I had mentioned to a friend in passing that I referred to my CD's as my textbooks; stuff that I had to go through and learn from. For the past little while I have been calling my music collection as my textbook library. I'm not sure if many musicians do the same, but it is a good habit to get into if you're serious about music. In addition, it's important to listen to music that you would like to aspire, to surpass, or to build upon.
My old Jazz shop leader, Al Henderson said "What goes in is what comes out. This also applies with music and what you play as a musician."
I've always felt this to be true. If you listen to jazz, you'll better yourself as a jazz musician. Likewise, if you listen to classical, you'll better yourself as a classical musician. My old professor went to the extreme of throwing out his Soul LP's and kept only Jazz LP's in order to devote himself completely to Jazz.
The only way that the learning can occur is if you actually enjoy what you're listening to. Otherwise, that's a pretty tough barrier to overcome.
