Mimi Ezust wrote:

>I am a passionate collector and listener.  There are some pieces I
>listen to score in hand, and others I listen to while driving in the car,
>or while chopping vegetables for dinner, or while gardening and doing other
>household chores, or while drawing or knitting.  We often listen to music
>at dinner.  It doesn't take away anything at all from my enjoyment of music
>to have music around me all the time.  If it isn't playing on the cd or
>tape player, it's playing inside my head.

This is very true.  We have music on during most meals and during a lot of
spare time too.  I have a 25-minute commute, and I use that opportunity to
listen to music that I'm not familiar with.  I don't think you need to have
a "serious" listening session to enjoy a piece, even learn something about
it.  I also don't have a problem listening to serious music in 25-minute
chunks, though I recognize that some people might.  Listening in your spare
time can even be beneficial: if you can learn a little something over the
noise of a turn signal, chances are you've assimilated it fairly well.

Mitch Friedfeld