Is it possible...?

[greg]

Is it possible to decide something like "taste"? To decide to condition yourself to like or dislike something? If so, how would you do it?

Sure, taste may change a little, but it's not intentional. Is it possible to make it intentional or are we doomed until death to be the same way no matter what?

[greg]

lol, I take that as a "no".

just curious.........

[karlhenning]

I think it possible to cultivate an openness to having one's tastes expand;  which is not quite what you asked.

Or, you know, I can just be satisfied (and a little self-satisfied) that I am constantly fascinated by one piece, and predispose myself not to like much else.

[greg]

Or, you know, I can just be satisfied (and a little self-satisfied) that I am constantly fascinated by one piece, and predispose myself not to like much else.

Any references there? 

Anyways, I think this is a fascinating question....

[karlhenning]

Any references there? 

Tsshh!

[Diletante]

Is it possible to decide something like "taste"? To decide to condition yourself to like or dislike something?

Oh, if it were, life would be so much easier!

[pjme]

Learning and reading (and listening, exploring...) will give already a lot of insight. That's why we have schools, libraries, musea, concerthalls, friends, examples.
Taste can be refined and that process may, propably will, influence your behaviour & character.
It does take time. 

If you do nothing, you won't change.

[greg]

Learning and reading (and listening, exploring...) will give already a lot of insight. That's why we have schools, libraries, musea, concerthalls, friends, examples.
Taste can be refined and that process may, propably will, influence your behaviour & character.
It does take time. 

If you do nothing, you won't change.

Well, that's the easy part. Imagine you wanted to see if you could unlearn how to like a composer's music (although who would want to do that? lol). Maybe you can't? Maybe once you get familiar with the music enough, you'll either eventually see it from a perspective to where there are things you get to like about the music, or you'll never get anything out of it.

It would be interesting to see an experiment where subjects listen to music that eventually grows on them, and then specific techniques are used to sap the interest out of them over time. But maybe that's not possible. Maybe all taste is genetic?

[ezodisy]

It would be interesting to see an experiment where subjects listen to music that eventually grows on them, and then specific techniques are used to sap the interest out of them over time. But maybe that's not possible.

of course it is, I do it with everything from music to cities to people. Just overindulge and sooner or later you'll have to puke it up (re: markets). Doesn't mean you won't one day go back though, but it'll be distanced for some time

[Joe_Campbell]

It would be interesting to see an experiment where subjects listen to music that eventually grows on them, and then specific techniques are used to sap the interest out of them over time. But maybe that's not possible. Maybe all taste is genetic?

Ever seen Clockwork Orange?

[karlhenning]

Ever seen Clockwork Orange?

The actor who played Alex, to this day, shudders at the thought of eye-drops.

[Joe_Campbell]

The actor who played Alex, to this day, shudders at the thought of eye-drops.

Every time I hear Ode to Joy, I have a strange desire to stick my friends' heads in buckets of water for an extended period of time.

[karlhenning]

Perfectly normal, that, really.

[Kullervo]

It is possible, but not, I think, for a very long time. As a classical music novice I decided that I would only like "modern" music, but eventually I realized that I didn't really like a lot of what I was listening to. Personal taste almost always wins out in the end.

[Joe_Campbell]

It is possible, but not, I think, for a very long time. As a classical music novice I decided that I would only like "modern" music, but eventually I realized that I didn't really like a lot of what I was listening to. Personal taste almost always wins out in the end.

This is interesting. What was your initial aversion to the tried-and-true canonical composers?

[Kullervo]

This is interesting. What was your initial aversion to the tried-and-true canonical composers?

Only that I thought I didn't like them — in other words, elitism.

Thankfully I've come full-circle and can now enjoy contemporary music musically rather than as a signifier of being "cultured".

[Dundonnell]

I TRY to like the music of particular composers.

I put on a piece by-let's say-Lutoslawski(later Lutoslawski, that is) or early Penderecki or some other 'great' modern/avant-garde composer, tell myself that it is 'great' music and that other people can appreciate the genius involved....and end up hating what I am hearing

On the other hand, I once liked Rachmaninov. I loved his Symphonic Dances, for example. Now(apart from the 1st Symphony and 'The Bells') I cannot listen to Rachmaninov without feeling slightly sick

One day all that may change

That is the nature of taste

[karlhenning]

I passed through various phases.  One of these does not quite answer to 'deciding that I would only like "modern" music', but it was a period when my ear was intoxicated by the variety of, not novelty, exactly, but variety of strong profiles that were very different to the established musical language;  in my case, at that time, I don't think it was really any matter of aversion to the past, as positive attraction to this other sonic world opening up to me.

Some time after that, I passed into a phase of near-antipathy to new stuff (likely driven at least in part by a few years' exposure to toxic new-musicoid attitudes).  The upside to this was, I took a lot of time to dig into older music which I had left in neglect for a decade.

Cannot answer for anyone else, but I find the maintenance of musical antipathy an unworthy expenditure of energy;  so before long I found that, actually, I take musical joy in a great variety of the literature . . . and the variety itself is of great practical use, as a palate-cleanser.

[Homo Aestheticus]

Or, you know, I can just be satisfied (and a little self-satisfied) that I am constantly fascinated by one piece, and predispose myself not to like much else.

But what you don't understand is that my musical tastes are very wide, ranging from Machaut to Richard Strauss to Messiaen to 1980's pop music... Now, it is true that I do find an especially high mesmerism factor in works like La Mer, Pelleas and Faun but that's a separate matter.

[karlhenning]

On the other hand, I once liked Rachmaninov. I loved his Symphonic Dances, for example. Now (apart from the 1st Symphony and 'The Bells') I cannot listen to Rachmaninov without feeling slightly sick

I've found that listening to WCRB in Boston does much music a disservice by me;  because they'll flog a not-large handful of pieces (and not necessarily the finest recordings of these, but generally by their pet artists), and I found myself wearying of perfectly good music.  At last the solution was, to tune some other (any other) station on the car radio dial . . . and after a break from the overkill (and judicious selection of other recordings), I found that these chestnuts were restored as fresh to the ear.

Perhaps, Colin, if you give Rakhmaninov a good five-year rest . . . not that you need listen to Penderecki all that time, of course