Do you hear music differently to NT's?

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I'm not talking about savant skills here. I seem to respond very differently to music then any NT's that I have met. For example when my friends listen to music they mostly listen to the words. I never listen to the words and I find it very difficult to listen to them and so I know hardly any words to my favourite songs. Instead I listen the music and not just the music, every single seperate note. I can easily say which instruments are being played and what tune they are playing and my friends can't seem to be able to do this. It's like I have different understanding of music then NT's.

Does anyone else hear music differently? How do you hear it?

Well, my tastes in music seem to be a lot different from people in general. I mostly listen to computer game soundtracks. I can't stand most song lyrics... they're stupid and meaningless. I couldn't care less about the relationships of the "musicians."

I agree, I find lyrics distracting. I don't mind if they are repetetive or minimal.
My favourite genre of music is called EBM which stands for Electronic Body Music.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_body_music

I also enjoy trance, it does exacty that to me! And I enjoy drum and bass, because I like the physical feeling of loud bass reverberating through me, i find it soothing.

I am hyperlexic and very word-oriented; so I do notice words. (Not always the right words, natch. CAPD, of course.) It's not necessarily even their meanings, but the rhythms and rhymes and the way the singer emphasizes them. I hear the music as well, though, because I have a talent for music; I love the harmonies, especially when there are two different melodies (or more) going on at one time, like you often see with music from the baroque time. I love Broadway music most of all, because the words are often chosen for their sound and rhyme (especially Gilbert and Sullivan, who are absolute masters at rhyming), and because each musical often has themes that you can pick out of most of the songs, plus it's so much easier to improvise a harmony to the songs (The first Broadway song I did that with was "Memory". I got started with just hymns, but Broadway stuff just lends itself to that kind of fun). I love Cats, especially, because you can hear the same theme over and over, used dozens of different ways, and just about every song has multiple melodies in it.

Pop music bores me. Rather than the creative repetition you find in Broadway and classical stuff, it's the same thing every time, so predictable you can figure out the rest of the song from the first few bars. Ugh.

i never listen to the words, i try to sometimes, and sometimes when i do notice them itll actually be a good song with a good meaning and ill be like "omaguh, luk, its spiffeh song" but for the most part i listen to music in other languages, and i dont notice the difference. ive recently been geting into new bands without looking up and band bio on them, and realizing a few days after downloading certain albums and having them played on repeat even when i sleep that, "HEY, this doesnt sound like english :/"

but i always felt this was because ive been a musician since age 10, and i was born from two very talented musicians

I'm also Hyperlexic and tend to focus more on the words. I can, when I try, focus on the music and sometimes I do catch myself listening more to the music more than the lyrics, but it has to be a very catchy tune for me to do that.

I especially enjoy rhyme in songs. Songs can irritate me when they don't rhyme when they easily could have and I can find them hard to listen to if they have very little rhyme. I think this is why I much prefer Animaniacs' music to "typical" music as many of their songs use rhyme often.

Notice the words more than most people, also notice the music more, but generally notice more details than most people most of the time in all five senses.

Both the notes and the lyrics are extremely important to me. It's the melody that moves me - each individual note is important - but words can also make or break a song. As in, an incredibly stupid lyric drives me insane.

But beautiful lyrics combined with a complex unique melody can send me into rapture. For example songs by Donna Williams. Also the chorus to Leonard Cohen's original Hallelujah. The choir or whatever it is in the background singing together gives me a sort of emotional orgasm.

Songs hold such deep feeling for me, often more than reality does. Sometimes it's not like I understand the music, but that the music understands me.

Also I am synesthetic, so the experience is also visual, and some timbres even give me light facial sensations (like feathers etc.) So that adds another level. But the emotion is more important to me.

I hear it all at once, including any lyrics. My brother and I are both aspies, and both have perfect pitch.

I hear it all at once, including any lyrics. My brother and I are both aspies, and both have perfect pitch.

I hear it all at once, including any lyrics. My brother and I are both aspies, and both have perfect pitch.

Sorry for the triple post guys. It happened when WP was down for a few minutes. I sometimes like repetitive songs, but not posting.