Aesthetic Dissonance

“Cognitive dissonance is the feeling of unease or tension that arises when someone simultaneously holds two or more incompatible ideas or feelings.”

 

 I have a bone to pick with restaurants and cafes in Europe. I first noticed it in France. Here I was, in a charming café in Paris, looking out through the drizzling rain to the beautiful buildings and people passing by with umbrellas. For me, Paris, like London, Venice, San Francisco, New Orleans and other cities with definitive characters, is not just a place with shops and streets and people and tourist sites. It is a full-blown mythology that makes you feel part of something grand and historic and cultural. A place with genius in the ancient sense of that word, where a particular magical and mysterious place was associated with a divine, spiritual entity. God may be everywhere, but there are some places where the Spirit’s presence is more acutely felt and visible— an intimate waterfall or flowing creek with overarching trees or rock formation. You know what I mean.

 

So here I am in the Paris café, soaking in that sense of grace with all my senses—the taste of the fresh croissant, the smell of coffee, the sights mentioned below, the sprinkle of the raindrops walking there. Everything pitch perfect to make me feel like I’m a character in a beautiful movie—except one. Where I should be hearing an Erik Satie piano piece or Edith Piaf song or French café accordion music or Django Reinhardt, the music being played is an insipid pop song with that damn disco beat thrown together in some soulless studio far away. My coined term—"aesthetic dissonance: the feeling of unease or tension that arises when a restaurant simultaneously holds incompatible sights with sounds.” 

 

And this has been happening everywhere. In Europe, in the U.S., in Asia. We have breakfast each morning at a lovely place and most of the diners are over 50 and still, this terrible music that has nothing whatsoever to do with where we are. Luckily, not too loud, but it still ruins a perfectly good porridge and tea. Same at the Thai restaurant, the Sri Lankan restaurant, the Italian restaurant in this small town. The only exception—the Indian restaurant actually had Indian music on in the background. Maybe I’ll start eating at these places with headphones and pick my own soundtrack.

 

Meanwhile we had another memorable walk yesterday from Chipping Campton to Broadway where we stumbled into a fabulous natural opera—the bleating of sheep being sheared for their wool. That was great music! We arrived in the town of Broadway too late for the 2:10 bus and not another one until 6:10. So we wandered about town, sat on benches and just looked out to the world. I spent some of the 4 hours planning my workshop this Saturday and even played a bit on a recorder I brought along. When we finally returned, we had walked 9.1 miles. Yeah!

 

Today has been a rainy morning, but it’s starting to let up and we decided to bus to Stratford-on-Avon. At some point, I’ll recite the two Shakespeare sonnets I have memorized. That’s the news for now.