music appreciation/playing an instrument

ferdi

how/to what extent do you find playing an instrument informs your approch to and appreciation of music?

when talking tunes with someone who dosnt play do you get a niggling feeling in the back of your head which is suggesting that this person cannot really 'understand' the music to the same degree as you simply because they have never played/created music themselves.

has playing an instrument altered the dynamic between you and the music? surely playing an instrument must completely change ones retationship with music forever and utterly?

i dont know how well i;ve explained this but meh,,:rolleyes:

DIscuss!!!

It wasn't me!

Well, to be honest, if someone doesn't play, they'll be hard pushed to analyse any subtleties in the music at the same level as someone who does. Musicians tend to be more interested in technical details as opposed to "wat yer man said der". I know I listen for nuances in playing styles and techniques when I listen to music, and appreciate both great riffs and tunes and savage playing. I like it better this way. I feel a musician can draw more from music than a non-musician.

noh showband

I think you start by appreciating music, then you learn an instrument. Is that too obvious? Then maybe this is too: If you can't appreciate music, you aren't likely to want to learn an instrument and anything you're told about nuance and phrasing is going to go over your head, anyway. It's always more fulfilling to talk with someone who has a point of view. My advice (fwiw): Stop talking to non-musicians. They're boring.

Earthhorse

I'll have to be honest and say I don't think it's affected my approach to or appreciation of music at all. Then again I've always taken a fairly laid back and informal approach to learning. I'm not all that interested in technicalities.

fish-head

I'd say it's certainly heightened my appreciation of all the music I listen to. You're looking at it from the other side of the fence essentially. You can identify with the people playing because they're musicians who work hard to create this art and you're one of them too.

Parsley

The reason I started playing bass was for some reason, I started paying real close attention to the music I was listening to. I was trying to pick out all the seperate instruments instead of it being a big pile of music.

In most of the music I listened to I found that it was the bass that really held everything together and sounded really cool, so I said to myself, "I want to make music sound class by playing good basslines". I think it was the bassline for Dearg Doom that inspired it really. That song would be nothing without it.

Karl Hungus

Yeah, my appreciation of music increased a lot when I started playing. I appreciated the technicality a lot more, and a simple fun riff was even more fun when you want to play it.

-=al=-

I look at music a completly different way since i got so much more invovled in it, Its a great thing, But i do also hate explainin things or talking to people about it =/

John

You appreciate certain aspects of the music differently by knowing how to play but you don't appreciate it better. I've as much fun discussing music with non-musicians as I do with those that do play. No need for elitism.

cormie

As somebody who loves music and can not play any instrument to any grade or level, I would find if somebody was looking down on me just because I didn't know what note was being played etc, I would feel very insulted. I really want to learn to play an instrument, possibly the piano, but just because I can't, yet, doesn't mean I don't appreciate the music. I find music encapsulates me.

Just because something is technically difficult and only one person in the wolrd has the skill to play it, doesn't necessarily mean it sounds good either though.

It wasn't me!

It takes a different mindset to be honest. Musicians will analyse a piece more and be more interested in it on a different level, non-musicians work on a different level again, so no elitism, but no point waxing lyrical about teh composition to someone who thinks you're speaking Greek.

cormie

So is that a good or bad thing to do to a song do you think? What if it was intended to be a simplistic heart warming song, and you judged it purely on it's "basic" level and it therefore did not impress you, are you missing out on the meaning of the song?

For example, try and listen to "Two Sunsets (Due Tramonti)" by Ludovico Einaudi. It's an etremely beautiful piece of music and I appreciate such music greatly! Just because I can't give technical terminology in the description of a composition, doesn't mean I can't have an oppinion of whether or not a certain violin piece fitted well or should have carried on for that crucial second longer.

I was just listening to that particular song and my mam has just shouted up asking who it is and saying I should have done something with music that I play beautiful music:rolleyes: Yes, I would love to take up music, if I did, would that make me better to converse with about music?

It wasn't me!

Not necessarily, but on your hand, a musician who isn't appreciative of beauty as well as technical interest in a song is obviously lost, and isn't even worth calling a musician to be honest. I just like being able to understand better where the music comes from, that's all, and it's my belief that being a musician myself helps that.

John

Why does music have to be beautiful? I listen to some ugly, ugly music and it's just as valid as the beautiful music I listen to. Hang on, this is heading too far into philosophy.

It wasn't me!

Nothing wrong with that. Deep thought and music are synonomous.

Patricide

From playing an instrument ive more of a grasp of how the song goes on an instument rather than a vocal harmoney it really has changed the way i view music immensely, Made me realise how much garbage there is out there too and how many poser bands there are.

On another note heres post 500 3 stars yey!

cormie

Of course a song doesn't have to be beautiful to be good, I was just using the above song as an example. So are you, it wasn't me and patricide, saying that there were songs you liked before which you do not like now because you know the technical aspects of the song and don't rate them highly?

Savman

It wasn't me! wrote:

I feel a musician can draw more from music than a non-musician.

It's amazing how you can be both right and wrong at the same time. :rolleyes:

As a musician you will hear more as an educated listener, that's obvious. But musicians can rarely hear or view things as a joe-soap and in this aspect musicians cannot hear certain things...

yup, to the Philosophy forum 'tis destined!

It wasn't me!

NO, I'm just right. A musician can still hear the same stuff too. If he loses that ability, he's got no reason to be a musician anymore really. and to cormie: I'm not saying that at all, just saying it's an extra something to realise what logical basis those songs came from, as well as the feel.

pbsuxok1znja4r

The only reason I analyse music from a technical POV is with a view to getting ideas for my own cormpositions. Otherwise I could just sit back and enjoy it for how it sounds - not how its played/written. I daresay that because of this my appreciation of music is at times lessened. When I listen to some really great bands I sometimes end up making my head hurt just trying to comprehend how they created such amazing sounds.

Also, sometimes the wonder you feel at listening to a great riff can be entirely lost by going and learning to play that riff. It's as if you understand it too much after that, so it's less...wonderful. In general being a musician is like being a heroin user (all too aften, it is being one!). You use more of the drug more often but gradually it takes larger quantities of a higher quality substance to get you your fix.

Patricide

cormie wrote:

Of course a song doesn't have to be beautiful to be good, I was just using the above song as an example. So are you, it wasn't me and patricide, saying that there were songs you liked before which you do not like now because you know the technical aspects of the song and don't rate them highly?

i dunno i dont think there bands that ive given up on cause they play tripe its just given me a greater apreciation for bands that play so well.I dunno music is music but hell when you play an instement you just get a better understanding of what there doing and therefore you can apreciate some stuff a hell of a lot more.

Savman

It wasn't me! wrote:

NO, I'm just right.

Alas and that's where you're wrong can't u see the irony??

Trying to talk about what music is...it's like discussing the universe because everyone has a different belief, none more or less valid than the next. I dont see music as a science where what you say can be proven in fact, it's an artform which essentially means the beauty is in the eye of the beholder

nohshow

Soothing savage breasts aside, music hath a bunch of other charms, too. But if the question is does appreciation increase with ability to play an instrument, then the answer is probably yes. If the question is do you need to play to appreciate, then no. I had a tone-deaf latin teacher at school who loved to listen. It's the effect, you see. Music creates an emotional bond between the composer and the listener.

Before I learned to drive, I loved cars. After I learned to drive, I still love cars. Still don't know how to fix one, but I think they can be aesthetically stunning at times.