More and more, I see evidence of a backlash against convenience-based, half-heard, digitally compressed music, and if there's a movement forming on behalf of careful listening, I want in. Here's a sharp column from the U.K. Telegraph by Ivan Hewitt who writes:
When they're heard against a backdrop of silence, sounds and music take on a special glow. When they're mingled with the world's noise and bustle, they shrink down to just another annoying distraction, that has to be filtered out if we want to hang to our sanity. Much of the music we hear in stores or on TV is mind-manipulation, put there to make us feel the right emotion or buy something.
He points to a new project by the Royal Philharmonic Society called "Hear HERE" (That's SO British) that aims to raise consciousness about the rewards of attentive, active listening. The content doesn't go live until January, but you can take their survey, which at least is enough to get you thinking about how you listen and what you listen to.
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