Add this book to my growing stack of how did I never know about this:

"Music in Everyday Life is the rather dull title of an anything-but-dull book. To take one example from this remarkable study, what could be more fascinating than a consideration of how introducing music changes the way we experience units of time? Think about bicycling along a familiar street while humming a tune and, upon “snapping out of it,” you realize you have not only missed the scenery, but have lost a segment of time as well. Author Tia DeNora, a University of Exeter professor and past winner of the International Sociological Association's “Young Sociologist” award, contends that in such instances, music does not simply fill in the time of waiting or the activity, but it “reconstruct[s] the ongoing aim” of an individual's action. Thus, and as DeNora adroitly puts it, the expected outcome of the activity (i.e., destination at the ride's end) is instead experienced as coming “too soon,” spoiling the pleasure of the music (8)."

Hey, wait a minute, that's Tia Denora, Music in Everyday Life. (Cambridge University Press, 2000)  ¶ 3/07/2003 08:43:00 PM