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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
1,191 posts
 

@serjio @nonoise We may have set a new record here on just how far off topic we can go? At any rate, it’s always good to read responses to a thread that I originate.

The premise of the thread was to respect music as it’s own entity and not demote it to a mere activity to deviate our attention from something else. Not sure how we got here, but we did.

Since I started this thread, a few comments on the off topic remarks.

I’m involved in 2 groups: YOUniteUSA (mine) and Braver Angels. We represent a small chunk of the "uniters" (or in my case YOUniters) and depolarizers in the country. I equate our efforts to blowing on a bowl of hot chili to cool it down while it’s still in the microwave, or trying to clear to leaves off our driveway with a leaf blower -- during an F5 tornado. We identify, acknowledge and celebrate our common interests and passions, while opening the door for conversations to bring out the "real person" inside.the individual with different viewpoints than ours. We also sponsor debates on subjects that the MSM doesn’t want us to have. (That is a topic unto itself)

We operate with the full knowledge that those above our "pay grades" yield the power of what I refer to as "weapons of mass division" and can destroy months of work by hundreds of individuals with one 5-second sound bite or a single sentence divisive statement. Any any rate, we keep plugging away. As one person said; "If you want to shave 100 pounds off of a race car, you need to find 1,600 ways to save an ounce."

It’s also been said: "Democracy only works as well as the mean sanity level of a society." We’re trying to do our part in tipping the scales toward sanity.

Forums such as things have an incalculable value in finding common interests and creating bonds. I’d say it’s upwards of 90% that A’Gon contributors agree, and when they don’t agree, they’re still friends afterwards.

My search for intelligent life on earth often starts with this forum. I am rarely disappointed.

Johnny Youniteus

waytoomuchstuff's avatar
waytoomuchstuff OP
1,191 posts
 

@mceljo "Can it stop you in your tracks while you're doing something other than intentionally listening to the music?"

Short answer to your question:  "Yes".  And, then some.

nonoise's avatar
nonoise
10,955 posts
 

@waytoomuchstuff ,It's nice what you do for your local community, bringing people together by way of finding common ground and all, but in all honesty, are you equating of my calling out serjio for interjecting his nonsense in an audio forum as the same thing he did? Sounds a lot like bothsiderism to me and not at all in keeping with your mission statement. 

All the best,
Nonoise

waytoomuchstuff's avatar
waytoomuchstuff OP
1,191 posts
 

@nonoise Well, that didn't go as I intended.  I was hoping to exit this discussion at a good point.

There was no conscious attempt to attach you to all the statements by others in this forum.  I felt sergio's final: "And this does not mean that everyone cannot become better " was a good place for him conclude his comments.  I thought that validating that, yes, others (including the OP) are interested in becoming better was a positive addition.  And, I felt that all those who "hit the ball back and forth over the net" a few times on the off-topic discussion needed to be invited to review those comments.  I was considering just making a blanket statement, but wasn't sure you guys were still visiting the post.  It was my way of making sure you were personally invited to read the comments.  Looking back, it probably would have been better to just throw it out there.

I was sincerely hoping we could wrap things up with some level of agreement by those who contributed.  If my comments were counter to that, then it was certainly not my intention. 

Thanks for reading, and contributing.

nonoise's avatar
nonoise
10,955 posts
 

@waytoomuchstuff , No problem. I understand, completely. It's just that serjio has a  history here (if you care to look it up) and spouts his nonsense. I just didn't buy into his false final thoughts on hoping everything can be/get better as he's using that ploy as a way of qualifying his remarks, which he sincerely believes in. Kind of like adding sugar to the poison so it all goes down as intended.

All the best,
Nonoise

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