On Listening vs Reading
Like for Emily, a thought went up my mind yesterday which I had to capture and that’s the genesis of this write up. We don’t often pay much attention to the spoken word or the latent sounds that we hear. What we speak or say or sing or strum or hum evokes a response in others. Some find it pleasant and others find it unpleasant and many are not impacted by it. We wonder if it is because of what we did. Why does the same sound with a combination of frequencies and amplitudes evoke different responses in different people? When we listen to music or go to a concert why do we all leave with different impressions? Do each of us have our own base vibration? Do we only appreciate the sounds that are a harmonic of our base frequency. Or does our ego interfere in our ability to listen? What happens when music or a lecture produces goose pimples? Is it a simple phenomena of resonance ? Come, let’s explore together.
I am not a gifted listener for I think I am trying to understand what I hear. Often, embellishing what I heard with my own stream of thoughts that I often stop listening midway. It takes effort to register what you hear especially if there are words being uttered. With music it’s the words, the beats and then the frequencies, simplistically . The words you hear clearly, the beats you can feel but the frequencies are more subtle. It requires a trained ear to recognize the frequencies. Classical music is especially hard to follow if you are not familiar with the frequency pattern. So when we hear someone speak or play an instrument or sing it requires us to pay different levels of attention.
When people listen to a speech they often react you can hear them clapping. Similarly when you go to a concert you hear an enthusiastic crowd clapping after every song. When I sit in the audience often I am left wondering. What did I miss? What did I not hear ? No insult to the speaker or the artist but I didn’t find anything spectacular. Maybe I am hard to please, too judgemental or simply ignorant. Maybe I just heard the words or the notes but couldn’t stitch them together to evoke a response.
Things appear to work differently when reading. The word evokes a response that gets my neurons churning and interpreting. My curiosity is evoked and I am avidly following the authors train of thought. But when listening to music it does not work the same way. If I understand the words or if the tune is familiar I am enthused and attentive. But when it’s a unfamiliar tune it’s harder to pay attention. Why is that ?
When we appreciate a speech or musical performance, are we appreciating the performers effort or are we acknowledging that we learned something or that because of listening to the speech or music we reached a higher plane. We were able to elevate our sense of being and our appreciation is a sign acknowledging the orator or artists contribution in effecting that change in us. What does reaching a higher plane mean? Is the thought or sound wave resonate with our soul frequency leading to a crescendo moment. Or did it help us learn something about ourselves that we didn’t know before.
Does learning play any role in the appreciation. When we applaud someone has there been learning or just acknowledgement of the harmonious effect the speech or performance has had on us. Learning happens when we internalize what we hear. But that needs understanding which implies the ability to reproduce the thought or sound. So when we appreciate without understanding what are we doing? Are we providing encouragement to the artist or are we communicating that the speaker or performer has permanently changed us. Clearly there are more questions than answers. The next time you appreciate someone ask yourself what you are doing. Maybe you will learn something or maybe you won’t!
