When you first start learning with pinyin,I think you tend to care more about the syllables than about their tones,it's like a first step,like you read,or listen to the syllable,and then you're like"yes!!I know this syllable!!...wait what was the tone?",and you gotta come to the point where you care as much or more about the tones,like when someone is outside the door asking to enter,even if the syllables are not clear because this person is talking from oustide and you can barely hear,the music of the tones you hear make you understand this person is asking to enter...I think it's always about practicing,listening and listening,and trying to repeat as well as you can,then the music should come to your mind as something as much meaningful as the syllable...now I can't tell for sure 'cause I'm far from being comfortable with tones(nor syllables LOL).But this is complicated for many languages,english seems easy,but if you actually wanna talk like an english person,the music of their sentences and words is also something pretty complicated,but people don't bother because it doesn't change the meaning if you don't stress the right words.All this to say,it's always complicated because the music of our own languages came to us naturally,and we never payed attention to it,but if you enjoy learning a language it's much more easy!!Then of course the best thing is to spend a couple of years in the country of which you're learning the language lol.