Introduction
My name is Isaiah Grip, and I want to begin a journey that will hopefully broaden and enrich your perspective of music. To start, have you ever wondered why you like and dislike certain music? And just how can certain songs evoke such powerful emotional responses? Why do different social classes prefer certain genres but cringe at others? These questions are a few that continue to rattle around my head but don’t seem get the attention they deserve out in the real world. And since they are somewhat philosophical and psychological in nature, the more we contemplate them, the more questions arise, and the depth of mystery deepens. I believe there is tremendous value in the pondering of certain questions rather than reading what other people think are the definite answers.
Personally, I like to think of music as an analogy to reality. Perhaps our appreciation of music (harmony, melody, and rhythm specifically) has something to do with our innate love of order and patterns in a seemingly chaotic world. Maybe music makes us feel socially secure by immersing ourselves in a community of individuals who have a similar aesthetic preference, which alludes to our pack mentality. Music has a mystical quality to it for many as well, simultaneously connecting ourselves with others and inducing divine sensations. For example the Native Americans used music and chants in religious and healing ceremonies; chant meditation can induce altered states of consciousness by repeating sacred words or mantras to a rhythmic pulse. However you look at it, music has been embedded in civilizations all throughout time, and we owe it to ourselves to learn as much as we can about it as we can and expose ourselves to a multitude of perspectives.
Mere-Exposure Effect
The mere-exposure effect tells us that psychologically ‘people tend to develop preferences for things merely because they are exposed to them’. This applies to music preferences as well. In particular, musical taste has a significant correlation with social class. A 2015 study by University of British Columbia released in the Canadian Review of Sociology interviewed 1,595 people Toronto and the surrounding Vancouver area and asked participants about their preferences in music and then played music from 21 different genres. Participants were then asked to indicate whether or not they liked the music played. The results suggest that there is a correlation between class position and musical taste (based on genre). People of upper social classes tend to like classical, pop, opera, jazz, musical theater, and choral while disliking country and rap, and lower class individuals tended to like country and rap while disliking the music preferences held upper social class people. Obviously this study cannot be generalized or applied as a definite truth on a large scale because, for one, the sample size and location could introduce bias, and also music genres encompass a wide variety of styles, so a participant may like and dislike music in the same genre; it just comes down to which song was played for them.
Branching off of this study and its conclusions regarding the relationship between class position and music taste, I have a few insights that I would like to share. Historically, a person’s social class influenced even their access to music. For instance, during the Baroque era (1600-1750) most music was reserved for the higher members of society (the church or rich patrons of institutions), and it wasn’t until toward the end of the Baroque era and into the Classical era were members of the middle class active participants in music. Today’s age is different. Most people have access to the internet, which holds a vast and extensive database of music that they can expose themselves to. So it seems probable to me that in time there will be less of a correlation between individuals’ music preferences and their respective social classes due to the ‘mere-exposure effect’, if people are gradually exposed to more music of different varieties their preferences will inevitably broaden as consequence. In my opinion, this will, reduce the stigma certain social classes hold for genres of music that are outside of their immediate exposure.
Conclusion
Just think about you own musical preferences, what music are you avoiding. While your thinking about that I challenge you to listen to at least one song a day from that genre you don’t necessarily like for a week, and see if your preferences evolve during that time (please let me know your results by the way).
So, if it seems like I have brought up more questions than answered and jumped around to a multitude of different topics, you’re correct in your perception. My quest through writing is to learn myself and engage the audience in matters of music I find relevant to our time. Some topics I wish to cover in future articles will be the composition and analysis of some of my own music, music history and appreciation, the philosophy and psychology behind music, recording and production and more. I will try to write at least one article per week, so stay tuned! (Had to end on a music pun, don’t hate me)
Thanks for reading!
About the Author
Isaiah Grip is a 21 year old multi-instrumentalist composer (guitar, piano, violin, and voice) out of Longmont, Colorado who records and studies music independently under the name Tetra Veda, as well as collaborating with Ghostwrite Inc, and playing guitar in the progressive metal band Cloud Temple. His personal repertoire can be found on Bandcamp and YouTube under the name Tetra Veda.
Edited - Hannah Grip
This is so interesting. I never thought of it like that. Thank you for your insights andI look forward to reading the next!