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Event

CSSO Speaker Series: Omar Lizardo

Friday, October 25, 2024 10:30to12:00
Donald E. Armstrong Building Room 375, 3420 rue McTavish, Montreal, QC, H3A 3L1, CA

Omar Lizardo

LeRoy Neiman Term Chair Professor of Sociology
University of California, Los Angeles

Professional Taste: Omnivorousness, Empathy, and Possibility in the Structure of Evaluation

Date:ÌýFriday, October 25, 2024
Time: 10:30 am – 12:00 pm
Location: ARMSTRONG 375


Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between expert taste and broader taste patterns, focusing on professional musicians. It combines a survey experiment with original music compositions and interviews with musicians to explore how they evaluate music. The survey reveals that musicians, regardless of their educational background, exhibit greater openness to diverse musical genres than non-musicians. This openness extends beyond abstract genre labels to concrete musical experiences, as musicians rate original music excerpts more positively than non-musicians. To understand this seemingly puzzling finding, in-depth interviews are conducted with musicians. The interviews uncover two key mechanisms underlying musicians' evaluations. First, musicians engage in empathetic listening, often imagining themselves as the performers. Second, they evaluate music not solely based on its present form but also on its potential, considering how it could be improved with better composition and execution. These findings challenge the notion of a simple opposition between "highbrow" and "lowbrow" tastes and highlight the complex interplay of social and aesthetic factors in shaping professional musicians' evaluative judgments. They also reveal a distinct evaluative approach among musicians, emphasizing empathy and potentiality, which differs from the evaluative strategies employed by non-experts.


We are proud to announce that our event has been awardedÌýaÌýGoldÌýSustainable Event certification by theÌýÀ¦°óSMÉçÇø Sustainable EventsÌýprogram run by theÌý.

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