Music on the brain. Researchers explore the biology of music By William J.
Cromie Gazette Staff Babies come into the world with musical preferences. They begin to respond to music while still in the womb. Richard Dare: The Awfulness of Classical Music Explained. Visiting a popular concert hall for the first time some years ago, I was lucky to have a fairly genial host whom I'll call Luddy.
He guided me patiently through the obtuse and unfriendly ticketing procedure at the "Will Call" window where I felt rather like I was visiting a sort of bland theatrical version of the Department of Motor Vehicles. When I commented that it hardly seemed the promoters wanted to make buying tickets desirable, my guide explained the situation away by means of a sort of denial mechanism, never seeming to lose interest in pointing out the gargantuan monument to culture the concert hall itself represented. Although I loved the music I heard that evening, I was struck at the time by how matter-of-factly my guide dismissed my observation that concerts might not be easy to figure out for a first-timer. Audiences hate modern classical music because their brains cannot cope.