Close your eyes

There are a million ways to listen to music. Actually, all day long, whether we are in our car, in a restaurant or an elevator: some kind of music will be playing. The form of music we are most familiar with is the one coming at us while we are doing something else. Something else than listening to music I mean.

But there is another way to really pay attention to music. I would like to talk about something very simple, very easy that everyone can do to enhance any listening experience: close your eyes.

Our brain dedicates a lot of power towards our sight. It is mainly a “seeing organ”. And we are bombarded by images all the time. That’s one of the reason why Netflix rose to the the top in a short time.

But, for the subject at hand, we just put some music on and close our eyes. All of the sudden our whole being is propelled into the ocean of sound coming at us. The details come into magnificent view, the harmonies, the smallest percussive bang jumps at us like never before. And we are knee deep into the treasure box that musicians have prepared for us.

I’ll give you another image. A different kind.

Imagine you are in your bedroom about to fall asleep. You’re slowly drifting into slumber when you hear an unusual sound. Preferably small. Although it is pitch black in the room, your ears starts to expand, to melt into every corner of your place. You capture the faintest whisper from the wind, the tiniest creak from the door or the window, the smallest tic-tock from the clock located in another room.

You are awake now, your brain is at attention. Your survival is at stake. And you can amplify any sound coming from within 20 yards around your place. You are nothing but a big pair of ears. Sweating with fear and worries, for sure: but you’re really listening.

Maybe sometimes, we should listen to music that way. To hear the details under a great microscope. I do not advise to get into a frightened mood to achieve such result. No need. But you can do the next best thing: Just close your eyes.