I came across this article on artsjournal.com and had to post the photographs. The conclusion of a "36,000 music lovers" survey is that Classical lovers are most like Heavy Metal fans, as their passion for the music is very similar.
I was impressed to read that the fans of classical music have a passion equivalent to fans of heavy metal. In fact, the news brought a smile to my face. I love music! It's a vital part of my life and I have known quite a few metal-heads over the years. I am not surprised the two genres, as different as they are, have the closest connection of all included. So it brings up the question, how much does music influence a person, or does the person influence and shape the music? According to this study, perhaps it's both.
The survey was conducted at Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh by the department of psychology. It stretched worldwide, including people of all backgrounds to list their personality traits and favorite music. Ironically, the personalities people think of themselves to have fit directly into the stereotypical association with their musical tastes. For instance, indie-rockers are creative, have low self-esteem, and are not very hard-working. With this result in mind, indie music does sound expressively heart-wrenching. Same with most rap - it does highlight attributes of "high self-esteem".
In our discussion in class on Thursday, Sept 11, our topic was music: selling out vs. marketing, DIY then vs. DIY now, and the importance of craft vs. product. I think this ties into the results of this study. It suggests that someone who listens to Metallica would be more likely to listen to classical than someone who likes indie-rock to listen to reggae. How much of this is ties into personality vs. the fashion value of the music? Does the person who listens to indie-rock feel bad (or worse) about themselves because of the music they indulge in? The personality traits for Classical and Metal fans (as listed below) are both creative, at ease with themselves, and not outgoing. Professor North suggested it is the "love of grandiose" that connects both groups.
Classical and metal both take skill and talent to play. 23 year old John Gregson, a classically trained musician who is also a heavy-metal fan is quoted "As an instrumentalist, out of all the main genres of music heavy metal and classical are the ones which require the most discipline to play- they're technically very difficult and involve playing at inhumanly fast speeds."
Music is a very personal, important part of our identity. This is true whether you are into it for love of the craft, or because all your friends like a certain song for a few months. It is social, yet intimate. There are those who love the music because of the lyrics it may carry, yet at the same time, the instruments speak in ways that words cannot express. This study shows that musical tastes do, in fact, reflect personality.
As each of us continue to grow and learn in our own lives, our personalities can and will shift occasionally. Therefore, our musical tastes must change also. How often is it that our musical tastes shift, therefore influencing our personalities? I have listened to a number of different types of music throughout my life. Some of it was crap, but others still tugs at my heartstrings. The point is that each has expressed different thoughts, feelings, and even actions I have experienced. I have also found music that has opened my eyes and mind to new ideas, which have been life-altering.
I feel an appropriate closing thought is a lyric from the song "Grace Car Part One" by the Chicago/Urbana band BRAID: "I don't want to be a part of music vs. the heart. We all stay in tune, we all swear it's true." That's the beauty of it all. There is no wrong or right answer, and we're not locked into one personality trait or just one genre of music.
What your music says about you
Indie: Devotees have low self-esteem and are not very hard-working, kind or generous. However, they are creative.
Rock 'n' Roll: Fans have high self-esteem and are very creative, hard-working and at ease with themselves, but not very kind or generous.
Blues: High self-esteem, creative, outgoing and at ease with themselves.
Classical: Classical music lovers have high self-esteem, are creative and at ease with themselves, but not outgoing.
Heavy metal: Very creative and at ease with themselves, but not very outgoing or hard-working.
Reggae: High self-esteem, creative, outgoing, kind, generous and at ease with themselves, but not very hard-working.
Country & Western: Very hard-working and outgoing.
Dance: Creative and outgoing but not kind or generous.
Rap: High self-esteem, outgoin
1 comment:
I feel that it's articles like this that stereo-type people, put them in these little boxes and tell them how they are suppose to act and who they should be. All music is creative and listening to music, any music, gets the listener/ musician in touch with their own creativity. So to say that certain music genres appeal to creative people, while others don't, is also not giving much credit to the musician. Every music genre has bad musicians and every genre has great ones. I think categorizing people by such plain personality types such as creative, not creative or hard-working and not hard-working is too simple.
To say that classical and heavy metal music takes skill and talent to play seems to say that other music types don't. I think all music takes creativity, skill and talent to create.
I think as you grow and develop as an individual, your music taste does change, because as you get older and become more aware of yourself you stop caring about what others think and enjoy music because you like it, not because it's considered cool. But I don't think that it is a shift in our musical taste that influences our personalities, but a shift in our personalities that influences our musical taste.
I agree that people should stop judging one another based on what music they listen to and understand that one genre is not any better than the other, but just different and that all music is artistic, but I think that stereo-typing people based on what genre of music they like best is a little silly.
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