The critical listening project

The way I outlined the project was as follows:

"QUOTE"
Critical listening project

Goal: To listen to every CD in my jazz music collection once with minimal distractions and complete attention to the music
Time frame: One year from start date
Start date: May 11, 2009

Methodology: This is a critical listening project. That means I will listen to each CD while doing nothing else, other than making notations in a notebook for my own possible future reference. I'm not sure what my actual CD count is, but at three CD's per week, I should be able to finish within one calendar year. There is no specific order for listening to each CD, however, I will try to listen to sets together with one another. For those CD's that I have not written a review of yet, I will also listen critically with an eye toward writing a review for my Amazon.com profile page. I will also read the complete liner notes for each CD, if I haven't read them already. (For the majority of my collection, I have already read the liner notes.)
"UNQUOTE"

Already this has been altered, in that I don't just sit and listen. (Not to mention the start date; I've already started.) I found that my mind tends to wander too much if I'm just sitting and listening to the music (which is neither here nor there), but I also found I couldn't stand the sense of lost productivity. I have decided, however, that any activity I undertake while listening to music critically will be mundane enough that it doesn't detract from the music. So far, I've done things like clean out my e-mail inbox and organize my sheet music. I think that is fair enough and still in keeping with the spirit of the project. Plus I still keep the notebook handy and make notes as they come to me and as necessary.

This project came about primarily because I have purchased so much music in such a short period of time, that I'm not always completely sure what I have and have not listened to. (I do this at the end of each semester in anticipation of having more time to listen to music because I won't be practicing as much as I am during the semester.) That may be because the music is not that impressive, or it may be that I just haven't learned how to properly listen to jazz yet. Which is at least partly why I decided to undertake this project. That, and, I'm hoping to write a lot more reviews on Amazon.com and makes some additions and changes to the Yoity Tot list. It's a bigger undertaking than it looks on the surface.