NPR Behaving Badly?

It pains me to write that, because I love NPR and I really don't want to bash them. But every Tuesday night (well, they probably do it every night but I only have direct knowledge of it on Tuesday nights), I get annoyed all over again about this thing that happens around 8pm. First of all, before I say what it is and everyone thinks I'm a horrible person, I'm very glad they do this. It's important to acknowledge that we're still actively at war and losing soldiers all the time. So here's the thing: the announcer comes on and says something like, "We are now going to have a moment of silence for our fallen American soldiers serving their country overseas." And I think, yes, of course, I'd be happy to honor these brave soldiers with a moment of silence. But then... THE MUSIC STARTS.

Actually silent music

How is it a moment of silence with music playing??? So then, for the entire moment of "silence," I sit there grumbling about how it's not silent and how no one cares about music as I also critique the music choice (I have no memory of what it is as I write this but I vaguely remember that it always seems to be a sub-par recording). I doubt that's how the moment of silence should be used, and I do feel bad for being so easily distracted.

But really, come on NPR. Or maybe it's WUFT (our awesome local Gainesville station). Either way. I love both of them, and usually their programming is great. They are not the only ones guilty of this, however. We all do it, and it's there all the time. Background music is the soundtrack of our lives, so why should we value it as an art form when it's always there, not getting any attention? I know many people who use classical music as a tool to help them study or fall asleep. Listening to classical music to try to fall asleep seems a bit insulting- and what happens during a concert? No wonder so many people fall asleep at concerts- they can't help it! Their bodies are trained to sleep when they hear this type of music! And of course it doesn't help that it's probably dark in the concert hall and the seats are cushy, mimicking your cozy bed.

Anyway. I'm not trying to start a crusade to stop classical music from being used in the background, because I know it would never happen (it's in movies, tv, commercials, your iPod, etc). But what I would like is to stop NPR from saying "silence" when they really mean "beautiful, powerful music that someone spent a lot of time composing and then a bunch of people spent a lot of time rehearsing and performing to evoke the emotions that we now feel should appropriately accompany a period of mourning." Et cetera.

Posted by Sarah