Music endures... It's implanted in your memory, the notes, the movements, the lyrics. Listening to complete albums, favorite albums, now and again in time adds perspective to life.
In the course of a lifetime it is not unusual for individuals to have a broad and vast collection of expectations for this or that song or piece of music. And, the inculcation is so near permanent that even the slightest unexpected change in the rhythm or timbre of a piece can be so glaring that it can change the entire feel of a place or situation. When the music plays correctly everything is normal. When the disc skips or the virtuoso hiccups the disruption of the scene is astounding.
The repetition of songs lead to their near memory permanence. Preferences are drawn from any number of experiences prior to hearing a new tune, but once that new tune is accepted, the subsequent repetition "stacks" atop previous experience with the song, driving the memory deeper and deeper into one's consciousness.
Of course, this is all so much blanket assertion. I am not a neurologist. I don't study memory retention for a living. But, I find this to be an intuitive description of how we remember our favorite songs so well, and I believe that our ability to do so opens the door to capabilities of processing all sorts of information.
Being familiar with a subject or skill is all that is required to join a discussion or collaboration.
People apply their particular brand of music to their brain throughout the course of their lives purely through repeatedly stamping a tune into a particular portion of their neural pathways, enhancing their ability to recognize or identify; adding reference points and scenery along the way.
Parents have spend lifetimes characterizing songs for their children, which turn into musings and give rise to thoughts, ideas, perspectives, and more music. The teaching of music is not a new thing. Some of the original songs in our history were simply people telling stories set to music. In fact, audiobooks seem to be as ancient as music itself.
Today, whoever writes a book has to spend a great deal of time researching the subject of that book. It is (for example) "10 hours listening time," but those ten hours represent years of someone's life spent becoming familiar with their choice of subject matter.
I've always laid down well before I fell asleep. For a long time I tuned in to my local radio station at night to unwind. Now I listen to "books on tape," which was always appealing to me, but in the past was both bulky and expensive.
The libraries in my area allow me to download audiobooks for free at home, whenever. So, I've listened to about 30 books a year for the last 4 years or so. At my previous pace it would have taken my lifetime to read that many books, which is ridiculous to say considering I probably never would have gotten around to starting, much less finishing. (hence the Slacker)
But I am familiar with the subjects now. And that's the whole point. Only life gives you a test when you learn something from a book on your own. Knowledge doesn't require you to be an expert in everything you do, it simply requires that you be familiar with the world and it's terribly important parts.
It's ok if you don't want to know every little detail. It's ok if you prefer broad generalization. As long as you're familiar with the world (or as long as you know you can become more familiar should you so choose).
It is my opinion that what's already happened matters less than what we can do today, and that what we do now for the future matters most of all. The relatively young should do more familiarizing themselves with the world. Many in the older generations have given up their voice to others, and those voices have largely been consolidated.
So the vision I am working toward with some of my effort for the future is to start a group willing to purchase studio time, or even just an mp3 recorder, and start reading books not currently (or readily) available into audio; in effect creating a community audiobook program.
I have completed 3 books using a Sony mp3 recorder in my makeshift studio, complete with doors slamming and my daughter running around being a two-year-old. Over time though, I expect I can improve both the pace of my work and the quality of the sound and delivery.
Like so many Polymath Enterprises, it's not much, but it is something one person can do.
Thanks for reading.
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