Broken Windows Listening – The Reductive & Destructive Choice of Surface Over Substance | MUSIC is not a GENRE - Season 3 Episode #27

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Music is layered vertically & horizontally. You’ve got the vertical stack of ensemble music – orchestra, band, choir. Then there’s the horizontal layout of composition – chords, melodies, verse/chorus, theme/variation. Which means even an a cappella voice is layered. In each case, you’re dealing with multiple parts that shape the whole. At times one part is dominant, but rarely for an entire composition. For a musical work to make a positive impression, all these parts need to work well together.

That doesn’t mean every part does the same work, serves the same function, or is even the same quality. Let’s establish that perfection doesn’t exist. Musicians & singers can do so well that they create the illusion of perfection. Then someone else comes along, does the same thing in a different way & executes it equally well. Neither one is better nor more perfect. They each succeed & each make a different impression.

The same is true for parts not as close to perfect. We’ve all loved music that has less than stellar lyrics, passable rhythm, quirky singing or soloing that doesn’t follow strict technique, or just plain sloppy playing. Does this make the music not good? No. The end result is a work that makes a positive impression & contributes something valuable to the musical conversation. “Louie Louie” is no less worthy than “Moonlight Sonata” or “Blue Monk”.

So why is it that some of us judge a work based on surface elements like chops or sound or precision? Why do we often dismiss works that have one or more imperfect elements when perfection doesn’t exist? To what standard are we holding these works? Answers to most of those questions are personal – based on taste, emotion, experience, upbringing. But that last question – what standard – I believe there’s one answer to that: the wrong one. When we judge a work to be inferior it’s because we’re using a standard that doesn’t fit, one that may be valid for another work or one’s experience as a listener or creator, but doesn’t apply to most other works in the world. It’s unfair. It’s reductive. And it’s damaging because it not only dismisses the differing experience & origin of that work, it overlooks its depth & its unique & extremely valuable angle of expression.

This is exactly how we judge people & communities too. If what we see or hear doesn’t fit our preconception of what a worthy person or community should be – i.e. only what we ourselves have experienced & valued & expressed, we mark that as inferior, in need of help or pity or worse, discipline & control. Judging based on standards that don’t fit is A. quick & shallow; B. highly subjective & prejudiced; and C. the cause of most division & destruction in the world. That includes racism, homophobia, anti-Semitism – any negative -ism & person-based phobia.

When police spend time “cleaning up” a neighborhood by scrubbing graffiti, arresting vandals, profiling with stop & frisk procedures, and more disproportionately violent responses, they’re ignoring the breadth & substance of a person or community in favor of surface elements like paint, skin color, mode of expression or behavior. Those are only the beginnings of a cycle that often ends in the most heinous & inhuman acts. This defines how our society is structured. We're built on a foundation of judging everyone by one set of standards, disrespecting entire bodies of history, experience, work, contribution, creation, context, expression.

We can change this if we’re willing to be less reductive & reactionary. ...

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