Here is a maymar from Rav Simcha Bumin Miprashischo (oy vei are there a lot of ways to spell that town!) that is related to your conversation (though not exactly on target):

(Teh. 147)
Harofeh lishvurei leiv (He is the Healer of people w/broken hearts) - "Hoy!" Asks the Rebbe Reb Bunim: "What is so bad about nishberei leiv that Hashem wants to heal them? I thought He loves a leiv nishbar (as it says all over the place)!!?"

...comes the rest of the posuk to explain:

Umechabeish le'atzvosam (and he places bandages/binds up their sadness) "Sad? Who said anything about Him liking sadness? If our broken heart leads to sadness, that is a problem! We will need Hashem to heal up the sadness so we can retain our pure broken hearts, broken so they are open to Hashem, but w/o any sadness c"v!!" annswered the Rebbe.

Now that takes siyata diShmaya! :D

Esnachto,

I was driving back from the Mountains the other day when this thought poped into my head & you might have a point there of cores as you said "ask your Local Rov!

But then I took it a step further.

Yes! Music lifts the spirit, but if we really want to lift are spirit we can get there with being close to Hashem, which can be done in many ways.

Studying Torah, Praying with Kavono, Brachos with Kavono, Guarding your Eyes & anytime we overcome the Y"H Ahhhh Gevald does that feel good. Looking at Hashems creations, the mountains, The Sky on a nice day, Flowers, Chirping Birds just to mention a few.

We can be uplifted in so many ways and not be B'Atsvus!

Believe me I'm a Music Addict (one more addiction to work on, lol) and used to give myself this heter, but I decided to try to be happy & uplifted in other ways so that I'm not B'Atsvus & at the same time really feel the loss of are Holy Beis Hamikdash every time I want my Music (and I want it a lot) I get to think of why I can't have it & what we are missing so when I say V'Yerushaliam Ercha B'Rachmim Toshuv I really mean it & hopefully if we show Hashem that we want it back we will get it back very soon.

I Hope I can do it! I'm sure I can! I just have to take things more serious & not try to find a way out of everything.

That said, I'm sure that if it is the Music that will stop you from A Fall then there's no question that the Music is a Tofel & the Aveirah is a Ikar & let the Music Blast!

I UPDATED MY PICTURE

bs"d

Hi Kutan,

wow, this is an amazing likut of information. If anyone is interested, i also have 50+ pages worth of word-docs concerning these halachos and their practical applications.

I also would like to add something personal:

similar to  what i wrote in a post to tRyInG, it is one thing to study the information you have presented us. That is very important.

The other thing is to have a rov (or rebbetzen) (that one can really trust. As i wrote "trying" one can get burned. What if f.ex. in the story of "Today is the first day" the bochur has a rosh yeshiva who does not understand him. or even worse who pushes him down?!?).

A rov/rebbetzen who really understands me can help make sense between any information i learn in a sefer and my life.

It is easy to make wrong decisions (for oneself, or others depending on oneself). If i would have just stayed with that information concerning music, i would have decided not to practice, perform or teach music. After all is said and done it seems to be the lechatchila, until the Bays HaMikdash is built again (bimhera veyamenu. i am still davening that from now on Tisha b'av will be a Yom Tov!  :D).

But HaShem made me meet different Rabbis, from Meah Shearim to community rabbis in the US; all encouraging music and music performance (concerts). If anyone is interested i am happy to share details in private, but i don't want to give myself away here.
Some of what they said seems to go against what i had learned... but those rebbeim in their mentshlichkayt, in their experience with people, i guess in their wisdom were able to make decisions that are needed in our times, for certain parts of (maybe even the majority) of the Jewish people today. I seriously doubt that anybody would deny that people like R'Shloime Carlebach, or even Matisyahu were/are making a big Kiddush Hashem, bringing Jews closer to Yiddishkayt, and shining light even into the goyishe world. I am not a fan of Matisyahu's music, but i once met an African American who loved Matisyahu's message. And he told me that in the middle of a street in NYC, just because i was dressed hassidish, and he assumed i was into Matisyahu's music.

I hope this was helpful...

a gut choidesh to all of you, and all of am yisrael

Especially on music, where it is not the music itself that is the prohibition, but the concept of excessive enjoyment that shows the lack of zecher lchurban, there is much room for leeway by a personal Rav.

Hi everyone... This post should probably be in the B'M....
When I was young and innocent with much more free time to use constructively, I looked into the music 'shaila' and can report the following: (this is for the whole year, because of zecher lchurban, not for the 3 weeks)

1) music is mutar for a 'workout' or to create a rhythm during working (its an open Gemara, pretty much)

2) it is mutar for uplifting the spirits in a therapeutic way. R' Pam was very firm on this, not to be machmir for those that need it to relieve stress. R' Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg rules our entire generation needs it, and we should not be machmir on recorded music for the general public. period. If he is your posek, you can pretty much skip to the end and just read about the concert issue.  :D

3) the Rama is follows the most meikel opinion in the rishonim, and assurs music only if it is with wine (pasuk: b'shir lo sishteh yayin) or if it is bikveeyus, such as awaking/going to sleep every day to music (based on a story in the Gemara), which is considered hanaah yesayra and is like with wine.

The mishna brura (based on the achronim) seems to be machmir and assure all music (except l'tzhorch mitzva such as chasuna, sheva brachos, other seudas mitzva, chol hamoed, etc)!  R' Moshe follows the middle opinion in the rishonim, permitting vocal music (except in the cases like with wine) and assuring instrumental (except if it is for mitzva).

But the minhag haolum is like the Rama.

Regarding 'canned' music, most (all?) tshuvos are machmir that it has a din like music. The reason is the lashon of the shulchan aruch, that mentions some instruments and then adds: "v'chol mashmi'ai kol shel shir", which, as one t'shuva wrote, effectively closes the door. (there was one tshuva who considered acapella recordings to be instrumental... since it came out of a machine!)

The real problem then is the k'veeyus... to listen on a constant basis would seem to need to come onto R' Chaim Pinchus Scheinberg's heter.

Another concern is concerts... many teshuvos write that coming together collectively to listen to a concert is hanaha yesayra and is as much like 'with wine' as k'veeyus is, and would not be muter (except on chol hamoad etc where there is simchas YT.. assuming it is a really kosher concert...). They also say that if the concert raises funds for tzedaka, it is still not considered l'tzorech mitzva, since the actual music is not.