Music appreciation through emotion Dec01 '07
A recent post by Matt Brundage, titled Musical arc, is an interesting read. It talks about how, at certain points of our lives, the music we appreciate and cherish is influenced by emotion. Matt mentions various bittersweet life events - such as buying your first car, graduating from high school, and becoming independent, as fond memories in which the soundtrack forever adapted itself to.
Take an album that you cherished ten years ago, and pretend it was just released today. Would you have the same emotional connection to it? Most definitely not. First of all, your musical tastes and appreciation have changed in ten years, and secondly, the emotion that you felt ten years ago may not be present today.
Upon reflecting on that album that was cherished ten years ago, Matt explains:
I must acknowledge that I'm approaching the album with bias. I can't evaluate it objectively because I continue to view the songs through a lens clouded with good memories...
"A lens clouded with good memories." That is true how we appreciate music from the past, by envisioning the memories alongside the music. But is this an objective evaluation of the music itself? Probably not.
Now that he is older, and his musical tastes and appreciation have become more fine-tuned, he'd like to believe that emotion no longer plays a role in his objective evaluation of current music.
My appreciation of a new band or particular song won't be influenced by frivolous things such as unrelated emotions. Or at least that's my hope.
I'm not sure if it works out this way, but it's an interesting theory. I often wonder about my own musical tastes and appreciation, as I notice distinct differences in the type and style of music I listened to ten years ago, as opposed to today.
Based on what Matt is saying, it could almost sound like this: the music you "appreciate" the least is the music you cherish the most. Over time, as appreciation grows, so drops the frivolous emotions attached to the music you listen to.
So you're left with a damn good taste in music, but little emotion behind it.
Is this true? I don't think so. I still believe, no matter what age, emotion manipulates our evaluation and desire for music.
Categories: Music 
, Reflection
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