Four aspects of music
July 8, 2021I listen to a lot of music. As a musician there are a number of things that you learn to pay attention to, but as a listener you don’t get much guidance for what you can pay attention to in a song. I’ve noticed this often leaves listeners unsure of how music is constructed or how different artists put together their songs. It also leaves listeners unable to express specifically what they like about a specific song.
This last part is one of the most important things to me. Being able to point out exactly what you like about a song (regardless of genre) is an important skill to have. It helps you be better describe what type of music you like. It helps you figure out what types of music you might like and might not like. And it helps you better appreciate a number of different genres of music.
But if you’re unsure of what you can listen to it can leave you unsure of why you like the specific pieces of music that you like.
There is one huge caveat that we should mention however. Sometimes a piece of music reminds you of a specific memory and that’s the main reason that you like it. That’s fine too. But for this post we’re talking about songs that aren’t attached to a specific memory.
So what can you listen for?
There are four aspects of music that you can listen for. They’re linked below. Each one has it’s own dedicated blog post here and you’ll be able to learn more about each different aspect on those posts:
Each of these different aspects can change depending on the genre of music. Certain ideas within these aspects might not be things that you enjoy.
For example I listen to a fair amount of heavy metal and atonal classical music. Both of those genres are harsh. They have fairly harsh harmonies, especially in atonal classical music, and they have fairly harsh timbres, especially in the case of heavy metal. The harmonies in atonal classical music are often incredibly dissonant. There also isn’t one note or chord that feels resolved or “like home”, which is often used in tonal music. This might mean that you, as a listener, have to pay attention to something else to get that same sense of resolution or “home.” Sometimes there isn’t even that sense of home anywhere. All of these different things will make that specific genre sound harsh.
That might not be an idea that you enjoy listening to. Knowing that will help lead you to find music that is more enjoyable for you to listen to.
Often in heavy metal there is tonality, but the timbres are harsh. The guitars have a lot of distortion and the vocals might be growling or screaming, which adds a kind of distortion (in an analogue way) to the voice. These instruments will sound more harsh compared to a clean guitar and clean vocals. The rhythms may also be fast and intense because they are playing at faster tempos or playing a fast subdivision of the beat.
You might enjoy those ideas. You might not. Again knowing specifically what you enjoy about a piece of music will help guide you in finding new music and it’ll help you communicate both with musicians and with non-musicians about the specific music that you enjoy listening to.
Go check out the other posts to learn more about different aspects of music.
ISJ