Do you need musical education to appreciate music?

[tinitus]

Originally Posted by mr_push_pull

no, it's not obvious at all.

nope, not that simple at all

but many of the posts also imply that there are many more interesting aspects of this, than what is asked in the subject title
its interesting what really is needed to understand music
and things like designing reproduction technology, and what it really takes to get it right

hell, even many bass players seem to have very different 'opinion' of what rythm means, and how to integrate it into the music
often sounds to me like they are somewhere else, or simply not listening to the music at all

[mr_push_pull]

to answer the original question: no, it's not necessary to have musical education to appreciate music and to me the issue is quite simple.
I'm aware of pro musicians that don't even have a formal training. and they are making music. of course education can help but is in no way required.

[tinitus]

Originally Posted by mr_push_pull

I'm aware of pro musicians that don't even have a formal training. and they are making music. of course education can help but is in no way required.

making music is education

are we talking about artists and studio 'workers' ?

I think its a very old prejustice that pro studio are technically better musicians, but rarely becomes the real artist who also composes the better music
might be true

[mr_push_pull]

Originally Posted by tinitus

making music is education

I was of course referring to formal education

Originally Posted by tinitus

are we talking about artists and studio 'workers' ?

yes.

Originally Posted by tinitus

I think its a very old prejustice that pro studio are technically better musicians, but rarely becomes the real artist who also composes the better music
might be true

not sure I follow...
are you referring to the belief that formal training guarantees a better artist? I've only heard that belief promoted by untalented artists that have some form of training.

[5th element]

I would say that you don't need an education in music to appreciate it. In fact I'd say it's quite the opposite, I'd argue that someone could gain greater pleasure from music whilst being uneducated because they fail to see the flaws present within it.

When one starts to learn something about the craft they also start to notice when things aren't quite right and then start looking for perfection so to speak. This can be hard to find and once you start hearing flaws it can make a lot of music unlistenable, or rather you'd prefer to listen to something else. Once upon a time you'd have been happy listening to the thing with flaws but not any more. In other words you are enjoying less music then you were once capable of.

This sounds a little like building your own hifi, where once exposed to what good sound reproduction can be like you end up on the quest for the perfect sound and how best to go about it. Now one can do this uneducated, so to speak, and demo all sorts of equipment in hifi stores, or you can educate yourself and learn how to build them yourself.

The difference between the person who learns how to build it for himself is that the builder can better appreciate the technical abilities of a piece of equipment and its design. They can also better appreciate the specific design choices that the engineer has made and why they made them. But at the same time they can also disagree strongly with a design choice and automatically disregard a piece of equipment based solely on this alone.

The uneducated imo has the potential to be happy with a wider selection of equipment/music then the educated because they have fewer things influencing their decisions, preferences and choices.

[mr_push_pull]

+1

[tinitus]

you mean like the the more you know(or learn), the harder it gets
well, that happens too

looking at classical symphony orchestra might be a good way to get an understanding of how it works
theres a composer, to start with
and theres a conductor, trying to understand the music, or interpreting it
then he will have a huge task trying to make the musicians play exactly per his intentions

what in the end makes the difference is the thousands of tiny details

also, in pop&rock, the 'invention' of unplugged concerts have been very interesting

[5th element]

When I say understanding the music I really meaning being able to do it oneself. Being able to play that Beethovan sonata etc, you end up knowing how it should be played and what's specifically difficult to play about it. You also become aware of all of the notes involved within the piece, those that are directly heard and those which only fall into background. The emphasis one then chooses to place on certain notes, allowing certain melody lines to come through, becomes extremely obvious when you hear different peoples interpretations. This in itself can be very rewarding allowing you to appreciate another's interpretation to a greater degree then if you were otherwise uneducated.

Of course this has the flip-side of being able to annoy you when someone plays it in a way that goes directly against how you think it should be played. The uneducated simply might not notice however, it depends how subtle the differences of the interpretation are, but that is of course the whole point. Those subtle details or misgivings that simply passed you by before as the uneducated, no longer do and as a result you can no longer tolerate them.

[gmphadte]

It happens in all the other things, not just music.

U will not like the sound of Sony speakers after u hear the Klipsch.

Gajanan Phadte

[adason]

Originally Posted by lduarte1973

my cat (in my avatar) loves music , i think that answers the question.

no it does not!