Klarinet Archive - Posting 000723.txt from 2002/05

From: Tony@-----.uk (Tony Pay)
Subj: [kl] Synaesthesia and Science
Date: Wed, 29 May 2002 18:51:12 -0400

My ISP isn't delivering emails properly at the moment. I know this by
looking at 'latest posts' on the webpage.

But looking there, I see an argument that I feel is based on a
misunderstanding.

No-one claims that synaesthesia doesn't exist. *Science* certainly
doesn't. But equally, no-one (I hope) claims that synaesthesia is
essential for appreciating music.

I say this because I claim that I appreciate music, and I don't
necessarily have cross-modal associations when I do so.

If I want to describe what a particular element of a piece of music
'means' to me, I use metaphors. Those metaphors can be visual,
kinaesthetic, dramatic -- all sorts of things. Part of why they work is
that music is about relationships, so using a metaphor that embodies the
same relationship that I perceive in the music can convey some, though
not all, of my musical response.

But I can (partially) convey the same idea using different metaphors,
some of which may occur to me after the event, and *only* because I want
to describe the sort of experience I'm having musically to someone else.

This clearly means that those metaphors aren't a *necessary* part of the
musical experience for me.

Now, some other people may *always* see pictures, hear words, feel
sensations or whatever when they listen to music. But that doesn't mean
that I have to, though I may choose to do so under some circumstances.

And in particular, I see no advantage to having *fixed* links to
elements of other modalities. That C# is unavoidably a sort of brown
(if it is) does nothing except limit my ability to have a C# be radiant
when the context demands it.

You have to unask the question, "Where is the music, in the music?"
There isn't a 'where'.

It's like asking, where is the difference between my right hand and my
left hand?

Tony
--
_________ Tony Pay
|ony:-) 79 Southmoor Rd Tony@-----.uk
| |ay Oxford OX2 6RE http://classicalplus.gmn.com/artists
tel/fax 01865 553339

... Since you're going to die anyway, can we use you as a shield?

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