Open your ears to open your mind | Abbie Labus | TEDxYouth@Chatham
The speaker argues against judging musical taste solely by genre, showing that musical preference gravitates toward factors like 'mellow' or 'intense' rather than genre labels. This is demonstrated by studies showing pop music increases running endurance, rap music can aid depression, and classical music aids focus. Ultimately, the core lesson is that open-mindedness—applying this concept to music, reading, or conversation—leads to better cognitive function and deeper human connection.
## Theses & Positions
- Musical taste should not be judged based on genre alone; preference gravitated toward factors like sophisticated, mellow, or intense.
- Variation in music is beneficial, with different genres offering specific, measurable physical and mental benefits.
- Open-mindedness is a transferable skill that benefits intellectual curiosity, imagination, creativity, and empathy far beyond music exposure.
- The first step toward open-mindedness is recognizing and challenging one's own hidden biases and judgmental lenses.
## Concepts & Definitions
- **Open-mindedness:** The capacity to see possibility in the mundane, leading to better performance on Divergent thinking tasks.
- **Divergent thinking tasks:** Creativity tests that require generating multiple uses for an object (e.g., using a brick as a paperweight, step, or sofa replacement).
- **Bias:** Pre-existing judgmental views about music or people that prevent discovery.
## Mechanisms & Processes
- **Studying musical preference:** Using short, genre-mixed, slightly modified song clips, participants were asked to rank songs blindly on a scale of one to ten.
- **Music's physiological benefits:**
- Pop music: Can increase endurance and performance when exercising, allowing people to run further distances.
- Rap music: Contains positive messages of hard work and self-improvement helpful for those struggling with depression.
- Classical music: Helps with focus and productivity when listened to in the background.
- Jazz music (mellow tempo): Can lower heart rate and blood pressure more effectively than silence.
- **Spotify/Streaming platforms limitation:** These platforms tend to reinforce existing preferences by feeding users the same music they always listen to.
- **Developing open-mindedness:** Starting by actively listening to challenging influences, such as one's own parents' music, leading to new shared ground.
## Examples & Cases
- **Personal Musical History:** Speaker started by only listening to Katy Perry and Kidz Bop on a pink Hello Kitty CD player, refusing anything pre-2000s or non-pop.
- **Musical Contrast:** Acknowledging a personal bias against country music while admitting the capacity to "sing my heart out anytime before he cheats by Carrie Underwood."
- **Divergent Thinking Example (Brick):**
- Closed-minded response: Build a house or walls.
- Open-minded response: Paperweight, step, or replacing a broken sofa leg.
- **Applying open-mindedness beyond music:** Picking up a book lent by a friend, or trying a universally popular show.
## Numbers & Data
- Music ranking scale: **one to ten**.
## Tools, Tech & Products
- Pink Hello Kitty CD player.
- Spotify and other streaming platforms.
## Trade-offs & Alternatives
- **Listening to curated genres vs. varied genres:** Limiting oneself to comfortable genres means missing out on amazing benefits offered by other genres.
- **Algorithmic curation vs. active seeking:** Algorithmic platforms provide comfort (known music) but require the user to actively seek new music for growth.
## Counterarguments & Caveats
- The speaker acknowledges that the journey toward open-mindedness can vary; for some, it might not involve music at all.
- It can feel difficult or daunting to start becoming open-minded.
## Methodology
- **Musical Taste Study:** Tested by taking short clips of various songs from all genres, making them sound similar to well-known tracks, and having participants rank them blindly.
- **Cognitive Assessment:** Using the Divergent thinking task (brick utilization) to contrast closed-minded vs. open-minded approaches.
## Implications & Consequences
- Continued musical rigidity restricts discovery; being open-minded allows one to see possibility in the mundane.
- Shared experiences (like listening to parents' music) can lead to developing shared common ground and connection.
## Verbatim Moments
- *"I refuse to listen to anything that was either released before the 2000s or wasn't pop music."*
- *"Genre alone... we can't judge our taste in music based on genre alone."*
- *"I will without fail sing my heart out anytime before he cheats by Carrie Underwood."*
- *"Pop music can increase endurance and performance when exercising."*
- *"Classical music can help with focus and productivity."*
- *"The first step in reality would be to realize how judgmental we are and how many biases we hold without even realizing it."*
- *"I'm saying you should try to open your eyes to the possibility that there are things out there in the world for you to discover."*