Do Most People even "get" Music?

[HHP]

Probably the first actual instrument was a form of drum. Today, some of the touring Japanese drum ensembles are still able to generate visceral reactions from audiences mostly unconnected to that form of music. Humans have some kind of "cultural DNA" for music.

[buddyhu]

Depending on how one defines "getting music", you could argue (as OP does) that 90% of the world don't get it. Or, with a different definition (akin to what Kevwind is pointing to), you could say that 90% of people get it.

What is a truth across all pursuits: if you give your attention quite fully to the phenomenon of interest, you are among the elite in that pursuit. And, with full attention, we experience things VERY differently.

[Gmountain]

Originally Posted by HHP

Probably the first actual instrument was a form of drum. Today, some of the touring Japanese drum ensembles are still able to generate visceral reactions from audiences mostly unconnected to that form of music. Humans have some kind of "cultural DNA" for music.

Not to mention singing.

[Long Jon]

I've played open mic s where I've seen the entire (non muso) audience obviously responding to the painful emotional content of my work; some of them even weeping openly and covering their ears
Don't try and tell me that they don't get it.

[Gmountain]

Originally Posted by Long Jon

I've played open mic s where I've seen the entire (non muso) audience obviously responding to the painful emotional content of my work; some of them even weeping openly and covering their ears
Don't try and tell me that they don't get it.

lol.....maybe I've seen you before..

[ukejon]

Originally Posted by Long Jon

I've played open mic s where I've seen the entire (non muso) audience obviously responding to the painful emotional content of my work; some of them even weeping openly and covering their ears
Don't try and tell me that they don't get it.

That is brilliant. We might make a powerful duo!

[frankhond]

Originally Posted by ukejon

Silly, it probably is more accurate to say that 99% of people on this planet are in some way--intellectually, emotionally, physically, spiritually--affected by and, in fact, moved music of one sort or another. We all "get it" but maybe not just on the narrow terms defined in the OP.

This. It is even postulated that music as a tool for being together, singing, dancing etc is what gave prehistoric man the edge over apes and other flock animals, as a social glue and identity marker. Even today, when hanging out with people I have little in common with, breaking out the guitar often creates a common ground.

[TaoMaas]

Originally Posted by ukejon

Silly, it probably is more accurate to say that 99% of people on this planet are in some way--intellectually, emotionally, physically, spiritually--affected by and, in fact, moved music of one sort or another. We all "get it" but maybe not just on the narrow terms defined in the OP.

I agree. I think the bulk of the planet "gets" music even if they don't dissect it to the extent we do on this board. But that's the power of music. You don't have to over-analyze it to "get it". A person can be moved by singing hymns in church even if they don't play an instrument and without thinking about the chord changes. Music moves people. It's like art. You don't have to be an artist to have opinions about what you like in art.

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by KevWind

Some mistaken notions in the OP's premise.

First, music need not be "analyzed" to be appreciated nor is it a requirement for someone to "get it."

While modern 1st world life is certainly more complex and there are many more distractions and what with portable music and background music being so ubiquitous, is arguably often reduced to the peripheral, that fact does not create a disproportionate number of people who don't "get it."

One need simply look at history as well as any of the still primitive cultures today where music was and is created by most of the "tribe" to understand humans get music on arguably a primal level.

The idea that 90% of humans do not "understand music" is specious at best.
While certainly anyone who has not studied music may not understand even basic music theory, that has has nothing to do with "getting it" or not.

In support of, and extrapolating from, Kev's point, I don't see it as a dichotomy of "getting it" or not, but rather a fluid continuum; as with any other human ability (graphic arts, literature, science/mathematics, athletics, et al.) some people just have a more natural affinity for music in all its forms and complexities than others, differences being more a matter of degree than an "either/or" proposition - and many of which can be surmounted by exposure and training. I think it's safe to say that those of us on this forum "get" music, in the sense of being further along the line than someone who has a listening appreciation but can't sing/play an instrument, who in turn is further along than someone who (absent genuine auditory pathology) is unable to reliably distinguish pitch, timbre, etc. Similarly, even within our own AGF circle there is a broad spectrum, from three-chord novices to weekend warriors to full-time professionals who compose, arrange, and are proficient on several instruments - and while we can hone our abilities to our own maximum potential and without being judgmental, I've yet to find the next Bach or Segovia among our ranks (some folks' egos notwithstanding )...

Tapping back into my teaching/psychology background, there's also the matter of learning styles - in simplest terms, the manner in which we approach, confront, process, and appropriate new information/tasks - which in over three decades in classrooms from elementary to collegiate I've found to be, on the innate level, as highly individualized as a fingerprint as often as not; by the same token, with exposure and training one can be taught to augment - or even supplant - one's "instinctive" approach with new skills. I'm reminded of a former bandmate from about forty years ago, a young lady with a three-plus octave jazz-singer voice, choral experience from elementary school through college, and enough ability on guitar to credibly accompany herself in most popular genres - this was unquestionably someone who "got" music, from the OP's standpoint. Our trio was having one of those days when "it" just wasn't there, and we couldn't get a handle (Handel?) on a song we were learning; calling a break I pulled out the original recording and played it several times, each time asking her to focus on a different interior part of the arrangement - deconstruction, if you will - and when we revisited the tune we nailed it on the first take. After rehearsal she came up to me and smacked me on the arm; when I asked her why, she said, "That's for spoiling everything - I'll never be able to listen to music the same way again; I'm always going to be listening for who's playing this line or who's singing that part - I can't just hear the whole thing all-at-once anymore..."

Referring back to Kev's point, while it's true that music need not be analyzed to "get it," for those of us who have the natural proclivity it adds a deeper dimension of appreciation and understanding when we do...

[jseth]

I believe that EVERYONE hears/experiences music differently, and certainly differently than I do... realized this over 4 decades ago...

Some folks don't listen to music at all, just what they encounter in their day-to-day lives. Many folks just like having "something on" in the background... some folks really love to listen closely to a piece of music or a song/album.

And then there are some who let the music take them over, in all ways; just let it saturate them completely, so much so that the music actually becomes a part of them.

And every different way is JUST FINE! Seems that the original post was laced with supposition, judgement (fairly self-righteous) and a healthy dose of "tsk tsk tsk" (the way an adult will frequently treat a child).

I would suggest that he GET OVER HIMSELF! Folks are gonna hear what they hear, and they'll do with it what they will. OF COURSE you hear music differently than most - you're a musician, right? You are SUPPOSED to hear it differently... doesn't mean you're superior to someone who experiences it differently.

Believe me, I used to be firmly in the same campground, if not the same campsite! Used to be, I would "hold" a person's tastes and method of experiencing music against them completely... to the point of not even associating with folks who weren't working on the same "level" as me... I found that ideology led me to a dead-end (and enlightenment wasn't even in the vicinity...)!

One of the incredible aspects of music is that people experience it (or not), on so many levels and in so many different ways...

[Silly Moustache]

Well, thanks to Long Jon, for his sense of humour, and for not taking the whole thing too seriously.

There is nothing "to get over", it is just an observation that some folks have no real interest or understanding of music.

I mean no insult, nor disrespect to anyone, indeed I consider those who aren't that interested in music as, possibly, more "normal" than ...well, myself.

There are those with no natural sense of rhythm, and those who have but most may be instinctively moved by a simple drum beat etc.

This was a Sunday morning musing and an invitation to discuss.

Thanks to those who did.

[Seby]

Originally Posted by Silly Moustache

whatever kind apart from gangster riprap, hipity hopiity and heavy metal which don't count as music

Them's fightin' words "\(o_O)/"

Outside to the carpark, now!

[sled]

Originally Posted by Silly Moustache

Who needs a performing artist playing the piano in a bar, or a string quartet in a restaurant, when you can simply switch on ghastly muzak.



What do you think?

Don't know about the original premise, but I will say this...Every time I hear a thread bemoaning the fact musicians can't get gigs in restaurants or bars, it makes me want to say to them.... "It's your own darned fault". Now not speaking about everyone obviously, but I can't count the number of times we have gone into a restaurant and simply left, or asked that the performing musician turn it down, (which they inevitably do for a song or two, then turn it right back up) I don't know if it's ego, or a simple misunderstanding of what they are hired to do. They are background music for people to listen to while having dinner. If you (you in the general) are so loud people can not hear to have a conversation at the table, you are not being what you are hired to be. Most people did not come to hear you sing or play, they came to eat, and you are "nice atmosphere" If I can't talk to the people we are eating with because the music is so loud, we are leaving and going somewhere quieter. Simple as that. So I don't blame restaurant owners for refusing to hire live musicians. As for bars, well it depends on the venue. I know I used to absolutely love going to Murray's in Lexington, sitting on the patio with a date and a bottle of wine, and listening to this older gentleman who played guitar with an accompaniment machine and sang a lot of old Mowtown, Classic Rock, etc. But he got what he was there for and was always at a nice level. Too many do not understand this and think they are giving concerts or something. Trust me, people want to be able to hear the people they are having dinner with....... I love restaurants with live music, and they are getting harder to find, and I suspect this has a lot to do with it.

[Silly Moustache]

Originally Posted by Seby

Them's fightin' words "\(o_O)/"

Outside to the carpark, now!

I'm an old man, and I've not been well, and ....er.. I wear glasses !

[Mr. Jelly]

Originally Posted by Pitar

As a guitar player, and not to be confused with a musician, I enjoy playing music but it stops abruptly with that. It's odd, I suppose, that I have no patience to sit and listen to music but, truthfully, I don't need to anymore. I play it to my own satisfaction and that's about as much exposure as I can muster up.

The only thing better than music is silence.

This post sounds like me. I love to play, create and study music. I don't care to be an audience. For music to get my attention it has to transcend the mechanics of making it. And that is rare. Most music is generic to me. I don't know what other people get or don't get about music. That's why I quit playing for them and only play to please myself.

Playing music for people is a little like making a post here. A couple of people get it and the majority mistake it in someway. Like I probably have. :-)