Spring Has Sprung Forth, and It’s In Full “SWING” (is that, “swung 8ths” therefore?). ANSWER: “I think so…”
Spring is time for something new, and…musically speaking: Here’s something a bit new for you (Part 1 of 2)…
Are you “on the move,” musically? You can and should be! I hope these 2 posts will help you to understand a couple of things, and I’ll try to present it briefly but fully in two parts. Next time, I will conclude with some of the detailed aspects of what we can do when we use our current technology in this way.
There are many special and wonderful musical opportunities these days: new ways to learn and enjoy music; new technology to help us accomplish things we couldn’t do in the past…because there was no way to do it (i.e. playing many instruments beautifully from your own home computer, or even on a laptop in any location…well, just about any location!).
What are you learning or doing now that is moving you musically into a forward direction? I want to tell you about a new concept that will help us all, as musicians/music aficionados — as well as the audience/listeners…SO LISTEN UP:
How about this for a concept: “3-D MUSIC…”? What on earth am I talking about (yes, Virginia, it is ON EARTH, and even for the whole universe — and yes, it’s a sort of “3-D” for/with music!)?
Let me explain for a moment how we all hear music (at least originally), and how the idea I’ve been developing proposes to enhance “what,” and “the way in which” we hear and experience music — generally, and then specifically. Let’s only focus on the general in this post…
GENERALLY:
We start out hearing music in much the same way as we hear language — the whole thing is coming at us like a “wall of sound.”
A human voice is, for example, “monophonic” (two Greek words put together, meaning: one [mono]; sound or voice [phonos]). Music is often/usually “polyphonic” or many voices or sounds. THE INTERESTING THING IS…BOTH STILL COME TOWARD US AS ONE “WALL” OF SOUND.
If there is a person speaking or singing on a stage, that is only one sound coming from one place. But if it is a band, an orchestra, or even only 2 people (on that same stage)…we have a situation where there is more than one thing “coming toward/at us” at that moment. STILL, it comes toward us as a wall; as one thing, all at one time.
This is experienced as “1, or 2-D” in the sense that we can experience either some or maybe all of what is coming at us “at once.” How much we experience is based on our ability and frame of reference (to absorb this “wall”)…
Not unlike watching a movie — which is on the screen or wall, the music is coming toward us, and we see it for what it is (or what we are ABLE to “see/understand”) — all at once. Our eyes can only process as much as our mind can “understand…IN ONE LUMP SUM“.
Ever watch a movie a second time (or even multiple times) and see things you missed before? How about with music? Ever hear a song or piece of music, where there was an instrument or a vocal part you missed, and then you suddenly heard it the second or third time you listened? THAT’S MY POINT HERE.
This article has in mind the developing of our musical perspicacity and auditory acuity (how’s that for a mouthful?) so we can catch more of what’s coming at us. THERE IS A GREAT AND SAVVY WAY (thanks to technology) to “hear more.”
I have done it this way in an older form (before computers were readily available…and did it with tape recorders and such). In the past 10 or so years the NEWER WAY (computers!) has arrived, and this new way is working even more effectively. YOU CAN HEAR MUSIC IN “3-D” IF YOU JUST GET SOMEONE TO DO WHAT I’M GOING TO BE SAYING HERE.
In part 2, I’ll elaborate on the details from which we can all benefit by hearing more in a “polyphonic way,” such that the results are “enhanced hearing” (which I also call “hearing in color” — taken from the idea of the Greek word, “Chromatika”).
You will hear parts you didn’t before, and the music will sound “larger” (fuller and richer) than what you could initially hear/understand. As we individually develop our hearing by using this technique…we can hear more the first time. This gets better and better as the process is repeated over and over again.
Something then happens that someone like Mozart was able to do as a small child.
Mozart had perfect pitch (he could hear and remember the sounds like most of us “see colors” — i.e. we see reds, oranges, blues, greens — he could hear a Bb and know it from let’s say, an “A” or “G”). And, he continued to develop both his perfect pitch as well his “listening skills.” There were no recordings in his day, so whatever he heard was performed live, and he could hear the individual notes/voices more and more…and to the point that, even as a very young boy, he was able to go home and write down what he heard…ALL THE HARMONIES (i.e. all the parts!). He is most famous, and that’s for more than just the music he wrote. People have marveled at this noteworthy phenomenon, and we will develop this more in the next segment. I hope you’ve enjoyed this and are already thinking about/wondering where this will go in part 2…
Carry on, and keep on making music wherever you can!
Musically,
Philippe