Really trying to work through the Recognising Chord course slowly! But I’m enjoying it so much, I just want to race ahead 
So, holding back and trying to spend a lot of time just listening, singing to myself, and absorbing the sounds 
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Just started working my way through BEFORE YOU LEARN MUSIC THEORY which like IFR is one of those simple looking but profound things. See it at https://beforeyoulearn.com/
Here’s why I thought I’d like this…
QUOTE FROM THE WEBSITE….
The course starts by stating the Unifying Concept-
Music is the Interplay of Consonance and Dissonance.
No matter what aspect of music you are discussing, it can be discussed in these terms.
Then, using a relatable, real-life, metaphor we define the terms- Interplay, Consonance and Dissonance.
Next, we slowly build a music example, illustrating the musical blueprint used to create all music. We show that music is comprised of music elements-(i.e., scales, melody, harmony, rhythm etc.) that are assembled and varied like building blocks; whereas each variation will evoke a different feeling, mood, or emotion-which is the overall goal of music.
Learning music theory through this lens might seem deceptively simple, yet there are a multitude of advantages. It’s an innovative, new perspective-giving students an easily digestible, distilled down, overview of not only how music works but how everything is connected. Facilitating students with fresh, empowering grammar enabling them to explore every new term or topic with confidence-all culminating in a learning path that is not arduous-but efficient and elegant.
And I’ve just started a book mentioned by Andrew Bishko in the text of his “Go Sit on a Rock” book as the source of an exercise he suggests.
Naturally I looked up the book and as a result I picked up a Kindle copy of “The Listening Book: Discovering Your Own Music” by W.A. Mathieu. It’s a series of essays on the topic of listening & can either be read straight through, or used as a ‘dipping’ / browsing book. My expectation is to dip into it, probably sequentially, as an and when the opportunity allows. It’s a pleasant & thought provoking read so far. Nothing radically “wow” so far, but I feel it has been & will be worth the price.
I had a quick look. I see there is an eBook, is the method explained there? I was a bit confused by the “pre-requiste course” terminology. Is there a course as well as the book? Not sure what’s on offer here.
The concept looks interesting, finding simple building blocks and patterns, but the website doesn’t convey what is being offered very well (in my opinion).
@mem yes, the website is unclear. The book at the moment seems to be a prelim to addition courses hr wants to write
The book seems simple when you read it, just like IFR seems simple. I like that it dwells on simple. I am too prone to run ahead over shaky foundations
Oh yes, I know that feeling.
The book looks like an interesting read, I’ll have a look at the free sample on Amazon.
The idea of music being fractal is a concept that seems obvious initially. So, many things in nature are fractal, I have just been reading about the harmonic series, Pythagoras and the 12 TET. Feels like there is a very simple model in there, trying to get out. (I might have talked myself into buying the book!)
I think this guy has come up in a pervious discussion, the Groove Pizza website possibly. Anyway, this contains some interesting stuff about music and fractals. link to his blog
I can recommend the book HOW MUSIC WORKS by John Powell (get the correct author because there are more than one book with that title)
It’s one of those sneaky books where you’re saying I KNOW THAT about 3-4 times in a row then you suddenly say I DIDN’T KNOW THAT ONE
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So many interesting books, have to leave some time for practicing and playing!
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@mem I try to make use of time when it’s not possible or practical to be using an instrument for reading.
Not an ideal solution, but I’m sure we all try to do our best…
I’ve read over half a dozen chapters (essays) now & whilst there doesn’t seem to be anything particular to comment on I have certainly found that over the last few days I seem to be registering more everyday sounds; things that I know I always hear, but that I don’t usually listen to & note.
Do you mean sounds in general, or musical sounds/melodies?
I’m finding, with all this ear training work I’ve been doing, there are more short melodies bouncing around in my head. Some I can’t remember where they came from!
At this stage in the book it’s sounds in general. The essays encourage deep listening to the world around us. Just now it’s the click of my keyboard and the whir of a fan in a piece of electrical equipment. At times it can even be as subtle as a hand brushing over cloth…
Always on the look for interesting reading material and I had a look for this, and anything else by the same author. Found this on YouTube link to playlist, I think it’s the author reading some of the essays.
He’s written another book called the Harmonic Experience which looks interesting as I’ve been looking at things about harmony as well.
The playlist seems to be partly “The Listening Book” and partly yet another book “The Musical Life: Reflections on What It Is and How to Live It”.
However seen from here “The Harmonic Experience” seems to be one of those with silly prices, even for electronic versions? 
The “The Musical Life” is a bit more expensive than “The Listening Book”, but not massively so.
I found a copy in the public library, maybe not an option where you are.
Not impossible @mem, but distance, time, the need for interlibrary requests, etc. make it impractical. For the present I’m happy to settle for dipping into “The Listening Book”. After that, maybe “The Musical Life” as it gets some extremely positive reviews.
Reading one of the reviews caused me to check the number of pages & “The Harmonic Experience” has more than twice as many pages as either of the other two, which makes the price seem a bit more reasonable, so maybe some day once the others have been digested. Maybe by then I’ll know what you think too @mem? 
From what I read, and watched on YouTube, the Harmonic Experience book is more “practical”, where the other two are collections of essays. It takes you through what the harmonic series is, with exercises showing you how to sing them, explains just intonation vs the 12 TET, and building the modes.
You may have come across Adam Neely on YouTube, he recommended it.
I’ll be able to provide more details when I get hands on it.
That’s a high value recommendation! 