3 ms·

I think it's an interesting distinction, but I don't think everyone is one or the other. You can be both types, and (sadly) some people are neither. You can b

I think it's an interesting distinction, but I don't think everyone is one or the other. You can be both types, and (sadly) some people are neither. You can be a lyrics person when you listen to Bob Dylan, and be a music person when you listen to John Coltrane.

naltroc 2y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amusia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amusia
- fipar 2y ago
  This reminded me of the following story from John Cage: When I asked Schoenberg to teach me, he said, "You probably can't afford my price." I said, "Don't mention it; I don't have any money." He said, "Will you devote your life to music?" This time I said "Yes." He said he would teach me free of charge. I gave up painting and concentrated on music. After two years it became clear to both of us that I had no feeling for harmony. For Schoenberg, harmony was not just coloristic: it was structural. It was the means one used to distinguish one part of a composition from another. Therefore he said I'd never be able to write music. "Why not?" "You'll come to a wall and won't be able to get through." "Then I'll spend my life knocking my head against that wall." (I read it in his book Silence, but I grabbed this text from https://www.johncage.org/autobiographical_statement.html https://www.johncage.org/autobiographical_statement.html)
  - aworks 2y ago
    I don't particulary appreciate harmony which may explain why I listen to so much of John Cage's music.
wry_discontent 2y ago
I'm definitely neither. Music has always been just background noise for me. I can't sit and listen to anything by itself. It doesn't keep my interest.
- noman-land 2y ago
  I find this fascinating. Has there ever been a song that really spoke to you or not at all? Was your home life musical growing up or no? Does your family have a similar relationship with music that you do? Sorry, it's just really interesting to me and I have so many questions.
  - wry_discontent 2y ago
    There are songs I like, but I would hesitate to use the phrase "spoke to me". I can't parse lyrics from songs without intense focus, and as I said I can't usually focus on songs. Usually songs are just noise to me, and some noises are pleasant and some noises aren't. I tend to like songs that have a funky quality. I definitely didn't grow up in a musical house. My parents rarely played music, even in the car.
microtherion 2y ago
Curiously, John Coltrane may have been more of a lyrics person than people are aware of. Several of his instrumental compositions were written to poetry, e.g. his own words to the last part of "A Love Supreme": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kOu61AtFVk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kOu61AtFVk or "Alabama" incorporating the cadence of Martin Luther King's eulogy for the victims of the Birmingham, Alabama, church bombing.

naltroc 2y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amusia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amusia

fipar 2y ago
This reminded me of the following story from John Cage: When I asked Schoenberg to teach me, he said, "You probably can't afford my price." I said, "Don't mention it; I don't have any money." He said, "Will you devote your life to music?" This time I said "Yes." He said he would teach me free of charge. I gave up painting and concentrated on music. After two years it became clear to both of us that I had no feeling for harmony. For Schoenberg, harmony was not just coloristic: it was structural. It was the means one used to distinguish one part of a composition from another. Therefore he said I'd never be able to write music. "Why not?" "You'll come to a wall and won't be able to get through." "Then I'll spend my life knocking my head against that wall." (I read it in his book Silence, but I grabbed this text from https://www.johncage.org/autobiographical_statement.html https://www.johncage.org/autobiographical_statement.html)
- aworks 2y ago
  I don't particulary appreciate harmony which may explain why I listen to so much of John Cage's music.

wry_discontent 2y ago

I'm definitely neither. Music has always been just background noise for me. I can't sit and listen to anything by itself. It doesn't keep my interest.

noman-land 2y ago
I find this fascinating. Has there ever been a song that really spoke to you or not at all? Was your home life musical growing up or no? Does your family have a similar relationship with music that you do? Sorry, it's just really interesting to me and I have so many questions.
- wry_discontent 2y ago
  There are songs I like, but I would hesitate to use the phrase "spoke to me". I can't parse lyrics from songs without intense focus, and as I said I can't usually focus on songs. Usually songs are just noise to me, and some noises are pleasant and some noises aren't. I tend to like songs that have a funky quality. I definitely didn't grow up in a musical house. My parents rarely played music, even in the car.

microtherion 2y ago

Curiously, John Coltrane may have been more of a lyrics person than people are aware of. Several of his instrumental compositions were written to poetry, e.g. his own words to the last part of "A Love Supreme": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kOu61AtFVk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kOu61AtFVk or "Alabama" incorporating the cadence of Martin Luther King's eulogy for the victims of the Birmingham, Alabama, church bombing.