Emily comments on Open Thread: October 2009 - Less Wrong

5 Post author: gwern 01 October 2009 12:49PM

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Comment author: Emily 03 October 2009 11:10:39PM 1 point [-]

Oh man I miss Pandora since they stopped streaming to the UK. :(

On topic: I had quite a few years of music lessons (though I wasn't really much good) and some musical theory, which I really enjoyed. And I do quite like listening to classical music in a vague sort of way, but I wouldn't say I have an "appreciation" for it: it's not as though I can pick out features or analyse it or anything. So am I appreciating it without a tuned ear, or am I just unaware of the work my bit of theoretical knowledge is doing behind the scenes?

Comment author: pdf23ds 03 October 2009 11:15:10PM 0 points [-]

I'd say appreciation is really just a synonym for enjoyment. You can be a world-class performer without knowing any theory at all.

Comment author: anonym 04 October 2009 07:47:16AM 4 points [-]

Actually, I think appreciation and enjoyment are related but not symonyms. Enjoyment is visceral and emotional, it denotes the sheer pleasure of the experience. Appreciation implies recognition of the elements of the music, why those particular elements were chosen, how they might have been different, etc., as well as the extra enjoyment that comes about as a result of that appreciation. Not that I'm trying to say that's what everybody means by the terms, but that's how I think of them and how I've heard some other people talk about them.