How Many Times Do You Have To Listen To Understand A Piece Of Music?

Ive listened to Led Zeppelin for 50+ years and I’m not sure I every understood it. (-:

But I liked / like it.

I got Revolution #9 by The Beatles very first time which I believe is a world record and no foreign substances were involved. 

Once, to know whether it’s something I want to listen to any further. Maybe two to three more times to figure out if I like it enough to buy it.

Once to know if I like it.  To get to know it depends largely on how simple of complex the song is.  There are Joni Mitchell songs that took me many listenings, 10 or more, to finally understand what was going on.

I guess it depend on how one defines "understand"; there are always additional layers of understanding and countless ways our aging and the passing of the decades changes things.  For example, we "understand" Elvis's music and impact differently now that what anyone 10 or 60 years ago would have understood.

But if what we mean by "understand" is to appreciate, then its subjective in 101 ways.  Some songs we immediately fall in love with in a powerful way like a newfound crush ("Big Dreams" by Amyl and the Sniffers is my latest) while others are a slow burn into something deep and enduring (I listened to the Jimi Hendrix Kiss the Sky compilation many times over before I finally connected with "Third Stone from the Sun," a song that I don't know if I "understand" all these years later, but I do indeed love it in a very deep way, probably in part because it remains a little mysterious.)

Some it's love at first sight (hear), others it takes a few listens for it to grow on me, and then there are those I can't stand from the get-go.

When I first heard Captain Beefheart, it sounded like Frank Zappa and the Mothers on acid. I figured that out in five minutes. 

Some of my favorite artists I love the music right away, but can take at least 5 or 6 listenings before I can even figure out what the song is doing.... 

To quote Beefheart, "When It Blows - It Stacks."

That is all ye know, and all ye need to know.

It varies by song obviously some are more accessible than others. Countless times I've decided a song was the best on an album only to later consider a different song I didn't care for originally best on an album.

Classical music and good jazz—if it’s music that grabs me: hundreds and hundreds of times. In my case, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Charles Ives, Charles Lloyd and Charlie Mingus. If I listened to these in vinyl I would have worn them out by now. In fact I did wear out Three or Four Shades of Blue back in my turntable days.

Did you ever understand Picasso? There you go!
 

it is not meant to be understood by you. It has meaning to the artist. Not necessarily to you

Once.

I know it's not fair, but I am quite judgmental when listening to new music.

If I don't want to listen to the entire song, then it has almost zero chance of getting a second chance.

I don't think you have to objectively "understand" a piece of music to absolutely enjoy it right away, from complex jazz or classical to a simple tune. If it feels good, it's good. I was a Beatles and Dylan fan in the 60s when it was new and would sit stunned when first hearing some new thing...saw Monk at 13 when he opened for Peter Paul and Mary at the Hollywood Bowl...didn't know any jazz, no clue who he was, got my mind blown. All that resulted in a decades long career playing music for a living.

Rap or hip-hop: about 15 seconds.  Most contemporary pop/rock: first listen.  Selected pop artists (mostly indie, e.g. Kate Bush): a couple of listens.  Springsteen: ain't gonna happen in this lifetime.

If I’m critically listening, not hearing at a holiday party at someone house, once.  Some music grows on me like an earworm.  My kids music sometimes.  I’ve heard it so many times I know every word by heart but I wouldn’t put it on my playlist.  

There are many composers that people I respect tell me that I ‘have” to get.  Schoenberg and his school are the most frequently cited.  So after years of trying I finally understand the music, but I still don’t much care for it

About 16 bars is usually enough for me to know whether I want to listen further.

Tried out Nine Inch Nails yesterday.  Felt like I was being screamed at by an alien being.  Went through 10 tracks at about 12 seconds each, that was plenty for the rest of my life.

No I don't get it.

Regards,

barts

@fatdaddy2 Your comment on Springsteen made me laugh out loud.
@onhwy61 Depends. Some music grabs me immediately and all I want is more of the album, and the artist. Others take a few more listens, or just being in the right mood. Sometimes learning something about the artist’s life is enough for a second listen. I was once ready to chuck a disk as unintelligible garbage until I looked up the bio of the artist, one Chet Baker. I was intrigued, and gave it a second listen, I ‘understood’ it much better the second time around and treasure it now. But not when I want to dance. 🙂

Note: I had purchased a rather large collection of assorted CDs and was trying to pare them down to size. I have quite a stack of ‘Punk’ CD’s you can have for free. I tried every track on them to make sure they played, but not more than two seconds on any of them. I don’t like being screamed at. But I can remember, days in my adolescence when I might have been screaming right along with some bands in the 60’s, just not this stuff.

AC DC about a minute

Chopin ... days

RUSH ... eternity 

@wolf_garcia

I don’t think you have to objectively "understand" a piece of music to absolutely enjoy it right away, from complex jazz or classical to a simple tune.

+1

@tony1954

If I don’t want to listen to the entire song, then it has almost zero chance of getting a second chance.

 

+1

@michaellent

it is not meant to be understood by you. It has meaning to the artist. Not necessarily to you

Granted, art must first please the artist. It can stop there or, by incorporating the universal within the personal, can reach/touch many more people. Depends upon your intent. art vs Art. 

I think understanding is different than appreciating.  I can think of simple songs I understood first listen but have grown to appreciate over time.  My appreciation can wax or wane as I grow, mature and change. I often need to understand before I can appreciate…recently I was listening to a classical piece I didn’t relate to until it dawned on me it was written in 7/8.  Then it clicked.  Interestingly, I pointed the time signature out to my wife, who shrugged and smiled…she had no clue what meter the piece was in but enjoyed it immensely.

About 15 years ago I thought I should have a crack at understanding Wagner's Ring Cycle.  I've hardly scratched the surface.  Mind you, it took him 26 years to write the four 'music dramas' that make up the cycle.  About 2 years per completed hour.

In many ways, the Ring is the prototype for many of today's films, and even the 'wall of sound' used in rock concerts.  Almost everybody has heard the stirring "Ride of the Valkyries"!

To understand who the Valkyries were, you need to have some idea of the Norse and Icelandic sagas.  That's before you try to see how Wagner twisted the plot lines and merged characters to underscore the human foibles of greed, betrayal and world domination.

Throw in the Greek tragedies and a bit of Shakespeare as background.

Musically there are hundreds of 'motifs' or theme music fragments which give clues to the plot line.  Fully understand - never.  Appreciate - usually!

Rap about five seconds. It’s absolutely horrifying. I don’t understand opera. Classical from Rachmaninoff is a challenge to understand. Frank Zappa challenging I just wish he played music rather than interrupt with all this weird stuff he likes to do.. Lots of chord progressions and jazz proposition that can be complicated. don Ellis an amazing trumpet jazz player from the 70s has remarkable arrangements but sometimes he does weird stuff that I don’t understand, I do like pussy wiggle stomp Don Ellis that’s done in a very unique time. Oscar Peterson handles very complicated playing and makes me wish I had taken piano playing so I could understand what he’s doing but I can just sit back and really like it though. I don’t understand why we can’t listen to Christmas music all year long.