How much should/does your significant other know about music?

[Bob]

Interesting topic.

And pros and cons of that.

Nothing... Then not a lot to talk about about a topic important to you.

A lot... A potential negative (or positive) if you start seeing them as a competitor.

[ted]

Doesn't matter either way. What mattered was that she could tolerate my obsession with it, a trait I took care to discern thirty or more years ago. When we used to discuss marriage I asked her several times if she thought she could put up with it. After the sixth affirmative I took her at her word and she has proved true. As it happens she possesses considerable musical ability, in the conventional sense probably more than I do. She has a good singing voice, reads music and plays the piano, and any comments she makes about my playing I pay serious attention to because she is usually right.

I am a very uncompetitive person in any aspect of life; it just wouldn't enter the picture

[ajspiano]

hmm..   it doesn't bother me that she doesn't know much about music as an isolated fact, but I've become fairly well versed in her particular passion to a point where she can bounce ideas off me that relate to fairly advanced level thinking..  I do not get that luxury in regard to music. The combination of the two situations can make things feel a little one sided at times.

Case in point -
We are currently housing a fear-aggressive dog, it came to us from a foster carer who could no longer handle it due to having been bitten multiple times. I've personally been involved in its rehabilitation (which included being attacked by it at one stage, without being upset or annoyed about it because I genuinely expected it to happen sooner or later) and it is now unlikely to ever bite someone again. This is an enormous success for both of us, and the dog, as it is now less afraid with life generally and will probably soon get re-homed with a permanent owner.

On the flip side, its unlikely that my partner is ever going to walk in and be actively involved in a discussion on how to solve an advanced technical problem for one of my piano students..

...I do not see this as being problematic for our relationship though, so long as I have someone to talk to about music - and there is a whole forum here..

[thalbergmad]

What mattered was that she could tolerate my obsession with it

I am sure she takes it all in her stride.

Thal

[p2u_]

How much should/does your significant other know about music?

She doesn't know much about the material side of things, but she has a very strong intuition for what is right. Even more so my six-year old son, whose opinion I value highly (Children and drunk people never lie).
P.S.: I don't agree that her knowing not so much implies that there is not so much to talk about things that are important to me. She' a philosopher by nature, so that makes the two of us.

Paul

[nanabush]

She's learnt a lot!  At a competition two years ago, before I was playing, there was someone playing the Bach Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue... when the fugue started, she was like "Nick, is that a fugue??"... (she didn't have a program either!)

I've made her very familiar with Debussy and Ravel (played a lot of their stuff the last few years), enough that she can identify a piece as 'impressionist', or even by the composer (if it's miroirs, images, or estampes for sure)...

I appreciate it though!  It's out of her 'comfort' zone as far as music goes, and not a lot of classical musicians are willing to listen to and absorb ANY pop music.  So honestly, I think it's great that she puts up with my obsession with piano music 

[mobydick]

She hates classical music and is into completely different stuff. But i don't mind, it would be really boring if she liked everything I do, it would be like dating a mini me (who wants that??)