What is Music Pollution?

Hi, this is Robert Estrin with virtualsheetmusic.com and livingpianos.com, with a very important show today. What is music pollution? Music pollution, you probably never heard of that. Well, it's a term I've coined for something that is pervasive in society, and I believe it is a real problem that we are gonna address today. And I really want to hear from a lot of you to get perspective, particularly viewers around the world, because I am not sure if every country has this problem the way we do here in the United States.

So what do I mean by music pollution? Well, the way it is here, pretty much everywhere you go, there's music playing. You might think, "I am a musician, that must be great." Well, nothing can be further from the truth for a number of reasons. Obviously, one consideration is that you have no control over the music that's being played in department stores, in office buildings, in parking lots even, they pipe in music. But more importantly, the fact that music is playing constantly everywhere everyone goes makes people learn how to tune out music.

Now I don't have this gift. So for me, whatever is playing in the background, I am focused in laser light. I am analyzing it, every note playing in my head, thinking and reconstructing the score. Now, if it happens to be a great piece of music, that can be a rewarding experience. But even if it were a great piece of music, if I am in a restaurant having a conversation with someone, do I really want to engage in the thought process of the music playing while I am trying to focus on my food and focus on people I am with? Absolutely not. I'd much rather be able to put 100% of my attention.

Listening is an active experience, and we have a whole generation of people growing up learning how to tune out music. And I think it's one of the reasons that at a lot of concerts, people are used to talking during concerts because they don't understand that music is meant to be listened to. Now, certainly there's a place for background music. Maybe you go to a nice candlelit dinner and there's an acoustic guitar playing softly in the background which sets the mood. But this has been taken to an extreme level where, for example, in Christmas shopping, you go almost anywhere, you have the same songs playing pervasively. From the moment you get out of your car in the parking lot, walking every square foot of a mall or a shopping center, music being piped in.

I want to hear from you, is this annoying to you or is it just me? Because I find, as a musician, I can't help but to focus, and I want to choose when and what music I focus on. And I believe this is an example of music pollution that is degrading the whole listening experience for countless generation of people. Thanks so much for joining me. I'd love to hear from you on this topic. Again, Robert Estrin here at livingpianos.com and virtualsheetmusic.com.

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