A Week Without Music

Exactly, I used to live in the suburbs of greater Seattle, and there are a lot of great hiking trails that lead into to the wilderness and substance use.

  On 1/20/2012 at 6:57 PM, sweepstakes said:

  On 1/20/2012 at 12:57 PM, keltoi said:

i don't see how you could do this apart from moving to the wilderness or never leaving your house. music is everywhere you go.

 

Why is this so hard to believe? I guess I take where I live for granted.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palouse

  On 1/20/2012 at 1:01 PM, jules said:

  On 1/20/2012 at 12:57 PM, keltoi said:

i don't see how you could do this apart from moving to the wilderness or never leaving your house. music is everywhere you go.

 

even then, you have eddie vedder as your soundtrack

 

lol!

try not using any computer (laptop, phone) for a week!

C'mon now, let's be reasonable...

  On 1/20/2012 at 8:25 PM, missingsense said:

try not using any computer (laptop, phone) for a week!

  On 1/20/2012 at 6:51 PM, pafr said:

Without music is like listening to a different kind of "music." Like where I'm sitting right now, I can hear a low wind sound outside. And then you can pay attention to different spatial things.

 

You're not giving up music, you're just performing and listening to 4'33" consecutively for a whole week. CAGE HATH RENDERED YOUR CHALLENGE IMPOSSIBURU

Well I forgot to report the experience. Basically, it gives a fresh mindset when coming back to the same shit. If you go back to the the habit of listening to the same shit again like before, routinely like I did, then you get back the same kind of feeling as before. Sometimes, between the respite and coming back, if you listen to some other type of shit (I listened only to Bach's fugues for a month before touching electronic music again), then you might get a few new perspectives on things.

Music is like food, pretty much.

When I was younger, my parents offered me an I pod for Christmas and my music listening habits started to change : I began to listen to music pretty much all the time. When I was walking to the highschool, in the train or bus, etc... Then I began to collect music on my computer.

I spent (well, I still do) a lot of time on the computer and every time I could, I played some music (while chatting with friends, while gaming, ...). At some point I developed a special habit : I always played ALL my music library in random mode. I felt like it prevented me from being bored because it made me switch genres at each track, even if it sometimes brought some weird chain of tracks.

Then, a few years later, I realised that it was too much for me. I didn't enjoy the music that much any more and I found myself skipping tracks over and over before to find one I wanted to listen to.

At this time, my habit changed again, and progressively I started to listen to full albums, one after the other. I also started to use my I pod less often, before it's been stolen from me. I didn't replace it right away, and eventually didn't do it at all because I realised I didn't need it really.

There's a time for walking in the street or taking the train, and a time for listening to music (my main concern is that there's too much noise in the street or in the train and it masks a little bit of the music, which is really a shame ; I prefer to read in the train because noise doesn't masks the words).

Today I listen to music more exclusively (even if I often play it while making something else, which I sometimes find kinda weird because in that case I don't listen that much). I've also become more selective over the years, which can be frustrating because I don't feel like I discover really good things very often, but I'm quite open minded and turned towards new experience so the good surprises are still around occasionally.

Last point : since I'm making music, the comprehension I have about my tracks and tracks from other people is constantly evolving, and I feel like I appreciate it always better.

this post has been written without listening to music ™

Boc already covered that, you can listen to Magic Window all day

It's a nice experiment though.

  On 4/6/2012 at 11:46 AM, Antape said:

I spent (well, I still do) a lot of time on the computer and every time I could, I played some music (while chatting with friends, while gaming, ...). At some point I developed a special habit : I always played ALL my music library in random mode. I felt like it prevented me from being bored because it made me switch genres at each track, even if it sometimes brought some weird chain of tracks.

 

Then, a few years later, I realised that it was too much for me. I didn't enjoy the music that much any more and I found myself skipping tracks over and over before to find one I wanted to listen to.

 

At this time, my habit changed again, and progressively I started to listen to full albums, one after the other. I also started to use my I pod less often, before it's been stolen from me. I didn't replace it right away, and eventually didn't do it at all because I realised I didn't need it really.

I have no idea how many times I've played drukqs, probably my most played album ever. I'd rearrange the orders, or play cd2 then cd1, or picking out similar sounding pieces and queue them up next to each other (i.e. a lot of tracks from cd1 has "matching" track from cd2), etc. It was probably the most fun I had out of a single album.

I've tried random a large track list, but I'd never cross genres too drastically, just fucks up the vibe. I listen to specific music depending on how I feel at the moment. Most of the time, I don't listen to music, but when I'm using music as background noise, I often don't pay attention as much as when I'm just focused on listening, which takes a lot of appreciations out of them. Sometimes those background noise can be helpful in adding more texture to the process of my work, game, etc. as opposed to just silence.

I find my music appreciation the best when I wake up in the morning. Especially when I get a certain piece stuck in my head, then I have to go and play that, just to refresh that memory, and it feels good. And then when it's too much it becomes overwhelming, so I try to find something else to listen to.

  On 4/6/2012 at 12:36 PM, pafr said:

  On 4/6/2012 at 11:46 AM, Antape said:

I spent (well, I still do) a lot of time on the computer and every time I could, I played some music (while chatting with friends, while gaming, ...). At some point I developed a special habit : I always played ALL my music library in random mode. I felt like it prevented me from being bored because it made me switch genres at each track, even if it sometimes brought some weird chain of tracks.

 

Then, a few years later, I realised that it was too much for me. I didn't enjoy the music that much any more and I found myself skipping tracks over and over before to find one I wanted to listen to.

 

At this time, my habit changed again, and progressively I started to listen to full albums, one after the other. I also started to use my I pod less often, before it's been stolen from me. I didn't replace it right away, and eventually didn't do it at all because I realised I didn't need it really.

 

I have no idea how many times I've played drukqs, probably my most played album ever. I'd rearrange the orders, or play cd2 then cd1, or picking out similar sounding pieces and queue them up next to each other (i.e. a lot of tracks from cd1 has "matching" track from cd2), etc. It was probably the most fun I had out of a single album.

 

I've tried random a large track list, but I'd never cross genres too drastically, just fucks up the vibe. I listen to specific music depending on how I feel at the moment. Most of the time, I don't listen to music, but when I'm using music as background noise, I often don't pay attention as much as when I'm just focused on listening, which takes a lot of appreciations out of them. Sometimes those background noise can be helpful in adding more texture to the process of my work, game, etc. as opposed to just silence.

 

I find my music appreciation the best when I wake up in the morning. Especially when I get a certain piece stuck in my head, then I have to go and play that, just to refresh that memory, and it feels good. And then when it's too much it becomes overwhelming, so I try to find something else to listen to.

Drukqs is a good counter example to what I was saying because the tracklisting seems to be dashed off somehow. Actually, I feel that way for a big part of RDJ discography. I listen to Aphex Twin more often by picking tracks here and there, going to an album from another without caring much about the tracklistings.

Quite weird because RDJ is quite certainly the artist that blew my mind the most, and I'm usually quite concerned about listening to albums from the start to the end.

Maybe he does care about tracks on their own more than group of tracks as a whole. And maybe this is because he can't hold himslef from experimenting on a lot of levels (this would result in a lot of different tracks). Anyway that's not the matter of the thread.

I second your statment about being more receptive to music in the morning. For me it's even more obvious for musicmaking. And for some reason, I can enjoy music on a deeper level late in the night, before going to sleep. Or when I'm stoned

im in line with this thinking. music should be portioned out in doses otherwise it loses its impact. (for me)

I've gone two months without listening to anything but whatever ambient noise is in my environment. It's pretty difficult, but it can be calming. Coming back to an album I really like after doing that is very pleasurable.

i tried not listening to my headphones at work last night. my ears were serenaded by the sweet sound of explosive diarrhea coming from the room of a homeless woman while doing bed checks.

  On 1/20/2012 at 7:26 PM, impakt said:

  On 1/20/2012 at 1:01 PM, jules said:

  On 1/20/2012 at 12:57 PM, keltoi said:

i don't see how you could do this apart from moving to the wilderness or never leaving your house. music is everywhere you go.

 

even then, you have eddie vedder as your soundtrack

 

 

lol!

*starves to death a half a mile away from a cabin stocked with Campbell's soup and sleeping bags*

first world problems

  On 1/20/2012 at 6:25 AM, disparaissant said:

  On 1/20/2012 at 6:13 AM, chassis said:

tinnitus is shit without good noise in my ears.

yeah truthfully this is my main reason for not not-listening-to-music

pretty much always have something playing or some noise going to distract because fuck that ringing

i read this, but Im still sceptical as always.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/new-hope-for-tinnitus-sufferers-7576977.html

to go back to the original topic:

I think taking a week off of music is a wonderful experiment. I did it myself for about 6 months several years ago and it was very hard at first but eventually really really peaceful. If you guys are like me, and you probably are, there is ALWAYS a melody or beat in my head that im either tapping out with my hands or teeth ,or humming, or minutely bouncing my head at. Since that experiment I have continued to limit my exposure to music so that my life isn't basically a big musical. I dont typically listen now when i play video games, read the news, do the dishes, walk, or other similar activities. I engage in usually only one activity instead of always combining it with music. I think it's lead to a greater appreciation as well as a greater focus on it when it is playing. Since then I've spent a lot less time listening to overly melodic music or radio music and instead have focused more on experimental forms of music like autechre and experimental jazz. I drive a great deal and usually listen to talk radio.

I find I can listen only for an hour or to at a time before I wear myself out. Don't understand how you can have it on all the time. I guess I listen to music 1-4 hours per day, and then make music once a week. I have had times where I don't listen to any music for a few days and I do find myself becoming exhausted, or maybe deprived like with not eating sugar all of a sudden. Sometimes I get incredibly bored of all the music I have and if you're in that kind of a time, perhaps that's the best time to take a weeks break. If you're really into it like I sometimes am, that wouldn't sound like a good time to cut it.

  On 1/20/2012 at 6:51 PM, pafr said:

Without music is like listening to a different kind of "music." Like where I'm sitting right now, I can hear a low wind sound outside. And then you can pay attention to different spatial things. Regarding spatial stuff with music, check out this presentation: http://www.ted.com/t...sic_evolve.html

 

I listened to tons of Kahvi Collective stuff before finding out about WATMM. Over there, MigloJE has some really interesting and cool ambient stuff that's more of an ambient noise than anything else.

 

Like this release Ayesteeyah: http://kahvi.org/rel...ease_number=174

awesome, thanks for the link!

I haven't listened to any music other than the Skyrim soundtrack while I play for a few weeks now Everything else is work....not much time for music :( but Ill get back into the habit soon enough.