As I sit down in the Skutt Student Center to satisfy my craving for a late afternoon snack and finish up a little homework, I can’t help but get distracted by the bright Akoo music station. I chuckle a little as I watch 15 seconds of the dated 80’s Whitney Houston video, “I Wanna Dance With Somebody,” my personal favorite of hers. Then I tune her out and get back to work.

With the extreme ease of availability of information and technology today, music has become an everyday fixture in most people’s lives. Thanks largely to the internet but also television, radio and iPods, we have access to music virtually everywhere. But has this turned an art form into mere background noise as we study, workout or walk down the mall? When was the last time you sat down and listened to a piece of music with no distractions?

This complacency can be described as passive listening. Passive listening is a term normally associated with verbal communication, when you are having a conversation and everything is going “in one ear and out the other” as they say. However when this passivity is applied in a musical context, it has a negative effect on both the industry and listener.

By passively listening to music, the listener is doing himself or herself a disservice. Music is a craft, and a true musical artist creates pieces with specific rhythms, harmonies, lyrics and more in order to take the listener on some sort of emotional journey. If you disregard or ignore any of these aspects, you miss out on the complete experience the artist intended.

Think of it as reading a great piece of literature. The first time you finish the book, you’ve enjoyed it. The plot was good, the characters were interesting, all in all a pleasant experience. But it is not until you reflect on the work and take note of the specific literary devices the author has used that make you truly appreciate the novel as a great piece of literature. Through devices such as symbolism, hyperbole, alliteration or the use of specific styles like satire, the work becomes a bountiful piece of literature that continues to reveal new things and enrich the reader with each new reading.

Music should be approached in the same way. It takes an active ear to truly appreciate every aspect of a piece of music. The texture of certain musical instruments, well-crafted lyrics, the interplay between a melody and it’s harmonies and other nuances like stylistic influences from other genres of music all work together to create a piece of music worth critical reflection that will continue to be fruitful with each listen.

It is not easy to actively listen to music. We are so accustomed to visual stimuli in our entertainment that without it we quickly get bored and distracted. This is especially difficult since many great pieces of music are relatively long and hard to sit through without getting fidgety. If you have trouble maintaining focus through an entire piece, try reading along with the lyrics or secluding yourself in a room with a good pair of headphones to minimize distractions.

Of course, not all music deserves the time and energy of active listening. Because music has become so prevalent as background noise in society, the industry produces popular music with a strong beat and hummable melody that is perfect for those intense workouts at the gym or late nights of partying because these pieces do not necessarily require critical reflection. And while there is nothing wrong with this type of music, it is important to take the time to listen to more provoking pieces of music. This will not only increase your appreciation and understanding of great works of music, but it will also encourage artists and the industry to keep producing such prolific pieces of music.

So the next time you sit down in the library and turn on some tunes for studying, remember to take a study break to truly listen to those noises coming out of your headphones.