how do you listen?

I was just sitting here listening to a painfully beautiful piece of music when a friend of mine called. When she asked what I was doing I replied "listening to music." She wanted to know what else I was doing, and when I responded by saying "nothing," she asked with a shock "you mean you are just sitting there listening to music?"

Yes, that is what I was doing; sitting and doing nothing but actively listening to the music. It is like reading a book. When I listen to music, I become a part of it; it is almost impossible for me to do anything else while I am listening to music. It is my passion.

I do have certain types of music that I keep on as background noise. What I am wondering is how you all listen to music.

Do you use music as background noise or do you actively listen to it?

wow this is difficult LOL... I only listen to the radio when i'm driving and my music...at home I always have the TV on behind me if i'm on the computer or even if i'm cleaning or cooking.... however In my car I just listen and sing to the music.. I jam big time... all my cds are in my car!! :) So I guess i am active in listening because when I do I really listen!!

I myself cannot imagine a day without music... unless I am out at a race or in nature that is.
Mostly it is in the background, sometimes even while watching TV!
But I do have times I will select something particular and just listen, especially to the lyrics.

I listen to music all the time, no matter what i am doing. i can be doing other things, but unlike having the tv on while i am doing them, i sing along, dance, really listen. if it is a particularly good song, i will just stop whatever i am doing and just listen. one of my favorite things in the world is to just lie in bed with the lights out and let a piece of music just wash over me. it becomes bigger than me, overtakes all my senses.... i love it!

While I can, and do use music for background, I generally am actively involved in what I listen to, which is why I cannot abide listening to poorly played material.

DanE

Mostly, I am very actively involved with my tunes. I will sing, sometimes loudly, or just sit and listen...

... I also like to have it on as background, but I find this to be very difficult as I become engrossed in certain songs even when I'm trying to hold on a conversation and then the conversation gets sidetracked and people get irked at me, especially my kids...

In the car, I can put on CDs or the radio (rarely) and find myself singing and my kids will interrupt and I'll get frustrated... or not and just turn the song off whilst the talk and when their done, turn it back on. But, I know I usually can't maintain "background" with music for very long without the music eventually sucking me in to its fabulous vortex...

I also make music. I'm learning to play the drums, I write... sometimes... I also have a bass I sometimes pick up and jam on (but mostly I'm just into the drum kit)...

... and my daughter and I have a game we play each night, and if we don't, she can't sleep... it's become some routine for us. She will say, "Sing about (insert anything)" and I will make a song about it, then I will say, "Sing about..." and she will make a song about it. A week or so ago she said, "Sing about spit bubbles" and I dang near choked at the mere thought, but Oh MY it turned into one hilarious song with both us laughing and spitting spit bubbles through words!!!

The trick is to try to do different genre's and styles of music appropriate to the topic. Actually, it kind of reminds me of what they make that one comedian do all the time on "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" LOL.

So.. yeah... music is very, very ingrained in my reality ~ not superficially at all, at all. Oh, and I should probably mention that I consider my son a savant (he is high functioning autistic) because MY GOD that boy can play a piano!!! Has the attention span of a gnat, but WOW.

~phosphorescent

At work I listen to it in the background, I"m not just gonna bust out and start singing or anything......no I do that when I'm in my car driving to and from work. I love to play music also, on the piano....... I get really into certain kinds of music to the point where I can just sit there and close my eyes and become part of the music. I am a very musical person so for me, appreciating music is HUGE in my life.