People don’t automatically appreciate the difference between listening and hearing any more than they do the difference between looking and seeing. A fighter pilot, sailor or artist is taught how to look, just like a musician or an audio engineer has to learn how to listen, so specialist retail staff should know how to teach the customers to listen. Ivor Tiefenbrun MBE
Most people are unaware of how to make qualitative judgements about hi-fi equipment performance because they don’t know the difference between actively listening as opposed to hearing passively. They tend to make quantitative assessments, e.g. prefer more treble, more bass, more openness, more space, stronger image, more guitar. Of course the question is not whether you get more of something, which must mean by definition that you are getting less of something else, but whether all the elements of the music are in the right place at the right time.
This is not a matter of opinion or personal taste. There is such a thing as real music. It has indisputable characteristics and undeniable universal relevance. Silent repetition is what you do when you are listening to someone speaking and you are intent on gaining a complete understanding. You silently repeat everything the person says in your own head. This of course is done naturally and effortlessly if you are truly interested, but requires deliberate effort if you are not or the content is difficult. With live music it is perfectly easy to reproduce the music simultaneously in your own head and happens unconsciously. This is the mechanism that allows music to communicate the message of the composer and the listener to assess the merit of the performance as they are transported by its communicative power.
No hi-fi system can perfectly reproduce the original. The best system is simply more accurate and true to the original recording, therefore easier to simultaneously silently sing along with than systems that are less accurate.
It is important to understand that when listening actively you are not meant to try to sing the sound out loud because you would merely work from your internal musical reference and use and project this, rather than what you hear. What you should be trying to do is see if you can reproduce simultaneously and silently inside your own head the actual sounds that are coming from the loudspeakers.
With a poor system it is impossible or time-consuming to locate the actual or approximate pitch of any melodic element and before you have had time to locate one part of the music and silently reproduce its pitch in your head things have moved on. The more accurate the system, the easier and quicker it becomes to locate each individual sound and so this provides the time necessary to track, follow and simultaneously silently repeat more elements in the melody.
The Tune Dem™ provides a way to show people how they can make consistent and quick judgements that will stand the test of time and elicit unanimous agreement.
Active listening as opposed to passive hearing involves tracking the sound constantly, and performing the work necessary to make an accurate observation. The system that is easiest to sing along with when you are trying to listen actively, will have the most communicative power and impact when you are simply relaxed and hearing and responding without making this effort.
Our advice to customers has always been; if it sounds better, it is better. All you have to do is listen.
This is not a matter of opinion or personal taste. There is such a thing as real music. It has indisputable characteristics and undeniable universal relevance. Silent repetition is what you do when you are listening to someone speaking and you are intent on gaining a complete understanding. You silently repeat everything the person says in your own head. This of course is done naturally and effortlessly if you are truly interested, but requires deliberate effort if you are not or the content is difficult. With live music it is perfectly easy to reproduce the music simultaneously in your own head and happens unconsciously. This is the mechanism that allows music to communicate the message of the composer and the listener to assess the merit of the performance as they are transported by its communicative power.
No hi-fi system can perfectly reproduce the original. The best system is simply more accurate and true to the original recording, therefore easier to simultaneously silently sing along with than systems that are less accurate.
It is important to understand that when listening actively you are not meant to try to sing the sound out loud because you would merely work from your internal musical reference and use and project this, rather than what you hear. What you should be trying to do is see if you can reproduce simultaneously and silently inside your own head the actual sounds that are coming from the loudspeakers.
With a poor system it is impossible or time-consuming to locate the actual or approximate pitch of any melodic element and before you have had time to locate one part of the music and silently reproduce its pitch in your head things have moved on. The more accurate the system, the easier and quicker it becomes to locate each individual sound and so this provides the time necessary to track, follow and simultaneously silently repeat more elements in the melody.
The Tune Dem™ provides a way to show people how they can make consistent and quick judgements that will stand the test of time and elicit unanimous agreement.
Active listening as opposed to passive hearing involves tracking the sound constantly, and performing the work necessary to make an accurate observation. The system that is easiest to sing along with when you are trying to listen actively, will have the most communicative power and impact when you are simply relaxed and hearing and responding without making this effort.
Our advice to customers has always been; if it sounds better, it is better. All you have to do is listen.
