Klarinet Archive - Posting 000796.txt from 2000/05

From: Bilwright@-----.net (William Wright)
Subj: Re: [kl] Re: tone -- a neurological approach
Date: Wed, 17 May 2000 10:28:26 -0400

<><><> Bill Wright writes:

@-----.and while I'm recommending things, a recording is in
print right now of Marcellus playing in the Cleveland Orchestra: Debussy

<><> Don=A0Longacre wrote:

Bill: Can you recall where this CD was offered?

It's on Amazon for $9.95 + S&H. I searched for "Marcellus" because
people here were talking about him and I wanted to hear what yo folks
were talking about. A number of CDs popped up under his name, and this
is the one that I chose.
The CD liner does not mention Marcellus' name, but Amazon has it
listed under his name on their own database.
It's a Sony Classical "Essential Classics" disc: SBK 63056. The
bar code has "7464-63056-2" printed underneath the code.

<><> Just a quick comment on the E > C# move. Try it with left
pinky then right pinky, positioning the pinky above the appropriate C#
key as you sound the E and see if a different feel exists. As the
intervening D closes, the C# opens and there may be a dissimilar spring
action between the two C#s.

Yes, with practice, I'm learning to do it. My problem is getting
my little finger in the proper position (quickly enough). Once I'm
there, I can push the key down easily enough. So far (knock on wood),
I've not had difficulty pushing any key down once my finger is above it.

<><> Further, your review of the Descarte book was interesting.
What moves us in any aesthetic experience, I believe, is an intangible
collection of neural responses that draws from the resource of each
individual mind and therefore, except in a general way, is virtually
undefinable.

I may have more to say after I've read the second half of the book.
Clearly everybody is different, but the "dark vs. bright" discussion
revolves around the human ability to _discriminate_ between two tones,
not around the issue of which tone is most enjoyable.
The author's attitude (so far) has been that certain perceptive
abilities are built into everyone's neural makeup, but environment and
accident affect which perceptions are developed and reinforced. The
question that puts some of us on opposite sides is whether there is some
fundamental human potential to reliably link words such as bright and
dark with an actual tone, but it's simply not developed in most of us.
As Dan has said many times, "Show me the way to do it, and I'll go along
with it."
The author talks about language in the same way, where (allegedly)
every newborn human begins with the ability to recognize and produce
certain sounds, but environment and accident push some individuals to
develop their 'click' abilities (as in African click-languages), other
individuals to ignore the "L" sound (as in some Eastern languages), some
to fasten on intonation as an essential part of language (Thai, for
example), and so forth. There are some experiments that show each group
can learn another group's phonemes with sufficient training, but some
phonemes are nearly impossible if you don't start early before your
neurons have headed in a different direction.

Cheers,
Bill

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