Music as an aid to discerning the difference between attention and awareness

[Don SalmonMember]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeZHNmtBvDI

I was listening to this and thinking that it might be an interesting way to experience the distinction between attention and awareness. There is a steady sound in this (admittedly not profound or deeply artistic) music – often referred to as a drone – and there are changing melody notes occurring at the same time.

Try letting your attention rest primarily on the drone, but without trying to push away the changing melody – let it be gently present in your peripheral awareness. Then shift, and make the melody the focus of your attention, while you let the drone be in your peripheral awareness.

Shift back and forth a few times, then turn your attention to something else in your environment (it could be another sound, tactile sensations, images, etc, and let the music as a whole be in your periphery – the drone and the melody notes.

Notice also the difference between having your main focus of attention be on the continuous drone vs the changing melody notes. You might experiment, when focusing on the drone, to see if you can “follow” it as continuously as possible – not with a tense effort but instead letting the drone absorb your attention.

If you feel like it, I’d love to hear about your experience as I am composing drones for this purpose.

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