I'm here to make a confession: I'm not interested in music. So very sorry.
I don't care about what bands are cool and what bands are not cool. I don't care if pop music is lame and indie music is best. I can't name one up-and-coming band. I don't care about guitar riffs or drum beats. I don't care about lyrics, especially if I can't understand them, and I don't care about what people think about them. I'm just not into it.
I can honestly say that I've never listened to any music posts from my neighbors for the nearly two years I've been on Vox. But I can say that I've read nearly every post that hasn't been about music…if that makes anyone feel better.
I am now brave enough to say that when someone says, "you gotta hear this song! It's so awesome," my immediate thought is, how can I get out of this? Because I know they will be disappointed (and/or think I'm heartless/a crazy person) when I shrug at the end and say, "yeah, it was fine."
Music for me is background noise. It's what I listen to in the car while I'm driving. It's what I listen to if I'm surfing the Internet. It's what plays in the elevator and it's apparently in the background of movies, although I rarely notice it.
I can't remember a time where I've voluntarily chosen to sit down and listen to a song without doing anything else.
And I've come to a few conclusions on why this is:
- As I mentioned in my Cori's Grand Theory About Talking On The Phone post a long time ago, I am a visual person. Music is auditory. We are not compatible. I would not be matched to music on eHarmony. I just don't process auditory information like so many of you can. My mind wanders. Something sparkly catches my eye. And within a few seconds of listening to a song, I'm on a completely different planet. My auditory attention span is about on par with a goldfish.
- I have to admit it — music does not speak to me on a deeper level. Songs don't move me. Music doesn't really affect my mood. I don't listen to sad songs after a break-up. I don't think a song has ever moved me to tears*. If something good has happened I might crank up the music in my car and sing really loud…but it's more the need to shout and be happy than it is my appreciation for the music as music. I still listen to songs that I enjoyed with my ex. There's no emotional connection to the music. In fact, my iPod is always set to shuffle. If a song comes on that I don't want to listen to, I'll skip it. But I don't have certain music that connects to certain aspects of my life.
- I find a lot of music, especially slow music, boring.
- I can't sing (no, really) and I can't play any instruments (other than a small amount of piano from when I was younger). I can no longer read music. I don't have the ability to pick out certain instruments in songs (except, perhaps, for the drums). Because of this, I don't have the ability to appreciate music on the musicality level that musicians can. I'm not saying you have to be a musician to appreciate music, but it sure does help.
Granted, there is a lot of music that I enjoy (I have 5000 songs on my iPod for goodness sake), in a lot of genres. But if any of it was to disappear off the planet, I don't think I'd take the time to be sad. Maybe for a bit. If music disappeared entirely, it would definitely affect me, but not like it would those people who say they couldn't live without music.
I was talking to Pondy about this, and she came up with a good analogy using her disinterest in books (something I am highly interested in and emotionally affected by): "I don't care about books. I don't care about plot development or characters evolving and their stories being reconciled. I either like it or I don't. And if I do like it, it's usually for the overall entertainment value than for the style of writing or anything like that."
So, I guess it's all about the entertainment value for me.
This is very hard to admit, since my brother and so many of my friends are extremely musical and talented. Many of my friends care deeply about music and lyrics and all that jazz. And because I love them, I'll listen and try to form opinions, but it is very very hard. Because if I didn't love them…I probably wouldn't care. But just know that it's not you. It's me.
What do you all think?
* Note: there is one exception to this general rule. I do care about the music at church. If there was no music there, I'd be upset. Music there has moved me to tears. But I like to think that it's more than the music itself. It's about the worship more than it is about the musicality. As much as I wish it weren't this way, the better the worship music, the more easily I can worship.
OK, this is what you do. Get yourself some decent visualization software. Here's one I saw recommended that has a free download, and allows you to manipulate them to your own satisfaction. I remember how much I loved the original Disney animation Fantasia. I think that, as much as I do love music, I am primarily visual as well. I don't know that I could recall all of the lyrics to a single song. That's not altogether a bad thing, in my opinion. It has led me to explore music in languages I don't understand, develop a love for medieval music, which is wonderfully contemplative, and be more concerned with excellence of sound than eloquence of language. Non-lyrical music tends to touch me more deeply in general.
A good example of an artist I would not have listened to, were I lyric-centered, would be Nicole Nordeman, the Christian singer. I do not consider myself particularly religious, so I was not drawn to her music by her message. It was just that she was a wonderful musician. Another example would be Regina Spektor. It was her unique style that led me to buy her music, not the message of her lyrics.
I do get the connection to music in church, even though I am not a churchgoer. Praise and joy are always great. I will sometimes put on a gospel station when I need a pick-me-up.
Based on what I've read from you over time, you don't strike me as being particularly Aspie-ish (having Asperger's syndrome). But you do like to work on computers, and can be easily distracted by visual stimuli, so who knows? Maybe you would like a little Bach.
I'd be willing to say you're probably a little more auditory than you think. Maybe not to the level that it effects your spirit and lifts you up but that it does effect you on some level. I'd be willing to guess that if you take the soundtracks out of your favorite movies…well they're an entirely different movie. I wasn't alienated by this point and found it mostly interesting. :-) Keep up the good writing.
No! Say it's not so!!!
(just kidding)
Actually, my first thought was that the music genes were split between you & Chris – he got 100% and you got 0%. Nothing wrong with that. I can't say I totally understand, since my mood is usually very affected by music (more to cheer me up rather than bring me down). But I certainly don't think you're lame for it.
Uhhhhh —- ignore the mixtape I mailed to you, k?
Dude – I could have written that post! The only music I care about are my worship songs (contemporary Christian) and Sugarland. I'd rather read ANY day than listen to music.
You are dead to me now.
Or not. At all.
I don't listen to people's music posts either, (but if I post a song I expect other people to listen to it;)
I don't normally read people's music posts either. I do like music though My life doesn't revolve around it nor do I find a passion in it. I have more of a passion for books and movies but I think I couldn't imagine life without music. I like to write poetry though and so I tend to connect to songs and like songs more for their lyrics then the sound.
I will admit…I don't care too much either. I love to listen to music in my car and that's about it. And even then it's usually the same cds…Bruce Springsteen and a few other good old rock bands. But pretty much I don't keep up with trends. I can certainly appreciate good music and good musicians (my dad is a lover of oldies and we grew up listening to Elvis and the Beatles), but it doesn't change my life. I will admit (shamefully, maybe) that I don't like most, if any, Christian music either. Unless the lyrics are Biblical (I will ask my sister on that one), or hymns. Period. I am a traditional service girl; it's the Lutheran in me. Contemporary worship does nothing for me, but make me feel awkward and slightly disrespectful. Hey, music is not for everyone. Books, that's another story…
did someone say mixtape? lol
And she got 100% of the book-loving genes…
You're probably just experiencing what so many people, and even many musicians, lament about…..that there is just so little music out there worth listening to, and that includes a lot of contemporary christian music, as much as I hate to say it. If you were indeed a true music hater, you wouldn't have an Ipod at all, much less be moved to tears by any song. I've heard a lot of people out there who say the same thing you do, but I think it's just the current state of American music……songs are little more than a commodity anymore and without much substance. Being on this side of the music industry has shown me that record companies are ruthlessly pushing artists to pump out songs long after they have said everything they have to say, for the sake of fulfilling the artist's contract commitment, which I think is way too long for most artists. So here we are, the American public, left to listen to a lot of empty and musically challenged songs, most of which are beginning to sound the same IMHO. This was actually meant to be an encouragment to you…that you're really not a music hater, just sounding what so many already feel. Sorry if it didn't come across that way…..getting off my soapbox now……..