Learn Hardcore German: Das Hören von Musik im Garten macht mich ruhig. - Listening to music in the garden makes me calm.

In the sentence Das Hören von Musik im Garten macht mich ruhig, the verb hören is turned into a noun. This process is called nominalization.

The infinitive hören (to listen) → das Hören (the listening)
In German, all nouns are capitalized, so Hören gets a capital H.
As a noun, it normally needs an article; here it’s das, because infinitive nouns are usually neuter.

So the beginning of the sentence literally means:
Das Hören von Musik im Garten = The listening to music in the garden.

Why do we say das Hören von Musik instead of just Musik hören?

Both are possible, but they are different structures:

Das Hören von Musik im Garten macht mich ruhig.
- das Hören is a noun (nominalized verb).
- The whole phrase das Hören von Musik im Garten is the subject of the sentence.
- This sounds a bit more formal, abstract, or written.
Musik im Garten zu hören macht mich ruhig.
- zu hören is still a verb (infinitive with zu).
- The phrase Musik im Garten zu hören functions as an infinitive clause and is also the subject.
- This is more natural in everyday modern German than das Hören von Musik.
Even more natural in spoken German:
- Wenn ich im Garten Musik höre, werde ich ruhig.
- Im Garten Musik zu hören macht mich ruhig.

So das Hören von Musik is grammatically correct and standard, but feels a bit bookish compared to other versions.

What does von mean in von Musik, and why do we need it?

Here, von roughly corresponds to English “of” in structures like “the listening of music” (even though that sounds unnatural in English).

das Hören von Musik = the listening of music / listening to music
von introduces what is being listened to.

In German, you have two main options:

das Hören von Musik (preposition von
- dative)
das Hören der Musik (genitive der Musik)

The version with von is more common and sounds more natural in modern German, especially in spoken language.

What case is Musik in here, and why doesn’t it change its form?

In von Musik, the noun Musik is in the dative case, because von always takes the dative.

However, for feminine nouns in the singular, like die Musik, the forms for nominative, accusative, and dative are all the same when there is no article:

Nominative: Musik
Accusative: Musik
Dative: Musik

So you don’t see any visible change, but grammatically it is dative because of the preposition von.

You can see the dative clearly when there is an article or adjective, for example:

von der lauten Musik (dative)
von schöner Musik (dative)

Why is it mich and not mir in macht mich ruhig?

Mich is the accusative form of ich.
Mir is the dative form of ich.

The verb machen in this structure takes:

a direct object (accusative) = mich
plus a predicative adjective that says something about that object = ruhig

Pattern:
etwas macht jemanden (Akk.) + Adjektiv
= something makes someone + adjective

Examples:

Das macht mich froh. – That makes me happy.
Die Hitze macht mich müde. – The heat makes me tired.
Das Hören von Musik im Garten macht mich ruhig. – Listening to music in the garden makes me calm.

So mich must be accusative here; mir would be incorrect.

What exactly is the grammatical role of macht mich ruhig?

The predicate macht mich ruhig consists of:

macht – the main verb (3rd person singular of machen)
mich – the direct object in accusative
ruhig – a predicative adjective describing the state of the object (mich)

So the sentence structure is:

[Subject]: Das Hören von Musik im Garten
[Predicate]: macht mich ruhig

Literally: The listening to music in the garden makes me calm.
German likes this machen + Akkusativ + Adjektiv pattern to describe causing a state.

Can im Garten refer to me being calm in the garden, or only to where I listen to music?

As the sentence stands:

Das Hören von Musik im Garten macht mich ruhig.

im Garten is most naturally understood as modifying das Hören von Musik. So it means:

Listening to music in the garden makes me calm
(not: listening to music makes me calm in the garden)

If you want to express that I become calm (specifically) in the garden, you would normally rephrase:

Das Hören von Musik macht mich im Garten ruhig.
Musik zu hören macht mich im Garten ruhig.
Wenn ich im Garten bin, macht mich das Hören von Musik ruhig.

So position matters. Right after Hören von Musik, im Garten attaches to the activity of listening.

Is it possible to say Musik im Garten hören macht mich ruhig instead? How natural is that?

Yes, that is possible and in fact more natural than das Hören von Musik im Garten in everyday speech:

Musik im Garten hören macht mich ruhig.

Here:

Musik im Garten hören is a verb phrase used as the subject.
There is no zu, which is OK in this kind of subject construction in German, especially in more informal style.

Even more common/natural variants:

Im Garten Musik zu hören macht mich ruhig.
Wenn ich im Garten Musik höre, werde ich ruhig.

The original sentence is correct and idiomatic, but sounds a bit more formal or written.
Musik im Garten hören macht mich ruhig sounds more neutral and spoken.

What is the difference between macht mich ruhig and beruhigt mich?

Both can be used to express a calming effect, but there are nuances:

macht mich ruhig
- Literally: makes me calm.
- Structure: machen + Akkusativ + Adjektiv.
- Focuses strongly on the resulting state (ruhig).
beruhigt mich
- From the verb beruhigen = to calm (someone/something) down.
- Structure: beruhigen + Akkusativ.
- Slightly more dynamic/process-oriented: calms me down.

Both are correct in your sentence:

Das Hören von Musik im Garten macht mich ruhig.
Das Hören von Musik im Garten beruhigt mich.

The first sounds a bit more descriptive of your state; the second puts a bit more emphasis on the calming action.

Could I also say das Musikhören im Garten instead of das Hören von Musik im Garten?

Yes, that’s a very natural alternative:

Das Musikhören im Garten macht mich ruhig.

Here:

Musikhören is written as one word and treated as a noun (nominalized verb with its object).
It’s still neuter, so: das Musikhören.

Compare:

das Hören von Musik im Garten – more formal, explicit structure.
das Musikhören im Garten – very idiomatic, compact, and common in German.

Both are grammatically correct; das Musikhören generally sounds more natural.

Is the sentence talking about a general habit or about right now? How flexible is German present tense here?

The German Präsens (present tense) is flexible, similar to English.

Das Hören von Musik im Garten macht mich ruhig. can mean:

A general truth / habit:
- Listening to music in the garden (generally) makes me calm.
Something that is true right now, in this situation:
- Listening to music in the garden (now) is making me calm.

German doesn’t normally distinguish as strictly between “makes” and “is making” as English does. Context would clarify whether you are talking about your usual reaction or about a specific moment.