How Should You Listen to Music? – Philosophy Tube ft. This Exists
Are you listening to music wrong? How should you listen in order to make accurate aesthetic judgements?
The other half of the collab! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oy6Y9Whge0o
Aesthetics Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvoAL-KSZ32d-ywRVwELJOl61bKwjzw6h
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Suggested Reading:
Edward Bullough – “’Physical Distance’ as a Factor in Art and as an Aesthetic Principle’ in the British Journal of Psychology, 1912.
George Dickie – “Bullough and the Concept of Physical Distance” in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 1961.
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Music: ‘Show your Moves’ by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), and about 2 seconds of ‘If I Were a Ship’ by Hey Ocean!
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@LeBonkJordan
May 1, 2026 at 2:37 pm
Frankly I think it's absolutely fine to be psychologically closer to a work under certain circumstances, like if a piece has special significance to you because of some memory.
@Quill-Cat
May 1, 2026 at 2:37 pm
Through experience, I have determined that the way people listen to music depends very much on what they want to get out of that music. Not everyone has the same motivation or goal for listening to a piece of music, which impacts how they perceive different types of music. For instance, I don't care for dancing, so I have little interest in dance hall music or music "with a good beat" (e.g. predictable percussion in 3/4 or 4/4 time). But for those who think of music as something you inherently move to and physically experience, this kind of music is very conducive to their goal. I like Rachmaninoff, but I wouldn't recommend him to someone who likes to dance, because it's not good for that type of enjoyment. And that's also why a lot of people listen to different kinds of music for different "moods." Something atmospheric for contemplation, something cathartic for those angry days, et cetera…
@joshme3659
May 1, 2026 at 2:37 pm
How far she has come
@Lovelacewatkins139
May 1, 2026 at 2:37 pm
Ecstasy worked for me in the late 90s , I could get my mind involved in any type f music ,
@marcraab5068
May 1, 2026 at 2:37 pm
Eno
@Lejinad69
May 1, 2026 at 2:37 pm
How about should we listen to music?
All music is created to elicit a certain feeling in a person.
Hence does music influence our feelings too much?
And if so should we distance our selves from it?
@Pfhorrest
May 1, 2026 at 2:37 pm
The idea of needing to disengage from practical concerns to appreciate an aesthetic object in and of itself seems very similar to something I recently wrote in my own essays on morality and aesthetics, where I make a distinction between two kinds of good that I call "proficient" and "beneficent", analogous to abstract and concrete objects, where proficient goods are being "good at" something, beneficent goods are good in and of themselves in the usual moral way, more goods are instrumental goods that are good for their proficiency and bringing about some beneficence, but what is characteristic of good art is its pure proficiency divorced from beneficence: art is something presented to evoke a reaction in an audience, and it's good art to the degree that it's good at evoking that reaction. (Must like most physical objects are really abstractions that we posit to explain the more concrete occasions of experience we have, but they're still instrumentally real to that extend; it's only when those abstractions are completely divorced from experience that they become pure, mathematical abstractions).
I'm writing this spur of the moment, so I don't have a complete connection yet, but that idea of needing to disengage from practical concerns to appreciate the aesthetics rings really similar to my idea about art being all about proficiency divorced from beneficence.
@crustydread
May 1, 2026 at 2:37 pm
im a whole album kind of guy
@bobdobbs7000
May 1, 2026 at 2:37 pm
Here's how I maintain the proper " distance " when I listen to music: I put a CD on, turn it up as loud as it will go, then I hitch a ride ( I don't drive d/t medical restrictions ) to the next county, and stand by the road and listen. Do you really think that there's right or wrong way to listen to music??
@emilyjanet455
May 1, 2026 at 2:37 pm
The concept of "music as background" really isn't that new. Haydn, for example, wrote the majority of his works to be background music at the Esterhazy estate. He wrote a number of "hey look at me! Pay attention!" pieces, but those aren't as common. (This is partly why I find concert performances of Haydn interminable and dull. This wasn't music you're meant to pay attention to in the same way that you're meant you focus on, say, Mahler)
@richardaguirre2157
May 1, 2026 at 2:37 pm
good hip hop laying down in the dark with headphones, one good long trip then it goes on the stereo, car, etc
@GS42SCHOPAWE
May 1, 2026 at 2:37 pm
Yeah, well, that's just like, your opinion man
@MoonOvIce
May 1, 2026 at 2:37 pm
I think the complex theory was needed because lots of people did not come to these simple conclusions most of us music lovers realized long ago, quite a few people I know that only listen to music casually, even music that is not supposed to be listened to in that way, were surprised to hear this kind of thing, so not everyone is aware of this surprisingly.
@peter-subramanian
May 1, 2026 at 2:37 pm
Referring to Brecht and saying he wants us to be aware that we're watching a performance makes me want them study the shit out of Brecht.
@Amy-zb6ph
May 1, 2026 at 2:37 pm
Maybe it's best to listen to music in several different settings, just like you might look at a painting from many different angles. Personally, I prefer headphones because I have a nice pair and it helps me pick out some of the smaller parts that can get drowned out by other noises around me.
@voltairinekropotkin5581
May 1, 2026 at 2:37 pm
One could argue that listening to music "in the background" is in fact the right amount of distancing _for certain types of music_. Brian Eno for example says he composes certain tracks of his to be listened to while people are doing other things.
So, if anything, it's a conformation of the idea, not a case against it.
@mahabubalma8195
May 1, 2026 at 2:37 pm
Who's the girl at 3:02
@abalisa69
May 1, 2026 at 2:37 pm
i usually fantasize me playing that music, that helps me appreciate that music better.
@arkhie9883
May 1, 2026 at 2:37 pm
smart wanna be!
@BustyCatbot
May 1, 2026 at 2:37 pm
But… what about hardcore dubstep?
@matthewramroop
May 1, 2026 at 2:37 pm
So that's why music on the radio is, from a compositional standpoint, relatively simple and, at times, very lackluster when compared to classical music and technical music like Jazz and Metal 😞 I guess my plans of making Progressive/Technical Rapcore mainstream will be met with more disappointment than triumph.
@chris8744-u6w
May 1, 2026 at 2:37 pm
It's questionable that music changed its form from symphonies to short 3-5min songs or pure club music. You are mixing different categories here. Actually, classical music was the type of music for sophisticated upper class, definitely not some kind of pop music of its time. There were folk songs that would more acurately fit within this category.
@vaibhavdimble9419
May 1, 2026 at 2:37 pm
music is just representation of psychological state just as curse or bad word its complete hollow if your mind is not aware or intuitive about that psychological state you can adopt new stages by different music …
@rodrigogarciabeni7698
May 1, 2026 at 2:37 pm
Mozart does not deserve to be considered "of artistic value" (maybe his Requiem does but it does not sound like Mozart :v )
@creshiell
May 1, 2026 at 2:37 pm
oh man. is elevator music called lift music in england? my life is changed
@mbl102
May 1, 2026 at 2:37 pm
The "smooth jazz" dis felt contrived, but I suppose any reference would. I just subscribed, can't wait to watch more!
@Mr_Doon
May 1, 2026 at 2:37 pm
Heh heh
"George Dickie"
heheheh
heh
heh
@b1gm3dahun
May 1, 2026 at 2:37 pm
The times I enjoy music the most are when it is capable of inducing a feeling, even in a mundane setting. For example, Blodtørst by Kvelertak is one of my favourite songs of all time because, even trudging to and from work in driving rain it fills me with genuine excitement. It just makes you want to party.
@beverlyharrold718
May 1, 2026 at 2:37 pm
from this exsists what a terrific idea for a collaboration
@KattKirsch
May 1, 2026 at 2:37 pm
Mallsoft is an excellent example of music created to acutely recreate a sensation of distraction. It takes Brecht's application of distance and repurposes it. The genre as a whole begs you: "Pay attention to how distracted you are."
@Garland41
May 1, 2026 at 2:37 pm
My Musicologist professor, Dr. Joe Panzner, believes that music shows us the processes that are the world. He says this in the vein of composer/soundsscape artist John Cage and views this through the lense of the Continental Philosopher Giles Deleuze. Now, what made John Cage a genius is that he discovered the true definition of what silence is. For many generations, people believed that silence was the absence of sound, yet when John Cage went into a Camber that was supposed to suppress all sound he realized the chamber worked and failed. After this came Cage's epiphany of what silence is. Silence is not the absence of sound, rather, it is sound that is uncontrolled. If one goes to the symphony they will have multiple movements. The controlled sound is what the symphony plays, yet the uncontrolled sound is the talking that people do between the pieces and movements. For Cage then, the spectrum would not be that the experience we have listening to music is changed by the spectrum you mentioned; rather, that spectrum jus decides the type of experience the art will give you.
John Cage's most infamous piece is 4:33 p originally played by David Tudor, a pianist that played the impossible. People make fun of 4:33 as just nothing being play, but it was a giant accomplishment for Cage because he did something that was the antithesis to Beethoven. In Beethoven's music it is all planed out, the is a hierarchy of Composer at the top, Performer in the middle, and the basically spoonfed audience. John Cage, with the performance of 4:33 toppled that power structure to where each participant was consider eqaul.
My Professor has a book on the subject from Bloomsbury Publishing called, The Process that is the World.
@Skibjib
May 1, 2026 at 2:37 pm
I LOVE Hey Ocean!! No one else I know does, though. 🙁
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