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I made a CD for my neighbour a while back containing my favoutite classical music. She had never actually sat down and listened to 'classical' music before so I was excited about her response - which was - yeah it's nice but it all sounds the same! Huh! Faure's Requiem sounds like a Scriabin prelude... what's going on...

I've been thinking about her response recently because when I listen to 'new-age' pieces (which I don't listen to much) - to me - and at the risk of getting into some serious trouble here - while it's all very nice - it all sounds the same...

Interesting huh...

Interesting! I think it's just because the traits of given genres that don't appeal to us (while similar, otherwise they'd be categorized into a different genre!) turn us off so quickly that our brains kind of say "no more, I'm not fond of this general sound, so I certainly don't want to listen to you more closely". Er, somethin' like that

I had a similar exchange with a co-worker just today. While in my office, she commented that all piano music makes her want to go to sleep. So I changed my classical to a jazzy Makin' Whoopie (recorded by one of our own here, but my apologies for not knowing who it is, as when I saved it, I failed to note the performer. Whomever you are - it's fantastic by the way!) Well, she still said it made her want to go to sleep, so I changed it to a Joplin rag....and then she fell out on my floor and started snoring. OK, not really, but she said it doesn't matter what kind of tune it is, it does nothing for her and it makes her sleepy.

:rolleyes:

Tina

To many people, it DOES all sound the same. Then again, so does everything else!.

After a while, if I'm not concentrating on the song say if I'm working outside or weight lifting, the rock music I'm listening to just kind of blends in with a regular beat and a voice singing a melody.

Lot s of jazz sounds the same with lots of saxaphone and high treble piano runs. I don't think its a slam but just an honest answer.

Then again, she could have said "It all sounded so nice to me"!

sounds like my wife...

To many people, instrumental music makes them sleep. This is why anything with vocals sells so much more.

What can I do? I can't sing. I try to make the piano sound like singing but I guess it's not cutting it.

LaValse, there's actually sound psychological principles for what you describe. Basically it comes down to the role of personal relevance and familiarity in categorization.

The easy way to describe it is to use the old cliche that Eskimos have something like 23 words for "snow." This is because snow is relevant to their lives and they're around it constantly. It is useful for them to be able to distinguish between the light feathery stuff and the slushy stuff easily. People in the tropics don't need to make those distinctions, so one word works fine.

When it's a genre of music you like and listen to a lot, you have the experience and memories of lots of different exemplars that allow you to make rich, complex distinctions among them. And you hear and pick up on those distinctions. But if it's a genre you don't care about and/or have little experience with, it's no surprise you are unable to make those distinctions. In a very real sense, it *does* sound all alike to you (sound is a psychological phenomenon, and what we hear is predicated heavily on our expectations and experience), just like most hip-hop music sounds all alike to me.

If you were to suddenly be gripped with a new age addiction and started listening to it for hours a day, very shortly you'd start hearing dramatic differences between artists and pieces.

What a pinhead! Seriously, though, many people simply have no appreciation for music of any sort.

I'll wager that your Makin' Whoopee was recorded by Walter Scott IV. I saved his fabulous recording of that piece, too. Is it sort of scratchy sounding with amazing playing? I think his screen name is w_scott@verizon.net or something like that.

Hi Monica,

Thanks, that's kinda what I figured - essentially exposure? A friend of mine keeps sheep! - has about 70 of them and they all look the same to me, but he has a name for each and can recognise them easily... Similarly I can 'feel' what's happening on a sailing boat from miles away yet non-sailors often just see a hull and sails.

I will keep listening...

In the case of snow the I suppose the Eskimos had no choice, ditto faces in a worldwide context, but for music we (usually) do, so it must need a pretty good carrot to drag us into a particular genre and stay there long enough to develop the skills to appreciate the subtlties perhaps... just thinking aloud...

I went to sleep listening to my father play romantic classical piano every night for about 17 years and I guess that gave me a natural foundation to be able to listen to and love that genre - and I'm sure there are ton of kids growing up listening to 'new age' every night now...

There again I could have listened to brass bands playing happy marches every day of my life and I'm pretty sure I'd still hate them! Back to Rosanna's beloved marmite perhaps; to develop the love you need a predilection in the first place...

Something about most classical music is the lack of repetition. So a first listen to different pieces might to the first time listener sound all the same. Then again, it depends if all the music was piano only or orchestra etc...
I can recall before enjoying classical music how I thought everything chopin played sounded just like a whole bunch of notes , i didn't like it at all.
I also feel that those who play instruments listen to classical music in a different way. Just my thought on this.

Peter

Good point, and singers, theorists etc too probably...

I have a friend that claims there is only one reggae song...

During my Xmas parties...

Even if the dance floor is full...I'll still get someone (usually with a miserable look on their face) and it doesn't matter what genre of music I'm playing at the time, could be rock and roll, 60's, 70's, disco, 80's, 90's, this century, current chart toppers, dance, R&B, party stuff (grease, Abba, time warp, YMCA, etc etc!) yup no matter whatever it is!!...they'll say something like..."could you play something good!" or the other favourite of mine "you know something with a"..."beat"/"more modern"/"older"/"newer"/"we all like!!"


AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!


Lee :rolleyes:

Dennis, yes that's him! Thanks

hey when/where did "Uncle Walt" post a piece???

I've been dying to hear something from him for ages...he's so sage (and grumpy!...just kidding Walter )

I know its just got to be good


Lee

Yes. Interesting thread. The Blues used to sound all the same to me. That was until I understood a little. So did poetry, and politician's speeches. Nightclub singers also sounded the same. One day in Italy a friend who was singing some middle of the road pop song suddenly dedicated a song to me. I was all ears even though I couldn't understand the lyrics. The melody was pleasant enough and I was enthralled.

The same thing happened to the Blues. I listened to them and found myself in the role of the dejected, as with poetry that eventually hit a chord within my maturing self-awareness as I constructed my life.

Politician's speeches however have never done anything but sound alike to me. And if anyone talks about political ideas I immeadiately go into hibernation.

The only way a person can enjoy a new genre is to find something addressed to them personally in the music or the associations it brings.

A lot of the most powerful associations relate to relationships which explains the power of the popular song over instrumental genres. With instrumental music people need to understand the associations the composer is evoking. That takes more time and development unless it's film music when the images are already there. New Age music has become popular precisely because it makes people sleep and chill out so maybe it's not a bad thing anyway.

I would agree with this. Many years ago I had a week vacation in Jamaica. Even after a week of constant reggae, it all sounded the same.

GregF

I finally found it! He posted this in the November 2006 Piano Bar .
Here's his box.net link: Makin\' Whoopee

Tina

OT:

Monica wrote: The easy way to describe it is to use the old cliche that Eskimos have something like 23 words for "snow." This is because snow is relevant to their lives and they're around it constantly.

When I lived in England I found it impossible to believe snow could need 23 different words to describe it. Now I live in New England I suspect I have even more than 23, and as we advance further into the December from heck they're becoming increasingly profane!

Tell me about it!! This is getting truly ridiculous. Oh, have I mentioned that I hate winter???

Thanks Tina for the links

Dang! I just knew Walter was going to be absolutely fantastic...I just knew it!!

Yup, the recording is a little scratchy and a little muffled but... holey macaroni!!


If you're reading Walt?, I love it , sorry I missed it.


Lee

Most people don't want to move out of their "comfort zone" musically, and so they rather automatically dismiss anything they are not familiar with as "not good." A little exposure often can open them up to the possiblilites in other forms. The ones I never could figure out are the ones who say: "Oh, I don't listen to jazz (or classical, or new age, or whatever). I don't understand it." And some of these are people who have heard music here at our house that they admit they like, but wouldn't ever listen to it at home, because it's classed as jazz (or whatever), and they don't "understand" it. Huh? If it sounds good to you, that's really all that matters, isn't it?