Understanding Music
- Thread starter jimtaylor
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I do this too 
Sometimes, I used to imagine some very romantic or personal story behind the words to a song I felt emotionally affected by. I always wanted to believe there was something behind it than just a good song written well. It was fun trying to find that soul connection to the music.
I remember listening to a piece of classical music and typing an entire story explaining the composer's reason for writing the piece. It was very "intuitively" inspired story I would say.
Sometimes, I used to imagine some very romantic or personal story behind the words to a song I felt emotionally affected by. I always wanted to believe there was something behind it than just a good song written well. It was fun trying to find that soul connection to the music. I remember listening to a piece of classical music and typing an entire story explaining the composer's reason for writing the piece. It was very "intuitively" inspired story I would say.
Some music is too matter-of-factly energy/mood-inducing, (for example) to really pinpoint and consider to be the emotions that its singer or composer was necessarily feeling.
But I also can relate to music that way, and you gave me some possible insight into my INFJ brother's usual way of approaching it.
But I also can relate to music that way, and you gave me some possible insight into my INFJ brother's usual way of approaching it.
I do this all the time. I find a connection to the song and try to understand how this person felt when making their song. Live performances feel more intense. You can just look at the artist and tell this was an important part of their lives, its raw, and whether or not they have much facial expressions, I feel its like they are holding out their heart for everyone to see. It's beautiful. And depending on the song, I'll find a way to relate it to myself. The words may not match how I feel, or the beat/vice versa, but I'll listen to a song on an emotional level. I find with living with my brother and not being able to open up to him as much as I'd like (it's just the way he is) , I will share a song with him and see his reaction. Most of the time he just listens to the structure of the song, etc. Which is interesting to me because I don't look at it that way. If he paid attention to the music I was listening to throughout the day, he'd know my mood in a heartbeat without being in the same room. I make it pretty obvious when we're together. Anyways, thats another topic.
Classical is one of my favorite music styles. I do a large portion of my writing and studying while listening to classical. I like other styles as well though. I really enjoy soundscapes just because of its relaxing nature. It also; for me, inspires thoughts of beautiful natural places. I also like some electronica and trance music but only certain types. I like it when this style has a female singer with a very nice voice. This type of music tends to inspire some of my more creative and out of the box thoughts. An example of one of the songs I enjoy is "4 Elements" by Armin Van Buuren. Other music catches my interest as well but these three make up the largest amounts of my usual playlists.
I do this too
I remember listening to a piece of classical music and typing an entire story explaining the composer's reason for writing the piece. It was very "intuitively" inspired story I would say.
Haha this something very similar to what I did once. I found this interesting song that I really couldn't understand the lyrics too but I got this feeling and started writing. I listened to the song like 100 times while writing a chapter in one of my books. At the end i looked up the lyrics and it matched the chapter perfectly. It is still one of my favorite chapters in my book to this day because of its uniqueness. I do this quite often when writing. I find a song that matches the emotions I am trying to express in my writing and replay it over and over until I finish writing.I know a few people who are like that as well when it comes to music. They break it down like you would break down a math problem and only look at from that perspective. They enjoy it only for how it flows and how it sounds. Brilliant musicians a lot of them and that could be why.
In a lot of ways music is the only way I can express my emotions. My iPod is full of every style of music and I always have it on shuffle because I never know when a song is going to come on and it just will fit my mood. I won't even know what mood I really am in until I hear that song. Really life without music just seems dull.
This is interesting to me in that I almost never do this, and so it offered me an opportunity to consider things from another perspective.
For me, “understanding” a song is to consider all the ways it has meaning relative to my internal experience, and I base that on everything from musical expression to timbral choice — but very rarely do I think about the artist beyond a cursory consideration.
cheers,
Ian
Obviously. Haha. But how do you stop something from happening, when you don't even realize it is happening in the first place? Thought is instant and it is very difficult for me to stop a thought from happening without first thinking about that thought. Plus it is even more difficult to not finish a thought especially when I do not have understanding of why I started thinking or feeling in a certain way in the first place.
I don't so much think about the artist, but I do like breaking down the song itself. I look at lyrics, I look at song structure, the way it's sung, themes. I'm a song-structure fiend. I like breaking down a song into its separate parts, see what each individual band member (if it is a band) was doing for that part, why it works, and how it works. I respect a song a lot more if I know it was difficult to make. I respect technical skill coupled with deep feeling and an expression of it that isn't too blunt. I like some subtlety at least in the words.
It's good that you think about all those things when you connect with a song.
It's good that you think about all those things when you connect with a song.
I do this a lot. And I always always have a song going on in my head. I remember my college roomate remarking that it was odd how sometimes I'd listen to the same song or group of songs over and over.
I believe what we are describing is a highly emotive response to music. The visions you see in response to a song are your mind's way of interpreting "why do I feel this way?" Once when I was teaching third grade, we listened to an informal concert/discussion with a local cellist. When he began playing the opening to Tchaikovsky's "Pas de Deux" (from the Nutcracker) I started crying. Well my kids thought this was just too funny. Then the cellist began telling them a story of how when Tchaikovsky was a child, he would be so touched by a on the music box that he would cry. THEN my kids' eyes got big, and they were looking at me and whispering to each other, "mrs harris, mrs harris...." When I was a little kid, my brother and I would listen to this record of various classical songs and play "What does it make you see?"
I don't know if you will find this helpful or not, but I have a hypothesis about it. This is certainly not a scientific study; its just an INFJ connecting very few dots. But I do think that this strong sensory-emotional connection is related both to my creativity and my bipolar disorder. IOW I think that somewhere in my DNA is a network of genes that can express in a number of ways, one being musical sensitivity, and another being prone to bipolar disorder. I suspect this may be why bipolar disorder is more frequent among musicians, artists, authors, etc. I often thought to myself that I hoped my kids would inherit half those genes, enough that they could really enjoy creative expression, but not so much to put them over the edge.
I believe what we are describing is a highly emotive response to music. The visions you see in response to a song are your mind's way of interpreting "why do I feel this way?" Once when I was teaching third grade, we listened to an informal concert/discussion with a local cellist. When he began playing the opening to Tchaikovsky's "Pas de Deux" (from the Nutcracker) I started crying. Well my kids thought this was just too funny. Then the cellist began telling them a story of how when Tchaikovsky was a child, he would be so touched by a on the music box that he would cry. THEN my kids' eyes got big, and they were looking at me and whispering to each other, "mrs harris, mrs harris...." When I was a little kid, my brother and I would listen to this record of various classical songs and play "What does it make you see?"
I don't know if you will find this helpful or not, but I have a hypothesis about it. This is certainly not a scientific study; its just an INFJ connecting very few dots. But I do think that this strong sensory-emotional connection is related both to my creativity and my bipolar disorder. IOW I think that somewhere in my DNA is a network of genes that can express in a number of ways, one being musical sensitivity, and another being prone to bipolar disorder. I suspect this may be why bipolar disorder is more frequent among musicians, artists, authors, etc. I often thought to myself that I hoped my kids would inherit half those genes, enough that they could really enjoy creative expression, but not so much to put them over the edge.
Interesting. I did wonder at just WHAT goes inside their heads; what they're trying to express, what feelings goes inside the song....it goes especially with those 'songs with emotions' (not that I don't enjoy other songs)... It can evoke things from sympathy (...poor him), wonder (just WTH goes inside his mind? O_O), empathy (...ouch, I feel you.), even an aversion towards that song because it seems to contain so much feeling that-- no, not good for me, even though the song is good, etc...
I, however, have no idea if we're talking about the same thing or not.
I, however, have no idea if we're talking about the same thing or not.
You don't need a padded room, at least not for that! heh
I sometimes listen to songs over and over again and have no clue what the words are: I just like the musical composition and the way it sounds to me. One day I may learn the words. I might even like the words and wonder about them. I sometimes think some songs' words are just written for the money, though. Glad most of them aren't.
I sometimes listen to songs over and over again and have no clue what the words are: I just like the musical composition and the way it sounds to me. One day I may learn the words. I might even like the words and wonder about them. I sometimes think some songs' words are just written for the money, though. Glad most of them aren't.
Like that song?? I like it.
"Here Without You" by 3 Doors Down is one such song that captivated me both by the music and the words later. It all came together one day(for me) and it still feels good to listen to it over and over again.