4 Apr
2007
4 Apr
'07
10:41 a.m.
On Wed, Apr 04, 2007 at 08:06:14AM -0400, Louis Acresti wrote:
The emotion we tie to particular sounds depends on
what we're experiencing the first time we hear it.
I find that hard to believe.
Why, then, do so many people tend to agree about the
feelings certain
songs convey?
Because what we normally call 'a song' is much more than sound alone.
It is made within a certain musical tradition, it has lyrics that refer
to a shared social context etc. etc.
When I hear the nine notes that make up the first phrase of the La
Traviata ouverture, this triggers a enormously wide and complex set
of ideas and emotions. But is it the sound that does it ? Just hearing
the name of one of the characters in that opera can do the same...
I think there are few processes so complex as human appreciation of
music.
Returning to pure 'sound', even this is complex. The way we appreciate
sounds probably depends on the complex interaction bewteen various
factors:
- Conditioning by evolution,
- Conditioning by personal experience,
- Acquired knowledge about the sound, how it is made, etc.
In most cases there are so many independant dimensions to it that
I find it almost impossible to say if I like or dislike a certain
sound.
--
FA
Follie! Follie! Delirio vano รจ questo !