Listening to music as a music-maker

[The Jackson]

I will try to keep my thoughts coherent, beloved TubeNet, as this is something that is kinda blurry in my own noggin...

I've been thinking about something a lot recently. It involves listening to music and being one who creates music (a "musician").

The first time I gave this a thought was when I would, all of the sudden, have a new "favorite piece" of music after seeing a mini-documentary about it in class. We watched watch the M.T.T. "Keeping Scores" DVDs on Tchaikovsky's 4th and the Rite of Spring and I immediately became enthralled in both of them. I had heard of both, and had a recording of the Stravinsky, but never gave them a second thought until I saw those documentaries. I don't think I had become more "open-minded" or "serious" about music in that time period, so why did I feel such an urge to plunge my self into these pieces that I learned more about?

In band class, something I would do is find recordings of the music we were working on to hear how it sounded when performed. I find that, after viewing my tuba part in class, what I heard on the recording was more like an instructional video with its main goal to teach *me* how I should sound when I play it on my own. Does that make sense? It seems that the music loses its spirit, or something, when I'm not genuinely interested in hearing a just hearing a new piece of music.

So, I guess this is what I'm asking. For what reason would you be interested in listening to a new piece of music? Why would you buy *that* one instead of another one? Are you just looking for something new, are you performing it soon, did you just see it performed, what?

I hope that whole flood didn't sound like one of those program-produced Mad Libz, but I hope at least a few of you can make sense of it.

Aesthetically,

Jackson

[MileMarkerZero]

I would listen to a new piece if I were about to start a performance cycle of it. I'd try to listen to as many different recordings as possible to get as many musical ideas as possible. I would then let those performances inform my own to the extent that I would create the musical dish using some of the ingredients gleaned from my listening.

Or sometimes I hear a piece on NPR and just have to hear it again. And again. And again. Ein Alpensinfonie is one of these. There are many others that I have never had the chance to play but love to listen to.

As to why I would buy a certain recording over another, why would I choose a certain shirt over another or a certain beer? The answer is, of course, personal taste.

[TWTuba]

so why did I feel such an urge to plunge my self into these pieces that I learned more about?
Jackson

I think you answered your own question. You learned about them! Now that you know what movements in the Rite of Spring are about, you can form a "musical" image in your mind. You know a little (or a lot) about the composer and the historical context of the work.

Continue to learn about pieces that you play, and put your knowledge to work for you as you play them. Find recordings of works by composers that you like and listen. Take a chance at the record store and buy something new, then Google it and learn what you can. It's amazing when you can hear thunder and wind in Haydn's works, or know when Till loses his head!

Good luck with your research.