It certainly isn't fair to compare pop songs to symphonies: my point is that they require different kinds of listening, and while the one can be enjoyable, only the other satisfies my soul.
As for pop songs and classical art songs, they too are written to two different artistic sensibilities. You will notice I wasn't listening to art songs; don't tell my wife (she's a singer), but I don't care for most lieder that much. They're like miniature three-minute operas; I don't like opera much either. Operas are longer than symphonies, yes, but their aesthetic purposes, in general, vastly differ.
My advice for lengthening one's attention span for music is to pick a favorite piece - something late Romantic, by Tchaikovsky, or perhaps Dvorak's New World, is a good choice for a classical beginner, if you are one - and listen to it a lot, as casual background music as well as listening carefully, until you find you start to know what's going to happen next. Then you're ready to hear it in concert.
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Date: 2008-01-31 06:18 am (UTC)As for pop songs and classical art songs, they too are written to two different artistic sensibilities. You will notice I wasn't listening to art songs; don't tell my wife (she's a singer), but I don't care for most lieder that much. They're like miniature three-minute operas; I don't like opera much either. Operas are longer than symphonies, yes, but their aesthetic purposes, in general, vastly differ.
My advice for lengthening one's attention span for music is to pick a favorite piece - something late Romantic, by Tchaikovsky, or perhaps Dvorak's New World, is a good choice for a classical beginner, if you are one - and listen to it a lot, as casual background music as well as listening carefully, until you find you start to know what's going to happen next. Then you're ready to hear it in concert.