Classical Music Diary No. 11
I was listening to a symphony that just wasn’t doing it for me. Impatiently I looked at the iTunes progress bar to see how much was left. Not that much. OK, I thought, I can get through this.
Generally I’d rather not know exactly where a piece of music is going to end up — I’d rather be surprised. But in this situation, having the finish line in sight made an underwhelming listening experience more tolerable.
It’s a small confirmation of research from the 1980s that found “those who waited whilst watching a progress bar described an overall more positive experience.”
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