How To Listen To Music, Not Just Hear It Essay, Research Paper

How to Listen to Music, Not Just Hear it

To learn to listen to music, not just hear itYou need the right room,

the right equipment, the perfect volume, the perfect spot, and (of course), the

embracing of the music. After you have all the proper tools, you can sit and

enjoy the music.

The first consideration is to listen to music in a comfortable chair. I

would highly recommend a good quality Lazy Boy recliner. Now, you need to find

the best room to put that chair in, so you can listen to you music. The room

can be any normal room with four walls but, the room can’t be wide open. For

example, it can’t be an unfinished basement with concrete walls and a cement

floor. The sound will not be able to bounce off the walls and give the effect

as if the sound is coming from behind you, as well as in front of you (the

surround effect). A good room to listen in, is a typical family room with sheet

rock walls and four ninety degree corners.

The second consideration is placement of speakers. The corners of a

room are the perfect spot for your speakers. You shouldn’t position them flush

against the wall, but put the back of the speaker into the corner, so each side

of the speaker is against each wall. For this reason, the bass is extended

(louder), and the tweeters, mid-range, and woofers give you their undivided

attention.

Where to sit is simple, but it takes some easy calculations to find the

perfect spot. There is a common rule for a person to experience the full effect

of the music. In order to do this, measure the distance between the two speaker

cabinets. If the speaker’s cabinets are placed twelve feet apart from each

other, divide twelve feet in half, which gives us six feet. That’s the middle,

so mark that location. From that mark, measure twelve feet back, and mark that

spot on the floor. You have found the perfect spot for you to achieve the best

sound from your music.

Next, you need a receiver. The receiver is a power source and a

switchboard for your additional stereo components. Any receiver will do, as

long as it has one-hundred watts per speaker out-put. Then, you need a compact

disc player, a single or a five disc is fine. Some speaker wire is a must.

Speakers on the other hand, are a tough choice because there are so many

of them. You want to spend at least four-hundred dollars when buying speakers.

Anything lower than four-hundred dollars is usually low quality, which can

increase the risk of destroying your speakers.

When you decide on three sets of speakers (one set equals two speakers)

at you local speaker shop, have a salesman play some of your cd’s that you

brought with you. Make sure you listen to the same song per set of speakers.

Also, bring different types; classical, jazz, blues, rap, and 80’s; whatever.

Forget what the salesman says. Just remember, your ears won’t deceive you.

Figure out what sounds the best to you, then slap your credit card down and

lets’ go home and listen to some music.

After you’ve placed your speakers, hooked up your receiver, connected

your compact disc player, and put your couch or music chair in the ?full effect?

spot in your family room, now you can turn on the receiver and compact disc

player, and put in one of your favorite compact disc’s. One problem; do not hit

the play button yet. Sorry! You first need to make sure the volume is at its

lowest point. Make sure the CD button on the receiver has been pushed.

Now here’s a little advice from a male. We males are supposed to know

our remote controls, according to woman. So, if you’re a woman who is reading

this, you need to get to know your remote control(s). You need to memorize

where the mute button is, and where the CD skip, advance, and play are located.

The two most important buttons on a remote control are volume. The remote

control has to be an extension of your hand. You need to love the remote

control, and the remote control needs to love you. Play with it until you can

move your thumb and index finger over it with grace and precision.

Here comes the part when you need to test your babies (speakers).

You’ve been anticipating this moment from the time you got bit by the quality

sound bug. Press play on the compact disc player and sit back and listen to

your favorite song. Turn the volume up; don’t be afraid. Now, turn it up to the

ten o’clock position. If there’s no distortion, only clean sound, then turn it

up a little more. Try the twelve o’clock position. If there’s some or no

distortion, you’ve found the maximum sound out-put. I would recommend that you

don’t go over the twelve o’clock position, because you could damage your

speakers. Now fiddle with the volume until you can hear and feel every

instrument clearly. Also, it’s best if you can close your eyes and visualize

the music. Picture all the sound surrounding you, working it’s way into your

ears. The music will start to sound like its coming from behind you as well as

in front of you.

Listening to music takes a little practice. All you have to do is

listen to the notes of the music. You will feel the beat of the music in your

chest. I know it can be intimidating, but if you give it time, the music will

flow through you.

When the music is flowing through you, I hope you have a big smile on

your face. That happiness may turn into tear in the eye. It did for me the

first time I listened to music. I hope you successfully understood how to

listen to music, not just hear it.