EclectEcon

Dyske Suematsu says Americans like songs with lyrics, even [especially] rap music, but are far less interested in music that has no words. Suematsu notes that many foreigners, while liking N. American music, do not listen to the words so much and hence have a better appreciation of music for the sake of the music itself. Suematsu also claims that these foreigners have better understanding of and richer appreciation for instrumental music, including jazz.

And here is why [h/t to RonN]:

... American ears are getting lazier and lazier. It wasn’t so long ago that most people knew how to play a musical instrument or two. Now the vast majority of Americans couldn’t tell the difference between a saxophone and a trumpet. Thanks partially to music videos, music is now a form of visual art. The American culture is so visually dominant that a piece of music without visuals cannot command full attention of the audience. For Americans, music is a background element, a mere side dish to be served with the main course. If they are forced to listen to a piece of instrumental music without any visuals, they don’t know what to do with their eyes, much like the way a nervous speaker standing in front of a large audience struggles to figure out what to do with his hands. Eventually something visual that has nothing to do with the music grabs their attention and the music is push[sic] to the background.

... If we were to reverse this trend, we would need to make a conscious effort in promoting the abstract aspect of music. For instance, play more instrumental music in schools or teach how to play an instrument instead of how to sing. We could go as far as to teach kids in school instrumental music only, because their musical exposure outside of school would be dominated by non-instrumental music anyway. It would be a good way to balance things out.

It is certainly the case that children in the schools in this century have far less exposure to instrumental music than my generation did. But as self-anointed chair of the Philistine Liberation Organization, I have to ask whether it really matters.

The sad, simple fact is that even I, someone who knows a little about music, don't much care for tonnes of improvisational jazz, where I sit and listen to talented musicians try to make things up on the fly. I do really like the older jazz of Brubeck (especially with Paul Desmond) and Miles Davis, to name a few, and when I was quite young I enjoyed myself at some jazz performances. But for the most part I prefer baroque muzak instead.

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