How much music do you actually listen to?

[jezzaboy]

Whilst driving my truck, I mostly listen to LBC or Talksport on my fitted DAB radio or when someone comes on I don`t like, I stick on the music on my phone.

At home it`s Youtube, I very rarely put on cd`s even though I own six or seven hundred of the things and they are sitting on the shelves right beside me. It`s just so much easier to listen to Youtube playlists. 

I listen to more and a bigger selection of music than any time in my life!

[fragility]

16 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

That's it though, I can't blot out conversation,  but music just washes through me and more importantly, covers up conversation, which is why I need it at work as one of my coworkers makes it his life's ambition to make noise, he talks to himself and constantly eats, with all eating noises external. I can't actually deal with that at all

This 😂 not the specifics of that co-worker, but I can concentrate so much better with some music on.  I cannot deal with two voices at once anymore though. I think I’m getting old.

[ahpook]

26 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

That's it though, I can't blot out conversation,  but music just washes through me and more importantly, covers up conversation, which is why I need it at work as one of my coworkers makes it his life's ambition to make noise, he talks to himself and constantly eats, with all eating noises external. I can't actually deal with that at all

C'mere....

(Hug and gentle pats)

...I feel for you, I do.

(One of the benefits of being a librarian was the expectation of your colleagues being quiet !)

Edited July 26, 2020 by ahpook

[4000]

7 hours ago, TheGreek said:

When I was younger, music was a huge factor in my life - get up in the morning put some music on, worked in places where the radio was always on, when I got home from work, putting some music on was my first priority - rarely used to put the TV on.

Now it seems the only time I regularly listen to music is in the car or on YouTube in reception at work. Now when I get home from work I rarely listen to music.

Fact is, for me, music isn't as important as it once was - there is very little "modern" stuff that I actually like, and that I do listen to is far from "mainstream". Put on something that currently in the charts I wouldn't have a clue who it is. I love finding "old school" that I haven't heard before.

So I listen to less music and limit the genres. In fact, I'd say "I've lost the love"....

Anybody else???

I’d got to a similar stage before lockdown, not really listening to music more than say half an hour a day (although there’s plenty of modern music I like and listen to - you just have to put in the effort to keep your mind open). Since lockdown, working from home, I’ve made a point of listening to at least 4 albums a day, and try to listen to at least a couple of albums I’ve never listened to before every day. It’s been fantastic. There just so much amazing music out there, old and new. 

[Graham]

15 hours ago, Graham said:

Less than I did, I changed job roles in May and previously I could listen to music pretty much uninterrupted whilst I worked, now I'm lucky to get more than 2 minutes before someone wants me.

Case in point, I made it 93 seconds into a Muse album this morning before being interrupted

[ahpook]

Side benefit of this thread  - Mrs. Pook and I listened to a couple of CDs we hadn't listened to in ages last night, most enjoyable.

[BigRedX]

Unfortunately I don't listen to as much music as I used to. 

When I was young(er) I would either have the radio on or be listening to my current favourite single/album on repeat. At university I made a point of listening to John Peel every night - the only reason for not doing so was because I was at a gig (either playing or in the audience). I started to listen to less once I get a proper job, mostly because I found it too much of a distraction.

Like others have said, I'm "wired" in such a way that listening to music take precedence over everything else. Therefore unless I am doing something where I don't really have concentrate I can't have music on while I work.

These days, when I am listening to music, it's rarely to complete albums. I put my iTunes library on shuffle and see what it comes up with. Since it's all records and CDs I've bought, most of it will be tunes I want to hear. If there's something I'm not in the mood for I can skip it. If it's really something I have no interest in - some rubbish B-side, album filler or something on a compilation album I have no interest in I can de-select it so it will never play again.

On thing I haven't been able to make work for me is using streaming services recommended playlists to find new music. When ever I do this it either gives me tracks I already know and like (which pretty much defeats the object) or very little in the way of music I don't know but would want to investigate further.

[Skybone]

Since the COVID lockdown, bugger all... I only really listened to music when I was in the car going to & from work, but since March, and working from home, I just haven't used the car very much at all, so my music listening has dwindled.

Of course, in my younger years, just like everyone else, music was a huge part of my life. These days, it's simply getting the opportunity to get the chance to just listen to something.

Don't listen to the radio much, most stations play music with a very heavy rotational playlist (current Top 40), full of talk shows, adverts, or have name presenters that are more annoying than their playlist. 

[fragility]

2 hours ago, BigRedX said:

 

On thing I haven't been able to make work for me is using streaming services recommended playlists to find new music. When ever I do this it either gives me tracks I already know and like (which pretty much defeats the object) or very little in the way of music I don't know but would want to investigate further.

Totally agree on this.
 

Spotify also winds me up because it will recommend something, I’ll check it out and not like it, but because I’ve listened to it, it will continue to recommend things based on it. 

[casapete]

Since moving house last October I've struggled with being able to listen to music as often as I previously did. Building work on our new place got halted with Corona, so I've been unable to have my hi-fi and (rather substantial) CD collection set up. I've been getting by using You Tube / Spotify etc but it's not my ideal scenario. I have some stuff on my PC so have been utilising that. Just found out that my new music room should be finished within the next two weeks, so can't wait to get my stuff set up and wallow in some days / evenings of playing whole albums that I've missed.

[Cat Burrito]

I still play LP records and actively consume music as much as ever. I've worked with some great musicians who don't really listen to stuff (maybe owning only a small handful of CDs that rarely get played) and can't ever see myself being like that. I drive with it, cook with it, have it on the background and relax by listening to it.

[Reggaebass]

I still play lots of my early vinyl which is on studio 1 , Trojan records and greensleeves, they’ve got scratched over the years and sound crackly but it’s part of the fun for me 🙂

[ead]

Lockdown has worked well for me in this respect.  I walk for an hour or so every day and always with iPod/headphone amp/headphones.  I'm working my way through my record collection and am somewhere around 'C', currently on two Collage CDs (for those that like that kind of thing).

[davepb24]

Working from home it's been several hours of Planet Rock every day, and a bit of Classic FM every time P*** F**** begin to pollute the air... having moved house (well flat) recently I am now close to having somewhere I can get my 20-year-old Alba stereo set up and start rediscovering the joys of vinyl

[Thunderbird]

Used to have music on all day everyday but now it's only in the car or on the pc haven't had a hifi system set up for god knows how long 

I try and follow newer metal bands but also go back to the stuff from the 70s to early 2000s 

[Silvia Bluejay]

This was doing the rounds on Facebook a while ago. Happens to me all the time.

 

[Dad3353]

True story...

I was about 12, we had another weekly  music lesson. Mr Smith explained he was to play a disk; we would listen to it, and note the differing parts of the symphony. The disk was played; we were asked, one by one, what we had noted. Many got the right answer (three movements to the work...), some dolts had heard nothing special, or hadn't bothered. He looked at my notes; I'd filled a page with pretty much each change of theme or phrase. There were well over a hundred 'parts' that I'd picked out..! Over-thinking it, that day..! 

[mep]

I listen to music when riding my motorcycle. I have a Bluetooth headset and have ripped a load of CD's, especially compilations so I have a varied list, all on shuffle. It is a great way to listen to new and familiar tunes. At home it's YouTube more than anything else.

[Dad3353]

I'm not sure that having music playing in the background whilst doing other stuff counts, really, as 'listening'. I think I'd say that that was 'hearing' music; to me, (I may be alone in this definition...), 'listening' involves having a focus specifically on the music. I'd compare to 'listening' to a speaker, as opposed to 'hearing' someone speak. Not that there's anything inherently wrong, but, to me, there's a definite distinction. I may (not often, but it has happened...) play a favourite piece whilst doing the washing-up, but it's not at all the same when I sit down and play the same piece, settled into my armchair with closed eyes (OK, OK, I nod off on occasion. I'm old, OK..?  ).
Just sayin'. 

[BigRedX]

For me there is no "background music". If there is music it will be the most important thing - even if it is something that I don't really like. This plays havoc with my enjoyment and ability to follow the plot with a lot of films and TV programmes that like to use songs as part of the sound track, as I'll be far to wrapped up in the music the concentrate on the dialogue. If it's a piece of music I really like, I'll be on my computer or iPad trying to find what it is, rather than following the action on screen.

[NancyJohnson]

I have a genre-spanning, all encompassing, various artist Spotify playlist containing about 1,500 songs that I tend to stick on shuffle during the day while I'm working; Spotify's shuffle play algorithms are a bit patchy, it does tend to play some tracks quite often, others not so much (when I started typing this it was playing Let It Snow! by Vaughan Monroe, right now it's Telephone Man by Mari Wilson).

As I've gotten older, I don't feel I have the time or inclination to invest in new music, which really saddens me, and would prefer to listen to (older) music that makes me feel warm and fuzzy rather than spending an age trying to find something groundbreaking. 

(Now it's playing Wings' Live & Let Die.)

[bloke_zero]

I listen a lot while working - often trying to find new stuff on Spotify.  I'll always stop and listen if I can to something that catches me.  If I really need to get some concentration and work done I just put on something like ACDC (strictly Bon Scott - I can't even remember that other guys name) and plough through.  I don't listen to as much vinyl as I'd like as it's in the TV room and often being used for that, but I love getting a new album and listening through.  Music is still as uplifting and adsorbing as it's ever been for me - I really like the 'Discover weekly' algorithm on Spotify as I don't listen to the radio like I did to hear new things.

Check out the new styles - that old stuff has lost it's flavour!

[Matt P]

When i'm at work i usually have 6music on my headphones all day. during lockdown it was still 6music but on my portable DAB radio or through my HiFi.

I'm on annual shutdown at the moment (4 weeks every summer, Bliss!) and my new HiFi amp arrived last week so i'm playing as much as i can, also trying to introduce my 3year old son to as wide a range of music as possible so that's a great excuse to play lots of my vinyl collection.

 

Matt

 

[Woodinblack]

17 minutes ago, Dad3353 said:

I'm not sure that having music playing in the background whilst doing other stuff counts, really, as 'listening'. I think I'd say that that was 'hearing' music; to me, (I may be alone in this definition...), 'listening' involves having a focus specifically on the music.

I would agree with that. When I listen to music at work, I am hearing it, and it is masking other noise. Listening to music is much more an active thing that requires attention.

 

8 minutes ago, NancyJohnson said:

As I've gotten older, I don't feel I have the time or inclination to invest in new music, which really saddens me, and would prefer to listen to (older) music that makes me feel warm and fuzzy rather than spending an age trying to find something groundbreaking.

I also listen on random, which i the way I like it as background, but the older I get the more new music I am happy to listen to. When I was young it was much more restrictive.

[4000]

33 minutes ago, Dad3353 said:

I'm not sure that having music playing in the background whilst doing other stuff counts, really, as 'listening'. I think I'd say that that was 'hearing' music; to me, (I may be alone in this definition...), 'listening' involves having a focus specifically on the music. I'd compare to 'listening' to a speaker, as opposed to 'hearing' someone speak. Not that there's anything inherently wrong, but, to me, there's a definite distinction. I may (not often, but it has happened...) play a favourite piece whilst doing the washing-up, but it's not at all the same when I sit down and play the same piece, settled into my armchair with closed eyes (OK, OK, I nod off on occasion. I'm old, OK..?  ).
Just sayin'. 

I can, depending on what else I’m doing, do both, as I’ve proved with lockdown. It’s quite possible to actually listen to the music if the task you’re doing is pretty mindless and fairly repetitive. 
If the piece of work requires the brain to be fully engaged then I have to turn the music off.

Edited July 28, 2020 by 4000