another thing is what constitutes music. I don’t consider RAP to be music nor much of the acid rock and ditto for the metalica type it is just so much noise to my ears.
I’m down with you. I don’t hate music, but I definitely don’t enjoy it on most occasions. It used to be a lot worse than it is now though, but my moments of musical enjoyment are still few and far between.
It was especially awful when I was an adolescent because most of my peers used music as a sort of catalyst for pursuing their identities. They’d buy a few CDs a week and have collections in the hundreds. I really felt like a dork, but as hard as I tried I could never enjoy myself while listening to it. It just seemed like noise, blocking out my coherent thoughts.
Lately though I’ve been listening to more music, particularly heavy metal, industrial and jazz. But I’m definitely not a connoisseur; I only listen on rare occasions.
All I can say obfusciatrist is I’m sorry. Liking music is most probably not correlated with intelligence, and if you’re indifferent to it than there’s probably not much you can do about it and that’s that.
But music is my favorite thing in the world. The intense enjoyment I get from it cannot be compared to anything else I know (no, not sex either, well maybe sex, I’ll have to think about that some more).
This may be way off the mark, but…
It seems to me that the emotional impact of music (or a good book / movie / whatever) lies in the listener’s (/ viewer’s / reader’s) imagination. Music, in and of itself, really is just so much noise. We may regard the tones as ‘pleasing’ (at least moreso than, say, the sound of a jackhammer outside our window at 7:00am when we’re trying to sleep…), but it’s still just noise. Music only becomes moving when through association. We may associate what would otherwise be a mediocre tune with a ‘special’ event (which could, of course, be a good or bad one); when we hear that tune in the future, it reminds us of the emotions surrounding the event. Or, the tune may trigger something in our imagination which results in the same sequence of events - our imagination supplies the ‘emotional event’, which with we then associate the piece of music. Sometimes, when music is on in the background, we may not be paying attention to it, so we don’t get the ‘emotional impact’ (our imagination / memories are elsewhere at the moment), even if it is a tune which normally provides such. Other times, a given piece of music may act as a ‘mood amplifier’: a ‘happy’ song may make us happier when we are in a good mood, but may worsen a sour mood (perhaps because the song reminds us of happier times, which we don’t care to be reminded of just then?).
Anyway, with regards to the OP, perhaps music does nothing for you simply because it does not ‘stir your imagination.’ (NOTE: this is not to imply you have no imagination! Only that music simply does not provide a sufficient stimulus for it; no judgment call, just a possible observation :)) I know I have read many books that people claim were oh-so-great, and walk away with an ‘Eh.’ Similarly for movies. So, while I may not feel the same way about music, I can identify somewhat.
Errr…not ‘when through’, but ‘through’… (my train of thought switched tracks in the middle…)
everybody is making a good point. But I still find it hard to beleive that you dont “like” music. Music is the center of my life. Every where you go everything you do there is always music playing some where. If your Not finding it interesting then you not realy listening.Of course I does depend on the type of music you listen to. Listen to some of the classic. Chopin, Bach. Those will get you motivated.
If you dont like classical then listen to rock or metal that will help frustrations out. If you fell depressed all the time listen to…God I hate to say it…country. There is always something or some type of music that fit a moment in your life. Just give it a try. You might start to like it.IMHO
A year or so ago, the singer in my band was sick of listening to me whine about being single and thought about setting me up with a friend she had. She had a candidate in mind, but dismissed her because, as I was told, “she’s not a music person.”
I mentioned that I’m more than a musician, since I’m also a writer, I have a job, other interests, et cetera. But, she restated “she doesn’t like music.” I had trouble believing such a person exists, since even my 80-year old crabby grandma loves music. At this point, I got very curious about this potential date, but my singer decided it wasn’t to be and dropped the subject.
Now, I see that people like that really do exist. Wow.
DarkHeart: It is not that I haven’t listened to music or haven’t tried to enjoy it. I have, and I have been surrounded my whole life be people who practically base their life on it.
I’ve been to symphonies many times in my life. They are pleasant, but as I said I find it impossible to focus on the music because it doesn’t really impact me beyond an intellectual level.
In college I took music appreciation courses for the easy credit (jazz, classical, a couple of sessions of opera). I listen to all kinds of music in the car on long drives. Not to enjoy the music but to have noise.
All my life I have had friends say to me: “I’ve finally found something you will like!” Hasn’t happened yet, there are very limited pieces of music that I like, but nothing that I want to hear more than once. I may hear something and say “hey, that’s nice,” but there is nothing in me that wants to hear it again.
Maybe the music part of my brain was born deaf.
I hope you will one day find some form of music that brings you happiness. Because till then I don’t see how you can be happy.IMHO
I have to disagree with one point: I think music per se is more than just noise. At the very least it’s organized sound. But I agree that association (personal or cultural) comes into play when some music does or does not move us. I’m not going to go into this any deeper because we would get into an endless discussion.
obfusciatrist: I can’t conceive living without my personal appreciation of classical music. However, I feel about sports the way you do about music - it wouldn’t bother me at all if sports disappeared from the earth. 
So don’t let your lack of appreciation for music bother you.
Oh, I’m not bothered by it. That would be like running around crying because I don’t like broccoli. It is just the way I am, and I’m fine with that.
I’m just always amused by how shocked people are when I express my feelings on the subject. Just wanted to know if anybody else was the same way.
The answer to that seems to be kind of.
I’m with you, brother… I can take music or leave it. We listen to a lot of music around my house because my daughter is a HUGE music buff (specifically country music), but I tend to just tune most of it out. I attribute my indifference to the fact that I’m a reader. To this day, I read 5 or 6 books a week, way down from my high of 12 - 20 books a week when I was a kid with no responsibilities (and no computer). Whenever I’m not doing something else, I’m reading – and as many things as it’s possible to do while reading I do do while reading. I even cook and put on make-up and do my hair while reading – sometimes to the detriment of the cuisine or the coiffure. When I do occasionally like a song, I like it for the lyrics not the tune. In short, to me, music is just poetry with noise in the background.
I’m not really surprised that there are people who are indifferent to music. But, I do like music. I’m not stuck in a specific genre. I’ve noticed most people who are really into music (at least those I know) tend to stick to one or two genres and consider the rest crap. Me, i’m eclectic. But I usually need the music around for the noise. I cannot sit here at the computer without the radio, MP3s, or my CDs going. Often i’ll actually tune songs out (i’ll not recall hearing several songs, and find myself in the middle of a CD when I thought i had just started it).
I’m surprised more people don’t loathe music seeing how it’s forced down our throats at almost every turn. Whether it’s shopping at the store, going to a party, riding in a friend’s car, watching television, being put on hold, sitting in a waiting room, dining out, etc.-- there’s almost always some kind of music playing. Music stars and culture are omnipresent. Does anyone not know someone in a band?? Anyone?? What’s worse, many people think it is part of their moral duty to get you to listen to their favorite artist. A polite “no thanks” is often not sufficient.
At the store I work in, music wars cause more co-worker friction than any other problem. The chef in our restaurant MUST have his music playing in order to cook, and too bad if you don’t like it. The kids working the early shift sulk if they aren’t allowed to listen to whatever they want–loudly–without any dissent. Never mind those of us who don’t want to hear whining dissonance littered with expletives at seven in the morning. One guy loves his quality jazz, and can’t understand why customers might complain if it is played at high volume during business hours. I think people are more insulted if you dis their music than their mothers.
When I was single it was even worse. Where young singles gather there is always some music playing. Always. How often does the talk turn to who we saw playing last week and who will be playing where this week? Any complaints about music quality, sexist or trite lyrics, plagerism, or the overpriced tickets are met with a frown. No one wants a killjoy around. Best be quiet or stay home alone. Yet these same folks, if you mention a television show you saw, will be all over you for watching the trite, unoriginal tube.
That said, I own approximately 500 CD’s, which I listen to myself or share with friends if they express interest.
There’s more to life and art than music.