Klarinet Archive - Posting 000757.txt from 1996/08

From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re the "gut feel"
Date: Thu, 29 Aug 1996 23:17:51 -0400

So far I have seen about 6 postings asserting that they have a gut
feel about differences in instruments, or that someone's wife heard
a difference, or their student heard a difference or they heard a
difference, and then the poster feels that something conclusive has
been established by having said that.

It is not the way it works. There has to be unbiased, objective,
scientific evidence for assertions of this nature.

It does not matter if one's dog hears a difference, this does not
consistitute a technical truth. I used to thing that clarinet players
were the most noble, intelligent, understanding people in the world.
But my faith is shaken when I see "gut feel" being offered as
conclusive evidence on anything. One has a built-in bias to hear
things in the way that one thinks they are supposed to be heard. And
to objectivity, that is a death sentence.

I know that music is a subjective business, at least the performance
side of it is. But when it comes to matters of physics and
whether or not an unbiased listener can tell something, subjectivity
is not a reliable tool.

And thus, it does not matter what one's wife hears, or one's student,
or even the player. We are beset with so many subjective phenomena
that we simply cannot trust our ears on issues such as this.

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Dan Leeson, Los Altos, California
(leeson@-----.edu)
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