Running Head: HEARING AND LISTENING TO MUSIC 1

Hearing and Listening to Music

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Hearing and Listening to Music

People get to experience music differently. Some only hear music while others go deep into

listening to it. Though hearing and listening may seem similar, there is a difference between

the two. Hearing music means experiencing the melody the vibrations, and enjoying them

while listening to music means analysing the words to understand the message and different

arts used in a song. Beethoven’s song Eroica is a good example that shows the difference

between hearing and listening.

In Eroica, Beethoven talks about how deafness has affected his work negatively.

Deafness made his music strange. He wrote what he could hear through his mind. He did not

have to hear physically. Hearing involves happens in any place where there are sounds which

makes it involuntary. Words flowed through his mind enabling him to put them down on

paper.

Listening to music means paying attention to the words and the message conveyed by

the music and the elements and skills used in production. The mind receives the message and

organizes it to find meaning. Listening happens through the mind. In Eroica, Beethoven uses

lower keys because of his deafness. However, even though he was deaf, he still managed to

write Eroica since he had listened to and played music for a long time, which helped him

remember how different sounds worked. He could only imagine how he wanted his music to

be and composed it. Listening means understanding something deeply, which makes it

possible to remember on future dates.

Hearing is passive and involuntary, which means someone can hear any sound they

come across, while listening is active and voluntary, which means it requires one to act and

put an effort to understand what they have heard. Hearing happens through the ears, while

listening occurs through the mind (Martin & Jacobs, 2018). Before Beethoven became deaf,
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he could listen to music and listen to the sounds and tone carefully, then make an effort to

understand them, and that's why he was able to write erotic when he became deaf.

Hearing music means flowing with the words and just singing along while listening to

music means going deep into understanding the different works of arts used to produce the

music, understanding the inner meaning of the words used, the reasons behind the tones and

the sounds used, the instrumental combinations and all that a song entails.

Listening can be affected by different factors. Lack of interest in the message being

conveyed affects one's concentration, making them not hear well. Noise in the environment

one is listening from prevents the mind from perceiving the message correctly. This makes it

impossible to listen accurately to the intended message. Distractions from something

happening around someone also affects ones ability to understand what they are listening to.

People judgement on some issues can be clouded by personal bias, making them ignore

important information.

Eroica shows us the difference between hearing and listening to music. They are both

essential aspects. Hearing happens essentially, and there is music while listening is deliberate,

which occurs only when one decides to perceive and understand the music. Listening is

critical as it enables one to remember the song even when one can't hear it. That is why

Beethoven's was able to formulate sounds for Eroica because he could remember the works

he had done before.

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References

Martin, F. D., & Jacobus, L. (2018). Humanities through the Arts. McGraw-Hill Education.