I can hear you listen.
As I sit here, recording the Lansing Symphony Orchestra as they play Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra, I am shocked to hear their lack of listening. Yes, listening is an act that makes a sound… sort of.
Any musician will acknowledge the almighty importance of listening right before they blat away on their scales or practice that tough lick twenty times in a row until its is perfect. The one musical skill we almost never practice is listening. In my opinion it is also the most important skill.
But how to I practice listening? Well, that’s what this blog is for. Hopefully one day you and I both can become expert listeners, but for now I’ll tell you what I do and you can try that, or not. Cool? Cool.
One of the best ways to become better at listening is to choose a recording you like a lot. Before listening to it, write down as many things about it as you can remember. It can be anything. Instruments, loud or soft, mood, lyrics, mistakes. Anything. Then, play it. Write ten more. Repeat this until you have one hundred things written about about that recording. After completing this, you will know that recording very well and you will have trained your listening skills to find one hundred unique things in a short segment of music.
By forming these basic listening skills ultimately you gain a higher understanding of sounds and how they effect your reactions. When you find yourself at your next rehearsal or performance, try to pick out some of the elements of sound that you noticed when you are an engaged listener, only now the trick is to react musically instead of literally.
It’s not easy, but in my experience, the best musicians have the best listening skills. If you want to be a great musician (not just a button-pusher) you must develop your listening first, and then worry about those tough licks.