Four Tiers of Listening in Contemporary DIY Music & Sound-making Practice Series – Part 1b
This blog represents the second in this series, the four (4) tiers of listening required in Contemporary DIY Music & Sound-making Practice. Please refer to my previous blog post for Part 1a, Required skills of a Contemporary Music & Sound-making Practitioner (Page, 2015a).
(Page, 2024)
Backstory to this Consuming music-making blog post
When I first wrote this blog, I spoke primarily about passive listening: listening to music without an intent of deliberate analytical practice to be able to describe the music in great detail; nor necessarily be able to re-create that music.
I spoke of a lay perspective of people passively consuming music without necessarily the intent or the trained technical skills to listen to music in any other way. The consumer were people like my mother and myself as a kid: people who just listened to music for enjoyment, without understanding what exactly they were listening to. We just listened to music because we ‘liked it’.
My mother worked from home as a seamstress, and listened to a range of music from a High Arts-based musical style: operas, concertos, symphonies. I observed it placed her in a ‘calm state’.
I listened to roots-based musical styles: folk-rock, country-rock, blues-rock, acoustic ballads, and blues. I was fascinated how the music ‘moved me’ in ways other life experiences didn’t. I recall it made me feel ‘joy’.
I recall in a Year 8 High School music elective class in which the teacher asked of us students to name what we liked about a particular song, most students struggled with a lack of vocabulary and concepts in which to describe it eloquently or succinctly. I recall most of us – after naming the obvious instruments we could hear – used fairly common adjectives to described how the music made them feel; how the music made them move; and with some, how the music made them recall other situations in life.
It was several years after I wrote this particular blog post that I came across the works of Christopher Small’s Musicking (1998). I now had a term for what I had loosely described as ‘everyday lay listening‘. As I deepened my HDR research, I felt oblidged to revisist this blog post, heavily edit it with my new knowledge, and rename the post to acknowledge Small’s work. The following, drawing heaviliy on my HDR Project 1 research, represents an updated perspective of the everyday consumiption of music – passive, or active – as another form of music-making practice, irrespective of the degree of one’s professional intent and developed technical skills.
The music-making cycle requires an interested listener
As noted above, consuming music is a very important part of the music-making practice cycle.
Music-making practitioners create, produce and perform music, distrubute it via various formats and mediums, and then an ‘audience’ consumes it.
Such a music-making practice cycle relies on a particular sense to receive it – that of listening. A predominantly aural experience, but depending upon the situation, may draw on other senses [1]. Rickard and Chin subscribes to Elliot’s definition of music as being a:
“multidimensional human phenomenon involving two interlocking forms of intentional human activity: music making and music listening.” (Rickard & Chin 2017, 291; Elliot 1995,42).
According to Elliot, one phenomenon can not happen without the other: music & sound-making and music listening are inextricably linked. Elliot uses the descriptive word intentional in his definition. I assume intentionality resides in the party who is playing that music – the music-maker; whilst also residing within the party who is actively – intentionally– listening to that music? I am unsure of how Elliot’s definition relates to passive music consumption – listening – situations that most of us found us in daily. I wonder what Elliot’s view is of a passive listener in an elevator who is engaged in conversation with the person next to them, and does not stop to notice the music? I would assume from Elliot’s definition this does not qualify as intentional listening, and therefore the Muzak being played in not music? To take this further, consider a similar situation in an elevator, where a person disengages from the conversation with the person next to them, stops for a moment and notices the piece of music playing? Does this now count as music as there is both music & sound-making occurring and active – intentional – music listening?
Consuming music (listening)
Hargreaves et al reason that our listening habits have developed progressively due to “the extremely rapid technological developments that have occurred in the last two decades”; and the “increasing commercialization and economic power of the music industry” (2002, 1). Frith agrees in part, proposing that our listening habits have developed progressively over decades primarily due to two phenomena: firstly, our increased access to technology due to development of listening devices – from as early as the radio, through to the record player, the tape machine, and beyond; and secondly due to the proliferation of American film industry, with their soundtracks offering music in every scene. So much has the influence been, we now “expect life to come with background music” (Frith 2002, 36). So is our passive listening in daily life similar to that of a movie soundtrack? A movie soundtrack is designed so that it supports and reinforces the narrative of the particular scene[2] (Levitin 2006, 9). Whilst I am standing in an elevator, I am listening to Muzak. I would argue that the creators of Muzak, or the owners or managers of the particular location where the elevator is found, design the Muzak – the soundtrack – to support and reinforce the experience of me being in that elevator. I, along with other shoppers step into that elevator. The doors close and we ride the elevator up to our chosen floor, whilst either actively or passively listening to the Muzak. The doors open, I step out of the elevator and leave the particular scene and that particular sound track. I step out into a department store, into another scene, with another soundtrack being piped through the sound system. Again (according to the owners or managers of the particular department store) that soundtrack is there to support and reinforce my experience of being in that store. One issue with this analogy could be the speed that we now move in life, from one scene, to another scene, to another scene. In daily life, with people moving so quickly from one environment (scene) to another, to another, the passive listener may be subjected to innumerable unrelated pieces of music with differing moods and messages over a relatively short period of time[3](Frith 2002, 37). I would argue that this is where a movie seems to have a much more congruent flow within it, from one scene to another scene, to another. In my daily life, moving from one scene to another with such speed as I do, and experiencing such diversity of soundtracks, I often find the soundtrack becomes overwhelming – often cacophonic – , and greatly diminishes – rather than supports and reinforces – my experience of that environment.
Musicking – consuming music (listening) everyday
Irrespective of one’s opinions towards the morality such prevalence of passive listening occurs in public places in modern society, individuals in western cultures now have increased understanding regarding the impact of music can have both psychologically and physiologically, and now are increasingly choosing to use music to manipulate their own behaviour (Sloboda 2005,320). “We as active consumers use music to direct and reflect the tempo of our daily lives” (Pen 1992, 3). It is interesting to note how quickly this cultural phenomenon has progressed. In citing a 1997 conversation with a person of Nigerian decent, DeNora highlights how a Western person was likely to listen to music relative to an African person:
”As he saw it, Europeans merely listened to music, whereas in Africa people made music as an integral element of social life”. This person was of the opinion, that “people in the United Kingdom ….. did not seem to be aware of music’s powers, and did not respect its social and physiological force” (DeNora, 2004 ix).
For many decades, westerners have been increasingly made aware of how certain cultural groups used music. Christians – irrespective of denomination – have historically used music in their religious ceremonies. In a contrasting musical style, American Indians also use music during spiritual ceremonies. As do continental Indians; and for that matter, as do most cultural around the globe use music in their religious ceremonies. But, what about in their everyday life? The example that comes to mind is the Africans singing blues songs whilst labouring as slaves in the fields and on the chain gangs in southern USA in the early nineteenth century. For what became the musical styles of gospel, soul, blues, and rhythm and blues, this form of music and song was not just created in southern USA on the back of their enslavement and impoverished conditions (Hatch & Millward, 1987). This form of music and song had its origins in their African culture. Such music and song was an integrated part of them engaging in their daily activities: using music to their advantage and manipulate their own moods and behavior (Daniels, 1985; Hamilton, 2001).
Interestingly, in just a few years from DeNora’s conversation taking place, Batt-Rawden and DeNora (2005) studied and revealed signs of development of such social and cultural norms amongst Westerners. Their study found people who were consciously and deliberately using music for specific ends. Their subjects shared how they played and listened to music to manipulate their own moods, or the moods of others within their social setting – consciously and deliberately. Some examples of subjects using music are: for emotional work – “recalibrating (S)elf and energy levels to perform a task one might not otherwise feel ‘in the mood for’ “ (p290); for motivation – “getting into their bodies” for physical exercise (p291); establishing an ambience for a social event (p290); and for transformational learning (p297). Sloboda’s 2005 Pilot study involving eighty-five (85) music listeners revealed six (6) factors that people consciously used music for. These were: to induce energy; achieve a state of transcendence; to reminisce; to be analytical; unpredictability (of the music playlist); and change emotional states (Sloboda 2005, 321). A later study revealed twenty-nine (29) uses of music for either social, psychological or physiological desired outcomes (Sloboda 2005, 324-5). All of these studies’ examples exemplify how contemporary musical agency has developed from what they refer to as the ”mundane musicking” of past eras (Batt-Rawden and DeNora 2005, 292). As contemporary musical agents, we are now more likely to use music to manipulate our own behaviours – or those in our social settings – consciously, deliberately and systematically. Proactive musicking is seen to enhance the quality of our daily lives. Referencing DeNora, Frith notes “(a)s a technology of (S)elf’, music has become crucial to the ways people organise memory, identity, their autonomy” (Frith 2002, 43). Taylor explains that we now “use music to regulate our moods and behaviours, and to produce a desirable image of ourselves, both for ourselves, and for others” (Taylor 2012, 43). An example of proactive musicking could be within the alternative health sector, where many practices[4] use soft intimate music and/or soundscapes – new age relaxation soundscapes – to establish a mood aligning the business’ and the consumers’ expectation of an experience; that of a peaceful and calm ambience, inducing calm within the consumer for their health and wellness.
Musicking – broadening the understanding of the music & sound-making process
Small’s 1998 work “Musicking” embraces a broader view of music & sound-making, and the consumption of music.
With the rapidly developing patterns of music consumption the western world was experiencing, Small’s work examined the world of the performing music-maker in order to better understand the dynamics at play. Small acknowledged that music & sound-making was not merely a transmissional communication process occurring from person A (music-maker) to person B (audience member/consumer/listener). Small’s view is both parties are considered necessary for the music & sound-making process to exist. The music-maker as the creator – the sender of communication – with the audience member/s being the receiver of the communication. The audience member interprets the communication, and responds in any variety of ways, including sending another message. The music-maker receives the communication feedback, interprets their response, acts and returns follow up communication. The process continues for as long as the performance exists. The significance of Small’s work is that no longer is the process of communication and meaning-making seen to reside exclusively within the domain of the music-maker (creator/performer). Small’s work is based on the premise that “(t)here was no such thing as music. Music is not a thing at all but an activity, something that people do”[5] (Small 1998, 2). Hargreaves et al support this view with:
(m)usic is a fundamental channel of communication: it provides a means by which people can share emotions, intentions, and meanings even though their spoken language may be incomprehensible” (2002, 1).
Building upon Small’s dual roles of meaning-making in the music & sound-making process, Taylor’s extends this theme defining music as to what it affords us as humans – collaborative transactional communication for meaning-making, of both the music and of our selves:
“Music is a way for us to translate, perform, and intensify through our bodies, intimate thoughts, feelings and desires of the body. The act of creating and performing music – whether creating it or performing it ourselves or listening to it, and thus performing musical meaning-making operations for ourselves (Frith, 1996) – results not only in the creation and performance of sounds but also in the creation and performance of subjectivities” (Taylor 2012, 43).
Returning to Elliot’s definition for a moment, I wonder how the use of the word intentionality fits within Small’s model of musicking? In Small’s model, the process of music & sound-making and listening are seen as an active dual role process – sender and receiver; music-maker and listener meaning-maker. I wonder whether Elliot had a participatory, collaborative, and interdependent view of the communication process during music & sound-making in mind; or more of a transmissional view of the creator/performer and audience member roles in the music & sound-making process?
Musicking – further broadening the understanding of the music & sound-making process
A further example of proactive musicking could be a Sound Bath[6] experience. Whilst not a new practice, it is has significantly risen in popularity over the past four (4) – five (5) years with Sound Bath sessions being held in most cities and towns on a weekly basis[7]. In one of my first (1st) seventy-five (75) minute Sound Bath experiences (in 2019) I was afforded a relaxed reflective state, in which I found time for Self-reminiscing, considering past experiences, considering the way I have interpreted those experiences, and the opportunity to re-interpret those experiential meanings. I observed it was “an embodied experience” drawing on biological, cognitive, psychological and affective faculties “to make meaning” during the music & sound consumption experience (Budd 1992, 52; Graham 1995, 145-146). It was a rational and extra-rational experience (Lawrence 2012, 472). It was also an affective experience, and an aesthetic experience. This experience confirmed Batt-Rawden and DeNora’s (2005) findings in their study. Such forms of proactive musicking could be used by consumers – music & sound listeners – for “recalibrating (S)elf and energy levels“ (p290); “getting into their bodies” (p291); immersed in an ambience (p290); and for transformational learning (p297). Equally, my experience confirmed Sloboda’s (2005) Pilot study findings that consumers – music & sound listeners – use music to: induce energy; achieve a state of transcendence; to reminisce; to be analytical; and change emotional states (Sloboda 2005, 321). This Sound Bath session was very much a subjective experience which I could not recall experiencing across my many years of self-referential activity in such an effortless holistic way.
Footnotes:
[1] Depending upon the context, human expression and communication draws on a combination of human senses including (but not restricted to) that of: visual (sight), auditory (hearing), touch (somatosensorial), smell (olfactory) or taste (gustatory). I will explore this further as the research study progresses.
[2] …to the composer’s and/or Director’s liking
[3] Imagine a person in a large shopping complex, going in and out of numerous shops playing piped music over a sixty minute period, where each of the shops are aimed at diverse target markets and social sub-cultures.
[4] Anecdotally based on my extensive experience as a proactive engager in multiple forms of Alternative Therapies over numerous decades, in varied countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, India, Thailand, Taiwan, Japan, Brazil, Tahiti, New Caledonia, UK, France, Switzerland, and the USA to name a few.
[5] My italics
[6] The Sound Bath practitioner established themselves at either the front of the hall or in the centre of the hall. They often have an array of crystal-blended singing bowls, metal composite singing bowls, tube chimes, bells, an array of rattles and shakers, and Gongs of varying sizes. As the active consumer, one is led to lie down on the floor, eyes closed, breathe, and allow the Sound to wash over each person, affording the opportunity to drift off in a form of meditation.
[7]Centres such as Brisbane’s ‘Relaxation Centre’ hold regular Sound Baths – often referred to as Sound Healing sessions two days per week, every second (2nd) week. Additionally, that Sound Bath practitioner performs at number other venues on a regular basis.
This Four Tiers of Listening in Contemporary DIY Music & Sound-making Practice Series continues with Part 1c, The 3 Primary Tiers of Active Listening in Contemporary DIY Music & Sound-making Practice (Page, 2015b).
References
Batt-Rawden, Kari and Tia DeNora. 2005. “Music and informal learning in everyday life.” Music Education Research 7 (3): 289-304.
Budd, Malcolm. 1992. Music and the emotions: the philosophical theories. London: Routledge.
Daniels, D.H., 1985. The significance of blues for American history. The Journal of Negro History, 70(1-2), pp.14-23.DeNora, Tia. 2004. Music in everyday life. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Elliott, David James. 1995. Music matters: a new philosophy of music education. 1st ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Frith, Simon. 2002. “Music and everyday life.” Critical Quarterly 44 (1): 35-48.
Graham, Gordon. 1995. “The value of music.” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticisms Vol 53 (2 Spring 1995): 139-153.
Hamilton, M., 2001. The blues, the folk, and African-American history. Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 11, pp.17-35.
Hargreaves, DJ, D Miell and RAR MacDonald. 2002. “What are musical identities, and why are they important?” In Musical Identities, edited by RAR MacDonald, DJ Hargreaves and D Miell, 1-20. Oxford Oxford University Press.
Hatch, D. and Millward, S., 1987. From blues to rock: An analytical history of pop music. Manchester University Press.
Lawrence, Randee Lipson. 2012. “Transformative learning through artistic expression: getting out of our heads.” In The Handbook of Transformative Learning: Theory, Research, and Practice, edited by Edward W Taylor, Patricia Cranton and Associates, 471-485. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
Levitin, Daniel J. 2006. This is your brain on music: the science of human obsession. New York: Penguin Books.
Onion image courtesy of: Onion Layers Accessed 19th February, 2015
Page, D.L. 2024. The Human Ear. DLP used prompts in Adobe Express to generate this AI image.
Page, David L. 2015b. The 3 Primary Tiers of Active Listening in Contemporary DIY Music & Sound-making Practice, In Four Tiers of Listening in Contemporary DIY Music & Sound-making Practice Series – Part 1c blog post. Accessed 28th February, 2015
Page, David L. 2015a. Required skills of a Contemporary Music & Sound-making Practitioner, In Four Tiers of Listening in Contemporary DIY Music & Sound-making Practice Series – Part 1b blog post. Accessed 19th February, 2015
Pen, Ronald. 1992. Introduction to music. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Rickard, Nikki S. and Chin, Tan Chyuan. 2017. “Defining the musical identity of non-musicians.” In Musical identities, edited by Raymond A. R. MacDonald, David J. Hargreaves and Dorothy Miell, 288-303. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Sloboda, J. 2005. Exploring the musical mind: cognition, emotion, ability, function. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Small, Christopher. 1998. Musicking: the meanings of performing and listening. Hanover: University Press of New England.
Taylor, Jodie. 2012. Playing it queer: popular music, identity and queer world-making. Bern: Peter Lang.
