Thoughts on Listening

I had a recent experience where I was focused on observing body language.  I found that I couldn’t “hear” what people were saying when I shifted my eyes to focus on their visual cues.  It was like I needed my eyes to listen.  Wouldn’t it be great if my ears could listen while my eyes focused on body language?  Then I would really be getting the full picture.  So why do I rely on my eyes to hear?

Here’s my theory.  I am a classically trained pianist.  If you put the music in front of me, I can play the piano.   Therefore, my musical training developed the connection between my eyes and my hands, using my ears only for feedback.  Wouldn’t it be great if I could play music by ear?  If I develop this ability – to play music by ear – might it translate to a greater ability to listen to people?

My first experiment with playing the piano by ear went well.  I composed a short tune in the key of G.  It actually sounded pretty good!  I played it about 10 times before switching to Beethoven.  Later that day, I sat back down at the piano to play my song.  I couldn’t remember it!  Maybe this isn’t a listening problem — maybe it’s a “remembering” problem.  If only my ears could remember the tune.  Guess I’ll have to work on that!

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