Listening to and reviewing music critically. - Music

TheWestIsTheBest

I'm new to the forums and the site, so I'm not sure if this is the appropriate thread to be posting this, so I apologize.

I'm a huge music fan as all of you here are, and I want to start reviewing music just for my leisure. But I'm struggling to listen to music in a focused and critical way, and was hoping I could get some advice as to come to express my person views on a piece of music intelligently and critically.

Any replies are appreciated, I am aware that this could be an incredibly stupid question so feel free to tell me I'm a dumbass. Thanks everyone and good day.

Anti

I Dream of Drone

Age: 29

Location: Somewhere in Ohio

TheWestIsTheBest wrote:

I'm new to the forums and the site, so I'm not sure if this is the appropriate thread to be posting this, so I apologize.

I'm a huge music fan as all of you here are, and I want to start reviewing music just for my leisure. But I'm struggling to listen to music in a focused and critical way, and was hoping I could get some advice as to come to express my person views on a piece of music intelligently and critically.

Any replies are appreciated, I am aware that this could be an incredibly stupid question so feel free to tell me I'm a dumbass. Thanks everyone and good day.

Don't worry about it being stupid, we've all been there!

I've always believed it just comes with experience and numerous attempts and listens. Starting thinking about how the album is as a whole, how do the pieces and parts of the album compliment each other, try to word out what specifically do you like or hate about said album. If you have trouble putting some thoughts into words, like I do, try reading and/or watching reviews and read/hear some descriptions from other people. Build up your vocabulary and understand what sound goes with what genre and so on. Try reading lyrics before you jump into a song, then listen and read along and think of a deeper meaning if applicable. Also helps to do some research, even if it is light research, on the artist of background or the making of the album.

This is how I listen to music. Of course other people will have their own ways. You'll just have to try it out and see how it goes!

Last edited by Anti on 02/04/2016 03:17; edited 1 time in total

benpaco

Who's gonna watch you die?

Age: 28

Location: Missouri

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Satie

Maybe start a music diary over in the Music Diaries subforum! Just post a BEA link to the album so that the album artwork shows up (top right corner of the post box, in case you don't know) and start writing your impressions of things you listen to. You don't need to worry about number ratings or saying anything original, but just get used to focusing on what you're listening to, thinking about some of the things Anti mentioned, and articulating it. You only get better at writing by writing, and you'll only get better at thinking about music if you think about music. Encourage people to discuss what you're listening to with you so you can better identify what you like and dislike about the music.

RoundTheBend

I miss the comfort in being sad

Location: Ground Control

Anti wrote:

Try reading lyrics before you jump into a song, then listen and read along and think of a deeper meaning if applicable. Also helps to do some research, even if it is light research, on the artist of background or the making of the album.

Thanks for reminding about this. I stopped doing this in the early 2000s because I didn't have a CD to look at or the interest left me, but that totally is how I'd really get into an artist... read the lyrics, the liner notes, etc. I think I only cared enough to read about an artist I already knew somehow... you know as that geeky fanboy, but terribly helpful as well for things you aren't familiar with, like a new band. Honestly wikipedia does a pretty good job of this. Sometimes I even feel like wikipedia is a decent source for band news... I find out stuff from there better than the website of the band or just a simple google search in news.

Satie wrote:

Maybe start a music diary over in the Music Diaries subforum! Just post a BEA link to the album so that the album artwork shows up (top right corner of the post box, in case you don't know) and start writing your impressions of things you listen to. You don't need to worry about number ratings or saying anything original, but just get used to focusing on what you're listening to, thinking about some of the things Anti mentioned, and articulating it. You only get better at writing by writing, and you'll only get better at thinking about music if you think about music. Encourage people to discuss what you're listening to with you so you can better identify what you like and dislike about the music.

I didn't really understand the music diaries until now, so thanks for clearing that up. Also discussing an album with others. I mean I know that we have the album of the day, possibly for that purpose, but never really thought of doing such a thing on this site. I have this group of friends that I have invited to listen to albums in the dark (helps with isolating senses, a trick a jazz teacher taught me) and discussing it afterwards is fun.

Also, awesome thread/post. I actually love it when things start simple. Keep it simple stupid, right? Sometimes that's way more productive.

TheWestIsTheBest

Anti wrote:

TheWestIsTheBest wrote:

I'm new to the forums and the site, so I'm not sure if this is the appropriate thread to be posting this, so I apologize.

I'm a huge music fan as all of you here are, and I want to start reviewing music just for my leisure. But I'm struggling to listen to music in a focused and critical way, and was hoping I could get some advice as to come to express my person views on a piece of music intelligently and critically.

Any replies are appreciated, I am aware that this could be an incredibly stupid question so feel free to tell me I'm a dumbass. Thanks everyone and good day.

Don't worry about it being stupid, we've all been there!

I've always believed it just comes with experience and numerous attempts and listens. Starting thinking about how the album is as a whole, how do the pieces and parts of the album compliment each other, try to word out what specifically do you like or hate about said album. If you have trouble putting some thoughts into words, like I do, try reading and/or watching reviews and read/hear some descriptions from other people. Build up your vocabulary and understand what sound goes with what genre and so on. Try reading lyrics before you jump into a song, then listen and read along and think of a deeper meaning if applicable. Also helps to do some research, even if it is light research, on the artist of background or the making of the album.

This is how I listen to music. Of course other people will have their own ways. You'll just have to try it out and see how it goes!

Thank you for your reply! And those are good ideas and I will definitely work on all of those things. And the idea of reading lyrics before you listen is brilliant! I never would have thought of it, I will do that from now on.

TheWestIsTheBest

Satie wrote:

Maybe start a music diary over in the Music Diaries subforum! Just post a BEA link to the album so that the album artwork shows up (top right corner of the post box, in case you don't know) and start writing your impressions of things you listen to. You don't need to worry about number ratings or saying anything original, but just get used to focusing on what you're listening to, thinking about some of the things Anti mentioned, and articulating it. You only get better at writing by writing, and you'll only get better at thinking about music if you think about music. Encourage people to discuss what you're listening to with you so you can better identify what you like and dislike about the music.

That sounds like a really good thing to ease myself into reviewing, I will try that out. Thanks for the reply!

boyd94

It helps to be a naturally good writer, but really you need a wide-ranging taste and understanding of many genres and the vocabulary of each one.

Just start thinking objectively about what exactly you like about a piece of music, without using any value judgments like "good", "great", "awesome" and vice versa if you don't like something.

Describe the characteristics of a song or album. If you're writing for an audience, people aren't looking for your personal rating of the songs so much as an idea of whether it suits their tastes or not.

Satie

boyd94 wrote:

It helps to be a naturally good writer, but really you need a wide-ranging taste and understanding of many genres and the vocabulary of each one.

Just start thinking objectively about what exactly you like about a piece of music, without using any value judgments like "good", "great", "awesome" and vice versa if you don't like something.

Describe the characteristics of a song or album. If you're writing for an audience, people aren't looking for your personal rating of the songs so much as an idea of whether it suits their tastes or not.

These are all good points. Also try to read reviews of the styles you're presenting as you go through and do background research on bands to put them in context. These reviews will familiarize you with the jargon and general rhetorical approach of people who care most about the genre, as well as deepening your understanding of genres you might not be quite an expert on. One of the most enduring criticisms of someone like Anthony Fantano (at least from people like me) is how much fluency they lack in a range of genres that they insist on covering "professionally" anyway. It leads to every ambient album ever being "atmospheric" or "immersive," but these are basic descriptions of what ambient music even is (granted with a positive connotation). For Fantano in particular, every electronic album in the past few years that hasn't had a 4x4 beat has had "trap-influenced beats." Try to avoid just making shit up in your quest to describe things.

mickilennial

The Most Trusted Name in News

Gender: Female

Age: 36

Location: Detroit

Satie wrote:

boyd94 wrote:

It helps to be a naturally good writer, but really you need a wide-ranging taste and understanding of many genres and the vocabulary of each one.

Just start thinking objectively about what exactly you like about a piece of music, without using any value judgments like "good", "great", "awesome" and vice versa if you don't like something.

Describe the characteristics of a song or album. If you're writing for an audience, people aren't looking for your personal rating of the songs so much as an idea of whether it suits their tastes or not.

These are all good points. Also try to read reviews of the styles you're presenting as you go through and do background research on bands to put them in context. These reviews will familiarize you with the jargon and general rhetorical approach of people who care most about the genre, as well as deepening your understanding of genres you might not be quite an expert on. One of the most enduring criticisms of someone like Anthony Fantano (at least from people like me) is how much fluency they lack in a range of genres that they insist on covering "professionally" anyway. It leads to every ambient album ever being "atmospheric" or "immersive," but these are basic descriptions of what ambient music even is (granted with a positive connotation). For Fantano in particular, every electronic album in the past few years that hasn't had a 4x4 beat has had "trap-influenced beats." Try to avoid just making shit up in your quest to describe things.

I have a problem with falling into this trap but with electronic music and textures/layering I'm not really "fluent" with, which basically means most of it which I'm unafraid to admit. I'm not sure if listening fluency is the only thing I need to get out of this trap I've created, so I'm curious to what I can do to remedy this as well.