Naked Science Forum
General Science => General Science => Topic started by: dongkee on 10/04/2019 16:15:43
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Why do I find my favourite music boring after repeated listening? I know of a exposure effect, where I like the thing more after getting exposed to it. Is this an over-exposure effect?
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The same thing happens to me. I think the over-exposure suggestion is right. It's true of not just music, but of just about anything you do repeatedly. If you eat your favorite food every day, you're going to get tired of it and want something new. Watch your favorite movie over and over and you can expect the same thing to happen eventually as well. Seeking novelty is trait not only of humans but of animals as well.
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I think the reason for this is that "popular" modern music tends to use a lot of repetition to make the tune become rapidly familiar, memorable and "catchy". But this comes at the cost of complexity: composers are trading off instant appeal to the mass market against long-term interest.
Have a read of, or listen (!) to, this answer to the question "Why do songs sound better the more we listen to them? (http://Why do songs sound better the more we listen to them?)", which also addresses the question you have raised.
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I dont know if I can listen to mozart on repeat. Maybe there is a goldilocks zone of stimulation. Everything in moderation as they say. But I wonder what is the mechanics behind it and why?
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Why do you feel the need to look at different paintings, if music is art, once you have understood the artists perspective, you have understood it. More over the question is what makes you wish to look at a painting in the first place ? The different perspective than your own enlivens your brain and gives you an understanding of conciousness, your own existance and a view on metaphysics.
Why do vastly different artists gain praise ? Picasso versus Constable versus Warhol. Basically, music can be an art.
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I thank you for thinking and advising how I should be looking at art. A+ for effort. Dont give up
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Have you ruled out the idea that your favourite music is actually boring, but it takes you repeated listening to notice this?
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Pop music is designed to be boring, so you will buy another CD/vinyl/download instead of treasuring the one you have.
Jazz is "the sound of surprise" so there's a lot of technical depth in small group music, but eventually you will be able to predict the next phrase: the surprise may be replaced by admiration but non-players tend to get bored or give up by that point. Big-band music is necessarily less surprising - you can't have the sax section improvising in one direction whilst the brass is going in another, and the accompaniments tend to be a bit formulaic (I play bass in jazz and brass bands - it's very easy to switch to autopilot once you know the arranger's name!)
I find a lot of orchestral music pointlessly repetitive. "The theme is next taken up by the woodwind...." Why? I got the message from the violins, thank you, the princess is dying, so please get on with the story....oh damn, it's the bass feature....now back to sleep.....
But Bach and Krommer just provide one surprise after another, and it's technically as clever and demanding as jazz. I had a cassette tape of solo cello partitas that I must have played in the car until it turned white, and I still want to hear it again!
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Have you ruled out the idea that your favourite music is actually boring, but it takes you repeated listening to notice this?
Nicely put, but basically a cleverer way of saying what the reference I supplied above suggested! ;)