degero miro claro

It’s 3am right now. I was going to go for a bike ride tonight, but I was feeling really tired from the week, and Anderson Cooper 360 was on, and I wanted to sing later, so I stayed home… and promptly fell asleep at 8:30pm (must be more anemic than I thought). Hence the being awake right now. But thank goodness for that, cause I found and interesting article online that has moved me to write a web log entry! (that’s where “blog” comes from… really? it’s just such a goofy abbreviation. I’d rather be saying “weblog” all the time – ANYWAY, I digress.)

I just read this article online about a professor, Adrian North (Heriot-Watt University, Scotland), who is studying the links between people’s personalities and the music they like. I was intrigued by the opening line of the article which read, ” Fans of classical music and jazz are creative, pop lovers are hardworking and, despite the stereotypes, heavy metal listeners are gentle, creative types who are at ease with themselves.” I read that and thought, “Yeah, that sounds right to me,”. I don’t know what personalities people generally associate with certain types of music these days, but the stereotypes are definitely not any accurate showing of human temperament. That’s why I’ve always hated stereotypes, because I find them to be often inaccurate and suffocating.

I’m excited that studies like this are happening because I really feel like humans don’t understand ourselves, and that music really helps to show the inner workings of our intelligent mind and emotional hearts. I think there’s probably a lot of value in studying it. I love the idea of some one trying to shed light on the mental and emotional workings of humans, and ACTUALLY discover some truths about people and art that could be helpful to understand one another.
Just as example, my older brother, Justin, is a heavy metal lover. He has listened to heavy metal since I can remember (Sidebar: a friend’s boyfriend was playing a Metallica song on acoustic the other night and I was like, “What song is that?” and he says, “You wouldn’t know,” and I say, “No, I recognize it, that’s why I asked,” and he says, “It’s ‘One’,” and I was like, ” ‘One!’ “. I used to love that song.) … where was I? Oh yeah, my brother loves heavy metal music. When we were younger I remember a lonely Snoop Dog album among the Slayer, Metallica, NIN, Sepultura, Megadeth, Anthrax, Yngwie Johann Malmsteen, Pantera, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Iron maiden, Def Leopard, and other stuff I don’t remember. There was a Weezer album there (blue). I yoikned that. The Megadeth was too much for me. My brother also likes classical music, which a lot of metal is derived from. I think that’s a much more widely known fact now, that the composition of metal is very much like baroque and classical music. There’s a lot of counterpoint, and virtuosic guitar playing, specific modal changes, clear movements, and longer song-run time, etc. It’s fun to listen and compare because you can totally hear it. If that Bach piece was way faster and there was a little distortion on the violin…
My brother is a very conscious, intelligent, gentle person. He’s totally a nice guy, and super creative (drawing, music, art). He’s played the drums since he was 13, crazy double-pedal bass, barrage of cymbals, metal-type of set up. He hates going to the mall because there are so many people there, and raging consumerism. He doesn’t like how messed up the world is.
I guess the stereotype is that people who like metal are party-ers, and are violent, crazy, and stupid, and listen to noise they call music? Sure, some people are like that ( and some people listen to really bad metal). I think it’s because they look at metal intellectually and think, “Yeah! I want to rebel and be crazy, and badass, and scare people!”. But I don’t think those people are really listening to the music.

I also find the study this professor is doing very interesting because I have always felt like people hear music in different ways. People don’t perceive exactly the same, there are different ways the mind works. I always find new music by hearing. I just hear something, and my ears prick up, and I say to the nearest person I know, “Hey, who is this?”. It’s really hard for me to go by recommendations, or to try to listen to something on purpose because it takes so much time and energy and I may not even like it. Sometimes I get really good recommendations though :) . When I just hear something and get excited, I already know it’s something I should get my hands on. How I heard of some of my favorite bands:

Bjork: Originally saw/heard the “Oh So Quiet” video on MTV, then heard “Joga” on the radio a couple years later while riding in the car and HAD to buy some albums after that.
Portishead: heard “All Mine” playing in between sets at a show at the Phoenix in Petaluma.
Phoenix: Heard the album United playing in the background while hanging at Frankie & Joshy’s.

I really feel like it’s possible that people are tuned-in and physically calibrated to experience the world in different ways. I think that it could be why people like different kinds of music. It all literally sounds different to each person (this still does not excuse badly done music, though. blahgh). And it’s much more nuanced and intricate than pop-culture makes it out to be.
The article states, ” ‘Researchers have been showing for decades that fans of rock and rap are rebellious, and that fans of opera are wealthy and well-educated,’ North said. ‘But this is the first time that research has shown that personality links to liking for a wide range of musical styles.’ “. Those first observations are just correlations. They’re not causal, and not as closely related as personality and music preference. I have always been saddened by some people’s distaste for classical and romantic music just because it seems stuffy or something. Are people not listening?? It’s gorgeous! I’m sick of hearing about how bad it is, it’s GREAT. If you really sit down for a second you can notice how classical and romantic music, symphonic music, is the music that most closely replicates human emotion. Everyone probably loves it, they just haven’t had the chance to find out.

Back to the perception thing (btw, I apologize for my terrible writing, 2 people who read this). I really want to study human physical perception, music, and culture more. I have thought about studying musicology, maybe ethnomusicology, but I think I haven’t been more enthusiastic about it because I’m not sure how much you can really make for a living studying that. I really think there’s something to it. I’m the kind of person who likes to be around people who perceive like I do. I think because I have realized over the years that I don’t know very many people who perceive like I do, I guess. I like things to be homogenous so I can enjoy relating with people. I think that’s why I’m never enthusiastic about making friends with some one who doesn’t dress in a way I find aesthetically pleasing, or who listens to music I don’t find pleasing. I figure they do not see the world the way I do – on a fundamental level – and so we will probably never be close. It all gets very detailed though. You can’t really tell if you passing up some one you may like very much. So interesting.

Toward the end of the article, North states, ” Those who choose to listen to exciting, punchy music are more likely to be in a higher earning bracket, he says, while those who go for relaxing sounds tend to be lower down the pay scale.” There’s some food for thought. Why why why?? I think know why. Perception. Sensitivity. Empathy. Sensory. Sleepy…
Ok, I am tired. It’s like 5am cause I’m such a terrible writer, too stream-of-consciousness.

Here is the article. It’s fairly short.

And here is a link to the study, peopleintomusic.com
I am going to fill out my questionnaire there tomorrow afternoon :)
Night.