Why do we stop listening to new music as we get older?

@jdougs As a 60 year old I listen to mostly jazz now which I only discovered 3-4 years ago.  As for contemporary music, not so much.  That’s a shame, those vintage jazz records don’t come cheap! 😂

With apologies, posts like this frustrate me. No wonder jazz has an ever shrinking fanbase. 

I am 65, and the amount of great, new, creative jazz being released on a constant basis, is hard to keep up with.

I could list pages of great new jazz artists, with chops and creativity to spare.

Craig Taborn, Michael Formanek, Mary Halvorson, Tim Berne, Alex Machacek, Snakeoil, Tord Gustafson, Steve Coleman, Gonzalo Ruplacaba, Hiromi, Johnathan Finlayson, Afashai Cohen, Mette Henriette, Ralph Alessi Quartet...

I also love the post bop, modal jazz of the past, but jazz is not a museum exhibit for me. The new, progressive jazz that is being produced is also incredible, in different ways as that of the past. 

@tylermunns How do age-related neurological changes affect one’s propensity to seek out new music?

One of the things most people lose as they age, is the search for, and love of novel experiences.

This is due to some of the changes in aging brains.

You know I have a friend who mentor me .He has very very good musical system? For about 9 yrs now .He stop listening.I don’t understand it. He just completely lost passion from this hobby?

@jrosemd I think that 99% of the music being recorded these days is crap - and my three sons, who are all. in their mid-30's - agree.  They listen to the same music as me - Beatles, Fleetwood Mac, Tom Petty, NRBQ, They Might Be Giants, Chicago, etc.

It has probably always been true, that a very high percentage of music from every era, has been crap.

Everyone remembers Beethoven, Mahler, Brahms, Weber, Mendelsohn, Schubert, but how many remember the mediocre: Machaut, Ockaghem, William Byrd? Not to mention the dozens of others that we don't have manuscripts of their scores, because they were totally unmemorable. 

Do you think: Henry James, Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Duke Ellington, Woody Herman, Count Basie were the only big bands in the 40's?

Even the eras you mention as being so good, had a very high percentage of crap.

All I know, is within the genres of music I listen to, I have a hard time keeping up with all the great new music being released. 

@simonmoon

@tylermunns How do age-related neurological changes affect one’s propensity to seek out new music?

”One of the things most people lose as they age, is the search for, and love of novel experiences.

This is due to some of the changes in aging brains.”

I don’t see here an actual answer to my question or any actual scientific evidence in this answer to support the idea that people stop seeking out new music in advanced age due to “neurological changes.”
I don’t dismiss the idea on its face, but I prefer people cite empirical evidence when they make big, sweeping statements of scientific fact.

There is an older couple (at least in their 70s if I had to guess) in my community that are seen at most of the music and art shows in town, be them at art galleries or less-than-swanky bars. These shows may present art/music of wildly differing sorts, yet, there they are, dressed to the nines, gettin’ down and eagerly seeking out new art frequently, 12 months out of the year (nasty Alaskan weather be damned).

I understand that anecdote I just provided may be the exception to the norm, but I am still without data or empirical evidence to support the idea that neurological changes are (at least partially) responsible for people “giving up” on new music/experiences.