To me music is an incredibly personal thing. I don’t much enjoy discussing it, because I couldn’t care less about what it means to anyone else or what they like and dislike.
As for ‘culture’ - I can’t see any link with music. Which is more cultured, The Sex Pistols or JS Bach? It just depends on what you like. I’m not a fan of either, but I’d sooner sit through a Sex Pistols concert than a Bach recital.
Culture has nothing to do with art. It’s just snobbery. The kind of snobbery that says that The Godfather is a more worthwhile film than Carry on Camping or Confessiona of a Window Cleaner. I’d sooner watch either of the latter.
There was when I was a teenager/young man in the 1960s/70s: there wasnt gaming, and watching movies was in a cinema (but there were many cinemas) otherwise really much the same as now, and at least we were free from the curse of antisocial media.
Music did seem to be a core interest for us, it does seem far more than for young people today. But it is unsurprising to me, being, I think, simply to the state of music evolution at the time: “Pop” music was young, rock and prog-rock in particular, but also other genres, were just springing to life - and what life that was! Popular culture built around it, it was a Big Thing. Today its all been done before, artists struggle to find something original, and when they do it is often discordant or cacaphonic, with young people playing it because it is “their music” but it has no soul, no emotion.
One of my sons is late 20s, the other early 30s. The older plays music virtually continuously on his earbuds. The younger listens some of the time, but nowhere near continuously. I think both has some favourite bands from the past 20 years, with sone commonality between them, and neither are into mainstream “pop”. Interestingly, both like quite a bit of music from my generation, with both particularly liking the Beatles, and both have a more eclectic musical taste than mine. Both have musical talent, but only the younger plays an instrument regularly. The younger frequently goes to pubs/clubs where small local bands play, or where people just get out musical instruments and jam together.
For my part, music has always been a vital part of my life, with hifi the logical means of maximising enjoyment of recorded music. I have several musical instruments, on which I can pick out a tune, and one of my promises to myself is to learn to play them properly when I retire. Unfortunately since retiring I seem to have been busier than before, with no time as yet…
It’s interesting and very surprising that you feel that way. Whenever I have visited Italy I have been struck by the wealth of music that I have stumbled across, which is one of the reasons I love going. Maybe not “pop” music, about which I know nothing, but it seems so many places have small opera productions, very accessible in terms of cost - and by doing without lavish productions people in Britain are more used to in opera houses, they are more immediate and maybe even more culturally accessible. And everywhere there seem to be busking musicians playing both classical music and things like the blues. I think Italy is rich in music, being learnt and performed by people enjoying it, if maybe not so much by people to inane pop world. If only Britain was like that!
Indeed. We spent a very memorable evening eating on the patio of the Dei Duchi hotel in Spoleto, while listening to a string quartet playing in the amphitheatre next door. Free music and free food, because my Italian then brother in law managed the hotel. The climate helps of course, we’ve listened to jazz outdoors at midnight while eating ice cream, and all sorts.
According to a video I recently posted by Andrew Huberman on another thread, research shows that the production and enjoyment of music may pre-date spoken language in human cultural development.
Also, according to the video, research shows that neurons in key areas of our brains resonate at very high frequencies that are tuned to the sounds of music in a way that is simply not true of the sensation of seeing a rainbow or a painting or a play.
I do recommend searching for and listening to Flanders and Swann’s A Song of Reproduction. Even for a piece written 64 years ago they gently but so cleverly nail it.
@CalamityJack how nice to hear that your daughter and son really are into music.
@paulbysea nice to hear that many people around you are interested in music.
@TOBYJUG I had a decent music teacher, I’ve been lucky. My music teacher introduced me to the Buena Vista Social Club.
@Innocent_Bystander I can only agree on this, even though there are some great exceptions. Music from your generation was very nice, no wonder why your sons prefer it (I tend to prefer older music too).
I can easily relate to this:
I’m sure you are right when you refer to opera. In Italy we have a rich and strong tradition as far as I know, however it’s not common for young people to listen to it, they usually hate it (at least all the people I know). On average opera is far from being interesting to most people here. It’s mostly foreigners to attend to these events, at least that’s my experience. I personally don’t enjoy opera, it’s not my genre (I prefer jazz and other genres).
@JimDog I agree, music is special indeed. There are many studies that found out how important music is for the brain development.
No offence intended, but this combination of posts made me chuckle.
HH’s post reminded me forcefully of the commentary that used to accompamy those cheap travelogue support films at the cinema. Those of a certain age will know what I’m talking about.
That may be the case with young people generally, however in some of the productions I’ve seen many of the performers have been quite young. As for liking opera, I didn’t when I heard my parents listen on the radio as a kid. But I did like some of the music I heard without singing. I didn’t give opera a proper try until I was about 40, when I discovered love for it - but only some opera, and only in its entirity not individual arias out of context. (But I dislike jazz!)
That’s correct, there are some very young performers around. It’s not opera, but I was thinking about Il Volo, the group seem to be very famous abroad (less here), they are all young and all tenors.
I’m quite sure that opera won’t really get under my skin, but never say never, things can always change, right? Maybe you’ll enjoy jazz at some point, who knows! Luckily there are many different music genres.
And Anna Lapwood is rapidly becoming a modern day one. Can’t believe she’s still only 28 - quite amazing what she has done and achieved in such a short time.
The same for me. This is what drew me into the world of hi-fi, or rather home audio, at an early age, as I realised that expensive equipment existed that made music sound much more real.
My first proper separates system was a BSR McDoanald MP60 turntable with ADC K8 cartridge, Amstrad 8000 Mk.III amp and a pair of Sony bookshelf speakers from a music centre. Not a bad little set-up for a 14yr old! None of my friends at school had anything other than a cheap portable cassette player/recorder or a cheap record player.
I still have one of those friends 50 years later. His interest in music is marginal. He doesn’t own any kind of dedicated music system. He mostly listens to music in his car or on his 'phone.
It’s surprising how many people seem to have little or absolutely no interest in music these days. I can’t help wondering if this has been caused, at least partly, by the type of technology around these days compared to say the 70’s.
In those days it was the ‘thing’ to have a music centre, like it was to have radiogram in earlier days. It was almost like a status symbol to have a nice looking music centre sitting on a table or sideboard in the lounge. They weren’t hi-fi but they did at least sound half-decent, and people obviously bought records and tapes to listen to, as well as radio. These days most people, like my friend, seem to just listen in the car or on a 'phone.
There will be an element of that. In the Edwardian era, most middle-class families would have had a piano and at least one person in the house would be able to play it. Gathering around it to sing was a common way to pass an evening at home.
To a large extent, the coming of the radio and, later, TV killed this off and the number of domestic pianos went steadily down. A family might have had one, and it might have got played, but gathering around it as a form of entertainment was no longer the thing.
I would suggest the coming of the internet and the smart phone has done the equivalent to hifi and dedicated music listening in general.
How do you know that your friend doesn’t get as much, or more, enjoyment from their music as you do? It’s the same air of snobbery - or maybe superiority is a better description - as shown in the OP’s post. Having an expensive stereo doesn’t make people more of a music lover.
