"The note didn't want to go up!" This was the reaction of an eight-year-old to her wrong note on the piano. If you ever needed proof that tone has a life of its own, this is surely it.

Allowing yourself to notice whether or not the note wants to go up (or down) is what involves you, the fully alive and responsive you, in even the simplest composition at the level at which it was conceived. The only thing that can keep you from noticing such forces at play is that you are not really listening.

Maybe you find it hard to really listen because no one ever really listened to you.