Just think: nobody can get to the bottom of music. Nobody knows more than the tiniest fraction of what there is to know. It can’t be done.
If no human can possibly manage it, you don’t have to feel you ought to. You’re excused—free to enjoy whatever strays into your life, in whatever random order you come across it. You will run out of time when you’ve barely begun. Relax. It’s like that for everyone.
Don’t let snobs and hipsters tell you you’re uncool; in the time-lapse exposure of history, coolness forms and evaporates like dew. Don’t disparage yourself as provincial, foreign, or peripheral; there is no such place as the “center of things.” Be aware that all sorts of forces are at work to determine what a person of your class or gender or age or ethnicity will “naturally” prefer. Breaking out of those boxes is not easy, and you may find it more convenient to stay in them—but please be mindful that the choice is yours.
There is no canon, no “Best 100 Albums Ever Made.” You needn’t own a single jazz record if you’d rather hear Renaissance lutes. Sure, people may think you’re weird if you’ve never bothered with The Beatles or Beethoven or Marvin Gaye, but those artists get plenty of love from their fans, and you can give love to something else instead.
The important thing, as with all love, is that your feelings are sincere. Never pretend to love what you don’t really love, and never allow anyone to induce you to ignore, belittle, or mock what you’re truly fond of. Let your love be sound.
Thanks for listening.
Michel Fabor
Faber, Michel. Listen: On Music, Sound and Us. Hanover Square Press, 2023.
Available to explore or purchase here: Listen: On Music, Sound and Us (book details at Barnes & Noble)
