The art of active listening

When I was younger I used to spend most of my days listening to music. I would go insane if I spent a day without music. The years passed and I started to compose electronic music. The same passion I had with music listening passed on to my compositions. I never stopped listening to music, but something changed. My focus changed and my brain also changed.

Many studies were and are being made about the way music affects our brain.
In one of this studies, classical musicians were plugged in MRI machines and listened to music. Scientists found out that the parts of the brain activated by the music, were the ones related with mathematics and language.
The same study showed that people that don't compose music had the pleasure centers of their brain activated.

For musicians, being able to listen and identify melodies, harmonies, performance and mixes is of great importance. Technical listening is what allows a musician to evolve in the art of composition.
But, being able to step back and turn off that technical part of the brain is important. Emotional listening is important. This is not just for music composers. Most Dj's suffer from the same. Not being able to fully enjoy other Dj playing without activating the technical brain. It's hard, but achievable. (I also suffer from this, and I'm an emotional party animal)

The best way to reconnect with the emotional brain is by observing our kinesthetic responses to a piece of music.
(kinesthetics is the study of movement of the human body and of the perception, both conscious and unconscious, of our own body motions)

The dance can reveal everything mysterious that is hidden in music, and it has the additional merit of being human and palpable. Dancing is poetry with arms and legs.
Charles Baudelaire

The kinesthetic response is a secret weapon, for the self as a active listener and for the music professional. If people don´t react something is not going on.

Active listening is a skill that we develop with practice. With the help of the technical and emotional brain.
Find a quiet place unplug your phone, clear your mind and put full attention on listening. Notice the kinesthetic responses of the body. Even a negative reaction is an emotional response.

I think music in itself is healing. It's an explosive expression of humanity. It's something we are all touched by. No matter what culture we're from, everyone loves music.
Billy Joel

A couple of weeks ago, after a gig, I had a major insomnia. I grabbed my headphones and try to listen to a sleep meditation, without success.
So I scrolled my youtube playlists, and rediscovered an album from 1995, Earth & Nightfall by John Beltran. This album ignited my emotional brain. After this active listening and still insomniac I spent 9 hours listening to music non stop. I smiled, I cried and got scared with some of SNTS sounds. I travelled through the multiverses of sound.

Listening to music without analyzing it, is pure therapy.