I sometimes listen to music whilst doing chores for precisely this reason. Without it I get distracted and begin to procrastinate. I think the music uses up spare brainpower or something.
EDIT: When I’m doing serious work I prefer to listen to music I know very well. It’s less distracting because I know what’s coming.
I used to not listen to music for similar reasons, yet I played piano regularly. I also was confused by it, especially the lyrics—I couldn’t understand what people were saying.
Eventually, peer pressure got me and I started listening to music, usually one cd over and over. Eventually I came to like it and became more comfortable with it as background, in a very similar way to wearing a watch or clothes different from my usual is extraordinarily uncomfortable, but after a week it becomes the new normal.
For me, it’s not something I have to look for at all. It just, happens…
Being introspective (which is notoriously unreliable), it feels like my enjoyment of it is basically a combination of enjoying repetition/structure plus valuing novelty (so the repetitions change enough to avoid being boring), in the auditory modality. I enjoy the same sort of thing in other modalities as well:
Kinesthetic: things like dancing, tapping patterns on my leg, sex.
Taste: I like alternating bites of my food to make the flavors form a pattern. For example, when I eat rice, I will often split it into two portions, and put soy sauce on one, and lemon juice on the other, and alternate the bites so I get a pattern of flavors. And sometimes I switch it up to a few bites of each alternating, etc…
Abstract thought: enjoyment from thinking about math seems to be a similar thing as well. In particular, abstract algebra. Going through the proof of the Sylow theorems, for example, gives me enjoyment analogous to listening to a grand symphony.
I can’t think of anything like this for smell, but I have a very weak sense of it.
Anyway, I hope this at least helps you understand what most people get out of music, even if you don’t enjoy it yourself.
Do you enjoy other types of art? If you do, and can describe what you like about that, perhaps we can suggest particular music that might appeal to you.
If music doesn’t resonate emotionally with you, there is also intricately patterned music that appeals to me in a more mathematical way. Bach’s fugues, particularly his “little fugue” in G minor, are a good place to start. Following along with the sheet music may help with appreciating the clever ways in which the different voices relate to each other.
As for appreciating music emotionally, I find that it is necessary to relax into a certain mildly altered state of consciousness similar to meditation; I’ve become better at this over time, though I can’t always do it when under stress. I’ve also heard numerous reports that marijuana aids in the appreciation of music (in a lasting, not a temporary, way—you notice new things in music that you can then continue to appreciate while sober), and will have to try it sometime.
It can cause or intensify a large range of emotions or moods.
Do you not have an emotional reaction to any music?
It usually annoys me. It steals attention, like a beggar demanding money.
I sometimes listen to music whilst doing chores for precisely this reason. Without it I get distracted and begin to procrastinate. I think the music uses up spare brainpower or something.
EDIT: When I’m doing serious work I prefer to listen to music I know very well. It’s less distracting because I know what’s coming.
Interestingly enough (I think), in the XVIIIth century a sub-genre of classical music was born for this purpose: chamber music.
Likewise wrt work. I also prefer music without comprehensible lyrics for this purpose.
I used to not listen to music for similar reasons, yet I played piano regularly. I also was confused by it, especially the lyrics—I couldn’t understand what people were saying.
Eventually, peer pressure got me and I started listening to music, usually one cd over and over. Eventually I came to like it and became more comfortable with it as background, in a very similar way to wearing a watch or clothes different from my usual is extraordinarily uncomfortable, but after a week it becomes the new normal.
Do you think you could deliberately focus your attention on it? That could potentially increase your enjoyment.
I have tried, in the required school music classes, for example. I don’t understand what benefit people see in it, so I don’t know what to look for.
For me, it’s not something I have to look for at all. It just, happens…
Being introspective (which is notoriously unreliable), it feels like my enjoyment of it is basically a combination of enjoying repetition/structure plus valuing novelty (so the repetitions change enough to avoid being boring), in the auditory modality. I enjoy the same sort of thing in other modalities as well:
Sight: looking at highly patterned art, for example, this visualization of the Mandelbrot set.
Kinesthetic: things like dancing, tapping patterns on my leg, sex.
Taste: I like alternating bites of my food to make the flavors form a pattern. For example, when I eat rice, I will often split it into two portions, and put soy sauce on one, and lemon juice on the other, and alternate the bites so I get a pattern of flavors. And sometimes I switch it up to a few bites of each alternating, etc…
Abstract thought: enjoyment from thinking about math seems to be a similar thing as well. In particular, abstract algebra. Going through the proof of the Sylow theorems, for example, gives me enjoyment analogous to listening to a grand symphony.
I can’t think of anything like this for smell, but I have a very weak sense of it.
Anyway, I hope this at least helps you understand what most people get out of music, even if you don’t enjoy it yourself.
Do you enjoy other types of art? If you do, and can describe what you like about that, perhaps we can suggest particular music that might appeal to you.
If music doesn’t resonate emotionally with you, there is also intricately patterned music that appeals to me in a more mathematical way. Bach’s fugues, particularly his “little fugue” in G minor, are a good place to start. Following along with the sheet music may help with appreciating the clever ways in which the different voices relate to each other.
As for appreciating music emotionally, I find that it is necessary to relax into a certain mildly altered state of consciousness similar to meditation; I’ve become better at this over time, though I can’t always do it when under stress. I’ve also heard numerous reports that marijuana aids in the appreciation of music (in a lasting, not a temporary, way—you notice new things in music that you can then continue to appreciate while sober), and will have to try it sometime.