Syris Allen Hackett
Professor E. Emerson
English Composition 110
13 November 2018
The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Music Critics
There has always been a level of gatekeeping in the music realm, a war between tastes and what one finds beautiful within lyrics and notes. Today’s youth may say that the Migos are the best group ever, while their parents may respond “that is a funny way to say Led Zeppelin.” The metal head might scream from the rooftops that Slayer is 
unmatched in the rock world, and those who are trained in the classics may say that there will never be music like Rimsky-Korsakov’s symphonies ever again. Everyone has their own tastes in music and what they see as beautiful, and even beauty has its own gatekeeping. Beauty is complicated and seen in many ways. While it normally brings one individual pleasure, there are those who say it can do more for society as a whole. Beauty, especially in the music world, speaks to one’s personal taste and is no more or less valid than the next person’s taste in music.
Philosophers have attempted to explain how we see and hear the world around us. John Armstrong in his article “La Bella Vita” explains German dramatist and poet Friedrich Schiller’s ideas on form and sense drives. Armstrong states, “we can’t hope to see why beauty matters to us unless we pay attention to them both” (Armstrong). But what are these drives? Form drive can be explained as long-term goals. This drive is listening to a piece of music and hearing why the music was created and the story it tells, or the deeper emotions it can convey. Sense drive is the short-term gratification. Sense drive is what is personally pleasing to the ear whether it is a rhyming scheme or a pleasant chord progression. “true beauty is whatever speaks powerfully to both sides of our nature at the same time” or what Armstrong calls “harmonious perfection.” When these two drives come together perfectly in tandem, this is where he believes the real beauty shines. Unfortunately, it is slightly paradoxical, as he may state people need to find something beautiful in their lives and should have the freedom to do so. He puts limitations on what people should find beautiful.
Beauty is not determined by what group a person is a part of, but by the experiences they encounter in their life. Music is no different in this manner. Armstrong quotes Schiller saying that the “unnerving… conviction that ambitious social reform [will] always be frustrated until a much larger number of people [have] reached a higher level of inner development of the sort enabled by beauty” (Armstrong). I would argue that no community of people are the same, but those with similar psychological traits would be a different story. A study from a polish researcher, Dr. Malgorzata Kopacz, showed that “extraverts prefer usually homogenous, lively, emotional vigorous, sensual music, while introverts prefer intellectual, mystical, deep, introspective and restrained music” (Kopacz). The real definer of what people find beautiful is shown by what kind of person is observing the said beautiful object, and not the community that they are a part of or whatever identifier they happen to be.
People are so protective of their own ‘music’ since they may only see their favorite form as beautiful. Many forget that others can have different tastes and fail to realize that their views on it matter to other as much as their own views to themselves. Armstrong proclaims that “to regard beauty as a luxury adornment or a social signifier was to miss the true potential of the experience” (Armstrong). Armstrong puts these limitations on what should or even can be found beautiful, but this is where he is missing something. Armstrong has put his own definitions of what beauty should be and what its potential is. If one is satisfied of what they have or achieve, no matter the reasoning, is there truly something being missed? I would argue not. My relatives that came off the boat at Ellis Island with almost nothing to their names wanted to live the grand life at the top of the social ladders. Their goals and thoughts of beauty were to be the ‘social signifiers’ themselves, and you know what… those crazy Italians did it.
My own personal definitions of beauty are varied in their own ways. Beauty does not play a major role in my life, but when it does enter it usually is grand. A podcast interviewee quoted the saying, “life is not the number of breaths you take, but the breaths taken away” (Darcy). Even though I consider myself an open-minded person when it comes to music, I have my own preferences on what I find most beautiful as well. In the music world, I am open to everything from growing up with rap, listening to rock with my father, or being trained in the classical orchestra, but the moments that really get me are the ones that speak loudly. These moments are the ones anyone is looking for. The moments that one can feel something different than the same stimuli day after day.
Beauty, like music, is seen in many ways by many levels of society on the individual scale. In podcasts created in an English course at the University of New England, a student whose aunt describes her own encounters with beauty in the natural beaches of New England versus the manicured beaches of Florida. When describing what she considered so beautiful about the New England beaches was how the “tide comes in and goes out” (Casey). The cyclical nature of the environment was the most beautiful thing to her; the raw or wild parts of the world were nothing in comparison to the commercialized human
creations. Another student’s mother explained a distinct perspective on what they find beautiful. When encountering a victim of domestic violence as part of work and seeing her recovery, she says that how she saw the change “from sadness to quality happiness” (Darcy) to be the most beautiful thing. The beauty to her was motivation and soul this woman had compared to the circle of life view of the other interviewee. This draws parallels to the idea of music, let alone near anything that one can have an opinion on. Everyone sees beauty, just not always in the way we see it or even the way we understand.
Beauty, as Schiller suggests, is not the solution to society’s problems. Compassion and empathy should be the driving factors. Music and other forms of media, such as video games, have been accused of causing problems. Growing up during the era of Marilyn Manson and early Eminem, I remember very vividly on how they were pointed at for being the influencers for the Columbine Shooting by those who were more traditional. The people with these more traditional values did not see the merit in having such harsh and even borderline sadistic themes. Others such as myself, saw these themes as a way to deal with the harsh reality of life, a connection with someone who felt disenfranchised just like them. Beauty in society as Schiller would like to see it would do nothing for the overall health of the system. Since people can be so protective of what they consider right and dismissive of what they do not, the real fight should be taken to the care of other people. Abstract or interpretive ideals like beauty will not help what needs direct handling in social norms.
Everyone has their ‘thing.’ It can be a music genre, a type of book, kinks under the covers, or even simply what they find beautiful. There is no limit as to what one can find meaning in their life. We can be so quick to judge others for whatever we find not in our realm of understanding. At the end of the day, no one’s view of beauty is truly wrong. One exception may be if you find Yoko Ono impressive, I suggest you get psychiatric help.
Works Cited:
Armstrong, John. “Can Beauty Help Us to Become Better People? – John Armstrong | Aeon Essays.” Aeon, Aeon, 28 Nov. 2018, aeon.co/essays/can-beauty-help-us-to-become-better-people.
Darcy, Liam. “Beauty Podcast.” YouTube, YouTube, 31 Oct. 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=lK4gCIrv1iY&feature=youtu.be.
Casey, Tehya. “My Podcast.” YouTube, YouTube, 31 Oct. 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvxIUJj2DE0.
Kopacz, Ph.D., MT-BC, Malgorzata. “Personality and Music Preferences: The Influence of Personality Traits on Preferences Regarding Musical Elements .” Academic, Journal of Music Therapy, 1 Oct. 2005, goo.gl/W3D3aJ.
Kashmir, 75, director. Chuck Berry & (John Lennon and Yoko Ono). YouTube, YouTube, 27 Aug. 2007, www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9kgu71d81U.
Moore, Michael, director. Bowling for Columbine. YouTube, YouTube, 20 Apr. 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeQ4HWhPEdA.
Orsillo, Stephen. Goosewing Beach Preserve, Rhode Island.
