This blog attempts to document my exploration of new, more insightful ways to enjoy music. This week, I realized just how difficult it can be to basically re-learn to listen. I attempted to listen to Monteverdi's "l'Orfeo." I listened to part of the second act focusing on the Mira, deh mira segment. I had listened to the first act of l'Orfeo and I had found it pretty enjoyable. I sat down at my computer, prepared for a few minutes of enjoyable listening and twenty seconds later, I realized that I HATED it. Well, maybe "hated" is a strong word, but definitely disliked.
I feel I disliked my first listening of the piece so much because I did not realize what I was listening to. It's like going to a restaurant and asking for ice cream and getting plain unsweetened yogurt instead. Not bad, just different. After I took the time to look up some information on the piece, understand the context, the story line, and some musical devices and understood that there was a story being told, things began to make more sense. I understood the musical devices for what they were and I could not only move past them and concentrate on simply enjoying the amazingly talented singers' vibratos, I actually enjoyed some of these devices for their own sake and for what they added to my interpretation of the piece.
Long story short, I was not prepared for my first real attempt at insightful listening. I made some hasty judgments and I missed out on some pretty important aspects of the music. Stay tuned until next time because it is definitely getting better from here!
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