Is it all just psycholocological?

[Clubkill]

I have been listening to a lot of new music recently, trying new music from many genres, and it has led me to do some pondering.

Why do we like/dislike certain genres of music?

I can understand that the context of the music can have a huge effect (i.e. cattle ranchers don't want to hear about the ghetto anymore than people from the ghetto ant to hear about wrangling cattle...stereotypes, but valid ones). It is impossible to deny that music has an effect on people that is rooted somewhere in our brain. Every culture in the world has music, and as the big picture goes, they are not all that different. I can also understand how a love and appreciation for a type of music can be adopted from the people around you and the situation that you are brought up in.

However, outside these type of considerations, we still form our own (seemingly independent) decisions about what we like and don't like. I like many electronic music groups, though others can't stand electronic music and would certainly not even consider some of it music. I guess an extension of this is looking a the diversity of "classical" music in different cultures. Certainly certain factors like the availability of different types of instruments and the societal context of the music can have an impact, but still beyond those considerations, different cultures form different musics when left to their own accord.

Certainly certain musical characteristics (rythym, some sense of pitch) often hold true across cultures. Is the difference in musical preference just a chance thing? Is it based on what music you are exposed to from each genre? Is there a genetic inclination to favor a particular sound? What factors differ between two people that make them feel so differently about the same type of music? I am interested to hear if anyone has any ideas or has thought about this as well.

P.S. As much as it sounds like it, I do not have a term paper due on the subject, just curious what everyone thinks.

 

[Budgie]

No doubt that culture and peer group are issues here, but I believe that at some point some people start to listen to their "internal rythm" as opposed to external influences, and then the choice of music may change. Does this relate to a developement of a certain type of maturity, as opposed to the "follow the pack" mentality of youth? (Maybe it could be a yardstick of emotional development??) I am certain (my opinion)that musical preferance, probably, is due to many different factors, all influencing any individule in different proportions.

 

[Matthew-Spaltro]

Some people my age [23] like a certain kind of music because their friends do as well. And to me that is quite pathetic. I have all ways stuck to my own guns when it came to music and did not let my self be swade by other so called cool people. When kids at my old high school would be playing their rap music I would be listening to classic rock most of the time.

 

[Poddy]

In my opinion it all comes down to you as a person. For myself to enjoy music i have to relate to it. It could present itself a few ways. Say i really empathise with they lyrical content and the progression of the music suits the material. Another situation might be where the sounds of the instruments come together in a way that i can almost predict. By this i dont mean the music is formulated and boring. But rather when the tempo changes or when other sounds are brought in to the mix it just sounds right. Of course a lot of it also has to do with the mood your in at that present time. If you are for some reason exceptionally angry Slipknot might take on an appeal you find ridiculous at other stages in life. Music is very much subjective.

 

[john_jcb]

Another thing that happens is that you associate events in your life with songs/groups/genres. When I hear the Troggs "Wild Thing" I am taken back to the 60s. I will then listen to other songs from that era. I will break out the Yardbirds, Bluesbreakers, Jefferson Airplane and escape into them. The association with pleasant memories is a powerful thing.

Your tastes mature as you do as well. Just like we are willing to try new food as adults so it is with music. I must say that I tried to listen to Disco, I hated it then and I hate it today. Just like some will never llike brussel sprouts.

The study of why someone like something or someone is very interesting. Why is it there are people we meet that we take an immediate dislike for?

 

[kelly]

I think if you ask yourself the same question about foods, you'll arrive at similar conclusions. The only difference is that people, in the city at least, are more experimental and open minded when it comes to trying new cuisines and new restaurants. I wish people were with music.

 

[Clubkill]

I am glad to hear some replies. Some interesting ideas. Kelly, I would have to say that taste probably has a more physiological component than musical taste. People have different amount of certain taste receptors (hence a different taste for certian people), though there is obviously a mental component to it too. People have a different perception of sound too (especially in response to frequency), but this would not have any specific polarizing effect upon whish music you listen to as very different genres can be fundamentally the same in terms of the actual frequency content.

What prompted me to consider this is the refinement of my actual taste. As I start to reject some of the music that I used to enjoy (probably more of the social context than the music itself), I find it very easy for me to decide what I like and what I don't. It is further complicated because the split is not always along genre lines. I find it strange how much I can dislike some artists, and enjoy so completely another artist that is very similar is genre.

The brain remains one of the great mysteries to science, and it makes it interesting. However, if you could put a list of your favorite artists into a computer, and it could somehow generate music that has all of the aspects that you like, and nothing you don't like, that would be wicked.

 

[Dusty Chalk]

Of course! I mean, why did we fall on the twelve-tone scale? There's nothing special about it, yet if you heard something outside of the twelve-tone scale (say 10- or 13-tone scales), you would find it dissonant and alien (24-tone scale doesn't count, it's basically a twelve-tone scale with notes between the notes).

Of course, there's two types of people, the people who are lazy, and will be able to derive the same amount of enjoyment from the same piece of music, over and over again. I am actually quite envious of these people. Sure makes for a more cheaper hobby.

And then there's the people who are used to having their brains challenged more often. I'm not saying there's anything superior about us, there's nothing better, it's just...that's what we're used to. I am definitely one of these people, and I need to train myself to become more of the other. I listen to most CD's just once. That is ridiculous. And very expensive. I can definitely enjoy the same CD a second time, but I feel as if I'm missing something if I don't listen to something new on a regular basis.

 

[ai0tron]

"Does this relate to a developement of a certain type of maturity, as opposed to the "follow the pack" mentality of youth? (Maybe it could be a yardstick of emotional development??)"

GUESS you should say goodbye to mozart then. I mean the last time I was at a concert I wasnt the only one there...

 

[setmenu]

Originally posted by Dusty Chalk



I listen to most CD's just once. That is ridiculous.

Setmenu

 

[kelly]

Clubkill

I disagree with your sentiment that physiological factors break my analogy. If you look at any culture, I'm sure you'll find great differences in taste buds amongst people within that culture. None the less, food genres originated within these cultures -- evolved from technological factors, agricultural factors, tradition and migration. I see music as no different from this other than the fact that piracy has removed fincancial barriers to music genre expansion that still persist in preventing some cultures from expanding the variety of food they consume.

I think also if you look at music culturally, you'll see trends and similarities in structures that cross genre lines. German and Austrian music to me seems very tightly structured and precise whether we're talking about Bach, 80s new wave music or modern death metal and thrash. Similarly, Gershwin has as much in common with Harry Connick Jr. as he does his fellow composers.

We are becoming one world but the process is gradual and the roots are still tracable. I think this understanding is key to appreciating music from new genres both past and present.

 

[M.Sensation]

I find that with music, and to a lesser extent food, the more I listen to, the more I like. This pertains to single CD's as well as whole genre's of music. I never used to like punk or electronic based music until I worked next to a guy who absolutely loved these two genre's. I try to keep an open mind with music and eventually over the months I worked with him, I found myself enjoying some the songs he'd play. I don't know if anybody else has these same tendencies but if it's some sort of psychological effect regarding repititions, perhaps this could explain why peer groups tend to have the same tastes in music like Matthew observed.

Is anybody else affected by music this way?

 

[millerdog]

I had a similar discussion with a friend some weeks ago. I thought that my musical tastes changed daily. Why at some listening station(tower, borders) would I dislike one artist, then on the next visit listen again and actually buy the cd?
I have had the reverse happen as well. I bought the cd because I knew the artist, took it home and hated it. I listened to it on a listening station and liked it. I had to convince myself that it was the same cd I already had in my collection.
I began to wonder about all the new kinds of music I was missing because I was in a certain mood the day I went shopping.
As I consider myself to be pretty open and level headed, I thought this to be very strange. As for the listening stations; if I like the music enough to buy it, why don't I like it everyday?
I think your musical tastes evolve as you get exposed to more genres. As I expose myself to different styles, I appreciate a wider range of music.
I also think appreciation depends on what kind of mood you're in. What makes you choose this cd compared to that cd as you listen day to day?

 

[Clubkill]

Interesting points. Obviously 'climitization' is something that we find in many situations.

What I find interesting is how when i hear a group or a song for the first time, I can usually say that I like it or dislike it, but could not always say how. I guess this is just how our mind works. We do not always have concious access to our thought process, or at least in a format we can understand. We can recognize peoples faces, but often times cannot get a picture of them in our head. Some activities like speech are easier to perform when we don't try to think about what we are doing while we are doing it. The interesting part is that our opinion of a piece of music is not only out of our control, but often unexplainable even to ourselves.

 

[Calanctus]

Quote:

Originally posted by M.Sensation I find that with music, and to a lesser extent food, the more I listen to, the more I like.... I don't know if anybody else has these same tendencies but if it's some sort of psychological effect regarding repititions.... Is anybody else affected by music this way?

For me, both music enjoyment and audio equipment preferences can work this way.

It often takes me a minimum of 3-4 listens to a new album to really get into it, even if it is in a genre that I already like. The first time through, I hear everything of course, but I usually don't seem to have much of an emotional reaction to the music. By the third time through, I have attuned in some unexplained way and can really get into it.

Similarly, I bought an expensive pair of headphones after a 10 minute in-store demo and comparison to 3 other brands. After months of listening to those phones, I came to the point where I was simply tired of their sound--and switched to a much cheaper but, to me, far more pleasing set of phones. The original headphones did not deteriorate in sound (at least, I don't think so)--they still have all the qualities that first attracted me to them (complete freedom from distortion, accuracy, etc.). But something happened: I became disattuned, just as I find I become attuned to music by listening 3-4 times.


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Calanctus