Sensitivity

It does seems to me that people who are into serious classical music are more sensitive to their surroundings as compared to people who don't practise the arts at all. For some reason unknown to me, it is those people who practise the arts which are able to detect the first signs of emotional instability in another person. Also, while a musician indulges in the simple and harmonious sounds of nature and cringe at the repulsive, yet almost inaudible noise produced by machinery at a distance away, most people who aren't into music aren't affected emotionally in such a drastic way by such subtle sounds they hear.

It's amazing when I start thinking about how vulnerable I am to the surroundings. It truly makes me feel more human in this modernised society where people just overwhelm themselves with work which numbs the humanistic part of them. It's a truly spiritual experience when I can sit back and indulge in the simple and poetic sounds of nature everytime when people around are procrastinating about their day at work.

On the other hand, I have friends who are so into music at the other end of the spectrum, like trance, which I would classify it as a part of the minimalist movement. Such music (if you would want to call them music in the first place) functions in a totally different way. I haven't gotten down to expose myself to trance music for hours but from their experiences, they said that overlistening just numbs thems and when people ask them what have they been listening to, they couldn't quite answer. It seems to tell me that such music desensitises people instead of heightening their senses like what traditional classical music do. A little of it would help one appreciate the subtleties of sound, but excessive exposure merely desensitises the person I guess.