Noise--the asbestos and allergies of the future

Interesting note in one of my husband's architectural journals, "Schools of the 21st Century," Supplement to Architectural Record, Jan. 2009.

"But one thing that is universally true [in designing buildings for children] is that the senses of a child are nearly always more acute than those of an adult. Poor air quality, bad lighting, extraneous noise, and rooms that are too hot or cold are enormously distracting, especially if one is struggling to learn." Welcome, p. 11

I don't see any Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) on the list of top 20 songs used as "torture," but I've left services, or even the building, so if I were confined to a stroller, or baby holder, it would be uncomfortable.

Music as a means of torture became commonplace in 1989, during the effort by US troops to force Panama president, Manuel Norriega to surrender. The brutal practice was also a regular part of interrogation tactics authorized by then commander in Iraq, Lt Gen Ricardo Sanchez in a September 14, 2003 memorandum.

Since then, music torture has become the norm in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay in particular, where it is blasted at high volume over PA systems to create fear, disorient detainees, prolong capture shock, induce sleep deprivation – and to drown out screams. Link

Some Christians worry CCM lowers standards (actually lots of public domain, traditional old timey hymns have terrible theology); I worry about it raising decibels. Architects can't do much after the building is occupied. The music speakers at our X-Alt services blast the fragile and developing and elderly ears alike. I think parents who bring babies and young children into those services, carefully watching for peanut allergies, carrying hand sanitizer, and checking for ear infections, will some day realize they created hearing impairment and auditory processing disorders--especially if universal health care is expected to supply hearing aids to 30-40 year olds. The boomers barely notice, they are already hearing impaired from rock concerts and want the music cranked; the gen-x-ers have never known anything else and think we're just old fuddy-duddy fun spoilers. Those of us in our 60s, 70s, and 80s, are more sensitive to it than the younger people. Someone needs to show those pastors and parents (and musicians) an ear chart.

And I guess it will be me!

Mixed bag Sunday: music, Russian, and multitasking

Our new pastor, Eric Waters, has a degree in Russian. He even worked in Russia--Siberia, I think, and that's where the Lord tracked him down and claimed him. Now this eastern, Ivy League, former Catholic, is a Lutheran pastor. Maybe I'll brush up on my Russian and some morning (if they let him preach at Lytham Rd.) I'll just go through the greeting line after church and say something brilliant, but with a bad accent. His installation is at 3 p.m. today. The community/congregation is very excited. He's getting a doctorate in something--Bible related, not Russian.

There are some people who apparently don't know the Prelude is part of the morning worship service, and they use that time to catch up on friendships instead of preparing. As the organ music swells, their voices get louder. And more distracting. I hate to be a nag (actually, I don't), but I wanted to produce a loud SHUSH! That's the librarian in me. Or is it? How do you feel about whispering, chattering and giggling during worship?

During Advent I was serving communion with another woman. Behind us a row or two was a woman who whispered during the entire sermon--but only the sermon. I suspect she was praying in tongues, but I can't be sure. I don't know if she didn't like the topic and wanted protection or if she was praying for the pastor, but I thought my co-server was going to turn around and toss a hymnal at her.

Sometimes we think these distractions just bother us more as we age, but studies have shown that really, no one does well with multi-tasking. You're far better off to remove some of the distractions and focus on the task at hand. Even your teen-ager who truly believes she needs music blasting directly to her brain through ear buds, the TV on, her e-mail screen up on the computer, all while text-messaging her girlfriends when studying for the algebra exam, is just kidding herself.

I have nothing "noise emitting" turned on at the moment, but if I sit quietly and don't type, here's what I distinctly hear: to my left is a forced air register so I hear the air; to my right is the Compact CPU, and from time to time it pauses and gurgles; outside my room and from my husband's office I hear something that sounds like chirping, and I know that it is what his TV sounds like funneled through the stairway; on this floor in the kitchen, I can hear when the refrigerator kicks in. These are not noisy appliances and they all are in good condition. Then if I shift a little, I can hear my clothing, and then the thump of the cat as she jumps off my lap onto the carpeted floor. Boomers and gen-x'ers probably hear a lot less since they were raised on rock.

If I turned on the TV, CD player, radio, or an Internet broadcast, all that other noise would still be there. At one of our church services (I don't attend that one) the music is so amplified a jet bearing Jesus for his return could land in the parking lot and no one would hear it in the service.