At 04:52 PM 10/26/98 -0800, eric wrote:
quoted 1 line it's recognized. the music you grew up on is the most likely culprit for>it's recognized. the music you grew up on is the most likely culprit for
providing the affliction of >sensitivity to sonic-asymmetry and
dissonance. since there is no necessary training involved in acquiring
quoted 1 line this sensitivity, we can assume that people who experience it do so to>this sensitivity, we can assume that people who experience it do so to
varying degrees, and can be said >to express their sensitivity to
out-of-tune-ness as a preference for 'in-tune' music. viewed as having a
quoted 1 line preference for 'in-tune' music, the musically-untrained listener has no>preference for 'in-tune' music, the musically-untrained listener has no
reference to any musical science >other than their own history of music
listening, and in addition to noticing the harmonic qualities >within the
piece they're listening, they are also comparing it to all of the harmonic
preferences they've >built up over the years. "does this piece of music
violate any of my harmonic sensibilities?" the >listener asks himself
imperceptibly, "yes, that bass sample is a minor 3rd (or whatever, if they
have >training) flat. time to add this to the weekly fs/ft posting." or,
"eeew, that sounds out of place, i >don't like it." you pays your money,
you takes your chance. in light of the structures of western pop >music,
especially in the recent past that all of us have grown up in, it's
surprising that more than >a third don't share your intolerance.
I hate to get dragged into this again, but when I get a queasy feeling from
listening to something especially out-of-tune, the physical effect is
immediate, suggesting that it's not a brain generated phenomenon. It's
certainly not a conscious question of "does this piece of music violate any
of my harmonic sensibilities", and I strongly suspect it's not an
unconscious question either. In fact, it took a lot of paying attention to
music & learning a bit about musical theory to have a rational explanation
for what was going on - the tail is not wagging the dog here!
I believe that enough people on this list have expressed that they feel
physical discomfort that it cannot be discounted as an isolated or imagined
trait. I resent being told that I don't feel it and I resent being told
that I feel it because I "think too much about music". I'll say it again -
if you could feel it, you would not be writing what you're writing, you'd
be scratching your head over why a bunch of tone deaf people are attacking
you for something you can't control.
Given that the attacks have come from those less sensitive (in more ways
than one, I might add), I can't help but wonder if these attacks aren't
driven by feelings of insecurity. No one has attacked tonedeafness (it
can't be helped anymore than tonal-hypersensitivity), but you'd think it
would swing both ways, wouldn't you?
Che