Poll: When listening to a song

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Eclipse Dragon

Lusty Argonian Maid
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Jan 23, 2009
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Voted "Vocalist" I love a song where the singer can actually sing (as opposed to so instruments improving his/her voice)
 

burningdragoon

Warrior without Weapons
Jul 27, 2009
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Depends, really. Obviously if there are words, I will pay more attention to them (I'm pretty sure that's just what the/my brain does). But sometimes I will go into specifically for something else, or the instrumental part will be that good that I can't help but pay more attention to that.
 

Broady Brio

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Jun 28, 2009
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Instruments and the vocalist/s. For the life of me I seriously struggle with understanding lyrics. If it sounds good, I'll listen to it.
 

Scarim Coral

Jumped the ship
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Oct 29, 2010
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What no beats? No, instrument doesn't count as some songs I listen to are electronics.
 

Lilani

Sometimes known as CaitieLou
May 27, 2009
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I guess I tend to gravitate toward songs with good rhythms and good melodies. I can be pretty forgiving of other things as long as it's got a strong beat and/or melody.
 

sky14kemea

Deus Ex-Mod
Jun 26, 2008
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Depends on the type of song. I usually focus on the lyrics, though.

Even if a song has amazing instrumentals, if the lyrics aren't my taste, I won't listen to it. =[
 

SckizoBoy

Ineptly Chaotic
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Jan 6, 2011
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Depends on what music I'm listening to...

If it's baroque, then I can draw my focus back and forth from soloist (instrumental or vocal), basso continuo and the harpsichord.

If it's electronic/remix, then I tend to concentrate on the melody (mostly) and the rhythm.

And rock, well, I'll listen to what I can hear, which is usually the instruments, though I do sing-along (or rather, mime-along) as I go and tap my foot to the drums while reading. (Reading and listening to music go hand in hand with me...)
 

Sightless Wisdom

Resident Cynic
Jul 24, 2009
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I try to listen to the overall balance of things, switching my attention between different instruments and vocalists as they take the spotlight. Though, I sometimes find it easier to focus on the drum track because I do play the drums and not any stringed instruments.
 

Lilani

Sometimes known as CaitieLou
May 27, 2009
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SckizoBoy said:
Depends on what music I'm listening to...

If it's baroque, then I can draw my focus back and forth from soloist (instrumental or vocal), basso continuo and the harpsichord.

If it's electronic/remix, then I tend to concentrate on the melody (mostly) and the rhythm.
Let me guess, music major? I took History of Music I last semester for an upper-level art elective, so I sort of get what you're saying here (I think baroque was my favorite period, though I do remember also liking Renaissance madrigals). But I'm a computer animation major, so often the teacher would go and talk about stuff like double-leading tone cadences and I'd sort of space out for a while and wait for the words to start making sense again :p
 

Rowan93

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Aug 25, 2011
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I hear the words, as long as they're comprehensible. Actually, I suppose that's the wrong word. As long as I can make out the syllables, I focus on the lyrics. Then there's the kind of classical-type-stuff where you can't make out whether they're even using words or not.
 
Jan 11, 2009
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Usually the instruments, as a bassist and drummer that's just automatically where my mind goes when I listen to anything. In addition to the air drumming that practically everyone does, I sometimes catch myself 'air-bassing' if I know the song, once in my sleep as well.
 

SckizoBoy

Ineptly Chaotic
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Jan 6, 2011
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A Hermit's Cave
Lilani said:
Let me guess, music major? I took History of Music I last semester for an upper-level art elective, so I sort of get what you're saying here (I think baroque was my favorite period, though I do remember also liking Renaissance madrigals). But I'm a computer animation major, so often the teacher would go and talk about stuff like double-leading tone cadences and I'd sort of space out for a while and wait for the words to start making sense again :p
Haha! Much as it might seem so, no... I just have a very varied taste in music s'all. One moment I'm lying back listening to solo harpsichord music and chilling out, the next I've got a guitar riff screaming through the speakers.

Though I'm not that taken by Renaissance music because there wasn't enough variation in different composers styles to 'hook me' as it were. I found Vivaldi to be too much of a yearn for Renaissance sounds that I just don't really like his music... :/ You find me an avid listener of Handel and a lover of Bach's music (secular, I haven't really heard much of his religious music).

Still, the other day, I listened to BWV1041 (3rd movement) over and over again, never getting tired of it, because I concentrated on the different layers of the composition: solo (violin); basso continuo (treble and alto voices); basso continuo (tenor and bass-baritone voices); and harpsichord. There couldn't've been more than eight or nine musicians playing that piece in this recording, but damn, I was constantly hearing something new... o_O'
 

Total LOLige

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Jul 17, 2009
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Usually the instruments more specifically the drums. I don't know what it is but I learn the drum beat of a song before the lyrics. Maybe I should be a drummer. But I do like lyrics, I can't listen to prog rock because there are long periods without lyrics.
 

TheYellowCellPhone

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Sep 26, 2009
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Instruments. Because all the songs I listen to have nothing else. I have motherfuckin' Stravinsky open in another tab right now.
 

Goofguy

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Nov 25, 2010
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Usually a combinations of the vocals and instruments. I don't really try to look for meaning in the vocals, I care more about the rhythm of the song.