Music isn’t wallpaper – it’s a civilising force

‘Research into its commercial usage shows music being downgraded to an environmental level that many find pleasant, but others of us regard as intrusive and debilitating.’ Photograph: Sarah Lee for the Guardian

I’m fairly sure that many professional musicians will share my horror on reading the article by Jake Hulyer on “The (quiet) rise of background music” (The long read, Journal, 6 November).

I’ve spent a very large part of my life trying to persuade people to listen carefully to music so that it becomes an integral, civilising feature of their lives. The research into its commercial usage shows it being downgraded to an environmental level that many find pleasant, but others of us regard as intrusive and debilitating.

Lorenzo in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice said: “The man that hath no music in himself, Nor is not mov’d with concord of sweet sounds, is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils.”

Is that the world we want to create?
Meirion Bowen
London