Listening is practicing

Listening is practicing. A bold statement I'll stick to. Try the following immersive listening exercise.

1. Make a cup of tea or coffee.
2. Grab your tablet or phone, find your headphones and head for a quiet room.
3. Open YouTube and find a professional performance of a favourite piece. Maybe a piece you'd like to secretly play.
4. Listen while doing nothing else. 
5. Listen again and pay attention to a single detail. If you play Classical music, try tapping along to the beat and notice how it ebbs and flows. On the second listen notice how the dynamics ebb and flow? Is there a relationship between dynamic changes and tempo changes? If you play Jazz, make a note of the solo order of instruments. Do you they play the same amount of choruses? These are great places to start.

This is just the beginning of learning to listen like a musician. As a musician I ask myself when listening, "what is going on here?"

​Enjoy, 

​David