An ongoing accounting of some of my most memorable Bluegrass jams and other information about Bluegrass music in general.
Music is organized auditory information
Posted 07-14-2011 at 08:52 AM by Fiddliferous
Music is organized auditory information. Hearing music is different than listening to music. To truly enjoy music, one has to listen to it; to pay attention to it. Focusing attention to our selected music deepens our concentration on listening. We begin our listening experience by calling our sensory elements into play. Our pleasure is excited by the familiar structure of Bluegrass chords on the guitar, or the incessant recurring dominant notes of the banjo rolls. Tension begins to build in our nervous system. Then we begin the analogic structure where the words, chords, notes, melodies, etc., begin to evoke feelings within us. Images appear in our mind's eye as the lyrics determine our moods.
Those of us who learned music by focusing our attention to the rhythms and harmonic structures early in our musical development went on to develop analytic listening skills, as well. When we are drawn into a piece of music, we not only enjoy the familiarity of chords, rolls, licks, bowing techniques and the like, but we compare various Bluegrass structures from piece to piece. The opportunities in enjoying music present themselves in deeper and deeper structures as we recognize underlying composing techniques and harmonic interplay.
Learning to make music - composing - provides even greater, more intense attention. As we create order and organize the rhythms and harmonies we are feeling, we truly deepen the sense of musical experience consistent with our talents and time.
Take time today to enjoy music whether in a sensory, analogic or analytic mode. Exhilarate yourself!
Those of us who learned music by focusing our attention to the rhythms and harmonic structures early in our musical development went on to develop analytic listening skills, as well. When we are drawn into a piece of music, we not only enjoy the familiarity of chords, rolls, licks, bowing techniques and the like, but we compare various Bluegrass structures from piece to piece. The opportunities in enjoying music present themselves in deeper and deeper structures as we recognize underlying composing techniques and harmonic interplay.
Learning to make music - composing - provides even greater, more intense attention. As we create order and organize the rhythms and harmonies we are feeling, we truly deepen the sense of musical experience consistent with our talents and time.
Take time today to enjoy music whether in a sensory, analogic or analytic mode. Exhilarate yourself!
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