Listening
5 Things to Pay Attention to When Listening to Music
By listening for each of these five components of a piece of music, you can build up your active listening skills.
1. Instrumentation
As an active listener, see if you can identify every musical instrument on a recording. If you're hearing the music live, try to pick out the individual lines played by each musician.
2. Structure
In classical music, try to identify formal structures, such as a fugue, a sonata form, or a dance style like a rondo or mazurka. Having a background in music theory will help immensely in this regard. For popular music, listen to the song form—verse, chorus, bridge, etc.—to study how the songwriter structures the tune.
3. Style
Is the music you're hearing aligned with a particular musical genre? Do you hear elements of other genres as well?
4. Technique
Decide for yourself whether you like the way the instrumentalists and vocalists perform. You may love what you hear, or you may note imperfections.
5. Lyrics
Focus on imagery, figurative language, and rhyme scheme.
Ways to listen to a recording:
Active Listening:
Listen and follow along with the music in your part
Listen and silently play along with the recording
Listen and play along with the recording
Passive Listening
Have the music playing in the background while you complete another task (e.g. listen while you are in the car or completing chores around the house)