Music, Culture, and Coltrane

Ok, so I've been busy and away from posting for a bit. But in my business, I've had a moment or two to do some thinking. At some point in the past 14 days or so, I started pondering on what aspects make one say "I like that song"--or even more poignantly, "I don't like that song." Autoanalysis After thoroughly listening to Dr. John's first album and discovering that it was a Rolling Stone Top-500 album, I started questioning myself: "Why can't I get in to this? Is it me or the music?" I made myself listen again. Nope. And again. Still nope. And again... a couple more times... Still. Nope. There were a couple cool moments in a couple of the songs, but they were just too hippie for me. So, I'm imagining that Rolling Stone's Top-500 list isn't just the result of one person's opinion; it's got to be made up of a bunch of people's opinions. So, some large group of people seriously thought that this Dr. John album was some of the best music of all time--so why don't I think so? I know I can see why people might think so; but I can also see why some other group of people might seriously think that a Helicopter String Quartet is amazing as well (Stockhausen was awarded for this piece, apparently, in 2001; check part of it out on YouTube). As a sort of art form, both the album and the string quartet are impressive, but in neither case do I find them aurally pleasing. The latter, I actually find to be bizarro/cool; the former, really just bizarro. Analysis So I started thinking of the people I know and pondered about what stereotypical social groups they fit in to and what music they might say they like. When one says "I can't stand opera," for example, I really have to wonder if they really "get" opera. Or replace 'opera' with 'punk' or 'rap' or 'country' or 'jazz' or 'reggae'... Sure, there's some aspect of whether or not some song may be aurally pleasing or not, but I really think that a lot of us who just dismiss a whole genre of music really "get it" before we do so. The thing I really think is interesting though, is the intertwining of the desire to like something because of reason X (my coworkers listen to Country and I want to relate to them. Or: people that listen to Goth Rock really express the things that I feel, so I should listen to that), and the idea that you like something regardless of the reason--you like it because it effects your emotions in a way you deem positive. I think it's interesting because the "regardless of the reason" reason seems to really be just the result of the first desire, which merely happened at an earlier time in your life. Maybe you didn't consciously make a decision to listen to what you listened to as a kid, but that effected you, and now represents certain events in your life; you probably listen to some music today that you hold some fondness for due to listening to it earlier in life. You probably also avoid listening to music that represents something negative that happened in your life (unless, of course, you enjoy reenacting the crap parts of your life). [2 day break from writing...] After Some More Thinking So before the above, I took a few more days (unintentionally) to ponder the whole idea, and I really just came back to the not-so-profound idea of how art, in general, is really just a catch-22 type of representation/influence on the culture or subculture you belong to. You listen to something because you identify with it--or you want to identify with it. You listen to the subculture music that you feel at home with when you want to feel at home; you listen to the subculture music that you don't feel at home with when you want to branch out--and as a result, there's a good chance you might learn something that has nothing to do with music at all. Well, if you pay attention, that is. There's a good chance that you (yes, you) don't listen to Classical music on a regular basis because you don't "get it"--you weren't raised in a family that spent much time with the genre, or weren't ever educated in a way that made you take a step outside of your music culture home, so to speak. Just like I don't listen to the music from Noh theatre because I was never around it, nor ever taught about it. On the flip side, if you fall in to that no-Classical-whlie-growing-up boat, maybe some unexpected occurrence in your life drew you in to some particular Classical piece or composer, and little by little your palette for Classical grew. That's what got me in to Jazz. John Coltrane's Ballads. The stars alligned, or whatever it was that day, and I felt the spirit move me to buy this album back in 2000. And it's beautiful. It was easy to palatte for me at the time. I was living in France, so I felt I should try to investigate the French fascination with the genre. And now, I look forward to finding new Jazz jewels to add to the collection. Previous to the discovery of this album though, Jazz bored my pants off. "It's Easy To Remember (But So Hard To Forget)", John Coltrane, Ballads: En Somme I think all of this pondering has done a couple of things for me. First, it makes me take a step back and consider how sheltered my ears are. There is so much music outside of the Western Pop (read: Pop, R&B, Folk, Metal, Indie, Jazz, Rap) that I listen to every day--maybe I should take a step out of the box and check out some Noh theatre music, or some more North African oud music. This Anouar Brahem album is gorgeous (yes, that's a piano, an accordion and an oud): "Leila Au Pays Du Carrousel", Anouar Brahem, Le Pas Du Chat Noir: Next, it really encourages me in to the whole music making process. If music is representative of who you are and who you want to be, there's sure lots of me that I need to figure out in order to make music again. Lastly, it encourages me to encourage all of you to take a step back from your regular music allottment (or cycle, as I find for myself), and pick up something really off the wall, but something that's tied to some subculture that intrigues you for some reason. Think about it. People in Papua New Guinea, Namibia, and Tahiti probably all fall in love and get their hearts broken too. Ponder it for a while. Then just give it a shot. It might change your life.