Klarinet Archive - Posting 000597.txt from 2001/08

From: Neil Leupold <leupold_1@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] fine ears
Date: Fri, 31 Aug 2001 19:10:32 -0400

--- Rien Stein <rstein@-----.nl> wrote:

> Aaron wrote:

> <<
> While I would never say I have a better ear than Mozart or Mendelssohn, I
> must profess my ear is far better than Beethoven's.
> >>

> Aaron is making a very common mistake here: he is mixing up the accuteness
> of the ear (the threshold below which you won't hear a thing) with the
> capacity to distinguish sound characteristics. I am a living example of
> this: I will need a hearing aid probably this year, at last by next summer,
> but sometimes when listening say to an orchestra -- whether in concert hall
> or recorded -- I can discuss details many people missed. My wife often asks
> me: "Did you hear that? I missed it." Of course: the music or individual
> instrument must be loud enough to be detected by my ears.

Of course, you too are missing the manner in which Beethoven's ear was
likely a great deal more attuned to music than Aaron's or your own. I
refer to the inner ear of a master composer -- somebody who is able to
craft and conceptualize musical phrasing and form entirely inside their
head, "hearing" with great sophistication and sensitivity how the spots
of ink they're putting on the paper will sound "with instruments attach-
ed." This was Beethoven's gift. It was Mozart's, who, like an intuitive
novelist, already had the essence and art of his works crafted inside his
head, merely waiting to be fleshed out in written form. Everybody is born
with ears (let's not get too pc about this), whether they function well
physically or not, and most people can be trained to possess varying
levels of intellectual understanding of music, as well as sensitivity
to pitch, intervals, and form & design within a piece. But the "ears"
to which I refer above...you're either born with them, or you're simply
not.

Neil

Do You Yahoo!?
Get email alerts & NEW webcam video instant messaging with Yahoo! Messenger
http://im.yahoo.com

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Unsubscribe from Klarinet, e-mail: klarinet-unsubscribe@-----.org
Subscribe to the Digest: klarinet-digest-subscribe@-----.org
Additional commands: klarinet-help@-----.org
Other problems: klarinet-owner@-----.org