Klarinet Archive - Posting 000835.txt from 2002/11

From: Bi6W@-----.net (Bill Wright)
Subj: Re: [kl] Music for Dogs
Date: Tue, 26 Nov 2002 00:01:03 -0500

<><> Willie=A0Kercher wrote:
We gave it up after a while as our Basset hounds would come sit at our
feet and howl the 3rd and 4th parts. None of the other dogs on the
street would do this, just the two with big ears and feet.

(eschewing any one-liners about animals vs. dark or bright or good or
bad tone)

It's been a while since I've had a lesson when the teacher's dog
wandered into the studio, but both my and my teacher's playing would
calm the animal. He was (probably still is, I haven't seen him for a
year or so) a large dog, named after a particular vocal sound that he
made. He would be lively and sometimes semi-aggressive until one of us
started playing. Then he would lay down, spend a minute or so making
himself comfortable and generally spreading himself out on the floor,
and then his eyes would close....

I imagine that different animals respond in different ways to different
pieces of music, which proves once again that 'universal traits' are
very difficult to find in music.

....which makes it even more amazing that most people enjoy and truly
can't do without some sort of music --- even if only to hum a tune to
oneself --- yet music seems to be different for each of us, just as
speech and vocabulary are different for each of us, yet we truly can't
do without it.

So where is the 'fundamental factor' that makes it necessary for each of
us, yet never the same for each of us?

Cheers,
Bill <who cannot avoid searching for an answer>

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