Seven Minute Syndrome

Today concluded my first week in my four week Music Appreciation course. It is pretty intense since we do a semesters work in a month, thus one day = one week. I took my first exam yesterday (day 3 of class), found out today I got a B. Was hoping for an A but hey a B is better than C, D, or F, right? Well, something I found interesting this week is a thing called the Seven Minute Syndrome. Basically over time with the use of the television we have lost our sense of focus. Studies have shown that we usually lose interest or become distracted in something within seven minutes. Thus you will notice that television commercials come on at about seven minute intervals. This allows up to focus on doing something and then coming back to refocus on the program we may be watching. You may ask how this relates to music? Well, most classical pieces are 10, 15, 20+ minutes long and that use to be great in the old days but now we can't focus that long to pay attention. Interesting how our lives have become so busy that seven minutes can become a max for our comprehension on one thing.