It is good to have a reason and a purpose when sitting down to listen to music. Now it’s great to have background music on to listen to music in your car. But it is important to have certain times when you’re really sitting down to do nothing but listen. And when you sit down to do that, it’s good to sit down with a purpose. Make your listening sessions focused.
Listen for something, have a goal, something you want to learn more about, something you want to listen to, something you want to bring to your playing, and something you are curious about. This could be any number of things, a wide range of musical topics and concepts. You could study form, to strengthen your ability to play and hear form. That can become your focus.
Listen to the music and while listening your whole goal is to keep the form throughout the tune. Maybe it’s a new tune that you are learning for your band, an ensemble at school, for a recital. But you want to learn the form. First, put it on; listen to it until you can figure out the form if you don’t already know it. Listen to the tune until you can figure out the form if it is unknown to you. Then you can practice following the form to keep track of the form as you go. This can be by literally counting, snapping your fingers or conducting or any other way to mark the form.
Maybe you are listening for dynamics. What are the dynamics used within a solo, of one soloist, the saxophonist, the bass player or the piano player? How are they using dynamics? How are they interacting with each other’s dynamics? Perhaps, you would like to think about harmony or melody or listen for swing feel. The groove or the pocket can become your focus for that particular listening session. It’s important to have a goal, something that you would like to hear more of or to hear more acutely. And you should decide your focus ahead of time before listening to the CD or record, or whatever it is that you are listening to.
Some of your listening should be solely for enjoyment. If you love music, you are going to put on music all of the time. And you should listen just because you love it. But it is important to have a reason and at least some of your listening should have a purpose. Listen to music with a purpose. It’s as important as practicing with a purpose or doing anything else in life with a purpose.
Chris Punis is an active jazz musician in the northeast. He is founding member of the critically acclaimed group Gypsy Schaeffer and a member of renowned saxophonist Charlie Kohlhase’s group The Explorer’s Club. Chris is also an accomplished jazz educator and author of “The Monster Jazz Formula”. For more information about his teaching methods and to receive your free lessons, “21 Great Ways To Become a Monster Jazz Musician”, visit www.learnjazzfaster.com.
