Czy umiemy słuchać – typologia odbiorców muzyki

Nowadays, it is quite easy to hear music without listening to it. Listening to music is often treated merely as a method of consolation, or an escape from the realities of life. My paper contains an analysis of listeners’ reactions to classical music. I further make an attempt to describe some distinctive features of different groups of listeners i.e. laymen, music lovers and professional musicians. Is it possible to improve our comprehension of musical material? Regardless of whether we listen to the music by Chopin or free-jazz, we can deepen our understanding by becoming more conscious of the listening process and its component parts. In the article I also make some references to such authors as Adorno, Behne, Copland, Wallis who have discussed listeners’ approaches to music and perceptual abilities of music enthusiasts.