'How to listen to music' by Daniel Barenboim

Daniel Barenboim launches a new digital-only label
PERAL MUSIC will document Daniel Barenboim's work as conductor, pianist and chamber musician
'I want to try and look at the future. I want to really get myself into the mentality of the digital world.' Daniel Barenboim

[@ariehchrem3067]

when he said shopping list I thought he said Chopin, Liszt...

[@PianoScenesMoviesandSeries]

+Arieh Chrem HAHAHA genius, very funny

[@clasesdepercusion]

jajaja!

[@theanonymouslawyer]

Arieh Chrem I think u don't know how to pronounce "Chopin"

[@ananthd4797]

same here

[@hdholl]

To listen well, you have to get a potato clock!

[@TheParadisecove]

"Listen to and focus on the first note and don't let it go...and then fly with it to the last note..." Daniel Barenboim

[@RolyatAdonis]

❤️

[@gymcapybara9496]

Does anyone actually realize how genius this man is. He plays all of Beethoven's sonatas by memory.

[@indaadams9912]

David Vorobeichik and also he can conduct while playing the piano...stands up to conduct the sits down and plays piano and conducts with his head then stands again and so on...

[@ArthurAgamenon_]

this guy is insane, my objective was playing all the 12 trancendental etudes by ear, and he plays 32 sonatas. That's freaking awesome

[@apostolismoschopoulos1876]

@@ArthurAgamenon_ you objective is crazy as well. I can only imagine the amount of practice you had in order to achieve this goal.. Good job!

[@ArthurAgamenon_]

@@apostolismoschopoulos1876 I actually wanted to say "by memory" but I got confused when writing, i'm not tryhard to the point of taking so much

[@apostolismoschopoulos1876]

@@ArthurAgamenon_ despite the use of words, I understood what you wanted to say. Did you achieve the objective? Mine is by the end of 2021 to play sonatas 19&20 of beethoven

[@andreaaabreww]

"You fly with the music until the last note." - Daniel Barenboim

[@amormusica283]

What a great musician!!! "Even when the music is about suffering, we enjoy it" / "Music never loves or smiles, music never cries, it always smiles and cries at the same time" - Daniel Barenboim

[@anthonyjackes2753]

These are not only words of a professor, but teachings of a master. A man that talks about a very profound spirituel experience that people can have with the sounds. Even with the sounds of silence...great, Maestro!

[@alexmelia9418]

'hang onto the first note.. fly with it… until the end' Great truths can often be told in very few words. What a great man.

[@juanferestrada]

That’s right! the main reason people don’t find classical music enjoyable is because all the music they have known and liked in their life is popular music made to be enjoyed without an effort. It doesn’t require you to know anything about how music works or anything, you just like the lyrics, you think the sounds are cool or maybe you even start liking it because of the song video or because you like the looks of the singer/band, etc, and most of the times it’s just kind of a nice background sound. People just aren’t used to really pay attention to music and they can’t sit down and listen to a piece without getting distracted in their minds when 15 seconds pass. It’s the same thing that happens to a lot of people when they try to read a book, and in certain moment the eyes keep following the letters but their mind is gone somewhere else, and after a while they realize and they go back and re-read. It’s hard to concentrate. The problem with music is that you can’t go back to where you got lost. You missed it and you are more and more confused as time passes and as you don’t understand anything the sound starts getting irritating, especially if your hearing a full orchestra. It’s really understandable how people speak or looks around or doesn’t know what to do during a concert. It’s as if they were watching a movie in a language they don’t understand very well and also they can’t concentrate and miss parts. They couldn’t hold on to it as maestro said. Other things that contribute to not being able to concentrate because you don’t know what you’re supposed to hear: - Not a full understanding of harmony hence your brain not being able to feel it and flow with it. - Not knowing every single instrument of the orchestra hence not knowing what is producing the sound and just hearing a bunch of different blurry timbres. - Not being familiarized with stuff like differentiating melody from accompaniment, main material from bridge material, the basic most usual forms, counterpoint, and how rythm works. This will probably not even be read by anyone and if it does most likely it’ll be someone that knows the stuff I wrote, but if maybe it gets read by someone curious that is just starting to explore music, I would really like to recommend Aaron Copland’s book ‘What to listen for in music’ (and his music too) and I really encourage you to keep discovering music because what maestro Barenboim said is true! The enjoyment and pleasure music can give you is OUT OF THIS WORLD!! 😜😜

[@jean-francoisbeaubien1631]

Very good comment. Music is a way of life. I could not live without music (or live and be happy let's say). Copland music is fantastic, especially its clarinet concerto, or the music of Appalachian Spring.

[@reddragonready]

You are actually stating the opposite of what Barenboim is saying here..you claim one needs to know music theory in order to really listen to music. He states all it takes is the commitment to actually listen..to give yourself over to listening.

[@danielbonaparte8420]

Juan Fernando Estrada : i enjoyed your comment, you get it.

[@cuzknowledgeispower9468]

I believe it's this kind of elitism that actually drives people away from classical. The idea that it takes a deeper knowledge in order to understand or enjoy it is absurd, especially considering the meaning of all music is subjective. Using your very same arguments, I could say that's why more people don't like heavy metal, or jazz, or R&B, or whatever. It all comes down to preference, which is driven/influenced by many different things. When I fell in love with classical music, I knew nothing about it. I came from a family that barely listened to music... and when they did, it was country. I literally didn't even know it was the string section that made the opening sounds of Beethoven's 5th symphony... but I knew I loved it. I never much cared for Bach though. Still don't to this day, even though I now understand counterpoint, harmonies, melodic progression, etc... I appreciate his works, but don't have a preference for them. In summary... classical is for anyone who has an interest in it, regardless of musical knowledge.

[@SachinSajith]

​@@cuzknowledgeispower9468 Its mostly ignorant people who think one type of music is better than another, I mean people quote all the greatest classical composers ever and say that classical music is the best while conveniently ignoring the countless mediocre classical musicians who have been forgotten by time. Now off course Justin Bieber is not the epitome of music , but if someone tells me that the music made by the likes of beatles , pink floyd, led zeppelin, michael jackson, bob dylan , david bowie, , black sabbath , miles davis and many more is in some way inferior to classical music , then I will gladly disagree, i quoted these musicians specificaly because they have lasted the test of time for 40+ years, though the great classical composers have an advantage of having lasted for much more years , but people must remember that the music they made were the genre which was dominant at that time, and similarly current dominant music will also have its occasional ones in a generation musicians who will stand the test of time for centuries to come. Also another thing some elitist think is that only the intelligent people appreciate classical music , and then again if that was the case then Elon Musk would'nt be listening to edms and Frank Sinatra. Also I the poster above think that people don't listen to classical because they can't decipher the various instruments and all, as if when classical music was popular all the general public was completely literate in music theory, also even small kids who haven't yet learned to speak are known to enjoy music, and its just a fact , all music has to do is to be pleasing to the ears.

[@fabiocangero6561]

I really do think that what he says is the perfect answer to give to those people who tell me 'I'm not a musician, how could I appreciate classical music?'. That's the point: music breaks with labels, and by the time we listen to music we interact with another world, an unknown one which can be discovered only through the mystery of sound. Thanks Maestro, thanks for saying it so poetically, with glazing eyes full of love for your noble job.

[@LyndseyMacPherson]

What a treasure! "The more you give, the more you get back." I truly hope Maestro Barenboim gets back every joy and inspiration he has given us tenfold, for he fills our universe with more beauty than we'd ever dared hoped to find.

[@karlakor]

The act of listening to music in today's society no longer requires concentration, due to its on-demand availability in so many forms. Unfortunately, most people today listen to music only while doing something else. Only at a concert, where there is no possibility of doing anything else, when one's attention is undivided, is there the opportunity to listen with concentration.

[@RacinZilla003]

As a student, it baffled me greatly throughout high school that other students talked amongst themselves whilst a concert played. In university now, I'm really happy to be surrounded amongst fellow-minded musicians... but even then, seeing other university students of differing faculties talk over an on-going jazz concert was a bit jarring. :\

[@Gruskinator]

Actually, I've seen people playing games on their cell phones during concerts. With headphones on.

[@searchers]

+karlakor It is simply a difference between hearing music, or listening to music. You can hear music, and do other things. If you listen to music, you have to think about the music.

[@lockitdrop]

+karlakor I kinda miss the days when I was able to listen to classical music to help me focus on homework. If I try to do that now I either turn the music off or close my books.

[@RohannvanRensburg]

Except that people can't put their ****ing mobile devices away at a concert. Tech distraction is the bane of our society. It's sad that it's not in to "listen" to music anymore. To legitimately listen to music is life-changing.

[@11lingvvl]

What an absolute inspiration

[@puckkox5071]

But when i AM so very stad.

[@diogoduarte4482]

I never had listen to music the way you describe it. With all my heart thank you for your words Mr. Barenboim

[@museme6945]

Bravo Maestro! Music smiles and cries at the same time, so true. Thank you.

[@ismireghal68]

2:49 "it always smiles and crys at the same time" very true for some pieces more than others, it is as if happiness and sadness, seeming opposites in the world we experience, reveal their true dual nature in emotional music. And feeling good about sad music is not macabre as you already pointed out. Sadness is not really the bad thing, the bad thing is not knowing why you feel a certain way and misunderstanding yourself and the world. Music now can perfectly describe feelings for us wich we then can understand (re)experience in a cleansing way.

[@musikalitet]

brilliant brilliant brilliant,,, music always "smile and cry at the same time…." genial

[@michaelhayes690]

Wonderful teacher and person. Thanks.

[@christianvennemann9008]

I'm at the intermediate level of piano-playing, and Daniel Barenboim and Arthur Rubinstein are my two biggest piano heroes! 🙌🙌

[@stenaldomehilli8809]

Such a wonderful to be one of your students mister Baremboin! Everyone would love to be in such privileged position!

[@alexanderwelge8676]

Thank you Maestro Barenboim...what a beautiful message...

[@Eudaimonia88]

Wonderful, wise words of eternal truth.

[@bernamej]

I just love that man!

[@user-nt3xr4ze9z]

absolutely

[@theloniousmonk81]

He is argentinian, as the Papa, messi maradona che guevara and juan Perón

[@Michajeru]

He is a Jew born in Argentine and he is also an Israeli citizen as well as a citizen of Argentine. He is fluent in several languages as well as Hebrew.

[@theloniousmonk81]

Michajeru argentinian

[@theloniousmonk81]

Michajeru why do you believe than be a jew is something important? He is argentinian first. And then is a jew. As i am a cristian. Netanyahu is a jew too. And he is a killer.

[@vitamc1213]

Not many people can give themselves to the music, but those who can, know that it feels amazing. You almost feels as if the composer is speaking to you in a language that is both foreign and familiar at the same time. To talk with Barenboim for even 5 minutes about music would be an absolute dream; though, 5 minutes would be no where near enough!

[@VladVexler]

It’s a pretty stressful process! Listening well. But you get so much back.

[@ramdenze]

I love this guy, he explains so well

[@UncleMikeNJ]

"You can use music to forget, or you can use music for your growth, and enjoyment." -- Daniel Barenboim "Some dance to remember, some dance to forget." -- Don Henley

[@kevinwilkins7851]

What an eloquent gentleman! I LOVE classical music and notice how frequently it makes me cry and maybe the composition I listened to has elements of sadness that evoke these feelings.

[@joegpsm]

How true and how well put! I will never understand the power of music. Music is synonymous with emotion. It is magic!

[@kellicoffman8440]

I absolutely loved this talk. As a classical music lover I have been listening to videos on listening to classical music to improve my listening. Also I took music appreciation in college in both cases I felt so much technical theory can intimidate a person just listening for the first time. As he makes it clear you listen for the beautiful sounds and entertainment. I admire him both as a conductor and musician

[@deigratia2]

This is so wonderful, special and true! The more you give, the more you will get back. Live, breathe and feel the music, yes Ben, like a form of meditation I suppose.

[@TheMusicalDawn]

oh yes thank you, it is a story that unfolds in this magnificent language.... from my own heart I cannot speak with my mouth that which requires so many words, it will take me a lifetime. But, with one measure I can speak the glory of a single moment

[@camero12321]

This is true genius. Give yourself to music and it will caress you like a baby. I Love it.

[@kayausiu8090]

I listen frequently to several late compositions of Bach over and over again. Inadvertently I discovered while I was doing something else at the same time, I found myself in a frame of mind I can call being choicelessly aware, I had the highest enjoyment of this music I love. It does not happen every time. Allow yourself to be moved.

[@AdamTaubVideo]

Thank you Daniel Berenboim, that was expressed very well! I research and lecture on music and dance from the Dominican Republic and what you said is of value to all genres of music. "Give of yourself" thanks again.

[@user-bk3bm4ni7j]

Pure music is from heaven through genuine and that is realized by excellent performers. Good audience can make that their spiritual property.

[@MrInterestingthings]

He has always been vitally important in my life . Even his earliest ecordings showed an unabated , almost superhuman commitment !

[@timward4227]

Thank you very much for that. Having respect is the patience required to listen to the music of your soul...

[@emilyla6415]

I can't agree with this more, to see my own sentiment expressed in someone like Daniel Barenboim how I would put it exactly is amazing

[@josephcunniff8995]

Barenboim inspires us with his knowledge and abilities.

[@colinmurphy2214]

Amazing video maestro

[@goldahashemzukhn-viren8523]

Thank you, maestro!

[@neweast5991]

Listening to maestro Barenboim talking about music gives the same pleasure as listening to a classical masterpiece 💖

[@FredHMusic-gr7nu]

I couldn't agree more!!!!

[@barbaraterracciano7716]

Hi Daniel,Thank you for your advice 😘

[@MrTimdrums]

Bravo, Maestro!

[@alejandragiacomelli-simone5716]

...... muchas gracias por sus palabras Maestro ... hace un tiempo tuve la felicidad de verlo dirigiendo en Zürich ... una experiencia inolvidable que siempre guardare en mi corazon ...

[@almistmu]

Thank you, Maestro!

[@veradekleva2158]

really exact and very good! thanks!

[@HarlondN]

Thanks for sharing my friend this information. Here I come to support your channel.

[@jorgegeorgen]

Muy bien Daniel!!! estoy totalmente de acuerdo!! yo lo practico desde mis comienzos musicales ...cuando tenia 9 años ...hoy logre hacer experiencia ..ya voy por los 64 y todavia sigo descubriendo la hermosa y profunda belleza que la musica encierra.

[@freedomofsoundexpressionc4530]

I've never thought about music from that standpoint. Thank you

[@BrunoLimaSm]

Just... Thank You!

[@user-wr8wf5nf4l]

This video can be something life-changing

[@javiqt1]

thanks Dani

[@Ennah08]

I am so happy about, what he says about finding the KINDS of music, that appeals to you more!!! I often wondered, what people mean, when they say they love classical music... I mean, there are so many different "types" - and I had a hard time admitting to myself, that symphonies are not my kind of music, mostly... Now I enjoy all the other stuff so much more!!! Lots of baroque music and Schuberts chamber music - and Steve Reich! - and so on :-)

[@ferreirasingerguitarrist]

My respects, Maestro!

[@wolfram9669]

Admiro profundamente a este hombre. Un genio.

[@daveknight957]

Jesus ........ this made me cry .............

[@DivineSource444]

Barenboim is my mentor. Genius.

[@mariannaespinoza61]

Amo a Daniel Barenboim Amo escuchar musica Viva la musica! Mas das de ti, mas recibiras😍

[@fernandochavez1830]

This video must show to every man in the world

[@marden67]

When I listen to music, I say that I close my eyes and I open my heart, and that I fly with music to the musician's and composer's world. I do hate when someone disturbs me when I listen to music because it breaks the emotion up.

[@KARIBIKunderwater]

AWESOME! !

[@annied4084]

what a beautiful way to portray mindfulness tousic

[@graemeroberts2935]

Such perfect advice.

[@edelgar33]

…the will to attach yourself to it…. Sometimes you don’t need the will. The beauty of the music grabs you, so you stay with it even beyond the last note.

[@MrInterestingthings]

Those who create art and seek answers to formal questions don't function to give anyone a hide-space from the world. Schonberg .Boulez,Wuorinen ,Sessions,Jacob Druckman and thousands others are full of fascinating devices , ideas & sounds ....It's good to hear B speak about listening as interaction- giving. I would say all art requires this whether it is a chair, painting or building!

[@DinJalil]

A beautifully explanation by Maestro Daniel Barenboim

[@annelihanninen9609]

Aaaa 8 Sibbo Britt a

[@metalpunk]

Wow, deep stuff. This is amazing. Everyone should see this.

[@marthajane6617]

***** No, they really shouldn't.

[@connorp2402]

+Andrew Chung What an awesome profile picture you have sir

[@marthajane6617]

Glad you like it.

[@as7river]

I can't work with music I don't fully understand. Ever since I was 5 years old I would find I loved certain songs more than others, and I would ask my dad to replay them over and over. I would listen to the songs I loved the most what many might call an unhealthy amount of times. It wasn't until I fully understood a song, until I memorized every instrument, every word, every moment of it, that I would move on to obsess with a new song. These songs that I would fully understand, this is the music I could work and study with (or at least pretend to), because of my understanding of these pieces, I could put them in the background, and they would help me set my mind in a certain state, often tied to the feelings and the mood that I personally associated with that specific piece. If I try to do any kind of work or activity with a song in the background, a song that I don't know, that I don't fully understand, to its core, I can't do anything. In a way, I think this goes in hand with what Mr. Barenboim is saying here. I never take music for granted, it's not an accessory or something I use as a tool. Rather, its a state of mind, it's like changing the settings of a TV to fine-tune the watching experience, only with music it's more like fine-tuning the experience of life. It sounds corny, but I think it makes makes sense.

[@allesvergaengliche]

damn that was a good talk. makes me want to give his music another shot.

[@hagen1555]

He speaks from my heart. I'm 17, and I don't know much music theory. But my will to listen to rhythm and harmony lets me enjoy classical music more than popular songs. I admit I don't understand Mozart's genius (yet), but I'm able to follow Beethoven's river of music. Cheers!

[@VladVexler]

You have all the time in the world!

[@IanHowie]

Mozart's music is special because it's just so crystal clear and effortlessly simple, yet it can say so much. The only other composers who could this kind of clarity were Bach and Ravel

[@JusJakkk]

Very Insightful

[@fafaffu2]

Extend his lesson to everything in life:"Give yourself to all the things you are doing in the present moment" and your life will be much better.

[@stephanebelizaire3627]

BRAVO Maestro !

[@ARTalive01]

lovely words from a brilliant musician... I couldn't agree more with his statements, it doesn't matter whether it's Classical, Jazz, Heavy Metal, Folk or anything else, it all moves you if you let it. I can at one moment be listening to a death metal band such as Carnage and fell the power and ferocity, and then play a Debussy piece... And with both it is the same experience. It's this deep connection to what i hear which takes me away from the world around me and brings me somewhere far away. It really doesn't matter what form of music it is, its something that moves me and something that i understand better than anything else that i know... Maybe that's why i tend to be more of a deep thinker, but whatever the case is he has really taught me a way to involve myself further with music so that something more is gotten from the amazing experience.

[@herbertwells8757]

ARTalive01 Re: "it doesn't matter whether it's Classical, Jazz, Heavy Metal, Folk or anything else, it all moves you if you let it." Only if it's good.

[@ARTalive01]

Herbert Wells That is applied in my comment... However music is subjective so stating "only if its good" implies that music could be rated... Now in all honesty there is a point where something just isn't good... But that's a story for a different time... My point i guess in a nut shell is music is subjective so don't get the view that only music that is popular, music you like but others might not or music that is complicated amounts for good music... (Through again there is a point where a song or piece just purely sucks regardless of how hard you try to like it...) Anything even primitive styles of music could move you, it just matters how you take it in...

[@davekent6023]

Herbert Wells My thoughts exactly. And it so happens that Heavy Metal is usually crap.

[@joshuarabone8161]

ARTalive01 I think the reason a lot of people don't like classical music is because it's too complex and they don't take the time to sit and listen to the notes. For them music is only ever background entertainment.

[@davekent6023]

Joshua Rabone My usual explanation is, although cruel, that they're dumb.

[@JosephDarcourt]

love it

[@kimgriffin1968]

Thank you!

[@MeisterEck]

this is wisdom

[@ewhyte8059]

The honourable Daniel Barenboim is not speaking in his first language yet there is no misjudging his conveyance if English is your first language. To listen is the first step. To discern which instruments are present does to some degree take a first-hand familiarity as the second step.Anybody who has grown up with classical music will come to differentiate the viola from the violin or the clarinet from the oboe and so on. Some instruments like the harp and a piano are very easy to differentiate. As it is known today classical music is somewhere in the region of 500 years old and therefore being aware of what is going on in detail in terms of orchestral music can be daunting at times and challenging at others. My personal preference is for solo performances and here it is necessary to have a little experience of playing any instrument to gather instinctively what it is the composer is conveying through the piece. Greensleeves, ode to joy or pachelbels canon are easy introductory pieces yet a greater appreciation of the fundamentals of musical structure is necessary to understand depth and complexity of grander pieces. Variance in timing and its influence on rhythm is not necessarily apparent to the casual listener much less the inattentive one. Major and minor scales and chords if tackled at a rudimentary level and no further lend a greater understanding of music later in life.Dissonance in relation to Harmony is yet another aspect that a casual listener may or may not discern. And so it is that classical music is not something you recommend the deep end to for someone who has heard it only in passing.

[@jokerrhe]

stunning review

[@user-jz9uq9pd8t]

Brilliant.

[@aniadelvecchio]

Absolutely true!

[@luisbreva6122]

If anyone wondered, the music at the begining is Bruckner's 3rd symphony, 2nd mov.

[@dosomethingaho]

only sublime spirits create sublime artworks, and only sublime artworks inspire sublime emotions. music is just one form of art, a media, what is conveyed matters.

[@isavale3702]

Music is life, is heart! ❤

[@ireneyuson8]

Thank you so much! So helpful

[@danielbarenboim5866]

I have come a long way to this point and right from the very beginning you my fans have been solidly behind me It’s been a landslide but we always pull through together,your love and support are amazing. Believe in your self you can always achieve your dreams I have an upcoming project and your support and love is the drive. Please drop your email so you can get more details on my upcoming project I love love love you all ❤️❤️

[@eadghe]

Music is the best thing that mankind ever invented. I like that Daniel Barenboim mentioned Bach first, although I'm sure the order was randomly done. There are many important composers, but I have the impression that Bach never gets as much recognition as for example Mozart. Mozart is everywhere. Bach on the other hand not really, yet people know Bach. It's also difficult to find Bach concerts. I wonder why? His violion concerts are so colorful. I hope I can hear it live one day.

[@was1234567818]

True poetry.

[@jenniferrizzo2520]

I could listen to him talk for hours

[@carlosbashuertas]

He's my hero.

[@chopin4321]

music is everything at the same time....hang on to the first note you listen and fly....give yourself to music like you give yourself to another human being...give yourself as if with complete and total concentration....and the more you give the more you will get back...thank you mr. barenboim...isn´t it like love...maybe is a high form of love... don´t you find music is more perfect than most things in life just because it sends us like nothing else in life right into our subconscious, our spirit, our soul, our inner mysterious sacred self.... which once was or still might be perfect? a reflection of the universe, of creation...of eternity...godlike?...i always suspected muses were angels...dont´t you?

[@Qee7en]

I think Mr Barenboim might be kind of beating around the bush. What he calls the 'enjoyment' is in my humble opinion the catharsis, not necessarily the enjoyment (see the funeral march bit). Aristotle talked about it, be it in referral to tragedies... I think this might be very much the same when speaking of music. It is probably the language barrier, but 'enjoyment' just sounds wrong to me. Krystian Zimerman said it very well: 'Music is using sound to organize emotions in time.'

[@goji5887]

68 years of experience... damn PS: Music is not only to forget, also to remember

[@anonymoususer3741]

God bless you

[@afropress]

Pure Truth Spoken here.

[@rjesmir]

More you give more you get back! 👏🙂✅️✅️✅️

[@pianoplaying-kblee1262]

Yse yes yes ! Thanks !

[@JackT13]

Music also helps me remember

[@raadabdul-aziz9106]

Wonderful

[@robertedwards2442]

This man is gods messenger, listen.