I’m a music lover. Scratch that, a music freak.
For example, my iTunes reads as so:
- 12506 songs
- 33.2 days of listening
- 69.73 GB of space
On top of that, they’re all properly organized by their corresponding albums, artist, genres, etc…. with over 90% of them having covers.
As I said, I’m a music freak.
Music is my drug; But I didn’t always see it that way.
I used to listen to music like a normal person; all throughout the day. While working, exercising, on the subway, etc. But then after a while I realized that I never actually got much done compared to those rare times when I did all these things without music. Contrary to what people believe, music does not help you work better, especially if you’re a guy (our minds are less made for multi-tasking that those of women).
When I got to the point where I was choosing music over getting work done, I knew something had to change. And so I, being weird (and the productivity freak that I am), decided to do something… drastic. I would only listen to a max of 1.5 hours of music per day.
Yup, you heard me right, only one and a half hours of music per day. If you can’t tell, this is a drastic move from a 24 hour music schedule.
You know that saying, “restrictions beget creativity” Well, it’s true. My 1.5 hour music restriction is probably one of the best things I’ve ever accidentally stumbled upon.
So, I’m here to reveal it. I don’t have some depraved notion that you people will actually change your whole music experience to match that of mine. I’m just writing this to let y’all experiment as I did, and see for yourselves if it does, in fact, improve your relation with music as it did me.
My ‘system’ of listening to music only has two notions behind it:
- Try as hard as you can to not listen to music outside the restricted time zones.
- Treat music as a form of meditation.
I’ll go into detail.
Designated music periods & music as meditation.
My designated time zones for listen to music are:
- An hour right before I sleep.
- 30 minutes after I wake up.
I chose those times because they’re centred around sleep, and signify the end and beginning of the day.
I listen to music for an hour at the end of the day as a way to relieve the stress of the day off myself right before I sleep. I usually use this time to listen to songs I’ve never heard before, nothing familiar to me. This is key, because it allows me to explore new music and reach outside my comfort zone. And then in the morning I use the 30 minutes to listen to music I already know and love; it starts off my day on a positive note.
I make it a rule to never listen to music outside these times due to one thing; deprivation betters the experience.
By depriving myself of all music outside these times I cherish the little time I do have with music that much more. Compare it to fasting, if you will.
This is actually the hardest thing to do. For one, I dance for a living. So I can’t really deprive myself of music during practice and performances. It’s a necessary. And secondly, the world doesn’t care that I don’t want to listen to music. Really, it doesn’t. Try to go shopping without hearing music, try to sit in a friend’s car without them turning on the radio or their iPod on blast, and try to do anything downtown without hearing music blasting from one place or the other.
The world loves music, and it doesn’t care that you don’t desire music at that specific time.
I don’t think I’ve ever had a day where I’ve not heard music outside my designated periods. But, I’m not mad about it. For me, the general point is to control what I can control. I can control myself listening to music on my iPhone, I can’t control the grocery store deciding to play 60s music. I can control the ambient music I listen to by putting on my noise-cancelling earphones and listening to an audiobook. I can’t control the fact that I’ll constantly hear music during practice, and when I’m with friends.
I control what I can, I leave what I must.
The idea is to not listen to music by my own doing.
And when I do listen to music, I’m fully into the music. I don’t meditate, or practice yoga. For me my meditating happens in those 1.5 hours of music time. The one hour at the end of the day allows me to calm down, relax, and prepare for sleep. And the 30 minutes after I wake up allows me to shake of that “I just woke up” haze peacefully, setting the foundation for the rest of the day.
And while listening to music, I do nothing else. Really. I don’t multi-task while listening to music (I’m meditating after-all). I usually lay on a flat surface and close my eyes during these times (usually on my bed). By doing so I’m able to fully focus on the music. I focus on the words more, the beat more, the flow more… in fact, I don’t think I’ve ever experienced music better than when I’ve had my eyes closed while laying on a flat-surface (this is only true if you rule out ‘drugs’. If you enter marijuana into the equation, things get much more interesting).
What has this done for me?
The main thing I’ve gained from this whole experience is a deeper appreciation for the artist, and the loss of “have I listened to this before” syndrome.
There’s so many little details that an artist puts into their music that you’ll never comprehend until you fully focus on it. Such as the fact that an album is an album for a reason. The order of the tracks actually mean something people! The whole album is in itself one big adventure (that’s why the majority of my songs are full albums).
On top of finding these ‘hidden gems’, I’ve also realized that I never ask myself whether I’ve listened to a song before (I used to do this all the time). I instantly recognize a song I’ve heard before every-time now (thanks to me being fully in the moment while I was listening to it).
And all of this happens in 1.5 hours of the day.
Which allows me to think even better during the day. I never realized that I wasn’t thinking as well as I could until I eliminated music. My comprehension rate increased, my reading speed increased, my creativity increased, etc.
I say this is due to my having split heart and mind. See, music is heart, it touchs your soul, moves you, and leaves you changed. And if you leave heart out of the matters of the mind, you’re able to reach new thresholds, new ideas (whether they be good or bad).
So, all-in-all, I’m weird when it comes to my music. But my weirdness is worth it.
I’ve found a way to increase my experiences of both my time with, and without music.
Which satisfies me just fine.
photo credit: Orange_Beard