The "Listening To New Music Is Hard Work!" Story

 It was an ordinary day.  Asked my wife Carol what the name of the Jimmy Buffett song was that we heard when we visited with our friends Jere and Sue in State College many years ago.  They were driving us to Whipple's Dam to go swimming and had turned on their car radio.  Not sure if it was a song on one of their radio stations or if it was a CD they were playing.  Carol replied "Let's Get Drunk and Screw."  Yep,  that was it!  We were introduced to Jimmy Buffett with that particular song.  And, we loved him!  The following year we went to one of his concerts which was held at Citizen's Bank Park in Philadelphia.  Had what we thought were front row seats...but, he was in center field on a stage with a few hundred fans on folding chairs on the infield and outfield grass and we were in the front row of the stadium seats near 1st base.  Don't get me wrong, we did have great seats, but we were about 200 yards away from Jimmy.  Had no trouble hearing him though.  Today I have quite a few of his CDs and know the lyrics to just about every song he performs, including the one we heard in Jere and Sue's car that day!  At first it was tough to listen to a new performer's music, since by the time you are retirement age such as me, you have a specific taste in music.  For me that was a variety of Rock 'n Roll oldies' performers such as Elvis, The Beach Boys, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Conway Twitty, Ricky Nelson, Duane Eddy, The Everly Brothers, Frankie Avalon, Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons, Jan and Dean, John Denver, Simon and Garfunkel, The Righteous Brothers and Roy Orbison.  So, now I had to add a new performer to my list and learn the songs that Jimmy Buffett has written and performed.  I'm too old to do that!  Seems that the act of listening to new music is hard on the brain, or so I read in a recent story in my bi-monthly Reader's Digest.  At the end of the magazine is a section titled "The Genius Section" which are pages to sharpen your mind.  A story titled "Oldies But Feel-Goodies" began the section.  The story tried to tell me why my brain prefers music from our youth, or in other words, cerebral comfort food.  They told me right off that listening to new music is hard.  Hey, tell me about it I thought!  

Jimmy Buffett

But, Jimmy Buffett wasn't from a different generation, he just sang a different genre of music.  So, I persevered and learned his songs as well as the Rock 'n Roll music I already knew by heart.  Now, the story told me that by the time I am 30, I have all the songs I will ever need in my life.  Why not just be happy with songs from our younger years when life was much simpler?  Hey, I agreed with everything that the author was writing.  He also said that I have a network of nerves in my auditory cortex called the corticofugal network  which helps to catalog the different patterns of music.  When a specific sound maps onto a pattern, our brains release a corresponding amount of dopamine, the main chemical source of some of our most intense emotions.  This is the essential reason why music triggers such powerful emotional reactions.  Then along came Jimmy and presents an entirely new type of music for me.  Now it becomes a job to have to learn a different genre of music.  It's the same as eating comfort food.  Why eat stuff that you never heard of before...unless you may perhaps eventually like it?  The act of listening to new music is hard, but it's necessary.  After all, what is unheard could define what might be at one time a favorite.  And, after learning a new genre of music, I agree.  So, we now have a new musician in Jimmy Buffett that we blame on our friends.  And, I love to sing along with him whenever I can!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.