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Post by canadian mojo on Apr 4, 2009 22:09:58 GMT -5
At work I have to put up with classic crap rock being played every day. It's a steel building so we only get the one station decently. The play list is about 50 songs on that station, so after a while you just want to smash the radio. Sometimes I get lucky and have an entire bay to myself and can just leave the radio off. When we had a night shft (which I used to be in charge of) a couple of the guys had sattelite radios in their cars. We'd pull one of them up to the doors, feed out about 20' of wire from the reciever/transmitter into the building and hook it to the antenna of the radio. Then we'd crank decent music thru the shop all night long with my blessing and encouragement.
When I'm driving the car, I like to have the CD player turned up loud. It gives my brain something to do while I'm stuffed in a box designed to mimic sitting on a couch rather than actually driving. It's a bland car, comfortable, but boring. Put it in drive, hit cruise control and nap with your eyes open. Blech.
In contrast, I wear earplugs and a full face helmet on my motorbike. Even if I had a radio, I wouldn't bother; all my senses fully engaged, and the sound of that motor being worked is absolutely musical anyways.
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POSW
Full Member
Still metal, no longer Jewish
Posts: 217
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Post by POSW on Apr 4, 2009 22:33:41 GMT -5
Hey, I love music -- classical, semi-classical, opera, Broadway. Things with melody. What's semi-classical? My question is: Why? Is it the fear that without distraction a thought may intrude? Why is constant exposure to noise deemed desirable?...But I don't care to hear it every waking moment. (As a gratuitous aside, I never enjoy being shouted or screamed at, nor do I find it amusing.) Sorry if I chopped up your post there. Anyway, in my case, it's ADHD and an obsession with music to a degree that even most of my music-saturated generation doesn't have. I can't even count the number of times that I've gotten an adrenaline rush listening to a particularly fierce metal song, or the number of times that a good singer and an emotionally compelling lyric has nearly caused me to cry in public. I cherish silence. I seek it. Silence soothes my soul and strengthens my spirit. It helps me compose myself. There is not only an art, but an eloquence in it. Marcus Tullius Cicero. Really? The only time, and I mean only time, I need silence is when I'm going to sleep. Help me out. Am I just being a cantankerous old fart, or do others share my view? The problem (or what I view as a problem) is insoluble, of course. But your explanations of the phenomenon would be educational for me. Yes, part of it is that you are being a "cantankerous old fart" ;D But the other part of it is that, for whatever reason, the current generation of teenagers has it in for silence. Even when kids are not listening to music, they're talking...and talking...and talking. It drives me nuts, because I hate small talk (except when it's about music, of course), but I think young people spend a lot more time holding stupid conversations than they do listening to music. I've heard the phrase "ADD generation" used to describe the incredible shrinking American attention span, and I think that sums up the problem. As a side note, I was listening to some classical when I wrote this.
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Cymraes
Junior Member
Dim marciau ffordd!
Posts: 63
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Post by Cymraes on Apr 7, 2009 9:33:42 GMT -5
I find music, or any sounds, very distracting while I am trying to concentrate on anything - perhaps that is why I am a librarian!
I am hard of hearing, and am supposed to wear hearing aids, but I find that the world is generally too loud for me and I usually keep my aids in my pocket. Even so, I often find that music in shops is far too loud for comfort and have often formally complained about sound levels. There was one store where I left all my would-be purchases at the till and walked out because I couldn't understand what the assistant was saying over the background music.
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Post by wmdkitty on Apr 8, 2009 3:49:27 GMT -5
Sometimes, I like silence -- like when I have a migraine.
Mostly, I *need* some kind of ambient background noise, otherwise I get paranoid and panicky -- I've been known to work myself into a full panic-attack over dead silence.
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Post by antichrist on Apr 8, 2009 17:07:17 GMT -5
I usually have the TV or Radio on as background noise because the Brittany (hubbies dog) goes nuts at every little sound outside. Neighbour farted? I have to know about it. Dog barked 3 blocks away? I've got to know about it. And he's got a bark that is like nails on a chalkboard. So yeah, I'd rather have music blasting than have to listen to his yapping.
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Post by Redhunter on Apr 10, 2009 4:54:18 GMT -5
I agree... with just about everyone here.
Okay, I'll explain that better.
If I'm concentrating, like when I visit this site for example, it's silence so I'm not distracted. I can't go to sleep listening to something because I pay close attention to it and then can't sleep.
if I'm driving, on the other hand, crank that shit up! Driving is fairly monotonous and uneventful, like cooking or yardwork and that shit needs something to spice it up.
So I guess it depends on how much thinking I'm doing. If I'm studying/learning, no music. If it isn't real pressing knowledge or light reading, some background classical music is nice. If it's mind-NUMBING, bring da noise, bring da funk.
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Post by canadian mojo on Apr 10, 2009 10:19:56 GMT -5
Every so often my two year-old likes to fall asleep to the Offspring (instead of classical). She asks to listen to daddy's noise. Her mom isn't too keen on her listening to the song Stuff(Shit) is Fucked-up for some reason.
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Post by Old Viking on Apr 10, 2009 15:43:24 GMT -5
Thank you, one and all.
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Post by catanon on May 31, 2009 20:04:06 GMT -5
Enlighten me. For decades it seems, music -- or what is laughingly referred to as music in today's society -- is ubiquitous. There is not a public venue of any sort that doesn't bombard us with it, all too often at a decibel level that makes the eardrums bleed. Supermarkets, drug stores, department stores, barber shops, doctors' offices, restaurants -- even thrift shops, for chrissake. (And people cannot walk the city streets, jog or drive a car without "music" pounding in their ears.) My question is: Why? Is it the fear that without distraction a thought may intrude? Why is constant exposure to noise deemed desirable? Hey, I love music -- classical, semi-classical, opera, Broadway. Things with melody. But I don't care to hear it every waking moment. (As a gratuitous aside, I never enjoy being shouted or screamed at, nor do I find it amusing.) I cherish silence. I seek it. Silence soothes my soul and strengthens my spirit. It helps me compose myself. There is not only an art, but an eloquence in it. Marcus Tullius Cicero. Help me out. Am I just being a cantankerous old fart, or do others share my view? The problem (or what I view as a problem) is insoluble, of course. But your explanations of the phenomenon would be educational for me. You probably wouldn't like me. If I had my way, I'd be blasting Speedcore into muh brainz all day!
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Post by antichrist on May 31, 2009 21:50:53 GMT -5
Enlighten me. For decades it seems, music -- or what is laughingly referred to as music in today's society -- is ubiquitous. There is not a public venue of any sort that doesn't bombard us with it, all too often at a decibel level that makes the eardrums bleed. Supermarkets, drug stores, department stores, barber shops, doctors' offices, restaurants -- even thrift shops, for chrissake. (And people cannot walk the city streets, jog or drive a car without "music" pounding in their ears.) My question is: Why? Is it the fear that without distraction a thought may intrude? Why is constant exposure to noise deemed desirable? Hey, I love music -- classical, semi-classical, opera, Broadway. Things with melody. But I don't care to hear it every waking moment. (As a gratuitous aside, I never enjoy being shouted or screamed at, nor do I find it amusing.) I cherish silence. I seek it. Silence soothes my soul and strengthens my spirit. It helps me compose myself. There is not only an art, but an eloquence in it. Marcus Tullius Cicero. Help me out. Am I just being a cantankerous old fart, or do others share my view? The problem (or what I view as a problem) is insoluble, of course. But your explanations of the phenomenon would be educational for me. You probably wouldn't like me. If I had my way, I'd be blasting Speedcore into muh brainz all day! That's what headphones are for.
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13rats
Junior Member
Posts: 91
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Post by 13rats on Jun 1, 2009 7:16:55 GMT -5
I always turn the fan on my AC on at night, because it helps drown out irregular sounds that would interfere with my resting. Otherwise, I live in NYC, so it is never completely quiet. I do live in a moderately uncrowded area, though, so at eight or nine AM on a Sunday the only sound will be birds outside. I'm used to noise all the time, so whenever I go camping or something like that, I find it eerily quiet the first night.
Also, people have some pretty diverse tastes in music here. I listen to pretty much anything, although my favorites are variations on metal, whatever you would call Modest Mouse, and whatever you would call Rise Against (which is my favorite band at the moment).
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Post by maanantai on Jun 2, 2009 9:31:42 GMT -5
I just love silence. Sometimes when I'm trying to think about something or consentrate on something that I should do (essey or other school related stuff excluding math, or something similar), but my mind likes to wander around and leave me staring blank even loud staring is enough to distract me from what I was doing and few hours later I find myself from going though old pictures and eating ice cream. And yes, the work I was fighting with is still unfinished...
On the other hand, I sometimes just NEED the music. But that is only for things that I like to do or don't need to think about when I'm doing it (reading non-school-related-books, washing dishes, playing on computer and so on) and there is just one simple rule considering - the music has to fit the situation. First of all if I'm reading, the language of the music has to match the language I'm reading or else I'm constantly translating, usually the music, to the language I'm trying to read x( And when driving... I've noticed that no matter how hard I try to concentrate on keeping my speed steady, it still changes for different kind of music. And driving between 6-8 and 15-18, I like my music agressive and strong so that I become agressive enough to fight my way to the other line, to actually get somewhere straight and not avoiding left turns in places without traffic lights.
And I'm not even sure if there is background music on stores unless it's December x) ...our local grocery store has music sometimes, but not always... Things like this might have something to do with Teosto here, as you need licence for even when playing radio on taxi so loud, that customers might actually hear it, not to mention shops. I dunno.
I just miss my teenage-years when I was able to read few books, do my homework, watch television, listen to music, eat and talk to my friend on the phone at the same time!
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Post by Marc on Jun 13, 2009 18:46:43 GMT -5
My question is: Why? Is it the fear that without distraction a thought may intrude? Why is constant exposure to noise deemed desirable? Hey, I love music -- classical, semi-classical, opera, Broadway. Things with melody. But I don't care to hear it every waking moment. (As a gratuitous aside, I never enjoy being shouted or screamed at, nor do I find it amusing.) Because it's supposed to soothe you. Make you more willing to shop, or wait in a long elevator or the like. Don't feel bad. I, too, cherish silence. I've been known to refer to my co-worker's music as "devil music" (in jest) regardless of what's playing. Marc
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Post by captainhooker on Jun 13, 2009 22:45:43 GMT -5
It's just a way of personalizing your headspace and by extension, your environment.
Symptom of a hyper-individualized culture, imo.
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Post by rookie on Jun 14, 2009 23:30:09 GMT -5
Something else to consider. Music has become very much more portable. That may have quite a bit to do with it. From boom boxes to Walkmans to MP3 players, it's become a lot easier to assault our young'un ears.
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