People hear but they may not be "listening"

Hearing and listening. . .are they the same thing? I think not! How many times have you read a book but then wondered what it was really all about? Or, even better, how many times have you read the same paragraph over and over and STILL not understood it? How many times have you been chatting with a friend and not grasped a word they said. . . hearing but not listening? It is not a failure to understanding, but rather a failure to really hear what the words are trying to say. Our attention is not really focused on what we are reading or listening to. Or maybe I should say this the other way around...listening but not hearing!

I find that this is what happens to a lot of people who listen to music, but not really hearing it! A great example of this is when I do arrangements for my group.

After working through an arrangement with my cello group, one of the members said that she didn't believe the bass line she played was part of the song. I dug out a CD of that particular song and pointed it out to her! It was an old song by the Eagles called Hotel California. Everyone knows the melody but have you ever listened for any of the other parts?

Listening, I believe, is a skill, especially when it comes to music! How many times have you listened to a piece of music and simply heard a "wall of sound"? A lot of us do that! It happens to a lot of us when we hear some classical music particularly the more modern classics. There is a lot of "texture" in classical and you don't have to be a musician to hear it, just listen for it! That is what I believe intimidates a lot of people when they hear classical music, they figure you have to be classically trained to hear the intricacies. Actually, all you have to do is train yourself to really listen!

The challenge to any music is to not just hear it as a whole, but, rather, all the different parts that make up the whole! When I do arrangements from a CD for my cello group, I "listen" to one part of the song at a time. Each time I listen, it becomes a different song. I "listen" for the bass line, then I "listen" for the melody, the rhythm, the harmonies etc... until I finally have the whole thing.

Listening, I think, can add a whole new dimension to music. The next time you play a song, try listening deeper. Try focusing on the bass line, or just the harmony or any aspect of the song other than the melody. The melody is usually what attracts us, but the "inner" parts really make the song! Or, the next time you play a piece of classical music, try focusing your attention on something other than the 1st violins...try hearing the 2nd violins! Now THERE is a challenge!

We can apply this to every aspect of our lives from "listening" to music to actually "listening" to what a friend is saying or the speech someone is giving. We are all guilty of it....hearing, but not listening,...listening but not hearing!