Music is everywhere now.

I would say that sadly the increase in the number of places where music can be heard is the fear of silence, and that it also reflects a decrease in the appreciation of music.

Take the concept of the 'Muzak Corporation' (I think that is the correct name), who intentionally produced bland music specifically to fill public places.

Personally I find the crass choice of music in many places makes me rush through them and out to some peace and quite.

I would also dearly like an option to not have the music I am subjected to when on hold on many phone calls.

Jamie

To paraphrase "if the sounds stop their brains may start working". I'm not sure why we have to have this constant flow of what in most cases is noise.
It does effect my shopping if HMV has on something I don't like I walk out. Unless it's a Sale item they probably haven't lost my purchase 'cos they're too expensive.

I must admit that whilst the concept of music servers is interesting I have no interest in spreading music throughout my home in much the same way I have no interest in hearing it on the move. Sometimes limits are a good thing. How many people wandering around with Ipod phones on their head (that's headphones not phones!)strike you as really engaged with what they're listening to? I tend to the view that they are semi-engaged with the music and semi-engaged in the world around them. Not good.

There is a lot to be said for sitting in my living room; putting some music on and simply listening.

I'm also of the view that consumption has become too easy. We can buy lots more... and so we do. What if we didn't? Remember when you were 16 to 18 say and bought an album and played it to death over a period of months. It's a real discipline to do that when you can hear something a couple of times and then move on. Many of us bemoan our low attention span culture whilst failing to recognise that it applies to us to.

FWIW I have confined my purchases this year to one per month. I have then confined my listening to only those purchases. I feel like I know that music so much better, and get so much more out of it as a result.

Mike

Stop The Music For A Minute

Ironically, the original version of this was just spoken word with no background music!

I take the almost existentialist view that music is only music when I listen to it. The sounds pumped out by hotels and stores are just noise unless of course, I start listening to them.

I used to stay in a Durham hotel, the Royal County where the taped music at breakfast was at times, well worth listening to while I shovelled something or other into my mouth.

Ken

I agree with many of the comments above, and am sure that the omnipresence of music in public space reflects a fear (terror?) of silence, rather than something more positive. I meditate daily and fully appreciate the value of silence.

The fear of silence is linked to the perceived need to make sure that we are "stimulated" lest - horror of horrors! - we become bored. I've never understood what's so bad about being bored - surely it's a sign of a healthy mind that we tire of certain stimuli when exposed to them for too long, and it is quite right to be stopped in our tracks when that happens. Boredom forcefully creates a space within which we can begin to explore fresh options - the fallow period before another harvest. It's uncomfortable, but necessary for growth. Suppressing boredom through constant stimulation can only result in a kind of enforced infantilism.

All a capitalist plot, no doubt - yet we appear to be such willing victims sometimes...

Nigel

Thanks for the replies. I believe music is, as sound, organised, and properly listened to, only exceeded in importance, by the time spent aware of the the sounds of nature and the world rolling on without it. If there is too much music on offer, we stop listening properly. That is my view.

If we really place a value on music, we make sure that we listen to enough, but not more than that.

George

Yes I admit it I hate "elevator musak". Our senses are assaulted all the time by "music" to create an atmosphere. I used to be in landscaping at Sea World San Diego, they pipped muzak all day. Ugh! then one time I realized they had a tape of muzak R&R. Ya just gotta hear the Stones "Under My Thumb" that way,

It is nice when used well, say a bar with jazz or blues, and Sunday brunch with classical. I often leave classical on the radio while around the apartment, but at some point I get fed up and turn it off. Then I become aware of the outside noises, birds, cars, people talking walking by. And my mind can focus more on things at hand without the distracting or irritating music.

I heard a woman talk about her drawing classes, she forbids music in the room, or earphones. She wrote the book "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain". She said the constant beat keeps your mind from focusing and you getting more involved in "the zone". It's true, when I have an art project that needs my full attention I find hours go by when I"m totally focused. I don't like studio time when people are chatting away, making jokes, and distracting me.