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Has education expanded your listening tastes?

This point recently came up in another thread: a member was of the opinion (if I am paraphrasing them correctly) that critical thinking plays little role in what our tastes in music might be. We like what we like and that's it. So that begs the question for me, how many of us feel that our reaction to music is primarily rooted in the emotional centers of the brain and that rational analysis of musical structure and language doesn't potentially expand our range of musical enjoyment? I ask because I am not a professional musician, but I did take a few college level music history classes, learn to play guitar in my forties (now sixty,) learn to read music on a rudimentary level of competence, study a little music theory, and enjoy reading historical biographies about composers and musicians. I can honestly say that the in the last fifteen years or so, I have greatly expanded what types of music I enjoy and that I can appreciate music I might not "love" in the emotional sense that used to dictate what I listen to. Take Berg, Schoenberg, and Webern for example. Their music doesn't sweep you away with the emotional majesty of earlier composers, but I find their intellectual rigor and organization to be fascinating and very enjoyable. Same with studying the history of American roots music, I learned a lot about our cultural history and enjoy listening to old blues and country music now. How do other's feel about this emotion vs. learning to appreciate thing?
photon46

Showing 1 response by pgawan2b

pgawan2b
122 posts
 
Yes, I think so. I am an amateur musician with no formal training in theory or history. I played my horn in a few ensembles back in college but that was the extent of my formal music education. The difference for me was one college professor who, over the space of four years, consistently introduced us to different styles of music. Some of it I liked, others of it I didn't. Fast forward a few years...I was fortunate enough to be invited to play in a local community swing band. The director, also an educator, arranged most of our music and was responsible for the play list. Similar to my professor in college, he routinely arranged (some times composed) new pieces for us and gave us a variety of styles.

Schubert, what a concert! Ravel's Bolero and a Tchaikovsky symphony in the same concert performed by the San Fransisco Symphany? Wow!

One final comment. I wonder if there is an additional component to this; live performances. In our digital age, I think we have largely forgotten the significance of the experience of a live performance by great performers performing great pieces. To me there is a difference between listening to a replay of music and experiencing the making of music.
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