""Watching someone make music."

Have you noticed how much tendency there is to replace the pleasures of listening with visual pleasures? Why would we watch somebody make music? What happened to listening, really listening, to the music?

For example, when MTV came along, the visual aspect of musical entertainment simply swamped the aural aspect. Suddenly it mattered what the costumes were, the sets, the performers' personal appearance. I doubt if a homely person with an incredible voice could hope to make it in today's popular culture.

The same is true in classical music. I hear that there are show-biz types who scan the pianists trying out for the Van Cliburn competition. They don't care how the young people play; they are checking for good looks.

I was in the supermarket the other day when an irritating, repetitious song caught my attention. A young woman with a weak nasal voice was singing one line over and over:

"Video killed the radio star."

Too true, and what Terrance Howard (whoever he may be) said is just another instance of that kind of process.