Do You Understand Music?

I try my best to give everything a chance. I will listen to any and every thing through till the end. I will admit that there are some "categories" I find consistently challenging.
I find most opera difficult. Perhaps the language barrier is to distracting, yet I still don't care for Gilbert & Sullivan despite the fact it filled my house as a child. I don't care for Ragge because it's too repetitive yet I like most minimalist music. I don't care for most Rap except for those rare examples when there is real poetry. Ditto Punk.
Avant Garde/Free Form ala Ornette Coleman, Chicago Art Ensemble etc. require me to be in a certain mind set, when I'm particularly open and not distracted. I have yet to come to the point in my personal development where I can control this state of mind. Often times I will give more opportunity to music that is less accesible to my cultural prejudice. I have found many things in life take many tries before appreciation can be found. Sometimes it works (Scotch Whiskey, coffee, etc.), sometimes it doesn't (fried liver).

I've had similar experiences with free-form music like Ornette Coleman, etc. It took me a while to appreciate John Coltrane's "Ascension" album. The CD had two takes of the "song"...each about 40 minutes long. I find myself listening to things like that as background for awhile. I put them on and read the papers. They soak in subliminally for the first few listens, and after that I find myself putting them on and consciously listening to them. I think our brains need a bit of awarm-up period when we listen to styles that we're not accustomed to. I sometimes do the same thing with new rock albums, new jazz albums, unfamilar symphonies, etc.

An intriguing question. I've found that if I really can't relate to music on the first try, it generally doesn't get better on repeats. The fascinating part is that some of my favorite music started out as borderline on the first play. That is, it sounded OK but not great on the first try, then it grew on me. Examples include St. Germain (techno/jazz), Eva Cassidy (female vocal jazz), and Hugh Masekala (jazz with African themes), versus my nominal preferences for classical and smooth jazz. But the stuff that was far away to begin with, like FIM's Chinese instrumentals or very abstract jazz, never got closer.

I don't understand music in the way that musicians seem to. I don't have an appreciation for the detail and choices involved in the composition and performance. All I generally hear is the overall sound, the tone and direction of the music. I don't usually follow the play of individual instruments in a group performance. Maybe that's why good sound reproduction is more important to me than to a musician, who could get off on the artistry of what the musicians are doing rather than the overall effect. Somebody like that could be more appreciative of the stuff I can't relate to.

I have a much simpler approach to music, if I like it I listen to it. If I don't like it I will not try to understand (listen) it. I simply, do not have enough time and what time I do have I would rather spend on something I like. There are already too many challenges in life and listening to opera shouldn't be one of them.

I like the analogy about food, I would never ever try to understand (eat) why fried liver is good for me.

I think I'm with you Marakanetz-I like to challenge myself musically.
I really cannot tell straight off the bat (not unless it really turns my stomach but that is usually stuff I find really derivative)wether I will like a piece of music or not.
In fact it takes some time for me to make a definitive decision about any new music(obscure or mainstream) sometimes I think I'm going to love something but that instant appeal can fade into mediocrity.
Of course as you grow older you understand better as your knowledge widens,if you continue to listen and to expand your tastes.
The 14 year old me would not have considered listening to jazz,now I'm a big fan but there is so much to take in.

One thing I find that proves your knowledge has expanded is if you listen to some music you loved back in your teenage years( or a decent distance back) and haven't played it for a long time,you'll find you will hear a lot of influences in it you've never heard before, even though you know the music really well...............
I remember vividly being about 14 and hearing Led Zep 3 for the first time-it seemed like the weirdest thing I'd ever heard,in fact the first few listens just didn't register at all,some 24 years later I can't imagine how that could ever have been, but it was.
So everything is relative.
My biggest problem now is my tastes are so eclectic that finding the time is the biggest problem,my collection grows and grows.
The other problem in the contemporary popular/rock field for me is that I am very aware of most of the reference points,that can get in the way when listening,you can dismiss stuff unfairly and without repeated listens.
As for difficult stuff, if you take a band like Autchere,(pretty harsh electronica),I have about 5 of their CD's and I doubt if I like much more than the odd track per album but I'm glad I've heard them even though they haven't widen my tastes but rather signaled the end of the line on a particular adventure.....................