Klarinet Archive - Posting 000134.txt from 2004/01

From: Dan Leeson <leeson0@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] 5rv tone color
Date: Sun, 4 Jan 2004 16:48:42 -0500

Ormondtoby Montoya wrote:
> Dan Leeson wrote:
>
>
>>anecdotal information about how a person
>>sounds under this or that circumstance does
>>not constitute hard evidence. It may be a
>>starting point for serious analysis
>
>
> I'll wager the proverbial pizza (if every pizza debt were actually paid
> off, we wouldn't need to worry about the state of our economy) that we
> cannot agree on a definition of "anecdotal".
>
> Probably one subjective reaction is an anecdote, but how about 25
> similar subjective reactions? Would 25 similar reactions rise to the
> level of "hard evidence"? Does "anecdote" mean a statement that is not
> based on physical measurement (spectrum analysis, etc)? Or does it
> mean "not enough similar opinions".... or perhaps does "anecdote" mean
> "many similar opinions from people whose opinions shouldn't count in the
> first place"?
>
> Example: if I accomplished one spectral analysis that contradicted the
> opinions of 15 world-class performers, who would be correct? Would the
> one spectral graph become the exception that proves the more widely
> accepted subjective rule, and therefore the graph becomes an "anecdote"
> even though it is the only numerical statement?
>
The general implication of anecdotal evidence is that it represents one
person performing and a second person reporting on that performance. (My
uncle plays on a Bundy and he sounds terrific. The oboe player of the
XXX Philharmonic says that his oboes blow out every year and have to be
replaced. Play zzz has a dark sound.)

Notice that the person is not saying that he sounds terrific on a Bundy
or that his oboe blows out every year or that he plays with a dark sound.

It could also be called "repertorial" information. And there is little
or no scientific evidence to support any of the statments. They can be
true, but if so it's by accident.

As a young many in the Army, my first sergeant told me that his borther
and his brother's girlfriend has sex 67 times the previous weekend.
What this caused in me was a great belief that anecdotal information was
not likely to have happened as stated. Now if the sergeant had told me
that HE and his girlfriend had that kind of experience, I might have
believed it, but it would have given me an inferiority complex.

Dan

--
Dan Leeson
leeson0@-----.net

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