It seems to me that the art of listening, like creating and playing music, requires a good helping of individual imagination and spontaneity. I usually just throw my mind open like a blank canvas and allow it to impose whatever associations and images it likes. I have tried, at various stages, to listen analytically, as many people have told me I ought to, but I am not very good at it. I do not actively look for things that are right or wrong in any universal or traditional sense, because I have never been trained in doing so. I like each listening experience, even of the same music, to be different each time. I couldn't bear to either listen or create according to a set of rules; I listen for enjoyment and to be transported. Musical experience, after all, comprises both transmission and reception, and the two are deeply tangled. I obviously lack sufficient background to proffer much advice. However, over the years, I have found the criticism of naive, untrained people, much more insightful than that of trained or professional musicians, at least in regard to my own music and playing. There has to be some implication to that but I am not quite sure what it is.
Topic: Improving Your Ear/Critical Listening Skills