Associate Professor Eugene Dairianathan, Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) Academic Group

Repeated listening/s—seared into re/cognition of an/y opus or jingle—precipitates a more informed appreciation through understanding context, site-specificity and different performances

The ability, and capacity, to engage in listening raises questions; not the least being how a listener is drawn into listening to a/ny particular piece of music. What exactly is it that attracts, or distracts the listener experiencing that piece of music, not to mention the duration of listening? How is the listener able to re/cognise aspects of the music? How are these aspects retained, such that even a cover version could precipitate a response, positively or negatively? How does a new work encompassing familiar elements of that piece of music become instantly re/cognisable? How is it possible for something based on auditory stimuli to produce lasting effects on an/y audience?

The ethnomusicologist, John Blacking, raised several perspectives in the creation and performance of music which he suggested could only be “generated first by the human capacity to discover patterns of sounds and to identify them on subsequent occasions” (1973: 9). Somewhat akin to our sensation of taste and the creative aspect of replicating the same or relying on that sensation to recreate different tastes in another time or context, Blacking lamented how “the importance of creative listening is too often ignored in discussions of musical ability yet it is as fundamental to music as it is to language” (Blacking 1973: 10). He went on to assert that “insofar as music is a cultural tradition that can be shared and transmitted, it cannot exist unless at least some human beings possess or have developed the capacity for structured listening” (1973: 11).

In my session on “How to really listen to a piece of music”, I suggest all these aspects of listening—ingratiated intuitively and intimately informed—are hinged on repeated listening. This enactment entails probing into the context-specificity of the act of music-making in performance, the site-specificity that led to its performance and the vulnerability of such delivery in public with listeners listening and judging the performance. That intimate ingratiation can be more meaningfully informed by studying the context and motivation that led to the making of that piece of musical work in its situated context. Ultimately, it is the audience’s right to critique and decide whether the performance is an enjoyable experience, albeit from an informed perspective.

Reference:

• Blacking, J. (1974). How musical is man? University of Washington Press.