Chicago Classical Music

I read in a recent League of American Orchestras email that a study has just been completed that asked people to describe their personality traits and then asked subjects to list their favorite styles of music.  Apparently there is a link between heavy metal and classical music fans due to their shared “love of the grandiose” and big, loud, brash music.  According to the researcher, besides their age differences, both are basically the same type of person.  Hmmm.  Maybe Wagner was a precursor to Metallica.  

An earlier League email referenced a book, The Mating Mind, written by Evolutionary Psychologist Geoffrey Miller discussing why we find musicians and singers sexy.  “Looking at things from a biological point of view,” writes MacLeod, “we would normally expect women to be attracted to men with qualities that indicate good genes that can be passed on to her children or those that show he can look after a family, like a wad of cash for instance. Music doesn’t seem to serve any practical purpose. Musical ability, along with other creative skills, are rather like a human version of the peacock’s tail; something that has no survival value, but has evolved precisely because it is found attractive by the opposite sex….

As a former professional musician, I can pretty safely say that if this is true, it unfortunately has fallen outside of my personal experience.  I’m wondering if any of you would care to comment on these two interesting subjects?

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