How and Why I’m Listening to Classical Music: A Micro-Essay
I long ago studied great contemporary writers. I remember one (Joan Didion?) commenting that she only listens to classical music, at least when she’s in her creative stages. She said something along the lines that it helps with rhythm and flow in her prose.
At the end of The Master and His Emissary, Iain McGilchrist noted that music is the province of the right hemisphere (the “good guy,” if you’re curious):
Music is, of all the arts, the one that is most dependent on the right hemisphere; of all aspects of music, only rhythm is appreciated as much by the left hemisphere.
McGilchrist then speculated that, because of the left hemisphere’s usurpation of the right hemisphere’s proper role, modern pop culture only appreciates music with a heavy beat (Exhibit A: Rock-n-Roll; Exhibit B: Rap).
One of my main purposes in writing these days is to help people restore the proper role of the right hemisphere, which entails shrinking the left hemisphere. The best way to do that: stop feeding the left hemisphere. Stop entertaining it, stop fostering it, stop doing things it enjoys.
I like really like rhythm (guilty pleasures: “California Love” by 2Pac and “Damn It Feels Good to be a Gangster” by Geto Boys). I decided I needed a lot more classical music in…
