how do YOU go about appreciating difficult music?
 

So, as a fan of typically difficult music, I thought I'd make this thread.

For starters, I find that it's easier to wrap my head around a piece of music after a few listens. It becomes easier once I start to recognise patterns that I never noticed were there.

What about you?

What is difficult music? I'm not sure I quite understand.

Something that's a bit harder to appreciate. The opposite of pop songs. Things like free jazz, noise, drone, even classical.

I used to have trouble with it, but after two years of concerted listening, I feel like I can dive into pretty much any type of music now and find something about it that I either like or can appreciate (not the same things). I guess it's like whiskey--that first shots you do when you're young burn like hell, but as an older man, you find you've acquired a taste for it.

Definitely. The more experience you have with something, the easier it is, even if its just passively listening to something.

On the flip side, just like people who can never (or are not inclined to) develop a taste for alcohol, so there are those who have no interest in cultivating musical tastes beyond what they naturally like. Which is fine. The most important thing for me is not to slip into snobbery. ;)

I totally agree with that, no one should be forced to like something.

Or ridiculed because they don't share our rarefied taste in under-appreciated music.

I've grown accustomed to what most people would call difficult music, but if I listen to something new in a bad mood or when I'm sick, it can be hard to get into. Billy Woods and LaMonte Young are good examples of this (Billy Woods isn't all that difficult, but I was new to hip hop at the time so it was for me). I usually try to return to it in those cases but often times I know on first listen.

That's interesting - do you still have any kind of trouble with those artists? Does the first impression from when you were less experienced effect your appreciation of a piece today?