So...am I the least musically-oriented person on DU?

[eyesroll]

I'm quickly coming to that conclusion.

I mean -- I don't hate music. I enjoy it in the background when I'm in the car; I do occasionally attend concerts. I've even been known to request a song for hedges to put on (I'd put it on myself but god knows where to find it) from time to time, or request suggestions for music to listen to here in the Lounge. I sing along (badly) sometimes. I can chime in with opinions on

But -- I can't really actively "listen to music" on cd/vinyl/radio. I'm very visually oriented (so I'm OK with videos and concerts, since there's something to watch). Whenever I'm told, "no, you've actually got to listen to this," I really can't for more than a minute or two.

Part of it is the way my brain processes sound, I know that -- I have a hard time sorting out signal from noise (think of it similar to seeing without really being able to focus on one thing), so listening intently takes a whole lot more energy than I'm willing to give it most of the time. (The audiologist said there isn't a whole lot I can do about this except cope. A hearing aid will just make everything louder, since the problem's in my brain and not in my ear.) Background music is fine, since I don't have to concentrate on it; live music is OK because usually the music's so loud, hearing anything else over it is darn near impossible, and there's also the visual and tactile experiences of being there.

But part of it, I'm sure, is just the standard differences in people and their interests -- I prefer reading, writing, cooking, arguing with wingnuts, even doing research to listening to music.

So....any other non-musically-inclined people out there, or am I the only one who legitimately shouldn't put "listening to music" under "hobbies" on a job application or in a profile? (Or, as I've been told before, do I "have no soul?" :-))

[MirrorAshes]

1. You are a freak of nature.

Sorry. :shrug:

[eyesroll]

2. Hey, nothing to apologize over...

We're all freaks of nature in our own ways.

Just wondering if anyone was freaky in my way.

[MirrorAshes]

7. I was kidding anyway. Different Strokes and all that I guess.

Music is probably the one single thing in life that has helped me keep my sanity, I don't know what I'd do without it. It brings me joy on a level I can't even begin to express.

But, thats me.

[Magrittes Pipe]

3. I've said it before, and I'll say it again:

You have no soul.

[Beware the Beast Man]

4. Well, you didn't know the lyrics to a Beatles song.

That's empirical evidence in my book. :P

[eyesroll]

5. Yeah, but at least I'm not walking around, out in public and all,

humming

"de da de da de da do do"

[Beware the Beast Man]

6. DAMN YOU!!!!!!!!!!!

[smirkymonkey]

8. I am exactly the same way, and I have a few

friends who are like that too. Interestingly, they are all creative types or intelletuals who more into the visual/performance arts and will listen to music while they are doing other things, but don't quite get the music obsession. I occasionally like it in the background, but can't JUST sit there and listen.

I can be very moved by music (prefer classical, jazz, older stuff from before I was born, classic rock, some contemporary tunes) but I don't quite get it when some of my musical friends say "You have got to listen to this, just listen, etc...." I don't think I hear what they hear. A LOT of music gets on my nerves and I hate really loud music. I am very sensitive in the sense that I get EASILY over stimulated.

Ironically, I like to sing and have a good voice - have even been told so by my musician friends, but for some reason don't get into the listening aspect of it. I have even had discussions w/ other friends who feel the same way and we are puzzeled as to why we are so passionate about other art forms, but seem to be missing the music gene.

Any musicians, audiologists, etc. care to take a crack at explaining this or is it just one of those personal preference things? (I like to think there is some kind of scientific explaination for everthing.)

[Robbien]

9. Me. Glad to see I am not the only one.

There are only seven music CDs in my collection and they are yoga and meditation discs.

If music is on I enjoy listening to it but do not think about what is playing. If it is not on, I am not aware it is missing.

[LeftPeopleFinishFirst]

10. I understand

I can just sit and mellow out to an album, but I usually like to do artwork while I'm listening to music. Sometimes I play a little on my guitar but i don't release enough creative energy when doing it- so i usually wind up painting and listening to music instead of actually playing it. :shrug:

Visual oriented people do like to listen to music, but usually enhance it with visual activities...

[NuttyFluffers]

11. sounds like tone deafness.

not an uncommon condition. basically tonal variations are not discerned as effortlessly as other peoples (which mean that you'll never be able to properly speak chinese.... ;D). so music, inflections of voice (used for sarcasm, humor, etc) and other sensitive audio-based activities are largely more effort, or too difficult to appreciate for you.

meh, just the way god made ya.

just like colorblindness, lack of smell, lack of taste, lack of tactile sensation (or leprosy :D), or dyslexia can effect people. a learning challenge and cuts out a lot of the shades of meaning in artistic works, but not a complete tragedy (though inable to be drowned in the rush of emotions and agonizing sweetness of a beautiful aria could be viewed as a tragedy, ;D).

y'know, i have a friend who is deaf and there are now developing other more advanced hearing aids out there. ones that focus on tones, inflections, environmental noise, etc. y'know those new hearing aids designed for people who want to hear a conversation in a crowded room? those ones. my friend was being given the chance to be involved in more cutting edge treatments for his deafness, and he has found that these new hearing aids have given him a range of softer tones and ambient sounds he had not heard before. instead of the regular hearing aids that just amplify everything equally, these have complex processing that amplifies certain things while diminishing overbearing sounds simulating the editing process that the brain normally does. it's quite interesting, ask around about this. maybe your brain could adapt and start picking up the sublteties that drive others so passionately in music.

[eyesroll]

14. I am totally, utterly tone deaf.

Yes, that's a part of it. Can't sing. Got no rhythm either. Learned piano when I was younger but I was never very good at it.

But, on the other hand -- I'm able to pick up accents quickly, and have a decent "ear" for most languages, except French, when I try to recite or read something back to a fluent speaker -- I took a year of Chinese and actually handled it pretty well, since everyone speaks with exaggerated tones when they're learning, but who knows if I'd be able to speak it fluently?... and I can detect inflections of voice with relative ease. Then again, at least with the latter, there usually are context or body-language cues.

So I guess there are variances in tone-deafness, too.

Thanks for the hearing-aid info. I'm probably overdue for a hearing check anyway (another appointment to add to my list), so I'll ask. The last hearing check I had (a few years ago), the audiologist said there really wasn't much that could be done -- my hearing is great when it's in a quiet booth and they're pumping tones into my ears.

Thanks!

[MrSandman]

12. I don't even have a working radio in my vehicle...

And I drive 8-10 hours a week for work alone. Don't listen to much music.

[stopbush]

13. Maybe you're listening to the wrong music?

Try listening to music that challenges your ear and your brain - classical and jazz spring to mind. That's music that doesn't wear well as background music.

If music is a hobby, how do you treat your other hobbies? By that, I mean do you multi-task during your other hobbies, or do you get fully engaged in a particular hobby at a particular time? It's a little like the difference between reading a comic book and reading a history book. Maybe you need to try music that takes your whole attention to fully engage you. Hell, The Beatles wrote some pretty intricate music, not to mention Frank Zappa.

Don't get me wrong - there's plenty of classical music that was specifically written as background music, just like other music is written to serve a secondary purpose to the job at hand (like film music - even the greatest film music doesn't do its job if it overwhelms the visual images it's supporting at the time). I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about music that has layers, music that you can return to again and again and find something NEW in something your thought you knew.

Just a thought.

[eyesroll]

16. I've listened to the whole gamut

We've got tons of everything here. Maybe it's an attention-span thing, but I just can't sit and listen (I need to focus on something visually -- and I end up staring at the speaker, which doesn't help).

Like I said -- I don't hate music at all; it's just not something I can consider a hobby, unlike most of the other people here.

I'm a multi-tasker normally -- I can have the TV on when I read, even difficult stuff. I'm actually an unnaturally fast reader (I got through Harry Potter 4, with comprehension and retention, on a flight from Salt Lake City to Denver to Milwaukee).

[smirkymonkey]

17. Could be sort of an auditory ADD...

I think I am ADD, especially when it comes to hearing. I rarely remember what people tell me, names, directions - anything that I hear. I have a photographic memory and can memorize what I see and read, so maybe that just means we just respond more to visual than auditory cues.

Sometimes I think I purposely tune out noise (even pleasant noise) because it interferes w/ my thought processes.

[eyesroll]

20. You know, that could be

A lot of familiarity there.

If I get directions at a gas station, I either have to write it down (not likely unless I have a pen and paper handy) or repeat until I get back into the car, "turn left on Hampton, two blocks to 23rd and then it's a slight right...turn left on Hampton..."

But, if I see the directions written out, I remember the placement of the letters on the paper, or the shape of the tree in front of the photograph of the house I'm looking for.

[UrbScotty]

15. I like some music, but not a lot.

If that says anything.

[Zomby Woof]

18. naw

Unless you like Depeche Mode or one of those other horribly monochromatic bores.

[NashVegas]

19. I Wouldn't Worry About It

There are some of us on DU who are more viscerally impacted by music than others.

Not having this burden allows you to spend less money on CDs, and will probably never have lead you to taking a job, fresh out of college, that paid less than $11,000 per year while you slaved as the company dog working overnights, sacrificed the idea of having any kind of normal life, and eventually left you jaded about the music industry.

For those of us who are struck with the burden, pray for us.

[eyesroll]

21. Very true.

I live with one of the burdened. It would be very, very expensive if I shared that hobby (unless our tastes overlapped 100%).

I collect 25-cent scifi paperbacks, and I buy expensive toys every now and again (laptop, Kitchenaid mixer, that sort of thing), but I still don't think it evens out. It's just as well.

[tigereye]

25. "burdened" is a good term for it

we are pretty musically obsessed here, and I have been obsessed with music in some form for most of my life -be it choir, piano lessons, playing in bands in college and after, going to see endless bands, etc. It is fun, but everyone is different. And we are not as obsessed as some people I know. One friend in NYC had very little room in his small apartment due to his music and comic collections.

My husb. is very visually oriented ( he was an artist at one point and is now a programmer), but also very auditorally oriented as well. He and my son can spend hours doing computer stuff such as those historical battle games, while I would much rather read. Couples often complement each other in interesting ways.

Think of it this way, if you were a huge "music head" there would probably be no room in your house!

[scarlet_owl]

22. Don't worry. I'm the same way.

Music is nice, but it is a very small part of my life.

[mitchum]

23. I'm a musician who now listens to very little recorded music

I stay very busy performing and attending performances by others, but I very rarely put on music at home (unless it's a work tape of myself or an associate)

[BlueJazz]

24. I can understand how you feel about music.

Just as there are folks who have a knack for drawing, there are those who have a knack for Music. I've got Perfect Pitch but my drawing skills look like a 3rd grader (Barf!) I can well imagine someone who just doesn't have an interest in Musical sounds.
It's nothing that has to be "Fixed" any more than my Shitty Drawing skills need to be fixed...