(The following is dedicated to the glory of music and the greater glory of God, whose gift it is.)

I was once accused of “being negative” for downplaying goodies of pop culture. My defense, then and now, remains: how else to consider items of culture that drop beauty, truth, and reality from their foundation, giving even love a cheap spin? My once joking prediction that one day it might be a crime to “be negative,” punishable in a court of law, is evidently occurring in places like Canada.

It isn’t just old-timers at risk of prosecution for “cultural negativity,” for a link has never been found between age and aversion to cheapness.

Those repelled by sleaze in whatever package will always be among the living, facing slurs like “snob, elitist, aristocrat” – to mention a few polite ones. But love of quality, particularly as it attaches to truth, beauty, and its relation to reality, keeps the faithful unfazed by smear. They may be silent, but such hardy people live in every neighborhood: individuals who don’t fit in with the crowd and choose to stay off the beaten path, not because there is something wrong with them but because they see something wrong with where the crowd is heading, and will not follow.

So I continue to sound off, with no apology. Since I am a musician, I’ll draw my arguments from that relation. As I’ve said before, preference for types of music is strongly influenced by the music one hears in childhood. When youngsters become aware that there is “other stuff out there,” those curious enough to hear what is different from what they know are apt to explore the  wider musical landscape open to them. With ears and mind alert, as in earliest childhood, receptive children often find music to add to their listening treasures.

They who, for whatever reason, fail to tune into what is different are apt to lock themselves out of the greater world of music and out of a wider base of recreation open to them. Although such parochialism in musical preference may bond family and group, it tends to limit one’s appreciation of music.

The fear of being unlike others keeps many stuck in a status quo that is, quite frankly, foolish. It is a problem, I might add, that dates back to ancient the times. It made Socrates (470–399 BC) point out that “the unexamined life is not worth living.”

To shake this attitude down to a bottom line, if music that is “different,” such as classical music, turns someone off after listening to it with a child’s alert ears and mind, then that reaction is more a reflection of attitude than of rejection.

Regarding the persistent old saw that “you can’t argue about taste,” it must here be repeated that that argument keeps crumbling with each change of taste experienced by most people in their lifetime. The notion that taste is exempt from change does not agree with the facts.

In a market geared to the fast-buck, driven by fad culture, there is precious little incentive to explore the vast body of music that continues to be popular, even after centuries, because of its power to thrill anyone, anytime, who has an ear for music and a mind for adventure.

Genuine love of music shows in the dedication of amateur and professional musicians to the performance of music that rises to an elevated standard of quality. That is a standard missed when the opportunity or desire to explore the vast domain of music is absent. This is the case with music frequently heard in supermarkets, waiting rooms, and places where “background music” is played – music so empty of substance as to make me think of near-brain-dead signals. I speak not only for oldtimers and musicians like me who have an ear for quality in music. Here are young musicians, wearing black tux tops, orange pants and sneakers, playing with passion an elaborate and difficult symphony. I think this makes clear what I’ve been saying about the depth and breadth of everyone’s musical heritage.

In addition to my citation for negativity is the criticism that perhaps I am overly concise and to the point. It’s a charge I accept and makes me offer the following conclusion in sound bites: The precious vessel of beauty, truth, and reality has been shattered by culture barbarians. God has been pulled out of his Creation. Life has shifted from legato, with memory between waves, to staccato with noise between bursts of movement. And the things of the senses, the mind, the heart, once whole, have been shredded and made ready for disposal into the dustbin of history.

Anthony J. DeBlasi has been a piano and organ accompanist and has played double bass in symphonic orchestras.

Image: Picryl, via Gary Stockbridge // public domain