2. misc-audio
  3. 178831-156209

NEWS FLASH!! Listening to Music is NOT a "Distraction."

I wish I had a free music download for every time I’ve heard the statement: “Music is a distraction”.  It’s been tossed around for eons like a worn-out Frisbee.  After a while we just ignore the bite marks and warbles and just let it fly.  From a distance, casual onlookers think everything is just hunky dory.  And, for a moment in time, so do we.

 

A “distraction” implies an activity that is trivial, lacking both substance and value.  Music is neither trivial, nor without substance or value.  It is part of life -- and living. 

 

An example of a “distraction”:  My “normal” work week was 70+ hours a week.  After 10+ hours of whack-a-mole problem solving, some days I’d head to the movie rental store to pick something out.  My movie prerequisites were pretty simple:  1) nobody gets killed or maimed.  2) People are generally nice to each other.  And 3) a plot that doesn’t make me think very hard.  I’d grab an easy to prepare entre’ (or take out), something soothing to drink and spend the next 2 hours being “comfortably numb”.  In other words, a distraction – from work.

 

Listening to music may be the most alive we feel that day.  Or, that week.  When we’re fully engaged, our bodies and minds fully resonate with the thing we are experiencing.  Our senses are at their peak.  We’re celebrating genius, humbled by the “invitation” to be part of something truly extraordinary.  We smile.  We get all weepie for the 1,400thtime during the same point in the soundtrack.  We’re able to “resurrect” the energy and presence of a long-deceased musician; inviting someone long gone to hold a microphone 5’ off the floor and belt out a vocal in the center of our “stage”. 

 

If there is anything “therapeutic” about listening to music at home, it is the liberation created when grasping onto something totally predictable.  During Martha My Dear, Paul McCarty’s piano intro will fade, and the melody replaced by a violin.  It happens every time.  Regardless of how much “stuff” was thrown at me on any given day, I can always depend on it happening.

 

To this point, this discussion has been all about us as individuals.  Flying solo when enjoying music is amazing in itself.  The value of having an opportunity to identify, acknowledge and celebrate the common interests and passions we share with others is immeasurable.  It also has an added benefit:  Hitting the “mute button” on all things you don’t have in common with others.  All is good in the world.  And your best friends ARE your best friends.  As it should be. At a live venue, your “closest friends” could reach 50,000. 

 

Anesthetic is when we shut our senses off and deaden ourselves to what is happening.  Music has a way of waking us to what we have inside of us.

 

Music is a lot of things to a lot of people.  But it is NOT a distraction.

 

128x128waytoomuchstuff
waytoomuchstuff's avatar
waytoomuchstuff OP
981 posts
 

@tylermunns Some people have more sensitive "antennas" than others.  While some music lovers are ecstatic with a course representation of a musical event, others demand nuance and full adherence to the artists' intent.

For myself, "musical wallpaper" is good enough when conversations around the fire pit are more important than the music.  Sometimes, I just don't want to be alone and queue up "old friends" just to keep me company.  Other times, music is my "comfort animal" bringing familiar themes to unfamiliar circumstances.  Then there are those moments when the rhythm and cadence of the music is perfectly synchronized with the activity (and, mood) in which I am engaged.  And, yes, there are those times when I strap myself to my listening chair and allow the beauty, power, and intimacy of music (literally) take center stage. In all the cases above, the music is never a "distraction', but ranges from an enhancement to augment the enjoyment of a pleasurable activity, a supplement to make "swallowing" a dreaded task more tolerable, to actually being "the thing".

I hope you and Matt are still friends.  Let me guess; he got off the fishing boat and opened a string of Captain D restaurants in your area?

By the way, I have to confess that my "musical wallpaper" system is made up of "tweaked" rock speakers, outdoor sub, modified source components and amplifiers.  Even at listening levels just above the threshold of hearing, it is musically satisfying.  Wonderful sounds, even in the background, make me smile.

tylermunns
574 posts
 

@waytoomuchstuff That sounds great.  If the neighbors are cool (if that’s even an issue) sounds like an awesome way to enjoy music outside!

Martin Scorsese said something in an op-ed I really appreciated. Paraphrasing, he lamented a certain devaluation of art in our modern lives.  He took umbrage with everything being described as, “content.” A cinematic masterpiece, a ballet, a symphony, visual art, music, etc. is described as “content,” just as a cat video on Tik-Tok, a 3-minute podcast clip of bloviating pundits, a highlight reel of curling is considered, “content.”  

In short, something I agree with; art being devalued and reduced to yet another of a hundred modern, utilitarian applications and appliances, in stead of what it is: art.

waytoomuchstuff's avatar
waytoomuchstuff OP
981 posts
 

@tylermunns My neighbors are great. I do have a simple rule of having a zero footprint on those around me. Their outdoor experiece is their outdoor experience and I have no right to effect that in any way. So, I keep the volume down.

Mr. Scorsese’s comments certainly ring true today. I have a phrase I call "the Exodus of Authenticity" where influencial forces are pulling us away from all things "authentic" and changing our "reality" to accept substitutes for those things. Or, nuliify them all together. There are various motivators in this scenario, none of which are aligned with truth or greater understanding.

More to discover