Klarinet Archive - Posting 000016.txt from 1996/09

From: Dick Walters <waltersd@-----.NET>
Subj: Re: Re the "gut feel"
Date: Mon, 9 Sep 1996 10:30:32 -0400

Dan, if not one's ears then what is music all about? A tree falling
in the forest when no one is there. My wife is admittedly
subjective (not being a player and me not being much of one), but
one would think that the principal of the LA Symphony would be a
good subjective critic. Wish I could remember his name. I didn;t
have a dog, so couldn't get his opinion and I woun't repeat the
comparison to my wife, or she may join this fray.

Dick Walters
waltersd@-----.net

From: LEESON@-----.edu
Date: 8/29/96 11:17:51PM
To: Klarinet - Clarinettist's Network
Subject: Re the "gut feel"

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.

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