Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Music Depreciation
British researchers have conducted a study and have found that young kids do not seriously appreciate music anymore. According to their study, listeners are apathetic, and do not make emotional connections to music because they have such easy access to it. They can download, swap and store more songs than they will ever listen to and it is nothing but a commodity to them. The study says that listeners just don't make an emotional connection to music anymore because it's so easy to obtain.
"In the 19th century, music was seen as a highly valued treasure with fundamental and near-mystical powers of human communication," says Adrian North, leader of the study.
In the 19th century, Mr. North, music required a full orchestra to play. It required complicated sheet music, and had enough going on in it to keep people's attention. Most songwriters today blend a catchy, borderline annoying melody with meaningless lyrics to compensate for the repetetive "Verse, Chorus, Verse, Verse, Chorus, Bridge, Chorus, Ending" structure that all of today's music seems to adhere to. Musicians have taken the simple structure of Blues music, which was inteded for on-the-spot live improvisation, and they have applied it to the entire music industry, omitting the creativity needed to captivate people in the way that music used to be able to do. Anyone who knows a few power chords, or looks good on stage can be a musical preformer if they are lucky enough to be "discovered". Music can still be moving and meaningful, impressive and inspiring, or whatever it is you want it to be, but you have to have the patience to sift through the loads of crap to find it. It's still out there, in various forms. You just won't find it on MTV.
Here are some examples of what I am talking about:
Magic Elf- New York
The Darkness- London
Enter The Haggis- Ontario
"In the 19th century, music was seen as a highly valued treasure with fundamental and near-mystical powers of human communication," says Adrian North, leader of the study.
In the 19th century, Mr. North, music required a full orchestra to play. It required complicated sheet music, and had enough going on in it to keep people's attention. Most songwriters today blend a catchy, borderline annoying melody with meaningless lyrics to compensate for the repetetive "Verse, Chorus, Verse, Verse, Chorus, Bridge, Chorus, Ending" structure that all of today's music seems to adhere to. Musicians have taken the simple structure of Blues music, which was inteded for on-the-spot live improvisation, and they have applied it to the entire music industry, omitting the creativity needed to captivate people in the way that music used to be able to do. Anyone who knows a few power chords, or looks good on stage can be a musical preformer if they are lucky enough to be "discovered". Music can still be moving and meaningful, impressive and inspiring, or whatever it is you want it to be, but you have to have the patience to sift through the loads of crap to find it. It's still out there, in various forms. You just won't find it on MTV.
Here are some examples of what I am talking about:
Magic Elf- New York
The Darkness- London
Enter The Haggis- Ontario
