Klarinet Archive - Posting 000668.txt from 2002/05

From: w7wright@-----.net (William Wright)
Subj: RE: [kl] A Colour Symphony op. 24
Date: Wed, 29 May 2002 18:50:17 -0400

<><> Mark Charette wrote:
our vision detection systems have processing that our aural systems do
not (edge detection, horizontal/vertical shape analysis, motion
detection, etc.)

Mark, I don't want to get backed into a corner because I *DO AGREE* with
some of what you say, but.....

Humans *do* separate one note from the next (edge detection), and they
*do* detect differences in attack and inflection and sound character
(shape analysis), and the concept of motion certainly is part of music
(I defy you to listen to Nutcracker or Seventy-Six Trombones without
thinking of motion). At various locations in our neural networks, all
of these concepts come into contact with each other and interact with
each other. Hence we dance to music, put rhythm into poetry, create
metaphors, add shades of meaning to words and change the intensity of
words by inflecting or singing them, and so forth.

But the issue is much larger than just synesthesia, and I've tried to
discuss it on this List (as part of my own thinking process) in many
different ways over the past few years --- namely:

Music is more than just an aural sensation. You do not (can not)
experience or analyze music with your 'hearing hardware' alone. Above
all else, I object to over-intellectualizing music and to partitioning
it from everything else that transpires in our nervous systems as we
listen.

I will recommend once again that everyone (who hasn't already) should
read "Descartes' Error" by Antonio Damasio in order to get a full taste
of what I'm talking about. It's $12-$13 in paperback. I bought my
copy from Barnes & Noble online, and I presume that Amazon sells it
online as well.

Cheers,
Bill

================

If I had Stadler's mouthpiece, would I play better? Or do I need his
ligature also? Or perhaps he and I are different persons? If I had
Mozart's pen, would I compose better?

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