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Has education expanded your listening tastes?

This point recently came up in another thread: a member was of the opinion (if I am paraphrasing them correctly) that critical thinking plays little role in what our tastes in music might be. We like what we like and that's it. So that begs the question for me, how many of us feel that our reaction to music is primarily rooted in the emotional centers of the brain and that rational analysis of musical structure and language doesn't potentially expand our range of musical enjoyment? I ask because I am not a professional musician, but I did take a few college level music history classes, learn to play guitar in my forties (now sixty,) learn to read music on a rudimentary level of competence, study a little music theory, and enjoy reading historical biographies about composers and musicians. I can honestly say that the in the last fifteen years or so, I have greatly expanded what types of music I enjoy and that I can appreciate music I might not "love" in the emotional sense that used to dictate what I listen to. Take Berg, Schoenberg, and Webern for example. Their music doesn't sweep you away with the emotional majesty of earlier composers, but I find their intellectual rigor and organization to be fascinating and very enjoyable. Same with studying the history of American roots music, I learned a lot about our cultural history and enjoy listening to old blues and country music now. How do other's feel about this emotion vs. learning to appreciate thing?
photon46
brownsfan
1,508 posts
 
Last night I pulled out HvK's 1963 Eroica and gave it a listen. I thought about how much more I like this recording than almost all of the other Eroicas I have. If someone were to ask me, "Why do you like this version best," the most candid response would be because I do.
Learsfool and Frogman could probably entertain me for 2 hours talking about why they do or do not like that particular recording better than another. Everyone has a right to an opinion, but not all opinions are of equal value.
During a pre concert lecture the lecturer (a local music professor) played a part of a chamber work from Brahms and another one from Beethoven. She asked me to briefly describe the difference. I answered that the LvB went straight to my heart, while the Brahms engaged my mind. That was a valid answer, but an utterly subjective one devoid of any particular value to any one but myself. When I retire, perhaps I will have time to educate myself more on that which I love so much. I really can't fathom how anything bad could come from that.
photon46 OP
1,087 posts
 
Learsfool, I agree with your thoughts regarding the reluctance of certain types of listeners to educate themselves. It is baffling, but the longer I live, the more I am amazed at the profound differences among humans in the way we process information, relate each other, and prioritize values. In America, we are generating humans who increasingly value the individual's raw and unformed subjective response to aesthetic stimuli above informed and educated insight. I know this sounds like the griping of an old man who's shaking his fist at the younger generation. However, decades of education and cultural values that has emphasized self-esteem and self-empowerment has skewed many peoples sense of need for education regarding the arts. Unlike Brownsfan, I suspect the majority of people DO feel that when it comes to aesthetics and art, one opinion is as good as another.
rok2id's avatar
rok2id
7,859 posts
 
*****I would submit to you that the reason the German kid says what he does is indeed education,*******

I would say it's because Beethoven was German.

Cheers
rok2id's avatar
rok2id
7,859 posts
 
*****What I do not understand is the folks who are obviously afraid that educating themselves more about music is somehow going to decrease their emotional enjoyment of it******

This 'accusation' was made long ago, not by Learsfool, and went unchallenged at that time. Now, as in politics, it has become Fact! It does not apply to any poster I have read. Certainly not to me.

I only suggested that having formal instruction in music is not a prerequisite to the enjoyment of music.

I would suggest that this applies to the vast majority of the people that support classical music in this country. Including those that give financial support to the arts.

I would also suggest that the major advantage a 'musical educated' person has over the layman, is the musical vocabulary. They don't hear it any differently, or are affected by it, any more than the layman, they can just talk about what they are hearing, using the correct words. They know the terminology.

They may know how the 'sausage' is made, but anyone can enjoy the taste.

Cheers
photon46 OP
1,087 posts
 
Rok2id, I agree with you to a point. However, I do not agree that someone without knowledge of an artistic creation's historical context and means of creation enjoys a work as fully or hears music the same as someone with more informed knowledge. That's not being elitist, just basic truth it would seem to me. Take this as an example. Listen to the opening few minutes of J.S. Bach's "A Musical Offering." Now, listen to the same Ricercar after reading the brief one page explanation of a crab canon and while listening along with the animated film that illustrates the evolution of the canon. http://aminotes.tumblr.com/post/651794581/j-s-bach-canon-cancrizans-the-crab-canon Is lack of this knowledge going to stop you from enjoying the composition, of course not. But it defies logic to say one hears it the same way after learning more about Bach's incredible compositional genius.
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