Listening, stimulation, and distraction: the neurological impacts of the pandemic on memory and musical appreciation
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Abstract
The starting point of this article is the idea of a crisis in musical listening revealed by the early presentations of New Music. Theodor Adorno lamented the limited number of listeners capable of a listening the demands of a more substantial musical production; he suspected that the attention and memory demanded by avant-garde music diverged from those required for the music characteristic of a consumer-driven society. Next, we demonstrate how this crisis intensifies through the imposition of a unique attention-memory regime brought about by the interaction of bodies with contemporary technology in the hyper-information society. Finally, we present the hypothesis that COVID-19 biologically shapes our bodies, adapting it to the demands of the contemporary attention-memory regime, while, on the other hand, it affects the listening form advocated not only by avant-garde music but also by the classical tradition.
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