It's one of the few aspects of life that we are exposed to, whether we notice it, and want it or not. It's everywhere. Almost any shop you enter these days has the latest regional music blaring out. Any hotel, any function, any get-together almost any happening is accompanied by some form of music.But why am i suddenly expounding the omnipresence of music? Its because i'd like to point out the difference between merely "listening" to music and "knowing" it. Any Tom, Dick n Harry on the road will listen to and tap his feet to the beat. And it would require true genius to compose foot-tapping music. But between these two, there is this (reasonably big) group of people who are neither here nor there. It's this group that intrigues me, and hence , this post.
There are budding amateurs, millions of them, who find themselves reasonably talented at singing, or playing any any particular instrument. Then, there is this group of people who are keen listeners of music. All that's good. But, its pretense that kills everything. I must admit, i'm no great student of music. I belonged to the first group that i talked about in this post for many many years. I used to listen to any kind of music, and enjoy it. And then, college happened. People always say the first year of college always changes something about you. Well, in my case it was my outlook to music. Thanks to chaitu, bhejafry n ani (fellow madcaps from college), I started listening to music more keenly, with a view to understand and soak in the euphoria that (i slowly discovered) music provides. Listening slowly led to inspiration to do something myself, and now i find myself learning the basics of drums. All that is very good.
But, coming to the pretense part of it. I have always had acquaintances who claimed they were "music buffs" and they "understood" the language of musicians, and so on and so forth. They could reel off names of famous musicians, and talk about that awesome song, and this mind-blowing solo. I must admit, I thought myself to be a small insignificant thing in front of them, as far as music was concerned. Now, when i myself am just learning to really enjoy music, i get back to them, to try n increase my music-related status among my friends. Only now do i realise that the so called "buffs" weren't so buffy after all. The more i delve, the more i realise that most self-proclaimed followers of music are just trying to be someone they are not. Even that's ok by me.
What makes me think was, why put on this act? why pretend to be this music-geek when u really are not? Seeking attention? possibly, i thought. Until spoke about this to one of my good friends, who himself is a keen follower of music. We discussed the issue and decided that it's just the outlook of the society these days. Especially among the student crowd, it's normal for people to want to be different and unique. That leads them to pretense, which kills the whole beauty of music. It is no crime not to follow music too keenly, it's a matter of personal choice and interest. But, when people try to be something they are not, just to get noticed, it sucks.
On a similar note, there is the ever present fallacy that classical music is boring, and bland, whereas rock, metal n stuff like that is "cool". Again, everyone are entitled to their personal opinion, but I feel bad for people who do not try and assimilate the beauly of classical music. I myself am no badshah at classical music, but if I myself (who has been listening to a lot of classical music only for about 4-5 months) can begin to enjoy it so much, anyone who wants to can. For those who still feel that its all bullshit, well you are missing out on a lot, my friend.
Finally, all said and done, music is for relaxation, for undisturbed joy, and ultimate satisfaction. So, anyone who hasn't yet taken to listening to music seriously, you are sorely missing something!
