Concentration

Obviously we're listening to the sound and music simultaneously, the two are inseparable. Which is most salient at any moment in time is the question. I can't recall a single listening session over many decades of listening to high end systems when sound quality or qualities didn't rise to primacy at certain times. This mostly due to the high variability in recording quality, how one could ignore the often extreme differences in sound quality between recordings seems unfathomable. The only time I can ignore this is when listening on midfi systems like I have at work or in cars, these systems homogenize recordings to a large extent

. I'm also very content listening to mediocre recordings, being attentive to the sound doesn't have to be a necessarily judgmental exercise. Beyond this, paying attention to sound quality can quickly morph into the music and/or performance of that music rising to primacy, I don't listen in only one unchanging mode.

While it is true we listen to music and sound at the same time, it’s the priority that we give to each that’s the issue. 

@rvpiano  Thanks for the reply to my comment. Your word "priority" is one I associate with making a judgment after doing an analysis. I think of "making a judgment" as a different activity than "listening to music & sound" for enjoyment purposes.

I’m sorry my analogy of "flavor" and "texture" doesn’t work for you. For me, musical content and sonic texture are entangled in that way. (Consider why people love YoYo Ma; it's not just his way of playing music, but his touch and tone; those seem like sonic elements to me.) Only if I am analyzing for some other purpose (adjusting the system) are they pulled apart to determine "priority."

If one of them does become more salient, it is in the kind of experience sns describes, with one becoming more prominent than the other but neither disappearing or becoming irrelevant.

In many of your posts, I notice you return to a struggle you have to keep your analytical side in check. That’s a valuable initiative, but I don’t think it reveals a reality about listening for everyone.

Sure if you’re riding a unicycle juggling hatchets you’re not going to be concentrating on the music but under the different strokes for different folks (maybe not the best analogy or maybe the very best) analogy it’s possible absorption for many can happen at vastly different thresholds. 

It’s the music itself that given individual predilections that will/will not entwine. For example Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 6 is complex and not my cup of tea so my concentration doesn’t engage. “Dirty Water “by The Standells has me singing along but something like the Keith Jarrett Trio has me drawn in in a blissful way. When the music is felt that’s the ticket. 

This quality discussion is trying to put into the vernacular what’s magical in the brain about transformational music. 
 
Some how this comes to mind  from Wordy Rappinghood by Tom Tom Club

“Words that write the book I like
Words won't find a right solution
To the planet Earth's pollution
Say the right word, make a million
Words are like a certain person
Who can't say what they mean
Don't mean what they say

Hi kye yay, yippie yi kye yay
Awoo awoo ayee kie chi'
What are words worth?
What are words worth? Words“

@hilde45 

what do you think of my observation of the difference between classical music listening and other types of music regarding this dichotomy?

@immatthewj 

Good!!!

It's been a good day if I made you laugh! 😃