Music Listening

For anyone taking offense at the previous post on Classical Music, I pose a question. What are your music listening habits? If you never listen to music and it has no meaning for you in your life in any sense, then please stop reading since this does not apply to you. But if music has any kind of meaning at all in your life, then I ask the question again, what are your listening habits or preferences? If you are like most people, you listen to different kinds of music depending on your situation or mood. If you have nerd-like qualities, which I do, then you might just listen to music with a critical and analytical ear. You are listening for harmonic changes, interesting melodies, textures, rhythmic alterations, key shifts, non-harmonic tones, chord clusters, and orchestration devices.  But, hopefully you are a normal person and most likely you simply listen for enjoyment!

Perhaps at this time of year, you are enjoying Christmas music including carols, songs, and instrumental arrangements--admittedly I get a little weary of Christmas music about this time of the year. Or maybe the recent benefit concert on television sparked your interest in classic rock. Maybe you are digging up those old recordings of Bruce Springsteen, The Who, or Bon Jovi (one of my personal favorites). Or maybe you dig the warm voice of Nat King Cole or Doris Day. Maybe the personal touch of Merle Haggard or Marty Robbins is more your thing. Perhaps you are a modern seeking after the rich but bizarre music of Lady Gaga or the sweetness of Adele. Michael Buble continues to reach people as does the striking ranges of Carrie Underwood and Kelly Clarkson.

I recall in graduate school refusing to listen to anything but Art music, classifying all other music as not serving my greater goals of learning everything I could about the "classical" world. As I listened intently and learned as much as possible, I became curious about the listening habits of my professors at the conservatory. Much to my surprise, many of them preferred jazz over classical. Some even like 60s folk music and many of them listened to Pop and Rock. I did find a few that listened to classical music but most of the preferences were outside of their immediate discipline. In other words, the instrumentalists who listened to classical music, gravitated toward vocal music, whereas the vocalists tended to prefer instrumental music. The professional performers I visited with enjoyed a variety of music and several found meaning in country/western music.

With my eclectic tastes causing me to run the gamut of music that is currently on the radio, I enjoy playing musical ping-pong with Broadway, Jazz, Contemporary Christian, Folk Rock, 70s Rock, 80s Rock, and the occasional symphonic station. I do check the classical stations to see what is being played. I notice quite a bit of Bach, Mendelssohn, Mozart, and occasionally Mahler and Beethoven. I hear very little Schubert, Schumann, Vivaldi, or any of the lesser composers we currently use as models in academia.

I believe that a very small part of the population finds meaning in art music and of that small percentage, most of the appreciation is for the "standard" classical fare of symphonies, concertos, and large works. I do maintain that great music will remain "great" forever and there will always be a place for the wonderful heritage known as classical art music. I trust that my academic training and preference for the classics is not all in vain and there will always be a place for live, classical musical performances.

But as I visit with people and find out their listening preferences, there is no doubt that most people like variety in music and most people enjoy a lighter fare in their listening habits. I suspect this is true about literature, visual art, television viewing, movies, and even in their socializing world. The driving force of the arts in our culture is taking us to places only previously imagined. Ours is an all-encompassing musical world and those who reject the vast eclecticism will be left behind. Time to get aboard the train of variety and take in the spices that make music so great.