Thank you for the thoughtful comments wrt music. Particularly that nudge about taste.
What is taste? I'm sitting here munching through a huge salad with some salmon. I like the taste of rucola and beet root - I hate iceberg lettuce. Is that because I read somewhere one that it had zero nutritional value and so I trained myself to like the taste of dark green leafy vegetables? Do we do the same with our children? My Indian Vegan friend whose son won't touch meat or an egg? But chops down a curry mine wont go near. But what about my son - just about the only person I know who doesn't like fruit - and certainly not due to being deprived of tasting and trying opportunities.
Lets jump to music. Does growing up in a household with early and regular exposure to classical music increase the likelihood that would be your taste in music? How about at school? What if your peers dislike it - or profess to dislike it? What about a music teacher who "hates" classical and country music. What are the odds that any kid in the class withou parental influence will acquire a taste for either of those genres?
And should we bother?
What is taste? I'm sitting here munching through a huge salad with some salmon. I like the taste of rucola and beet root - I hate iceberg lettuce. Is that because I read somewhere one that it had zero nutritional value and so I trained myself to like the taste of dark green leafy vegetables? Do we do the same with our children? My Indian Vegan friend whose son won't touch meat or an egg? But chops down a curry mine wont go near. But what about my son - just about the only person I know who doesn't like fruit - and certainly not due to being deprived of tasting and trying opportunities.
Lets jump to music. Does growing up in a household with early and regular exposure to classical music increase the likelihood that would be your taste in music? How about at school? What if your peers dislike it - or profess to dislike it? What about a music teacher who "hates" classical and country music. What are the odds that any kid in the class withou parental influence will acquire a taste for either of those genres?
And should we bother?
1 comment:
Q1: What is taste?
A1: Taste is both what we like and what our family and friends teach us it is appropriate to like. "Taste" is often used as a form of distinction, to both increase group solidarity, or to exclude others.
(see Pierre Bourdieu's "Distinction"
http://www.worldcat.org/title/distinction-a-social-critique-of-the-judgement-of-taste/oclc/10323218
- not an easy or quick read, or see Mary Douglas's "Thought Styles: Critical Essays on Good Taste. In particular the chapters "Bad Taste in Furnishing" and "On Not Being Seen Dead"
http://www.sagepub.com/books/Book205239#tabview=toc
http://www.worldcat.org/title/thought-styles-critical-essays-on-good-taste/oclc/34834274
Q2:Is that because I read somewhere one that it had zero nutritional value and so I trained myself to like the taste of dark green leafy vegetables?
A2: Yes, probably, plus whether your family encouraged you to seek out certain tastes; and also there is probably some sort of physio-neural feedback thing going on where you are getting some sort of pleasure from it (or at least I hope so).
Q3: Do we do the same with our children?
A3. Yes, parents are critical in forming taste, yet children are also indivduals who will develop their own likes and dislikes.
Q4: Does growing up in a household with early and regular exposure to classical music increase the likelihood that would be your taste in music?
A5. Probably
Q6: How about at school?
A6: Probably, but not as much as home environment unless the person has a strong inclination for it. Some people it just takes on "taste" of something for them to really get into it.
Q7: What if your peers dislike it - or profess to dislike it? What about a music teacher who "hates" classical and country music. What are the odds that any kid in the class without parental influence will acquire a taste for either of those genres?
A7: Depends on the person and their family and their peer groups. Some will have it be a point of pride NOT to like what their parents like, and look to their peers. Some will have it as a point of pride to like what they have heard at home and NOT like what their peers at school are into.
Some people's tastes grow and change over time.
There's a recent article in the New Yorker where the author, Zadie Smith, writes about how after disliking Joanie Mitchell for decades, she finally *heard* and liked it.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/12/17/121217fa_fact_smith
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