Music and Me: My desire to listen to music, and my ability to tolerate music played by others in public settings, has always varied over life. I attribute this to the head injuries (multiple concussions with periods of unconsciousness) I had as a child as the general cause, and later life stress levels as the specific triggers. Sometimes having to tolerate music is an actual agony. Sometimes I choose to listen to music and enjoy it greatly. I did not listen to music much while getting my Ph.D.
One interesting thing: the music played by Enya, and only Enya, makes me very very angry. Not the words of the lyrics. My reaction to it develops this way: at first, it is pleasant, as the fairies gather (the fairies being my mental image which the music brings forth). Then, it increases in seriousness as the fairies decide to go to war and my mood changes. Then my anger starts as they march to war. Then my rage begins and builds as the fairies kill everything that moves. If I continued to listen, then I too would want to kill everything that moves! This reaction has happened every time I had to listen to it.
Oddly enough, I have met one other person who had this exact reaction to Enya: a nephew of the Dalai Lama, who at the time lived in the same town as I did. He worked in a music store, and would not play Enya in the store because it made him so angry. WTF.
I once witnessed the reaction of a friend’s 3 year old daughter to a live classical violin performance – the first time the girl had ever heard a live violin. The girl was rigid with ecstasy (spellbound) for the entire performance, and immediately after begged her mom to give her a violin. Mom did, as well as weekly lessons with Joshua Bell’s old teacher. The girl practiced for hours daily for almost 20 years. It was never a chore, and she would play for me every time I visited. She got to be very accomplished and it was her paradise on earth.