Experiencing music

Have you ever wondered why different people have different tastes in music?

No?

It may very well just be me. But I believe that not unlike everything else in life, our experience of music is subjective. Our likes and dislikes for things like movies and food, which is most definitely linked to how we perceive these things, also translate to music. The way we interpret music is different from one person to the next.

And as time passes, our experience of music does not just vary from person to person, but for the same person too.

I only have a vague memory of this, but apparently when I was 4 or 5, I used to get up before anyone else on the weekend, find the old Sony Beta tape for the Sound of Music and watch it over and over. It is probably not surprising that I have always loved music and that my taste in movies was largely influenced by this, especially at a young age. But when I listen to the same songs or watch the same film now, my experience of the music is very much impacted by my understanding of what it means and the circumstances that underpin it.

It is not difficult to sometimes find yourself longing for the innocence of the past long gone and the simplicity in which we lived at the time. And now, as our world has changed overnight with the Covid-19 pandemic and at such a broad scale.

So, do our circumstances shape the way in which we interpret music, above all else? Perhaps.

Have you listened to music lately? From my perspective, it affects me in one of two ways right now. It either reminds me of a time when our everyday lives weren’t restricted to our homes, the doctor and the supermarket; or it gives me hope that we might soon be able to go back to our normal lives, in whatever state that might be.