Why do people with no musical talent think that they have the right to criticize others who try their best?

Answer 1

because you don't need musical talent to have musical taste.

if i'm a better drummer than you, does my opinion mean more than yours? no....and it shouldn't. so they DO have the right.... to like and criticize whatever the hell they want. (and why do people always bring up the first amendment? lol. it's such a misunderstanding of what that was for. it's for protection against the government....it DOESN'T mean you have to listen to anyone who has a megaphone!)

to help my point, let me tell you about me: i have a degree in music from a big name jazz school. i have studied with some SERIOUS names in jazz. i have played hundreds of professional gigs at this point. i have a music publishing company......and my opinion has as much value as someone who has never touched a musical instrument. it's true. and it SHOULD be that way. it's one of the frustrating things about being a young music degree holder. you think you should have more say than anyone else because you can analyze something down to its core......but it doesn't mean anything to someone who "just likes it."

remember: it's an ART. it's not science... at the end of the day, it's for entertainment.....and it effects people on every intellectual level. that's the beauty of it. MANY, MANY people who have zero musical ability have amazing insights into why they like a certain artist/song....sometimes those insights teach me a thing or two....they help me see a beauty that i never have seen before.

you're making an elitist argument....and it's the same one i used to make. :) but it's wrong.

it used to drive me crazy. if someone fell and cut their knee, i know how to dress the cut and disinfect it as well as anyone, but if a doctor's in the room, i have to defer to him. i can explain perfectly well how a mutual fund works to a FINITE degree, but if a financial manager is in the room, i have to defer to him. i understand completely different theorums in mathematics and can explain them to you, but here i go deferring again when a math professor is in the room. BUUUUUTTT, when that doctor, financial manager/mathematician likes gwen stefani's crap music, their opinion of why it's good is just as valid as ALL of the reasons i can give based on education that it's simply NOT! truth is, if it effects them, i'm the wrong one. frustrating, isn't it? :)

part of growing into musical 'professionalism' is getting over it. and it's not easy. lol.

peace,
g

Answer 2

I think it's some form of artistic "codependency"--i.e. people with serious control issues who are actually threatened by the musically talented and try to feel better about their own inadequacies by criticizing them or offering unsolicited advice. These folks are what Julia Cameron of The Artist's Way calls blocked artists. They can be really toxic if we take them too seriously. Another reason may be that because of their own lack of musical ability (no ear, pitch, rhythm, etc.) they don't have the ability to really hear, let alone assess, the music. Yet another reason would be that it's just a matter of personal bias or preference. I would just say "Thank you for sharing" and politely move on. Sometimes I "detox" after such encounters by getting healthy feedback (not nec. "positive" but def. helpful) from musicians and music lovers I trust and by getting back into my own music. Constructive criticism is great. Toxic destructive put-downs are not, but, alas, they are a part of the music scene.

Answer 3

galgallin, he probably meant by people who would just criticize about artists who try to make music. They basically don't do anything but criticize, even if they're not getting paid to do so.

Answer 4

Just human nature I suppose.

Answer 5

TOO ALL THOSE PEOPLE THAT LIVE IN GLASS HOUSES NEED TO THROW A FEW MORE STONES AT THERE OWN HOUSE FIRST!!!!!!!!

Answer 6

People do that to make themselves feel superior to others

Answer 7

Because of the First Amendment. It's a free country. Just because I can't sing doesn't mean doesn't mean I can't recognize bad singing when I hear it.