Do You Hear What I Hear?

There's no doubt about it. Everyone hears music differently, or shall I say listens to. Hence, the ever-expanding list of emerging and lasting genres. I find that there are all types of music listeners: the apathetic, the dispassionate, the music junkie, the know-it-all, the "I like everything," which actually means "I don't know what I like," the experimenter, and of course the musician. Everyone approaches music in a different way--how you listen (through headphones, live at a venue, in your car), why you listen (to relax, to fall asleep, for entertainment), and what it means to you. So, what attracts us to music? Why do we all have unique tastes? These questions regarding the basic psychology of music have always spurred my curiosity and kept me listening. But no matter how hard I listened I couldn't find the answers in the music, so I decided to look elsewhere. That's when I stumbled upon the book, This Is Your Brain On Music, written by neuroscientist and former record producer Daniel Levitin.



I've only began to dig into the mysteries explained in Levitin's novel, but so far I'm dumbstruck by Levitin's depth of music knowledge. Sometimes, I find myself lost in the book's more esoteric qualities, but Levitin's aptitude for relating complex musical concepts to a landscape of liberal arts knowledge redirects my understanding. The main theme that Levitin righteously returns to several times is that all of us are equipped with the abilities to engage with music. Whether it's having the ability to say what we like or explain it in more technical terms, being able to process music is something that every human being can do. We all might hear it differently, but that just depends on how you choose to listen.

So, really, no one can say that one listening style is better than the rest. We all perceive music in our own unique way. No one's perception is faulty, rather some of us are better capable of explaining our perceptions more succinctly in a vast array of technical terms. Levitin explains that listening to music is something that is innate to humans and we use our entire brain to process music! "Great music affects the same part of our brain that helps us interpret shattering grief or overwhelming joy." -Observer. Therefore, those who choose to avoid music listening altogether are missing out on a very natural and emotionally moving process.

The Guitar: A Historical Flashback

Now that I've examined the guitar in many modern forms of media, I wanted to learn a little more about its history. I scoured the internet for the best article on the history of guitar. Here's the most interesting one I could find:
http://www.guyguitars.com/eng/handbook/BriefHistory.html

One of the most interesting facts that I gathered from this article is that the origin of the guitar is still completely unknown, but it is guessed that it dates back almost 4,000 years! They even recovered a 3,500 year-old guitar, which was buried with the Egyptian singer Har-Mose. The guitar was most likely fashioned after the lute, which is slightly different in appearance.




The Renaissance is really where we begin to see the four string guitar evolve. The number of strings, as well as the number of frets on the guitar began to multiply into what we now recognize as the six string 12 fret guitar played today.

Interested in what the evolution of guitars looked like? Click Here

Guitar Commercials

I was really interested in how guitars are advertised, so instead of looking at magazine ads, or catalogs, I decided to take a different route and look at some commercials. I cannot recall ever seeing a commercial on TV for a guitar, so I was surprised at what I was able to find. The first commercial is for Gibson:

Here's the commercial:


What I found to be most strikingly obvious is that the guitar is clearly advertised to males only. This was not unexpected. However, it got me thinking about social roles in the music industry. Do women have even greater odds to face in the music industry? Can a woman be taken seriously as a musician, or are women only looked at a sex symbols--a brand, rather than real talent? This advertisement definitely says a lot about the different roles of women and men. The woman is trying to please the man in every way possible by offering him a bunch of material items. Is the guitar meant to represent a status symbol, or is it advertised for its discerning significance? Clearly, the former. Does it simplify its complexity of depth and the aptitude one must possess in order to understand such a musical instrument? Does the commercial reduce the guitar to merely a material possession? I would argue so. I think that many people own guitars that have never even plucked a string. They buy a guitar in order to exemplify who they are rather than to play it. With so little prominent commercials I really wonder how this phenomenon came to be.

I definitely wanted to talk about Guitar Hero and how it has monopolized on the idolization of being a rock star. It's a very strange concept that people would rather learn to play this fake instrument than learn the real thing, which obviously takes less dedication, but not much. For example, take a look at this commercial: Click Here. It's almost laughable how they depict this game. They draw people in on the concept of being a rock star and the realistic instruments, but the message is almost insulting in its delivery.

The next commercial I chose for its pure ridiculousness. This commercial is with the model Heidi Klum. I'm not really sure how this commercial has anything to do with Guitar Hero, but that's America for you.

Here's the commercial: