Music with AS

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A member of my social group encouraged me to go to V Festival, Weston Park, Staffordshire this last weekend.

The hype on the boards ... I could see that it was going to be, pretty much, the best time I'd had in my life.

I got there, everything was all and well, I managed to stick close to those I was familiar with & I felt in safe hands.

They helped me set up my Union Jack festival edition Teviot, no problem. I enjoy being in their company, though I can't stand the gossip nonsense & irrelevant conversations that are all too often.

Getting on ... I went there to hear Muse without any loss of sound or effects, which in my opinion spoils the music - it's not as the artist originally played it - art should be in a raw, poured from the mind form.

By the night time, the place was littered with people, the atmosphere was good, the attitude was friendly, and people were getting along with no problems.

When my group decided to leave though, I felt so awkward in the middle of everyone ... in the middle of the unknown. I knew that I wouldn't be able to make it past the toilets without anyone familiar beside me.

I did the kind thing, and decided to share in their music a bit ... oh dear. What hell. There were literally thousands of people compacted into a small area, in which my group pushed forward into the mosh pit without much consideration to where I was. I tried to keep close, the stress of having people bump into me, people jumping and moving around ... getting in between me and my group ... pushing ... If I displayed emotion, or relaxed my uptight restriction over my anger & stress, I would have shouted out and punched everyone in my way.

It was the Pixies ... the people listening had no sense of music in any way whatsoever. They were jumping out of beat even! Utterly ret*d to go to a music event without a musical ear!

The absolute racket of distortion between instrument & speakers was awful ... the music so loud I couldn't open my eyes ... the bass so amplified above the higher ranges that I felt like I was about to be torn or shaken apart - literally. I could feel the vibrations going through my body ... slowly.

I then had to follow them around to see another two bands before I had an escort back to my tent ... the circle in which our groups tents surrounded I stayed in for the rest of the day, night & following day, not daring to venture to the toilets - partly due to unfamiliarity and partly due to my constant drunk look. Some NT festival goers even commented right next to me, as though I couldn't hear, "[chuckle] He's going to piss himself"

I then said I was remaining in my tent the following day to my group, I was promised that they would come to wake me up before Muse started, and so I went off to sleep.

I woke up with a very familiar indie rock riff in my ear ... my heart stopped, then made a huge thud ... I walked over to another tent and asked whether anyone was inside - someone was plastered & replied, after which I asked what time is it now - "twenty five to ten". Knowing full well Muse started at 8:30 & finished at 9:45, I still asked (I was in complete & utter denial) what time does Muse start? To which I got a hesitant reply "[Pause & hesitant slur] I think they've just started", at which point a hurricane of hate, sorrow, extreme anger & urge for violence flooded me. For the first time this year, I let slip out of my control an urge to shout out a string of swearing - went into the storage tent, grabbed all of the alcohol there, and drank it. If I had more impulsive spur-of-the-moment thinking, I would have torn down the other tents.

I proceeded to get utterly plastered. When they'd finished, the group returned, checked at my tent and asked, quite casually "you missed Muse then?", to which I answered "Yes, thanks to you". That person then replied to another inquiry "We changed our minds, we didn't come back for tea - we texted you" - which was to a phone that's never on when I'm awake, nevermind when I'm asleep. I proceeded to attempt to punch him, unfortunately due to my state I missed each time by around 2 feet.

What stumped me is they had no concept on how devastated I was, they thought it was hardly anything.

As revenge, I sang Muse songs all night, word for word, tone for tone.

I beleive they have the point now though, they seem apologetic in a very NT way - how an apologetic attitude can make up for something I've been waiting for, paid around £200 for, and endured the worst environment I've ever experienced, is beyond my comprehension.

They have now offered to look for a Muse gig, & accompany me there ...



My point is, NTs seem to have no musical ear whatsoever. I'm inclined to beleive the only people with musical ears & a sense of music have some sort of autism.

I'm now inclined to think, debilitating as AS actually is, it truly is a gift.

Does anyone else have any input they'd like to share on the subject? I'd be very interested & appreciative.

You should read Stephen Shore's books - he works with individuals with all types of autism through music and has AS himself - actually, he was diagnosed with traditional autism and told he would never be able to function and now has a couple of Ph.D.s . . . go figure . . .

His first book is 'Beyond the Wall' and I don't have the second one yet . . .

i think if AS types did reach out to different sorts of music, (instead of sticking to the same band, same genre EG. the beatles, 60s) then aspergers types would truly be the masters of music.

I don't understand how people can like punk rock, indie rock, and other types of hard music that are bass and guitar dominated, and don't have very in-depth musical arrangments to them. To me it all sounds like noise, and very few of those songs I can understand the lyrics to them.

I listen to mostly 50s-60s oldies and 30s-40s jazz. I almost exclusively listen to European, Asian, and Latin 50s and 60s oldies. I have no concept or understanding or taste for current music. Especially Rap. I prefer to think of Rap as "not music, but infernal noise that is meaningless." I also don't understand Gothic music...it's too depressing. I like some sad songs, but not songs that are sad ALL THE TIME. That's what Gothic is to me.

also being a muse fan I can understand your upset -Im desparate to see them live but funds havent been allowing. It would have been great to go V festival especially as its in my home county (partly).

I think we tend to be more sensitive to music than NTs- I know when I get depressed or angry I start writing lyrics. And it does tend to be indie rock/soft rock type music. Maybe we prefer more ordered, arranged music because of the way our minds work. We tend to prefer things that have a order and a logic- this might well apply to our music tastes as well. So anything that doesnt have a musical arrangement would just sound like noise. heavy rock tends to give me headaches.

KtMcS, do you find Micro Cuts (track 7, Origin Of Symmetry) ecstacy & over powering (renders perception in complete focus)? It would be interesting to know, since the only people I know who actually like it are aspies, and they find it ecstasy & perceptually overpowering.

also being a muse fan I can understand your upset -Im desparate to see them live but funds havent been allowing. It would have been great to go V festival especially as its in my home county (partly).

I think we tend to be more sensitive to music than NTs- I know when I get depressed or angry I start writing lyrics. And it does tend to be indie rock/soft rock type music. Maybe we prefer more ordered, arranged music because of the way our minds work. We tend to prefer things that have a order and a logic- this might well apply to our music tastes as well. So anything that doesnt have a musical arrangement would just sound like noise. heavy rock tends to give me headaches.

I think it all comes down to what you are looking for in music. The music i'm listening to reflects who i am, how i am feeling at that moment. I can listen to jazz, classical, even hip hop, but also to punk, metal, hardcore, indierock,...
Going to big festivals can be hard. The first times i went i went with some guys from my class and i always stayed in the back with those who didn't want to go up front. I was afraid from going to the front. It seemed to me like a whole new deal.
The year after that i had a friend in class who i was pretty close with and he persuaded me in going to the front. I remember it was during Peter Gabriel, because then it would be calm up there. It was frightening! Everytime the base-player hit his snares, i just FELT the sound go right through me. All during the show i was watching the base-player asking him to please not to hit his snares...
But then i just grew into it. Now i always go to the front when there's a band playing i want to see. I don't stand in the middle, though, i stand at the side.
But i don't go that much to festivals anymore now. I prefer indoorshows. It's dark and everyone is just watching the stage. Whenever i go to a festival strangers around me start harrasing me because i just STAND there. I might enjoy the show a lot, just seeing and hearing the band playing, but i don't show it. I don't show any kind of emotion what so ever during a show and people next to me always start asking me things like "are you enjoying yourself, mate?". I hate it.
One time i went all by myself to a festival, cause i wanted to see Tool. I just went in, bought 2 drinks, watched Tool and went home. It costed me 25 euro or so, but i enjoyed it. It was my experience.
To me the guys who slamdance and stagedive are just part of the show. As long as it stays decent, that is.
I don't think you should look down on other styles. Everyone has a different taste. I do feel like i hear things in music others don't hear, if that is what you mean. I like emo a lot and often i try to convince a friend to listen to a song, to hear how the drum changes his rythms, how the guitars and vocals are agressive, yet so fragile, but they don't seem to hear it that way.
But i don't think it's only a matter of AS or NT, it's also a matter of taste. You may not like emo or indie, but i hear things in it, you don't. And the opposite may go for Muse. Or if you think metal is just agressive noise, listen to bands like The Dillinger Escape Plan or Converge, it's pure maths....
Maybe we AS just like music more, because we often identify with it? But that's just my theory.

I am not a big fan of any music at all. I especially hate country and a few other types of music. For brief periods I will want to hear one or more particular songs, but even those are either wordless or use lyrics that have little or no meaning; for example, techno, marches, jazz, Weird Al, or They Might Be Giants. However, I do consider musical accompaniment to be very important in places such as movies and videogames. Songs that I inadvertantly hear repeatedly will eventually become really bothersome to me if I hear them an additional time. Hearing one of those songs after a period of several months of not hearing it will immediately evoke memories of the last time I heard it. I absolutely despised "All Star" by Smash Mouth after my older sister played it seemingly nonstop five years ago. I felt that way until I saw Shrek two years later, which I really liked, allowing me to associate the song with something more positive.

I listen to and like many types of music. I usually go for the juxtaposition... i.e. very catchy melodies mixed with experimental sound design. I don't like only one of the pillars standing -- that's too singular for me.

I anti-recommend loud music to anyone, because of its negative impact on human ears. Hearing loss is not a joke, and I see a lot of dumb people crank their car stereos wayyy up until there's noise pollution everywhere in the streets adding to the mechanical vrooms and pt-pt-pt of cars. I say "dumb" because in most cases, they know what they are doing is unhealthy yet they continue to do it and endanger the ears of themselves and others.

More people need to be caring and concerned about this. It impacts us all, and proof can be shown in some of these very quiet aboriginal villages way out in the forest where all the denizens have great hearing because they've never had their ears exposed to such noise.

It seems to me, that perhaps the one link we all have, is we know what we like and what we hate. We can identify, and develop an immediate passion or dislike for a certain piece of music and justify, elaborate on it. I get infuriated when my opinion of 'bad music' is played, and elated and inspired when 'good' is played. I don't understand people who don't care, or just like to bop or sing along to whatever is on. Background music drives me crazy - supermarkets AAARRRRGGHHH (she says clutching hands to ears). I like a large variety of music, but the one thing in they have in common is that most people don't understand. I can explain the pleasure in a particular piece, in great detail when asked to.