So I was watching this Ted talk video by this woman Brene Brown
(I will save you some time and ask you just zip forward to about 14: 45):
In which she points out the issue of “numbness.” Judging by our addictive behaviors, obesity, and debt load, a great many of us are simply becoming emotionally “numb.” I’m inclined to agree with her summation.
So as we ponder the many possible fixes to this problem, I can’t help but ask myself, where is the art? After all, one of the many purposes of art and artists is to provide creations that motivate the viewer/listener to want to open their perceptions in order to fully experience the dopamine/endorphin rush that a beautiful thing inspires.
Regular readers of my blog know my thoughts on modern abstract music and art generally (for newcomers, “not much”). But what about the so-called “popular” art? I fear it may be even more guilty of contributing to the general societal numbness.
I’m sure there are notable exceptions here and there, but taken as a whole, pop music in general has become somewhat bland and uninspiring. This is not just my opinion. There was a recent study done by some Spanish researchers that demonstrated that the melodies of popular music have, in fact, become more and more homogenous, with fewer and fewer deviations in, well, let’s call it what it is, creativity.
Because of my active dance life, I listen to a lot of popular music. My musical training actually makes it hard to listen to a great deal of it. It is tremendously simplistic, in terms of melody, harmony, and form. It’s exceedingly rare that you hear a popular song that has a “b” section. Typically, there is one single rhythmic “motif” that just gets repeated over and over for three minutes. And more and more, the lyrics are resembling a kind of religious chant, with one single phrase also just repeated over and over again. The fact that the lyrics are seldom pronounced in such a way that you can even hear them adds to this problem of the mind simply turning its receptors off. After all, why “un-numb” yourself if there’s nothing to feel?
Now I realize that early Beatles tunes were not great poetry. But even early on, the Beatles were doing fairly complicated harmonies (e.g., This Boy). And later on, their lyrics as well as their musical forms were truly cutting edge. Because it was so different, you had to “un-numb” yourself in order to fully enjoy and appreciate what was going on. The vast majority of modern pop music… and certainly the most popular of it… is simply so vague that one’s sense of connection becomes largely based on projecting things onto a good looking performer that simply are not there. If we are to live in an imaginary world, well, the more numb we are to reality, the better.
Classical music is not free of blame either. It’s great stuff, but they never do much to jazz it up or make it personal. The repetition and sameness leads to wearing out the receptors and the listener numbing out as well.
This numbness that Dr. Brown refers to has an awful lot to do with fear of rejection, a lack of safety, a well-defined social structure, and universally accepted vocabulary and permissions. It is the job of artists to address this. Speaking as an artist myself, we are really dropping the ball on this, and the sad part is, most of us don’t even know it.
©) Justin Locke
