Use previous knowledge

I’ve been listening to Paul Hindemith’s 3rd string quartet recently and it’s a little hard to follow, even for me. I can normally follow most classical music, even Schoenburg’s 12 tone music, but I didn’t want to do any previous research before listening to Hindemith’s string quartets.

And I’m trying to make a mental map of the form in my head simply from listening. This means I’m trying to imagine what different sections there are in the music, as well as what order they are played.

Now I know a common form for the first movement of a string quartet, sonata, or symphony is sonata form. So I used that previous knowledge while listening. I knew what to listen for; what to pay attention to. I knew that I’m listening for two distinct themes and I’m listening for an exposition of both of the themes and a development section where those themes are varied and changed and a recapitulation section at the end where the themes are played again almost as they were in the beginning. I had some idea for what to expect.

This can be done with any piece of music.

Listen and compare it in your head to the patterns you’ve heard before in music.

Possibly the easiest aspect of music to do this with is form because you don’t need to have much prior knowledge to pay attention to form, but it can be done with chord progressions, scales, and rhythms as well.

If you know a common form for pop music consists of verses and choruses and possibly a bridge, try to hear those things.

Try to imagine a map of the sections of the song in your head as you listen. And listen multiple times (assuming it’s a song you enjoy) so that you can get a better image of the song.

I find this makes a lot of music more approachable and more “follow-able.” It can be some mental work to do, but as far as I’ve noticed it’s worth it.

ISJ