Between a Bach and a Hard Place

On a Friday morning in January 2007, a violin virtuoso, Joshua Bell, performed an experiment at a subway station in Washington, D.C.

Bell, a superstar within the classical music world who has recorded more than 35 CDs, was dressed unrecognizably, and had a cup in front of him, the usual street-musician's silent request for donations. He stood in L’Enfant Plaza during morning commuting time, playing Bach’s Chaconne, from Partita No. 2 for Solo Violin in D Minor.

The music, the musician, and the instrument -- a Stradivarius violin -- were all ideal for giving the morning commuters an impromptu gift, and for testing whether a crowd would develop. Would people appreciate that this was something great, or would the usual compulsiveness of rush hour, of a busy day just getting itself underway, block such recognition? Would the hard place of their work life block out the Bach?

I must report the achingly sad results. Adults paid Bell, Bach, and Strad almost no attention. They hurried along, sometimes dropping a dollar into Bell's tin cup, but even doing that only in the usual distracted way.

Is there any good news? Yes: the children. According to a Washington Post reporter who reviewed videotape of Bell’s experiment: “[T]he behavior of one demographic remained absolutely consistent. Every single time a child walked past, he or she tried to stop and watch. And every single time, a parent scooted the kid away.”

Social psychology and music

Rentfrow, P.J., & Gosling, S.D. (2003). The do re mi's of everyday life: The structure and personality correlates of music preferences. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 1236-1256. Also ...

Rentfrow, P.J., & Gosling, S.D. (2006). Message in a Ballad: The role of music preferences in interpersonal perception. Psychological Science, 17, 236-242.

Rentfrow and Gosling divide music thus:

1. Reflective and Complex (blues, jazz, classical, and folk)

2. Intense and Rebellious (rock, alternative, heavy metal)

3. Upbeat and Conventional (country music, Broadway Showtunes, Top 40 formats)

4. Energetic and Rhythmic (rap, soul, electronica....).

According to Rentfrow et ux, people who prefer (1) are likely to be open to experience, intelligent and aware of that, verbally agile, emotionally stable, and politically liberal. Those who prefer (2) are also open to experience intelligent etc., but are more extraverted than the first group, more likely to be athletic and have a "social dominance orientation" -- i.e. they'll want to become the president of whatever outfit they join. Those who prefer (3) are friendly extraverted folks, conscientious, probably not as intelligent as members of the first two groups, and are politically conservative. Finally, the folks who like (4) are extraverted, agreeable, physically attractive and aware of it, and also politically conservative.

You can now have some fun deciding whether any of this describes you and your preferences. Personally, my iPod is split between songs that these professors would probably put in (1) and those they'd put in (3). But utterly lacking in songs they'd put in (2) or (4).

You are free to draw your own conclusions.

Please don't conclude that I refrain from giving credit where it's due, though. I didn't run across this research, I lifted it from a science-oriented blog.

http://scienceblogs.com/mixingmemory/2007/03/what_does_your_music_say_about_1.php