The Times of the Day

The Times of the Day

By Frank J. Oteri
Few people drink single malt scotch with breakfast or eat pancakes for dinner, yet a similar attention to such details when it comes to the creation and experience of music seems like a barrier to free expression or accessibility.

Written By

Frank J. Oteri

Frank J. Oteri is an ASCAP-award winning composer and music journalist. Among his compositions are Already Yesterday or Still Tomorrow for orchestra, the "performance oratorio" MACHUNAS, the 1/4-tone sax quartet Fair and Balanced?, and the 1/6-tone rock band suite Imagined Overtures. His compositions are represented by Black Tea Music. Oteri is the Vice President of the International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM) and is Composer Advocate at New Music USA where he has been the Editor of its web magazine, NewMusicBox.org, since its founding in 1999.

“Learn to listen, not hear.”

—message in fortune cookie served to me after dinner at Ollie’s last night

The always astute Clarke Bustard responded to my attempt to create a dichotomy between indoor and outdoor music last week by wondering if the next thing worth pondering here is day vs. night music or cold weather vs. warm weather music, so I’ll oblige.

In a world where we feel entitled to listen to anything at any time and in any place, just because it is technologically possible to do so, it is difficult to comprehend the concept that certain music might be more effective at some times than at others. In Medieval Europe, there were chants that were meant to be sung at specific times of the year and even specific canonical hours during the day. This practice lasted for centuries even though nowadays no one thinks twice about performing Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers, created for the evening, in the middle of the afternoon.

Similarly, in India, the fact that various ragas have for millennia been designated as suitable for performance in the morning, afternoon, or evening was not arbitrary, but was the result of a deep philosophical belief in the psychological and physical effects of particular intervals and melodic patterns. Westerners find this odd, but these same westerners are perfectly fine with the notion that there are certain foods and drinks that are better consumed at particular points in the day. Few people drink single malt scotch with breakfast or eat pancakes for dinner, but a similar attention to such details when it comes to the creation and experience of music seems like a barrier to free expression or accessibility. Yet it could ultimately be a musician’s dream come true. Imagine a world where everyone was that tuned in to what you were playing.

In fact, perhaps (horror of horrors for some) there are times when listening to music of any kind is not optimal. In an era where music is used as a personal soundtrack rather than as a means to be receptive to other people and new ideas, it feels heretical to claim that our listening faculties are not always sufficiently ready to absorb certain ideas. This might be the real reason why people claim they don’t like certain music. I’m not trying to set up some sort of elitist hierarchy here; I still believe that we all have the ability to appreciate any music if we come to it open-mindedly and listen with our full attention. But that is something that is just not possible 24/7.

So which pieces of music would be more effectively listened to in the morning, the afternoon, or the evening?