Not wanting to judge a book by its cover, so to speak, I read the article, but my conclusion remained the same. The premise of the study is that more intelligent people listen either to classical music or indie, whereas less intelligent people listen to things like rap, jazz and pop, to name a few. As someone who grew up in a house where different music was always playing, and still has great significance in my life, I was deeply offended by this suggestion.
It's one thing to argue that certain types of music are more technically complicated than others, but it's something else altogether to make sweeping generalisations about the listening public. I mean, what is intelligence anyway? Is it purely academic, or can it also be common-sense and practicality? and does the study take cultural intelligence into account at all? Given that the results were collected from students with the highest SAT scores at one particular US university, it would seem to be based purely on academic intelligence.
As a masters student, I would probably describe myself as being book-smart to a degree, yet most of the music I listen to is to be found at the "dumb" end of the spectrum. However, there are so many factors that this study excludes, that it makes me wonder how it was even published in the first place. It completely fails to take into account, for example, that a person might be listening to music in a foreign language; thereby learning a great deal. It also fails to mention the breadth of factors which contribute to the building of tastes and preferences, many of which are inspired precisely by a desire to gain knowledge.
Aside from the study's many flaws, it is the principle that someone felt they were in a position to judge the general population according to something so personal and variable, which grates on me the most. Publishing and publicising a piece like this, promotes the idea that it's okay to make assumptions about people and judge them for their choices. Would we not be better off using our investigative powers to discover how music might be helpful for different people in different ways? Surely, being less judgmental and more inclusive is a more positive step to take in any case? Maybe we should all listen to the star of Colombian reggaeton, Reykon, when he says no molestes más...
