Posted on 2024-10-14

Listening Repertoire

I have developed this concept of listening repertoire, similar to practice repertoire or performance repertoire, but for listening.

Back in the olden days (also known as the sixties) when I got my paycheck I would head to the record store and buy an album. On a good week two but anything more than that would cut into my groceries and rent.

When I got home that record would hit the turntable and if I liked it as much as I thought I would it lived there for a while, at least several days before I would swap in the album I bought last week or one I had listened to for years.

But for that week and much of the next I'd listen to it a lot. When guests came over I would play it for them. If we had a party it would be playing in the background.

Now, jump to the present day, where I can listen to anything I want to, anytime. I rarely listen to an album more than once. I love live performances and I watch them on Youtube or listen to them on the Live Music Archive, usually once.

I think we can all relate to this experience. There's so much music and so little time it's hard to give any song or album the time it deserves. The in depth active listen, that only comes with repeated listening, sometimes in the background, sometimes sitting in your sweet spot, focusing only on the songs.

This is where listening repertoire comes in to save the day.

When I find a new (to me) album that I really like, I load it into my player and set it to loop. I pause it when I want and I start it again when I want, from the pause point or from track 1. But I let it live there, in my player, for a while, to get that deep understanding that only comes with repeated listening.

After a few days I'll swap it out for another album in my listening repertoire, for an old favorite, or for something new. But it remains at the top of my listening repertoire and I still put it on loop occasionally and just let it play.

When, after a week (or two) I find another album that I really like, it replaces the old with the new at the top of my listening repertoire.

Occasionally, I will scan through my listening repertoire and remove albums I'm no longer listening to frequently. Since they have been through my listening repertoire I know them well and I will certainly return to them in the future.

Some albums remain in my listening repertoire for a long time. I continue listening to them once or twice a month. They're just that good.

And yes, I keep a list of my listening repertoire. I add new albums at the top of the list. This formalization keeps me from forgetting an album too soon. Everybody's busy. Everybody forgets stuff. Removing an album from my listening repertoire is a decision I make, not something that accidentally happens.

You may have noticed that I am focusing on albums, not songs or playlists. I believe that the album is the musician's long form statement just like the song is their short form statement. An album has variety and depth so I can listen to it for several days. You do what works for you. I'm old. I like albums.

Here's my current listening repertoire. So it's newest (to the list) at the top. Not best at the top. The fact that Nubya's 5ive remains on the list after several years shows just how much I like it.

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Nigel Harpur - Carnival For Little Creatures
https://nigelharpur.bandcamp.com/album/carnival-for-little-creatures

Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong - Ella and Louis

John Coltrane - Crescent

ADHD Quartet - ADHD 6
https://adhdiceland.com/

Paul Bley - Fragments

Steve Khan - The Green Field
http://www.stevekhan.com/discog18.htm

Nubya Garcia - Nubya's 5ive
https://nubyagarcia.bandcamp.com/album/nubyas-5ive