The 'Art' of music

[Haselsh1]

I just discovered this:

http://whitenoise.kinja.com/what-happened-to-the-art-of-listening-to-music-1715533695

[Marco]

Excellent, Shaun... I think that quite a few of us here could've written that article! ;)

Marco.

[cuddles]

This is how I approach my music - apart from the mountains of weed ;) During my working day I try to avoid music radio preferring Radio 4, 4Extra or 5 Live. The ubiquity of music as background to life is so annoying. I mean, I go to my branch of Lloyds Bank and they have music on for some reason - It's as though they think that customers need some kind of distraction from the task in hand. Music should mean more than that.

[Macca]

The ubiquity of music as background to life is so annoying. I mean, I go to my branch of Lloyds Bank and they have music on for some reason - It's as though they think that customers need some kind of distraction from the task in hand. t.

I agree. I only listen properly, no background music, no reading or surfing t'internet. That's how I've always listened to music and I regard it as 'special' time. The meditaitive and relaxing qualities of this practice should not be underestimated.

The only exception is if I have a friend round I might put music on for background whilst we talk as the TV can be a distraction.

It is a shame but research has proved that people spend more in shops if there is background music playing so that is never going to end. Not sure about banks but the music there is possibly to try to calm people down whilst they wait for hours because idiot foreign students are trying to do unneccesary and pointlessly complex financial transactions and so tying up all the staff whilst a massive queue builds up.

[Joe]

Music in banks is just weird and wrong.

Last Christmas the bloke in front of me in the checkout queue at Sainsbury's was sympathising with the check-out assistant about the constant stream of Christmas songs playing win the background. 'Still, I suppose after a while you can just filter it out' he said. 'Nope' was the tight-lipped response.

[Audio Advent]

Music in banks is just weird and wrong.

Last Christmas the bloke in front of me in the checkout queue at Sainsbury's was sympathising with the check-out assistant about the constant stream of Christmas songs playing win the background. 'Still, I suppose after a while you can just filter it out' he said. 'Nope' was the tight-lipped response.

:lol:

[Audio Advent]

The article talks as if something has changed..... I don't think this is the case at all! At least not with people's attitudes. Music is not something that the masses are REALLY interested in, push comes to shove a lot of people, if not the majority can take it or leave it.

Back in the day, listening to music absolutely required more attention, either required expensive hifi or at least required you to go back and forth to change sides or sit next to the dansette because the side of the single only played for 4 minutes. That or the radio...

What we have today is convenience! This doesn't mean that real music enthusiasts are less into the music or whatever, it means that those who never were and have never been into music are at last allowed by technology to listen to music as they've always wanted - in the background.

Then we have the commercialisation of music which leads in to self-identity for the sake of sales - tribes around bands or genres of music. Again that's not always to do with the music at all and so again that can contain a mass of people who have music playing in the background because it's "part of their identity" but now tech means they can just have it on their phone and still qualify as a "fan"...

[Audio Advent]

Background music is just as valid though in my opinion. Radio listening is done in the background and so I mentally skip over tracks I'm not so interesting and then ones which stand out I listen to more.

If people can't listen to background music then either that means you don't have time to listen to music much or you've a lot of free time on your hands. The amount of time I actually have in life to sit down doing nothing other than listen to music in front of the hifi is little. I guess I could just live a life of work, music, eat, sleep, work ... but what a dull and unfulfilling life that would be in my opinion!

[struth]

I quite like music in shops as long as its not that mike samm singers versions of classic songs because the shop is too tight to pay for the real mccoy. Better silence than smeg