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On a fine summer day the inhabitants of the Wiltshire valley where I live gathered in a neighbor's garden to celebrate the Queen's jubilee. There was beer, barbecue, flags -- and, of course, the singing of our three national anthems: Welsh, Scottish, and British. The tuneless croaks of our neighbors, as they tried for the thousandth time to squeeze their patriotic sentiments into these quaint words and courtly rhythms, reminded me of how small a part music now plays in the social life of ordinary people. Singing is strange to them, instruments unknown, and most of the music they hear is not listened to but overheard, piped into their lives by the disc jockeys who control ...