphones but I mainly use them while traveling. It’s dangerous in an urban environment to wear phones while mobile

[Dave2002]

Various rooms. TV room - smallish room with a TV. Sometimes I (we) take a boombox in there and put on a CD. Kitchen - use an iPad to listen to BAL on Saturdays. Bedroom - use headphones - various. Also use headphones in the middle of the night going into the morning (as now), so as to not be completely anti-social. Living room with piano etc. - listen via loudspeakers if I can be bothered, or really want good quality sound.

Sometimes my best bet for listening is to get in my car, though safety considerations are important.

I don't always listen passively - depends on the music. I may compare pieces, or compare performances. I try to mix listening with practising various instruments, or working out ideas on computers - some of them musical, but might be video, or just text.

That's just a very sketchy and incomplete outline.

There's not enough time to do everything. I don't always watch one of Ed Reardon's favourites - "Homes under the Hammer"!!!! - or maybe Celebrity Coach Trip - which I had been completely unaware of before Ed mentioned it or a similar programme.

[BBMmk2]

Depends. Mostly,if I’m not busy, I listen to music till lunchtime, then maybe after my nap in the afternoon, if MrsBbm hasn’t the tv on, I’ll put some on then. Or if there’s nothing on the telly.

[gradus]

I listen to almost everything in the kitchen on the Roberts DAB radio, or in the car. Hardly 'Hi-Fi' but I have long-since abandoned the idea that musical enjoyment depends on the quality of the listening gear. That is not to say that I don't enjoy listening on fancier kit nor that I despise hi-fi but it is a small element in my listening life. I suppose it goes back to enjoying concerts on Medium Wave in the fifties.

[Petrushka]

I have the luck to live in an end terrace house with my listening room (actually what my parents always called the front room) on the far end so no need to worry about neighbours which is just as well as I cannot use headphones due to ear issues.

Since I retired last month I did expect to play more music in the daytime but the truth is that I have some difficulty (no idea why) in listening to music outside the evening 'concert slot' of 7.30 or 8.00 to 10. The rare exception to this is a Sunday morning.

I never ever listen to music as background! It is total anathema to me and everything I listen to deserves, and gets, absolute concentration with no distractions allowed.

What I really like doing is devising my own concert programmes from my CD collection, most often, but not always, with the same orchestra/conductor combination. There's no other system involved in playing through those huge boxed sets, though those items that don't fit into my 'concert programmes' tend to eventually get a Sunday morning listen. As my retirement moves on, I think I'll start to listen to more music in daytime as I've just got so much to catch up on and only so much time in which to do it!

[Pulcinella]

Detached here, but not usually loud volume listening.
Three-storey house, with main listening room (Cambridge set-up, and separate Sonos speakers, though I can stream through the hi-fi system too) on first floor.
I tend to sprawl on a long sofa in front of the speakers (so don't get a real stereo effect) and am often reading or (as now) following the forum.
Serious listening and score following done 'face on', in general.
Roberts internet radio in study next door.
Sonos speakers in partner's study (top floor) and kitchen.
Denon system in ground-floor dining room: usually a random CD chosen to listen to as we tackle the Times crossword at 5 most nights.
Digital radio in my bedroom, but hardly ever on: can't bear R3 Breakfast.

Nothing like as disciplined in my listening as Joseph, but I have recently been working my way reasonably systematically through the big Ansermet French music set. I often have phases on a particular composer, and now try to listen to CDs I buy pretty soon after they arrive, so recently there has been lots of Villa-Lobos, Martinu, and Miakovsky. Like Edgy, not many days go by without a good dollop of something 'English'.

[pastoralguy]

I suppose my favourite environment is sitting on my bit of the sofa. Occasionally, if I have a friend around, I'll swap to the other end of the sofa which is Mrs. PG's spot. It's amazing what a difference those 4 feet make! My seat is obviously the 'sweet spot!'

I usually turn the digital radio on that lives in the bedroom first thing. We have a super ROBERTS Radio in the bathroom, (£5 from the SHELTER shop!) that gives continuity as I perform my morning ablutions.

I'm still getting used to the fact that out 2019 CORSA doesn't have a CD player although I've now go half a dozen USB sticks with hours and hours of music on them. The radio is slightly odd since it's both digital and analogue which is fine except that it'll re tune itself into whatever signal is strongest at any given time. (Usually when I'm really into something!)

We're also lucky enough to have two friends who run a Hi-Fi shop so, occasionally, we'll take a Chinese takeaway in and listen to music on systems that cost more than our house! Those are always memorable occasions especially since they have an extremely wealthy customer who is forever buying new equipment from them. He usually requests that they 'run in' equipment for him which means a week of continuous play! (I get a perverse thrill from listening a cd I purchased for 50p in the local charity shop played on a £12k CD player!)

My CDs are basically arranged in alphabetical order, however I buy so many that it's been months since I last updated the shelves which mean that I occasionally find surprises of discs I'd forgotten I'd bought. Mind you, I've been looking for the Stephen Hough discs of the Brahms Concertos and can't find them anywhere.

[teamsaint]

In the car, mostly rock and Jazz , or sometimes choral or piano, as they cut through the road noise . My new company car has a decent sound system, but I'm still finding out its good points.

At home I converted a small study into a music listening room. this is tremendously good for the soul,( who actually wants a room dedicated to work ?! ) if not for actual listening ATM, as the budget didn't stretch to anything decent by way of a system yet. But its a great man cave, and has the much loved CDs, vinyl and cassettes, and of course my 2012 signed Saints shirt ( promotion winning season) which is a great visual to accompany any music whatsoever.

Most listening in the lounge on my little but much loved Marantz system, which is probably configured all wrong by way of location, correct speaker wire etc. I'll have music as background ( sorry Pet !) if need be, but sitting on the sofa in the MOTD position is best. If I follow a score, its usually on Youtube.

In my imagination I have rooms full of quad , reel to reel systems, and 60's electronic gear, with random avant garde music being endlessly messed around with, in a glorious creative mess of technology and art, sometime around 1967/8.

Somewhere on a Tuscan hillside........

[jayne lee wilson]

The whole gamut for me….!
I like to have music playing through the house at a modest level, usually off Qobuz, for the first-coffee and Cats-breakfast time, often Baroque instrumental or choral or violin…. often chamber/intrumental as aubade/nocturne in the bedroom….

Even today, tabulating complex expenses for the SA Tax Return, I let the music drift through quietly (Baroque Winds, LeClair, early Bruckner Requiem…) and it did help lighten the mood…..

At one time I would never have done this…shunning ”background listening” as much as I did Classic FM….but left alone, and very lost for a while after the caring years were rounded with a death, even my beloved quasi-silence (in reality- wind and rain, birdsong, distant docks and traffic) could seem too much. Life changes and music changes….I drank… Music helped to stop it taking over…. at least some of the time. I still enjoy Classic FM's late night Smooth selection....often when cooking...

But there is still that focussed, dedicated attention, in a dedicated listening room (I know how lucky I am to have this...dominated by system and discs, the latter spread around in differently shaped and angled cabinets and shelvings: I dislike a “Wall of CDs”) where every nuance is considered, inspected, from the musical and the audiophile POV. That passion, that enthusiasm, hasn't faded, despite the sensitivities of ageing ears (left hears brighter and louder than right, slight “hyperacusis”, doesn’t take vocals in focussed listening at high levels very well; Opera is a no-go…but that’s the joy of “background/smallscale listening” - I can indulge the pleasure of the gentler, earlier vocal creations, Telemann, Bach, Monteverdi… )….

Music on the move? As headphones are also a no-go for the same aural reasons, it isn’t (but never really was) a part of my life….I never liked it in the car much….I put up with it in Taxis, but I might ask them to turn it down…I like to talk to the drivers (some of whom I know quite well now - it goes off when I get in..!)

My best listening still tends to be late night/early morning, insomnia/sleep/soporific herbals permitting, an hour or two, thematically focussed (20thC Concertos…. pairings like Schumann and Roussel…. Nielsen and Lutoslawski…etc)…

And inescapably fussy about sound… both a curse and a blessing….but when it all comes together.... like when Liverpool score...