background music
The other day I was talking with matt_rah about background music: the fact that our lives have a constant soundtrack which store radios, thumping cars, subway performers, etc. provide. He was talking specifically about the custom of playing music in stores, which he thinks habituates people to tuning out music instead of actively appreciating it. I was surprised at his assertion because I've never had that sense for myself: I pay attention to background music, in general, even if it means I have to multithink.
Of course my experience is anecdotal, but I have to wonder whether some peculiarity of my listening habits brought it about. My best guess is that, since the plurality of my music is rap, I am more accustomed to tuning in that background noise because it essentially addresses me verbally. When someone talks to you, you listen instinctively. If non-verbal noise happens, or words are heard farther from the conversational spectrum, they sound less like a call to attention. For some, the same effect occurs in other genres with which they are eminently familiar: words to a pop song one knows by heart, or a strict allegro- form sonata.
Do you tune out background music? Why or why not?
Posted via LiveJournal app for iPhone.