Klarinet Archive - Posting 000294.txt from 2000/05

From: Roger Shilcock <roger.shilcock@-----.uk>
Subj: Re: [kl] Tone descriptions
Date: Fri, 5 May 2000 10:02:27 -0400

Audrey,
This is good stuff, but I don't think people on this list are exactly
poets or any other kind of literateur most of the time.
Hence, the level of separation of language from objects in which you are
delighting might be thought
to be inappropriate.
Yours,
Roger Shilcock

On Fri, 5 May 2000, Audrey Travis wrote:

> Date: Fri, 05 May 2000 06:51:14 -0700
> From: Audrey Travis <vsofan@-----.com>
> Reply-To: klarinet@-----.org
> To: klarinet@-----.org
> Subject: Re: [kl] Tone descriptions
>
>
>
>
> > Dan Leeson wrote:
> >
> > Instead of enjoying a sound because they like it, they are searching for
> > a holy grail that has different meanings to different people."
> >
>
> Dan has written about descriptive words such as "dark" (his favourite) which to
> him are meaningless as a method of accurately pinpointing what clarinet sound
> is like. I'd like to approach this discussion from a different point of view.
> Please - no flames - I'm a bit of a redhead and burn easily! Much of human
> life (maybe all of human life) is about communication. Our attempts in all
> phases of life to communicate with others - our thoughts, ideas, feelings,
> knowledge, love, desires. We do it through a variety of techniques such as
> speech, body movement and body language, physical action, music, art, poetry,
> prose, silence. When a poet or an author uses a metaphor or another literary
> device to paint a picture in our minds, to urge us along the path of thought,
> he/she doesn't NOT paint that picture because we might not understand it in the
> same way the poet or author meant it. He/she does everything possible to help
> us see what they see, but certainly cannot know if we do. Neither can we know
> if we've understood what the poet/author understood and tried to communicate.
> Instead we attempt to open our hearts and souls and derive meaning from the art
> form. And that poet/author opens up a chamber in our minds for thought and
> dialogue, because now we begin to think and feel outside our everyday human
> cares. We don't say to the poet/author don't write anything unless you can
> scientifically prove to me that we will all understand your writing equally
> accurately. This is an 'attempt' to communicate, not a guarantee of
> understanding. Why would we then not see musical expression (whether producing
> or listening) in the same way? We are attempting to communicate. People quite
> naturally (many, at least) want to discuss what they have heard and felt as a
> result of being exposed to music. When people communicate, they start from
> where they are. If someone else's words allow them to think, and make them
> listen to their heart to see whether those words strike a responsive chord, can
> we say this is wrong? We build understanding and connect with people by
> opening a dialogue, not by shutting it down because we don't find meaning in a
> particular descriptive word. If one word doesn't work for you, try another or
> try to see what the other person understans by that word. Dark may not mean to
> one person what it means to another, but it opens a dialogue, and can lead to
> further attempts at clarity. We all teach each other - if we continue to talk,
> we eventually hit a response of understanding. We are musicians, purveyors of
> beauty or angst, attempting tocommunicate the recesses of the heart. Must we
> be scientifically able to prove that we all hear or feel the same thing for us
> or our music to be valid? Perhaps we've forgotten why we make, listen to, and
> love music.
>
> Best wishes
> Audrey
>
>
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