Basic HTML Version
again. His American friend was
puzzled, as there were only four
numbers on the program. Further
inquiry revealed that the "number"
that the diplomat had enjoyed was
the warming up of the orchestra just
before the program began! The
sounds of the instruments tuning up
were apparently closer to the music
the diplomat was used to hearing
than anything else on the program.
Music is truly roany things to
many people! But what is music to
YOU? Have you thought about that?
Enlarging Your Musical
Outlook
A wider variety of music is avail–
able today than ever before, and a
growing number of people are
learning to enjoy greater variety in
their musical diet. Many are begin–
ning to realize that they like the mu–
sic they do primarily because this is
the music to which they have been
most exposed. Further, this ex–
posure was probably not of their
planning or choosing, but carne
about rather haphazardly. They are
discovering that enlarging their mu–
sical tastes isn't all that difficult.
[n
fact, it can be fun! All it takes is a
little curiosity and effort.
But despite this progress,
it
is nev–
ertheless a fact that most people still
are inclined to consistently listen to
and enjoy only one kind of music.
This is unfortunate for severa! rea–
sons.
First, such a person often tends to
be less tolerant than he should be of
others and the music they enjoy. He
will have difficulty placing himself
in the other person's shoes. It is as if
he expects everyone else in the
world to have his musical tastes -
limited though they may be. Now
what would he think if the other
person, whose music he dislikes, ex–
pected the same of him? Well,
speaking of thinking, that's just the
problem. Most people don't think
when it comes to music; they just re–
act emotionally.
Second, people who like only one
42
kind of music are depriving them–
selves of the greater interest and en–
joyment that exposure to a wider
variety of music would bring. They
are in a musical rut and may not
even know it. It is somewhat like
shopping at a gigantic supermarket
or department store and never in–
vestigating the many available
choices, but always choosing exactly
the same few items. You can be
rather sure this limiting approach
carries over to other areas of their
life.
There is appropriate music for
every occasion: formal music for
formal occasions, semiformal music
for semiformal occasions, and infor–
mal music for informal occasions.
Those who enjoy only the more formal
types of music are missing the spe–
cial pleasures of the more informal
types. And vice versa.
Each of these major categories
contains much good music. But
there are also mountains of slag and
·low-quality musical ore that must
be sifted through to find the nuggets
of quality. The person who is stuck
with one kind of music is handi–
capped in trying to search out qual–
ity because he lacks a basis for
comparison. He will tend to think
that the music he likes has quality,
while the music he is not familiar
with lacks quality. This, however,
may not be the case. Yet until such
a person has contact with otber mu–
sic, he will never know.
A third difficulty encountered by
those who rigidly stick to one kind
of music is that they will not be as
quality conscious as they should be.
But just what is quality in music?
That, of course, is a big question. A
future
PLAIN
TRUTH article will give
guidelines for evaluating quality in
music by pointing out the strong
and weak points of the various
kinds of music. This will help you
learn how to separate tbe wheat
from the chaff. There is, however,
one broad and most important prin–
cipie which anyone can begin to ap–
ply immediately.
All you have todo to begin to de–
termine whether or not a particular
kind of music has right quality is to
honestly and sincerely ask yourself:
Is this music truly helping me become
a better person?
If it is, all other
questions about its quality are quite
secondary. If it isn't, you ought to
take stock and decide to make sorne
changes.
So the next time you listen to mu–
sic you enjoy, stop and ask yourself,
"Is this music helping me become a
more sensitive, refined and enlight–
ened individual? Or is
it
helping to
keep me in a mental and emotional
rut that robs me of personal growth
and development?"
And the next time you hear music
that you have already decided is not
for you, hold on just long enough to
ask yourself, "Why don' t 1 like this
music? Do
1
know? Do
1
have a
valid reason - or is it that 1 don't
understand it? Would appreciation
of this kind of music round out my
life and help me become a better–
balanced individual? Or would it
merely foster attitudes and a way of
life that would pull me down?"
Do the same thing the next time
you hear music that is entirely
strange or unfamiliar to you. Don't
frantically plug your ears and run.
Listen attentively and then ask
yourself these same basic questions.
This question-asking approach
will help anyone begin to be - or
continue to be - quality conscious.
As for getting started with broad–
ening your tastes, deliberately try to
select a type of music you do not
normally listen to the next time you
turn on the radio or buy a record or
cassette.
If
you do, you will proba–
bly hear your regular kind of music
in a little different way when you re–
turn to it.
Don't be afraid to figuratively
"stretch your ears" - and your out–
look. Learn to enjoy a variety of
music. But always make sure you do
so with a continuing quest for char–
acter and quality.
O
PLAIN TRUTH May 1973