Repeated listening helps all music

Repeated listening is just a fancy way of saying “listening multiple times.”

But the point of this quick post is that all music can be appreciated in more detail after having listened to it multiple times. And yes I truly do mean this to apply to all genres of music.

After hearing a song once, even if you’re listening closely, you won’t pick up on anything. Even the most well practiced and experienced musicians won’t pick up absolutely everything in a song after just one listen.

So then you listen again. You’ll hear more details and different details. The next listening will help you hear even more details and so on. There’s probably a dimishing return the more you listen to one specific recording, but the point still stands; the more you listen to a song the more you’ll notice details within that song.

And this helps with all types of music.

I recently watched a video about “art music” by 12Tone and one thing he mentioned was the use of the term “repeated listenings” when looking at definitions of “art music.” And he pointed out the same thing that this post is about; all music can be appreciated more deeply after multiple listenings.

There are often lots of details within a specific piece of music that can’t be noticed the first time, especially if it’s an unfamiliar genre of music. So then listen again. You’ll notice more details.

I often try to notice as many details as I can the first time and I still find new things to pay attention to after repeated listenings.

Some things you can listen for are the instruments. How do they interact? What specific instruments are there? Are there any synths? How are those songs created?

You can also listen to the lyrics. What story is being told? What is the main message of the lyrics? Are there any examples of text painting?

You can listen for emotion. What specific emotion is being conveyed? What aspects of the music help this emotion be conveyed? What aspects of the lyrics (if applicable)?

ISJ