[Smt-talk] the impossibility of listening

[Joel Lester]

One expression I frequently use in classes is:  "I don't believe in useless knowledge; I only believe there are people who don't know how to use knowledge."  

Joel Lester


-----Original Message-----
From: Olli Väisälä <ovaisala at siba.fi>
To: smt-talk at lists.societymusictheory.org <Smt-talk at lists.societymusictheory.org>
Sent: Sat, Nov 3, 2012 7:01 pm
Subject: Re: [Smt-talk] the impossibility of listening




Daniel Roca wrote




El 02/11/2012, a las 10:04, Nicolas Meeùs escribió:


I used to teach that analysis is about what is not heard, but that any analysis is wrong that can't be heard. My students derided me for these contradictory statements. What I meant, however, is that analysis is about helping to hear what was not heard at first.




At a more elementary level, I think that analysis is also about helping to understand what is heard, even at first. I often find that my students' ears (their acoustic brain, so to speak) do a better job than their  verbal brain.




I tell my students that both purposes of analysis are fundamentally important: (1) becoming conscious of aspects of music that affect perception; (2) enhancing one's perception by becoming conscious of further aspects.


A point of comparison is offered by studying grammar or syntax of language. With one's native language, the purpose of such study corresponds to (1), with a foreign language, it often correspond to (2). In different kinds of music, there can be a lot of grey area somewhere between (1) and (2).


Olli Väisälä
Sibeius Academy
ovaisala at siba.fi


 
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