What do you do when you're bored and don't know what to listen to?

[Andy Evans]

As title.....

You feel jaded, bored, familiar with all the stuff you usually listen to, or whatever.

For instance, do you challenge yourself with something new e.g. new music, or go for some kind of comfort music to cheer up your spirits?

[JohnGavin]

My advice would be to stop listening to music for a while. Take 1 or 2 weeks off, or a month. Do other things - meditate, go outdoors, etc. The problem is that it’s too easy to hear recordings these days, and people listen too casually, with less concentration, and take it for granted. If a recording is really worthwhile then it deserves to be heard the same way you would hear a live concert - with uninterrupted, one-pointed concentration.

[Andy Evans]

On Tuesday, 1 February 2022 at 11:55:31 UTC, JohnGavin wrote:
> My advice would be to stop listening to music for a while. Take 1 or 2 weeks off, or a month. Do other things - meditate, go outdoors, etc. The problem is that it’s too easy to hear recordings these days, and people listen too casually, with less concentration, and take it for granted. If a recording is really worthwhile then it deserves to be heard the same way you would hear a live concert - with uninterrupted, one-pointed concentration.>>

I almost never listen to a recording without doing something else - usually working at my computer or in my workshop. So it's all casual listening, if you like. Probably why I tend to put on jazz instead. I don't even have a proper "listening chair" in my room.

[Chris J.]

There is always my good friend Johann S. Bach.

Chris

[JohnGavin]

It’s a very common human tendency - we’re all guilty of it I’m sure. What happens is that we unconsciously build a habit of weakened attention or non-attention by listening this way. Add to that the omnipresence of music in supermarkets and shopping malls. We become weakened or diluted in our ability to fully appreciate what we hear, and then we can’t seem to derive satisfaction from it. When recordings were becoming commercial Rachmaninoff warned that the listener didn’t have to sweat the way the performer who was recorded did. A very prescient observation coming from a master of discipline and concentration.

So just as fasting is one of the best tools for regaining health for some who haven’t followed a good diet, time away from sounds works for regaining acuteness in music appreciation, provided that you then change to more careful ways of listening afterwards.

[Andy Evans]

On Tuesday, 1 February 2022 at 12:39:39 UTC, JohnGavin wrote:
> So just as fasting is one of the best tools for regaining health for some who haven’t followed a good diet, time away from sounds works for regaining acuteness in music appreciation, provided that you then change to more careful ways of listening afterwards.>

Very interesting point of view, and I can see its strengths. I do, in fact, love silence and a lot of the day is silent, but I don't feel I need to have a whole period of silence on its own. I also feel I don't need "careful" listening really. I'm a musician and music for me is kind of a utility - something I do, like driving a car. I spend a lot of time working on songs and arrangements in software. So a lot of the music I listen to is singer-songwriters or other vocal music which I listen to for ideas about new directions and to check what's happening. So I'll check BPM frequently since one is always trying to set the right tempo for what one writes. I go to the keyboard and play through harmonies that are interesting. Sometimes I look up a score online for a particularly interesting chord progression.

Almost all my live music background is being onstage rather than going to a concert, so I don't really think like a concert goer.

[HT]

Op dinsdag 1 februari 2022 om 12:55:31 UTC+1 schreef JohnGavin:

The standard remedy in my case, is to go back to the days of Cherkassky, Fischer, Friedman, Godowsky, Haskil, etc. - when music was still allowed to breathe and music making was still an art instead of a craft.

When this doesn't help, there is a miracle cure: the Schubert symphonies by Furtwangler and his contemporaries.

Henk

[Todd M. McComb]

In article <bde2bbb4-7726-4e86...@googlegroups.com>,

JohnGavin <dag...@gmail.com> wrote:
>What happens is that we unconsciously build a habit of weakened
>attention or non-attention by listening this way.

Totally a danger. I'm sure I'm not the only one here who constantly
has people clamoring "hear my stuff!" Or various other repertory
that I just want to keep up with for my own reasons, etc. A lot
of that means some very cursory listening... not really by design,
but that's the practical outcome. A lot of stuff I'm not sure is
of much value, in other words. (I mean, I hear new albums of new
music pretty much every day, sometimes several in a row.... And
there would be more.)

So I've developed little tricks to modulate attention, etc. But
it's a basic issue.

One quip I got from someone years ago now, and I remind myself
regularly, is this: You can't hear music for the first time a
second time. I mean, I can go back and listen a second time if I
think it's worth it, but I've already messed with the experience
if I was inattentive....

[raymond....@gmail.com]

On Tuesday, 1 February 2022 at 23:03:07 UTC+11, Andy Evans wrote:
> On Tuesday, 1 February 2022 at 11:55:31 UTC, JohnGavin wrote:
> > My advice would be to stop listening to music for a while. Take 1 or 2 weeks off, or a month. Do other things -

> meditate, go outdoors, etc. The problem is that it’s too easy to hear recordings these days, and people listen too m.

I will often turn to jazz if found pondering what to play, but then it isn't always classical for me that I will turn from, or even music, especially when reading. I do not saturate myself with the same music over time as I used to. Sometimes I will turn to classical as a restorative, from folk, flamenco, or rock. If held at gunpoint I'd have to opt for classical, but there is a lot of quality to be found in other genres.

I rarely listen to any classical music prior to late Bruckner, except for Bach, or very early music. My tastes in classical have culminated in a love for the Russians, Baltic, and/or East European composers anyway. Then Spanish, Brit or French.

As you get older, birds also provide a wonderful listening experience, at least for me. Maybe like Messiaen felt, they really are a phenomenal listening experience. But you have to learn to be receptive to their song.

Ray Hall, Taree

[gggg gggg]

(Y. upload):

"Anti boredom intense music playlist"

[Dan Koren]

On Tuesday, February 1, 2022 at 5:40:43 AM UTC-5, Andy Evans wrote:

I do not get bored often, however when I
do I plan to compose a quartet for guitar.

dk

[Dan Koren]

On Tuesday, February 1, 2022 at 6:53:00 PM UTC-5, raymond....@gmail.com wrote:
>
> I rarely listen to any classical music prior to
> late Bruckner, except for Bach, or very early
> music. My tastes in classical have culminated
> in a love for the Russians, Baltic, and/or East
> European composers anyway. Then Spanish,
> Brit or French.
>

Brit? As in "Brit Mila"?

dk

[raymond....@gmail.com]

On Wednesday, 2 February 2022 at 15:16:56 UTC+11, dan....gmail.com wrote:

> On Tuesday, February 1, 2022 at 6:53:00 PM UTC-5, raymond....gmail.com wrote:
> >
> > I rarely listen to any classical music prior to
> > late Bruckner, except for Bach, or very early
> > music. My tastes in classical have culminated
> > in a love for the Russians, Baltic, and/or East
> > European composers anyway. Then Spanish,
> > Brit or French.
> >
> Brit? As in "Brit Mila"?
>
> dk

Never heard of her. Britt Ekland yes.

Ray Hall, Taree

[Dan Koren]

On Wednesday, February 2, 2022 at 12:46:53 AM UTC-5, raymond....@gmail.com wrote:
> On Wednesday, 2 February 2022 at 15:16:56 UTC+11, dan....gmail.com wrote:
> > On Tuesday, February 1, 2022 at 6:53:00 PM UTC-5, raymond....gmail.com wrote:
> > >
> > > I rarely listen to any classical music prior to
> > > late Bruckner, except for Bach, or very early
> > > music. My tastes in classical have culminated
> > > in a love for the Russians, Baltic, and/or East
> > > European composers anyway. Then Spanish,
> > > Brit or French.
> > >
> > Brit? As in "Brit Mila"?
>

> Never heard of her. Britt Ekland yes.
>

Ask Frank .....

dk

[Frank Berger]

I'm Ashkenaz. It's Bris. But my first date was with Ruth Eckland.

[sci.space]

I grab one of my recorders and begin playing. Nothing like truly immersing yourself in music to dispel boredom. I get to choose which era of music to play from Middle Ages to 21st century. There is a bit of a repertoire gap from about 1800 to the mid 1900s though.

[Jonathan Ben Schragadove]

On Tuesday, February 1, 2022 at 2:40:43 AM UTC-8, Andy Evans wrote:

I nice change of pace for me includes the Bolling Jazz Suites for Flute, Kapustin's piano music (solo and concertos), and Tsfasman (Suite for Piano & Orchestra) to lighten up the mood!

[gggg gggg]

On Tuesday, February 1, 2022 at 2:40:43 AM UTC-8, Andy Evans wrote:

(Recent Y. upload):

Maria Müller; "Feldeinsamkeit"; Johannes Brahms

[Dan Koren]

On Tuesday, February 1, 2022 at 5:40:43 AM UTC-5, Andy Evans wrote:

> As title.....
>
> You feel jaded, bored, familiar with all the
> stuff you usually listen to, or whatever.

Jazz. As mentioned earlier, the engine of my
Audi has been modified to run on jazzolene,
a highly efficient, non-polluting, renewable
clean energy fuel I patented. It is made by
mixing one part Evans, one part Garner,
one part Peterson, and 2 parts Talisker!

For Diesel engines I use Lagavulin instead.
For Rolls Royce engines I use Springbank.

dk

[Jonathan Ben Schragadove]

...and throw in some Poulenc as well as Jean Françaix...

By the way, any thoughts/suggestions regarding more Bolling besides the flute suites?

[Néstor Castiglione]

On Tuesday, February 1, 2022 at 2:40:43 AM UTC-8, Andy Evans wrote:

I don't think I ever feel bored with my musical choices. Within the panoply of styles and genres that loosely comprise my "classical" collection, there's plenty to keep me busy pretty much until my final breath. (Hopefully arriving MUCH later than sooner, please!) Often I'll go through days or weeks-long obsessions with a particular work, composer, performer, etc. Those alone keep me from being bored.

If I'm not feeling anything classical, I have a lot of other genres to draw upon. I'm a big collector of Japanese prewar popular music: mostly swing, tangos, "blues" (the Japanese version shares little with the American one aside from the name), and shin min'yō (sort of Westernized Japanese folk music). I also have large collections of Latin American pop music from the 1950s–1980s (for sentimental reasons as I grew up hearing it), easy-listening instrumentals, free jazz from the 1960s, experimental music, private-press new age music, and 1980s J-pop (or "city pop" as it's anachronistically referred to now).

[gggg gggg]

On Tuesday, February 1, 2022 at 2:40:43 AM UTC-8, Andy Evans wrote:

https://giphy.com/gifs/im-so-bored-KdqTdT1Nfcydy

[gggg gggg]

https://groups.google.com/g/rec.music.classical.recordings/c/qhGagT8pKAY/m/dGI--B58AwAJ

[gggg gggg]

Do you read Japanese?

Concerning Japanese prewar popular music, any Youtube recommendations?

[gggg gggg]

On Tuesday, February 1, 2022 at 2:40:43 AM UTC-8, Andy Evans wrote:

(Y. upload):

César Franck - Nocturne pour Contralto et Orchestre - Christa Ludwig, Daniel Barenboim 1976

[gggg gggg]

(Y. upload):

Cesar Franck - Nocturne [v: Elly Ameling -- pf: Rudolf Jansen]

[Dan Koren]

On Tuesday, February 1, 2022 at 12:40:43 AM UTC-10, Andy Evans wrote:
> As title.....
>
> You feel jaded, bored, familiar with all the
> stuff you usually listen to, or whatever.
>
> For instance, do you challenge yourself
> with something new e.g. new music, or
> go for some kind of comfort music to
> cheer up your spirits?

I read http://www.wesjones.com/eoh.htm

dk

[gggg gggg]

On Tuesday, February 1, 2022 at 2:40:43 AM UTC-8, Andy Evans wrote:
> As title.....
>
> You feel jaded, bored, familiar with all the stuff you usually listen to, or whatever.
>
> For instance, do you challenge yourself with something new e.g. new music, or go for some kind of comfort music to cheer up your spirits?

(Y. upload featuring Steber):

Berceuse, Songs Of The Auvergne (Cantaloube)

[Dan Koren]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/jcvgbbj897pihmq/Op%2043.mp3?dl=0

[Dan Koren]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ertwxoblaa6yrx6/Book%20I.mp3?dl=0

[mswd...@gmail.com]

On Tuesday, February 1, 2022 at 4:40:43 AM UTC-6, Andy Evans wrote:
> As title.....
>
> You feel jaded, bored, familiar with all the stuff you usually listen to, or whatever.
>
> For instance, do you challenge yourself with something new e.g. new music, or go for some kind of comfort music to cheer up your spirits?

I'm always listening to new stuff. Listening to Traffic "Heaven Is in Your Mind" for the first time right now. I tend to listen to classical music randomly, too, though I do get stuck on a groove there, too. Dutillieux's Metaboles is a recent fave. I have a friend who seems to listen to mostly classical and soundtrack, period. I can't imagine that. Give up Dexter Gordon, Curtis Mayfield, Fela Kuti, Stereolab, Jimmy Bryant/Speedy West and so on? A horror. Even if there are genres of music I can't seem to appreciate that's fine. There's too much good music to ever be bored.

[Lawrence Kart]

Avoiding one of the familiar ones, start almost anywhere in a complete set of Beethoven piano sonatas. The sheer urgency will perk you up/carry you along.

Lawrence Kart

[Frank Berger]

On 3/20/2022 11:22 AM, mswd...@gmail.com wrote:
> On Tuesday, February 1, 2022 at 4:40:43 AM UTC-6, Andy Evans wrote:
>> As title.....
>>
>> You feel jaded, bored, familiar with all the stuff you usually listen to, or whatever.
>>
>> For instance, do you challenge yourself with something new e.g. new music, or go for some kind of comfort music to cheer up your spirits?
>
> I'm always listening to new stuff. Listening to Traffic "Heaven Is in Your Mind" for the first time right now.

Traffic never did much for me. Grateful Dead neither. Too much meandering maybe. When I needed a lift, my go to was Rickie Lee Jones. I still listen to her. Other favorites are Pink Floyd (despite the politics), Led Zeppelin, Pretenders, Talking Heads, Neil Young, Beatles, of course, Blondie, Bonnie Raitt, Buddy Holly, Bowie, Kinks, Prince, Queen. On a lower level, the Stones, the Who, lots more I guess. More recently I like Arcade Fire and Lorde (first album mainly), Favorite American band of all time: X. Pretty conventional I guess.

[gggg gggg]

On Tuesday, February 1, 2022 at 2:40:43 AM UTC-8, Andy Evans wrote:
> As title.....
>
> You feel jaded, bored, familiar with all the stuff you usually listen to, or whatever.
>
> For instance, do you challenge yourself with something new e.g. new music, or go for some kind of comfort music to cheer up your spirits?

https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/relaxing-ambient-pieces-modern-classical-music/

[gggg gggg]

Concerning "...Japanese prewar popular music...", according to Nagahara's 2017 book "Tokyo Boogie-Woogie: Japan's Pop Era and its Discontents":

"...The postwar enka was primarily the product of an invented connection to the past, including its supposed Meiji ancestor, and therefore should be considered to be a largely unrelated phenomenon.

https://www.google.com/books/edition/Tokyo_Boogie_Woogie/LPGGDgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22primarily%20the%20product%20of%20an%20invented%20connection%20to%20the%20past%22


-

[gggg gggg]

On Tuesday, February 1, 2022 at 2:40:43 AM UTC-8, Andy Evans wrote:
> As title.....
>
> You feel jaded, bored, familiar with all the stuff you usually listen to, or whatever.
>
> For instance, do you challenge yourself with something new e.g. new music, or go for some kind of comfort music to cheer up your spirits?

(Recent Y. upload):

"did you just say classical music is boring?! (playlist)"

[Oscar]

On Tuesday, February 1, 2022 at 3:55:31 AM, JohnGavin wrote:
>
> My advice would be to stop listening to music for a while. Take 1 or 2 weeks off, or a month.
> Do other things - meditate, go outdoors, etc.

Exactly what I do. Long walks or hikes over the course of a week or fortnight always does the trick. And the music sounds so much better on the flipside.

[Oscar]

On Tuesday, February 1, 2022 at 4:37:23 AM, Chris J. wrote:
>
> There is always my good friend Johann S. Bach.

My second recommendation has been suggested hereupon as well, by Chris J. The palette cleanser par excellence, J.S. Bach!

[Oscar]

On Tuesday, February 1, 2022 at 7:36:00 AM, Henk wrote:
>
> The standard remedy in my case, is to go back to the days of Cherkassky, Fischer,
> Friedman, Godowsky, Haskil, etc. - when music was still allowed to breathe and music-
> making was still an art instead of a craft.

What are yr favorite Cherkassky recordings, HvT?

[Frank Berger]

I am familiar with being anxious, sad, happy, etc. But I don't recall the last time I was bored. I wonder if depression can manifest as boredom.

[Oscar]

On Tuesday, May 24, 2022 at 5:46:00 PM UTC-7, Frank Berger wrote:
>
> I am familiar with being anxious, sad, happy, etc. But I don't recall the last time I was bored.

Please, tell us about _your_ sex life.

[Frank Berger]

Not getting it. (Your referring to my sex life, that is.)

[Oscar]

On Tuesday, May 24, 2022 at 8:54:08 PM, Frank Berger wrote:
>
> Not getting it. (Your referring to my sex life, that is.)

It was a bad joke.

I was in Dallas last month. Sorry I did not write to you. Ended up with a day off and took in a performance of Kavakos conducting DSO in Prokofiev Symphony No. 6, a rarely performed work on these shores. I thought it was very good. Just excellent enough hearing it in person. I hope you are doing well in '22.

[Frank Berger]

Living in Baltimore for almost 10 years. I hardly remember Dallas. I used to go to hear the DSO all the time. The Meyerson is across the street from the Fed. I'd just work late and walk over. Very convenient. I'm sure I heard Nadja Solerno-Sonnenberg play the Barber concerto at least twice. I wonder if it is popular elsewhere as it is in Dallas. Maybe that was Litton's influence. I recall are constant swaying with the music throughout the performance. Some people don't like that. Now that I think of it, I recall former assistant conductor Keri-Lyn Wilson conducting with the same mezmerizing swaying. I really would be annoying if Wilson conducted the Barber with Sonnenberg and neither could stand still. Ha Ha.

We are celebrating the birth of a great grandson a month or so ago. We just found out grandson@ #2 and wife are expecting in September.

[Oscar]

On Wednesday, May 25, 2022 at 2:13:50 PM, Frank Berger wrote:
>
> We are celebrating the birth of a great grandson a month or so ago. We just found out

> grandson #2 and wife are expecting in September.

Mazel tov!!

[RichD]

On February 1, Andy Evans wrote:
> You feel jaded, bored, familiar with all the stuff you usually listen to, or whatever.
> For instance, do you challenge yourself with something new e.g. new music, or go for some kind of
> comfort music to cheer up your spirits?

Try the modern incarnations of the great composers -

John Williams --> Beethoven (the Star Wars score is Ludwig's 10th symphony)
Chick Corea --> Chopin
Mcoy Tyner --> Rachmaninoff (crashing chords, lively rhythms)
Miles Davis --> Brahms (emotionally, if not structurally)
Steve Reich --> Bach (consider the organ a percussion instrument)
Hans Zimmer --> Debussy (have you heard the Dune score?)
Philip Glass --> ??

If Vivaldi returned from the Hereafter, he'd write this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzFGBOeL0Xk

--
Rich

[gggg gggg]

On Tuesday, February 1, 2022 at 2:40:43 AM UTC-8, Andy Evans wrote:
> As title.....
>

> You feel jaded, bored, familiar with all the stuff you usually listen to, or whatever.
>
> For instance, do you challenge yourself with something new e.g. new music, or go for some kind of comfort music to cheer up your spirits?

(Recent Y. upload):

"Classical Music Is NOT Boring"

[gggg gggg]

(Y. upload):

César FRANCK - Nocturne (Louis de Fourcaud) - Bruno LAPLANTE, baryton