That Music Is So Noisy!

Being a musician and a proud metalhead (A person who enjoys listening to metal music) the argument that metal music is 'just noise' comes up time and again.

In recent years however, it's become very rare. Musical preference is amazingly subjective and when I realized that, I noticed that I inadvertently made my activity of listening to music a highly personal activity and consequently less subject to criticism.

But there is still the occasional person who will make a wild comment like : "You can't understand what they're saying", "It doesn't make sense", "It's too loud", "It's not musical".

So, I sat down one day, not initially to try to make an argument to retaliate but rather, to ponder upon the reasons why I grew to like such an amazing genre and why certain people don't enjoy it the same way I do.

Essentially, I reached these points. It is amazing really, when you discover how the human mind perceives music.

Let's start addressing the generic arguments made:

Statement 1: It's not even music, just noise.

By all means, metal music is validly described as 'music'. Why? Well..

Taken from the Oxford Dictionary:music (ˈmjuːzɪk)
noun
Vocal or instrumental sounds (or both) combined in such a way as to produce beauty of form, harmony, and expression of emotion.

Most people fail to realize that such statements actually mean "This type of music does not conform to my personal idea of music".
And that's perfectly understandable. People who aren't too heavily invested into music of any particular type are usually found to be listening to pop (popular) music or 'chart-topping hits'. This music is generally quite simple and minimalist. Music that is easy to follow is easily enjoyable when heard even for the first time and almost always guarantees financial success. They form an opinion of such music being the standard since this type of music receives more exposure on all forms of media.

What's a little unnerving is that anything that is stylistically different and doesn't conform to this type of music is automatically branded as 'not musical'. Even alternate vocals like screaming are tackled with this argument with statements like "They can't sing" (The reason for such vocals is explored in further statements).

On analysis we find that metal music is more 'musical' and relies widely on technical proficiency and the artistic expression of the musician. Subgenres such as Progressive Metal, Technical Metal, Djent etc are some of the most complex and technical forms of music in the contemporary world.

Statement 2: There's no melody to it.

There are two different retorts to this statement.

Firstly, a lot of metal subgenres have amazing amount of melody in them. NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal) and Melodic Death Metal are two good examples where we observe this among literally thousand others that fall into the generic idea of 'melody'.

For other subgenres? Well, untrained ears have a difficult times perceiving the melody because of how it is incorporated. It's different from the aforementioned generic idea of 'melody'.

Secondly, melody is not a requisite for music. A lot of music doesn't possess melody but is still enjoyable. Music that is almost entirely percussive is one example as is with a lot of Indian classical music.

Statement 3: It's too loud.

Yes, metal music is loud.

There isn't anything wrong with loud music. On the contrary, scientific studies show that you actually hear things differently at different volumes due to a number of factors. Most important among these is your brain's sensitivity to midrange frequencies - this is where you'll hear snare drums, human voices, etc. At lower volumes, you're not picking up on the richness of the full sound. 

Because your ears are less sensitive to low and high-frequency sounds, you have to turn up to a certain level before the sound "flattens out" and you can hear them as well as you hear the mid-range sounds.

So loud music is actually more attractive to human beings. And why would that be a bad thing?

This statement is supposedly made by people who physically cannot bear loud music. This includes people from any age group but does mostly consist of people over the age of 30.

The quality of a 'musical ear' plays a huge part here too. A general correlation is that heavy metal listeners have a more evolved perception of music as compared to casual listeners of mainstream music. They can pick out details which aren't obvious to casual listeners even at higher volumes. 

One final point is that  casual music listeners tend to use generic speakers/headphones while listening to music. Metal music possesses a dense orchestration which is not done justice to by the low quality easy-selling selection of listening devices available in the market today. 

Statement 4: It's angry and incites hatred.

Many people tackle the fact that music feels aggressive and heavy sounding. This argument is extensive to retort and is beautifully covered in the following link:


http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2013/07/26/why-aggressive-metal-can-be-healthy-music-therapy/

This link demonstrates how aggression in this controlled format has a positive effect on the listeners.

The assumption that metal music incites hatred is a claim that is pulled out without any actual observation of metalheads. Metalheads are amongst the calmest people there are. This is a fact best observed in person. Take the chance to socialize with metal listeners and observe it for yourself.

Statement 5: I can't understand the words/They are just screaming.

Let's try an experiment:

List your top 5 songs on a sheet of paper.

Then one by one,begin to recite the lyrics while simultaneously writing them down. Once done, compare your notes to an official source of the lyrics of the same songs. You might just be surprised at how wrong you are.

What you will come to realize is that most people aren't aware of the lyrical content in most of their 'favorite' pieces of music. They may know the chorus and a few verses but even the accuracy of that is largely debatable.

Further, if you cannot understand particular vocals then it has more to do with factors like accent and vocal range. One usually listens to guttural vocals with a lyric sheet.

Yes, 'screaming' is important to metal music but it is incredibly ignorant to say that the music is bad because of this. Vocals such as these are used to put across different emotions as compared to traditional singing. They are not trying to emulate traditional singing and they shouldn't be judged as such. Free musical expression is what it at play here.

Screaming, growls and guttural vocals is usually mixed in with melodic singing on most metal but in those subgenres where there is next to no melodic singing, the vocals are used as an instrument adding a dynamic to the other instruments that are the highlight of the song.

Statement 6: I don't like such types of music

Well, while this isn't exactly a generic criticism of metal . I wanted to talk about what part that opinion plays within this context as we have already seen tin some of the last few retorts.

Musical taste is amazingly subjective. It depends on your cultural background, the music you were exposed to growing up, your philosophies, the music you are exposed to on a daily basis, your musical ear and even heredity.

You don't like metal?

Okay.


Metalheads understand that the level of musical complexity is not for everyone and so isn't the inherent loudness.

What people fail to realize a midst all the claims about metalheads is that metalheads are some of the most open-minded individuals around. They do realize that people have different tastes and also understand that it took a long time for themselves to appreciate the art and it doesn't just happen to someone in a moment.

But as with everything, metal music should be open to criticism and questioning since it is not mainstream. This way more people will learn about the beauty of this amazing genre.


These are just some of the most popular arguments against metal. What do you think about metal and it's general perception? Let me know in the comments.


Signing Off,

Shawn Kenneth Fernandes.

Personal Update 1

A lot has changed since I last sat down to write. I'm about to start my 4th semester at Goa College of Engineering. That's the second half of my second year here. At the time of writing this, I'm about to answer my last semester paper of the 3rd semester.

What's now turned out to become normal for me is that I just try to get by. No more spending upwards of 8 hours a day studying to get as much as I could like I did in my early years. I once had Math/Science averages of 96% and now I seem to be just doing the minimum requirements, sometimes even less.

Seemed to have gone down a wrong path........right?

That's debatable.

During my early years I always felt this sense of impending doom when exams would approach. Maybe a bit dramatic by my current standards but accurate nevertheless. Also, I would have sleepless nights aplenty along with recurring non-clinical depression.

Now? All that has disappeared.

What's changed in the past year in college is not just my approach towards studying but almost everything else that I do.

I slowly started evaluating all that I did and why I did it. In the process I realized that I was doing a lot of stuff without realizing even the reason for having started it. Doing a lot of stuff because someone once told me that "It's good to be a person who does Y or is a person who is Z.

My so called "revelations" tend to be a long time in the making as I have repeatedly discovered. This isn't a thought or philosophy that suddenly occurred to me one day but rather developed over the course of more than two years.Why was I trying to be good at something even though I didn't quite enjoy doing it? Or didn't enjoy it at all at times?

I thought back and tried to remember whether someone forced me. Nope, even my mother despite being a teacher always encouraged me to do whatever I was happy doing.

And after years of doing it, you tend to forget why you started doing it or why you held it up with such importance.

I tend to question everything these days. Even as seemingly normal events unfold before me, I question everything about it, psychology, philosophy, subjectivity and it's implications.

And I've also found that I am able to focus my thoughts even clearly than before. Making a difference instead of mindlessly working towards inhumane goals. I've found to slowly discover and sometimes even rediscover what I enjoy and am able to plan out my future even better, Whether that future contains me being an engineer is still to be seen.

Until next time,

Signing Off,

Shawn Kenneth Fernandes.

Carnivores

I used to be a hardcore Linkin Park fan when I was younger. Although I've largely grown out of the sound and gone much heavier and complex since then, I still find myself listening to every new album that's released simply because I owe the band my introduction to heavy music. And they still amaze me to a certain extent.

At the time of writing this article, it's been hardly a week since the album "The Hunting Party" was released. Linkin Park had a lot to live up to with it and not only did they nail it but they have also restored a lot of hope to the fans who didn't like the direction they were taking with the previous three albums.

While I could go on and on about the music, there's something a little more interesting about the album I want to highlight and that's the title: "The Hunting Party". This title has not only a unique origin as explained by Mike Sinoda but it reminded me of a long lost thought I once had about the new generation. And with the help of his words, let me explain it to you.

Elders all over the world are concerned that the new generation of kids are becoming 'herbivores' of a sort.

The new generation of kids is found to be really passive in the way they approach life. Instead of going out there and getting a job, applying human effort and working towards improving their lives, they'd prefer to sit back and let things happen to them and wait for opportunities to come to them.

Of course, many will argue that kids these days work harder than almost any preceding generation. What, with all the stress of school, extracurriculars and social pressure? Of course! The problem lies not in the magnitude of the work they do but rather how they mentally approach it.

Instead of going out and actively improving their skills to help their situation, they'd rather sit back and concisely channel all their energy and study for a degree or lesser equivalents. Something to lean back on, insurance that guarantees that you get a job. It's tried and tested and known to work. It's the 'safe' way out.

For them there's no room for hypothetical futures.

But sadly there's also no sense of adventure and experimentation.

And therein lies the problem. In the race to plan everything, map out their life and following a pre-defined path, are they possibly, forgetting to live? In the race to get what they need, are they forgetting what they want?

And what exactly is the point of planning such a life if you're not going to be able to enjoy it as some point?

I shudder to think about what would happen to the world if everyone was to turn into an 'herbivore'.

I'm now going to quote Mike Shinoda (Of Linkin Park)and how he applied this concept to the music:

"Mainstream Rock music is getting increasingly 'herbivorous' these days. These young bands prefer to stick to the calm, jingly and catchy music which is know to sell well. Barely anyone experiments any more. I was looking for the type of music that moves me and strangely, I couldn't find anything out there. Instead, I found myself listening to bands from the 90's. There was something visceral, sincere and noticeably aggressive in that music despite sometimes, actually being quite light. 

So, I decided that our new work was going to be an attempt to get back that feeling. Make rock music dangerous again. We wanted to make mainstream music more 'carnivorous'. That's why we named the album "The Hunting Party" putting ourselves into the role of the proverbial 'huntsmen'.

What is your stance on this? Do you feel that the new generation is really becoming passive or do you think that experimentation, uncertainty and aggression is detrimental to progress?

Get inspired.
Signing Off,
Shawn Kenneth Fernandes

Artwork from "The Hunting Party"

Through Fallacious Eyes

Hello readers!

This is not a new article for The Evanescent Dream,
but an intro/gateway/teaser for my new blog! It's called "Through Fallacious Eyes".

It's important to have a strong open minded approach to the everything. The world is full of amazing people who write amazing things, create amazing art and the like. The problem is they remain relatively unknown by the masses.

 Why?

Simply because their work is unconventional and unfamiliar to the point that it alienates the general audience. They feel out of place.

Human beings at the innermost level don't like change. So they avoid what they don't understand in fear that what they already know and love might change.

This would all be well and good if what they were missing out on wasn't amazing.

Hence the need to develop an 'open and analytic mindset'. A mindset that will not only give you a chance to understand the unexplored depths of the world but also help improve your daily interactions and life in general.

This does to a degree fit into the blog description of the current blog but the topic is so vast that it deserves its own series. Hence my decision to start a secondary blog to supplement this one.

I also decided to use WordPress for this new blog just to bring in some variety.

You can enter the blog by clicking the following link:

Through Fallacious Eyes

Thank you, loyal readers for all the lovely words and enthusiasm. Looking forward to writing for a long time!

Signing Off,
Shawn Kenneth Fernandes

Solitary Shell

Everyone knows what introverts and extroverts are. And if you're in your late teens then chances are that you definitely know which kind you are, yourself.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with having either type of temperament. It's natural and no different from features like hair color and height.

The problem is society. Kids these days are forced into adult-like situations way earlier than kids say, 20 years back. They have to travel, make transactions, interact with adults, etc. And this trend just exponentially grows as years go by. In such a world, having people you can trust in all parts of your life is really useful. And introverts refrain from making too many friends. 

Hence, trying to develop your so called 'people skills' will help greatly. Also, to combat stress, introverts also need to learn how to unwind.

Personally, I'm inclined to tell people never to change such things about themselves. You can't really turn into an extrovert if you aren't one. But for those who do want to try to 'get out there' more often, here are a few things you can do to adopt a more extroverted mindset and lifestyle.


Start recognizing your individuality-  Constantly checking your identity against a generally perceived 'standard' is not the way you should approach building yourself. It isn't you. You are more nuanced than the cliche you try to fit yourself into, more complex than the show that 'should' be taking place.



Avoid allowing yourself to be comfortable all the time
You will always rationalize reasons to procrastinate which provide incredibly short-term gratification at best but if you want to make a drastic change you'll find your procrastination tendencies replaced with incredible problem-solving powers.

Avoid agreeing to do things you don't think you'll be able to. 
It doesn't help anyone. People notice when you don’t follow through. Saying no is just cleaner and better for everyone. 

Stop being lazy by being constantly “busy."

Realize that every time you give in to your ‘busyness,’ it’s you who’s making the decision, not the demands of your work.  You will be surprised at how much time you find for an activity if you really want to do it.

Drop the stingy act. If you really care about something, spend your money on it. There is often a notion that you are saving for something.  Of course you can set aside a sizable amount for emergencies but if you're saving up for something specific then either clarify what that thing is or start spending your money on things that are important to you. Spend money on healthy food. Spend money on opportunities. Spend money on things you’ll keep.

Signing Off,

Shawn Kenneth Fernandes.

The Light at The End of The Tunnel Pt.2

This is Part 2 of the article that deals with those depressing points in our lives. These lines are derived from the invaluable advice that I've gotten from some amazing people through the years.

Life is temporary. 

And so is everything we encounter along the way.

Every time it rains, it stops raining. Every time you get hurt, you heal. Darkness is always followed by light! You get reminded of this every morning, but still you  forget and instead choose to believe that the night lasts forever. It won’t. Nothing lasts forever.

So if things are good right now, enjoy it. It won’t last forever.  

If things are bad, don’t worry because it won’t last forever either!

Other peoples' negativity is not your problem.

Be positive when negativity surrounds you. Smile when others try to bring you down. It’s an easy way to maintain your enthusiasm and focus. When other people treat you poorly, keep being you. Don’t ever let someone else’s bitterness change the person you are. You should not take things too personally, even if it seems personal. Rarely do people do things because of you. They do things because of them. 

Above all, don’t ever change just to impress someone who says you’re not good enough. Change because it makes you a better person and leads you to a brighter future.  People are going to talk regardless of what you do or how well you do it.  So worry about yourself before you worry about what others think. If you believe strongly in something, don’t be afraid to fight for it. Great strength comes from overcoming what others think is impossible.

I've unfortunately met many of these elitists. They always assume that their way of doing things is the epitome of perfection. Moreover, they also assume that there is nothing more to a person other than what is apparent to them at face value. But the most annoying part is that they don't acknowledge the value of any skills other than those which they themselves posses. 

Well, dealing with such individuals is a part of life too. And the earlier you get a taste of it, the better you'll be able to handle them effectively.

That's all for this topic. Hope you all enjoyed this experimental format! Let me know how it resonates with you in the comments.

Signing Off,

Shawn Kenneth Fernandes.

The Light at The End of The Tunnel Pt.1

You might feel like this sometimes.
Falling helplessly, past your life.

We all reach that point in life where everything around us seems to be crumbling.

All that could possibly go wrong, goes wrong.
Your life stops making sense. All your decisions seem like bad ones.

And to worsen it all, it seems like you'll never escape it. You feel like your future is uncertain and you shudder at the thought of that!

Sound familiar? I'm guessing that if you've got this far into my blog, that you must've experienced something like this at least once. It's human nature and it's simply because human beings are never happy with what they have.

It all starts with one small incident and then it turns into days of self-pity and doubt. In many ways, it's like an avalanche. One small disturbance is enough to initiate it. It progressively grows until it's huge and starts affecting everything in it's path.

But do you know what happens after a while, to that big galloping sheet of snow? Quite simply, when it's at it's biggest and most destructive point, it simply slows down right to a halt. And it becomes a passive part of the mountain again. And any onlooker would be oblivious to the fact that an avalanche just took place, simply because everything looks normal.

And that's exactly what'll happen to our problems. They disappear entirely And I'm sure I don't have to convince you of that. But what I do have to do is remind you about it.. Because, no matter how experienced we might be, we'll still feel that pain. And we still feel the uncertainty.

The Night is always at it's darkest just 
before Dawn. Rest assured that your life 
works the same way!

Such pain forces us to change. And that’s a good thing because we often won’t move unless circumstances force us to. Move on from what hurt you, but never forget what it taught you. Just because you’re struggling doesn’t mean you’re failing.  

Remember that there are two kinds of pain: pain that hurts and pain that changes you.  When you roll with life, instead of resisting it, both kinds help you grow.




Don’t be afraid to get back up to try again, to love again, to live again, and to dream again.  

To be continued in "The Light at The End of The Tunnel Pt.2"


Signing Off,
Shawn Kenneth Fernandes

Don't Wimp Out!

Confidence is a topic which has been done till death. Almost everyone must've come across some kind of formulaic article which teaches you how to raise your self confidence and the like.

The truth of the matter is that a high level of confidence is not something that can be instilled into a person just by reading a few lines. 

It has to be drilled through actions and practice. It's not a fad, it's a lifestyle.

It all starts with correcting the simple bad habits you've accumulated over your lifetime. I readied a lot of stuff which I wanted to say here, but then I came across a mesmerizing article which not only had most of what I wanted to say, but then some. 

So, courtesy that article (Credits at the end), here are some things which you need to do get into the confident lifestyle;

Confront life’s issues at the root before the disease can spread any farther. Problems left unaddressed have a way of multiplying as the days, weeks and months go by. Have an uncomfortable conversation with your partner today instead of sweeping an inconvenient truth under the rug, putting trust at risk.

Take ownership of your thoughts and actions. Don’t blame the traffic for being tardy at work; Accept that you were late. Don’t excuse your short-comings with excuses like “I don’t have the time” or “I’m just not good enough”; Make the time and they keep on improving until you are good enough.

Don’t let fear dominate your lives. Things you are afraid of doing are often the very same things that you need to do in order to evolve into the person you are meant to be.

Don’t get caught up in negative feedback. While you should care about the well-being of others and aim to make a positive impact in the world,  don’t get caught up in negative opinions that you can’t do anything about. Know that you true friends will accept you as you are.

Keep no tolerance for unnecessary, self-inflicted drama. Don’t feel the need to insult friends behind their backs, participate in gossip about fellow co-workers or lash out at folks with different opinions. Be comfortable in who you are that you feel no need to look down on other people.

Know that you should not be competing with any other person. Compete with no other individual except the person you were yesterday. Every person is living a story so unique that drawing comparisons would be an absurd and simplistic exercise in futility.

Keep no interest in pleasing every person they meet. Not all people get along, and that’s just how life works. Focus on the quality of their relationships, instead of the quantity of them.

Make use of whatever resources you have, no matter how big or small. All things are possible with creativity and a refusal to quit. Don’t agonize over setbacks, but rather focus on finding a solution.

Highly confident people take action without

hesitation. Every day, they remind themselves,

“If not me, who?”

Don’t limit yourself to Plan A. Make use of any and all weapons that are at your disposal, relentlessly testing the effectiveness of every approach, until you identify the strategies that offer the most results for the least cost in time and effort.

And for a good end to this article:

Don’t accept articles on the Internet as truth just because some author “said so”. Look at every how-to article from the lens of their unique perspective. 

Maintain a healthy skepticism, making use of any material that is relevant to your life, and forget about the rest. While articles like these are a fun and an interesting thought-exercise, highly confident people know that they are the only person with the power to decide what “confidence” means.

Signing Off,
Shawn Kenneth Fernandes

P.S: Inspiration and credits to "15 Things Highly Confident People Don't Do.", Lifehacker.org.