As the year flies by, music can help us reconnect with the present. Whether exploring vocals, songwriting, or simply enjoying music, take on a personal challenge—Album, Artist, Song, or Genre—and rediscover joy and inspiration.
(5-minute read time)
Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash
CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE
As I write, it is late October–and everyone I know feels the year is whizzing away from us. I believe, however, that music can help us wrestle back the joy of the present moment, the sense that we are fully alive, and our senses are tingling with life and wonder. You might enjoy contemplating this challenge as something to start in the new year, or you might be grateful for a chance to have something that affords you some time for contemplation and slowing down. It’s your adventure to choose, and I hope it makes you smile. Whether you are working on vocal skills, song writing, performance delivery or enjoying music more, listening broadly is a gateway to new realms of insight and fascination. So why not pick a theme from the following list and expand your aural landscape over the next day, week, month, quarter, or year?
The Album Challenge
The Artist Challenge
The Song Challenge
The Genre Challenge
The Strong Songs Challenge
THE ALBUM CHALLENGE
Goal:
Appreciate the entire artistic work of an album, as intended by its creators. No shuffles. No skips. No repeats.
Activity:
Listen to an artist’s entire album from start to finish in one sitting.
Steps:
- Choose one of these:
a. The album of one of your favourite single songs.
b. An album in the discography of your favourite artist that you haven’t heard before. - Check its entire play length and set aside that amount of undisturbed time.
- Find a relaxing place where you can occasionally close your eyes.
- Listen to the entire album, start to finish, without stopping. No shuffling, no repeating of songs.
- At the end, sit in silence for a while and contemplate how the album impacted you and what sort of processes you imagine the recording artists and producers went through.
- If your curiosity is roused, you may want to repeat the listening process, take some notes, do some research, or discuss it with a friend.
- Repeat from Step 1.
THE ARTIST CHALLENGE
Goal:
Discover the world of an artist you’ve never heard before.
Activity:
Select an artist (either within your preferred genres or not) with whom you are not familiar at all and absorb the essence of their music.
Steps:
- Choose one of these:
a. Ask a friend to list the artists they are listening to and take note of those you’ve never heard of.
b. Find a list of the top 50 of any year you like and find an artist you’ve never heard of before.
c. Use the Shazam app to identify music in a TV show or movie you’re watching and note any artists you are unfamiliar with. - Start listening to the artist.
a. Try “best of” or “essentials” albums if you want a broad overview.
b. Notice which of their albums appears to be the most popular and listen to that.
c. Try singing one of their songs. - Watch some YouTube clips of their live performances–how do these clips inform what you’ve listened to? Continue onto some interviews with the artist if you can find them.
- What do you learn about their genre, musicality, influences and style? And how might this inform your own musicality?
- Will you ever listen to them again?
- Repeat from Step 1.
THE SONG CHALLENGE
Goal:
Deep dive into one single song and figure out what makes it tick.
Activity:
Select a song you love that you’d enjoy analysing and exploring through a sort of archaeological process.
Steps:
- Choose a song that you are captivated by.
- Select a recording of it that you would be happy working with for a while.
- Grab a notebook to:
a. Research the song’s context and history.
b. Breakdown its structure and theoretical construction.
c. Discover instruments and techniques you haven’t heard before. - Consider exploring some of the covers of the song on Spotify or YouTube.
a. What do you like about this cover? What don’t you like? Why?
b. Try creating your own cover of the song. - Repeat from Step 1.
Photo by Jonas Leupe on Unsplash
THE GENRE CHALLENGE
Goal:
Discover the world of a genre you might usually avoid.
Activity:
Select a genre with which you are not familiar at all and gain an introduction into its substance and/or history.
Genres:
Broad genre types include the following and their many fusions and subsets:
- Pop
- Rock
- Country
- Jazz
- RnB
- Hip Hop
- Blues
- Classical
- Musical Theatre
- World music
- Music in foreign languages
- Electronic
- Film
- Folk
- Metal
Steps:
- Choose one of these:
a. Ask a friend to list the genres they are listening to and take note of those you’ve never heard of.
b. Find a list of some of the artists or songs or musical pieces known to typify this genre.
c. Use the Shazam app to identify music in a TV show or movie you’re watching and note any genres you are unfamiliar with. - Start listening.
a. Try the browse functions in your music streaming service.
b. Use internet searches to broaden your listening options. - Watch some YouTube clips of live performances–how do they inform what you’ve listened to?
- Search intentionally for examples from different decades and countries.
- What do you learn about the musicality and history of this genre? How might this inform your own musicality?
- Will you ever listen to it again?
- Repeat from Step 1.
THE STRONG SONGS CHALLENGE
Goal:
Examine a song through the ears of a professional musician.
Activity:
Listen to an episode of the Strong Songs podcast that appeals to you and see if you can predict what Kirk will say about it.
Steps:
- Choose an episode/song.
- Before listening to Kirk’s analysis, listen to the song itself a couple of times and listen out for things you’ve never heard before.
a. Instruments
b. Recording techniques
c. Vocal styles or effects
d. Songwriting idiosyncrasies - Make some notes about what you hope will be discussed.
- Listen to the episode!
a.Congratulate yourself for hearing what Kirk hears.
b.Have your mind blown by the insights he will add to your experience. - Repeat from Step 1.
FURTHER RESOURCES:
DISCUSSION
Share the experience with someone else. Broaden your thinking and hear through their ears. Try this with other musicians, and with your friends who don’t study music or play an instrument.
MUSICAL U RESOURCES
An excellent source of inspiration and skill building. https://www.musical-u.com/learn/topic/how-to/active-listening/
YOUTUBE
Listen to these musicians discuss music as a way of expanding what you hear and listen for.
Jacob Collier https://www.youtube.com/@jacobcollier
Dr Dan Singer Analysis https://www.youtube.com/@DrDanRobinson
Adam Neely https://www.youtube.com/@AdamNeely
Ryan Lerman & Jack Conte https://www.youtube.com/@DeadWaxShow
SHOWS
Strong Songs – Podcast (by Kirk Hamilton)
Song Exploder – TV Series (Netflix)
Watch the Sound with Mark Ronson – mini series (Apple TV)
Watch music documentaries every time you get the chance, especially those you might not be familiar with or instantly drawn to.
THANKS
I am grateful to Margaret Lewis for many conversations around listening and her proofreading as this idea came together.
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