http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19726441.500-music-special-the-illusion-of...
Music special: The illusion of music
23 February 2008
From New Scientist Print Edition. Subscribe and get 4 free issues.
Daniel Levitin

IMAGINE that you stretch a pillowcase tightly across the opening of a bucket, and different people throw ping-pong balls at it from
different distances. They can each throw as many balls as they like, and as often as they like. Your job is to figure out, just by
looking at how the pillowcase moves up and down, how many people there are, who they are and whether they are walking towards you,
away from you or standing still. This is essentially the problem your auditory system has to contend with when it uses the eardrum
as the gateway to hearing.

Sound is transmitted through the air by molecules vibrating at certain frequencies. These bombard the eardrum, causing it to wiggle
in and out depending on how hard they hit it (related to the volume, or amplitude, of the sound) and how fast they are vibrating
(related to what we call pitch). But there is nothing in the molecules that tells the eardrum where they came from, or which ones
are associated with which object. Voices may be mixed in with other voices, or the sounds of machines, wind and footsteps. Most of
the time the input is incomplete or ambiguous. So how does the brain figure out, from this disorganised mixture of molecules beating
against a membrane, what is out there in the world?

On Feb 21, 9:15 pm, Sir Frederick fuzzysys.com> wrote:

Of course ... which is why everything is an illusion, just a
'representation' of what we believe is real. But that's the way it IS.

Yes there is, there is the human being doing the listening. At a much deeper
level we respond to the structure and form that resonates within, because
that is IT's primal structure/form itself .... sound responds to sound.

On Feb 21, 10:22 pm, "Sean" blah.com.au> wrote:

Imm ... deaf people hear sound ... blind people can see light.

"Immortalist" yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:b0c4a357-b578-4037-850d-c3d08078164a@e23g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
On Feb 21, 10:22 pm, "Sean" blah.com.au> wrote:

This is a very mathematical view Sir!
I hope you do not feel this way about music.
Humans do not quite have it yet with regard to music - but at least they do
sing and write music which is a step in the right direction.
Music should be more of a kind of say one good song - real good song - SO
good that you sing it over and over and each time you love it more and it is
catchy and other people sing the song and gradually the harmony builds up of
all these humans singing and then the WHOLE WORLD is singing the song and all
are happy - and one song could literally change the world.
These is one kind of song THE BORG sing.
You can imagine why they are FORBIDDEN to human ears!!! ;)
If anyone did find out we really are THE BORG - then we would be taken in and
goodness knows what they would do to get some info. If you can imagine the
power THE BORG have if they can do the above with ONE SONG - then you can see
why it is better than people do not believe we really are advance alien
intelligence eh? I mean THE BORG could do the same on the opposite level and
destroy all humans.
You should be very careful you know - you are in great danger.
THE BORG can not only be extremely nice - nicer than anyone humans ever met
or heard of - but they can be exceptionally nasty. And because all they do ...

"Sir Frederick" fuzzysys.com> wrote in message
news:memsr39ujae6uhrf86rq4gr19c6auijuff@4ax.com...

Incidentally - what happened after your visit by one of THE BORG when you
were headed for the kitchen to make a coffee.
He picked you up - which rather surprised you - but they are about 10ft
tall - and then he said (now this is a true story)
"Would you like to play wibbly wobbly men?"
By this time you did not know what to expect next but decided it sounded like
fun
"Yes - why not?" you said

So the Borg started singing
"I'm wibbly" and the moment he started it was as though you knew the song
"I'm wobbly" you sung with a large insane grin on your face
and you linked arms
"and we wibbly wobbly forever"

On Thu, 21 Feb 2008 21:15:27 -0800, Sir Frederick wrote:

Do not agree. Music is a reflection of structure and order. It is not
imposed by the brain.

I am assuming this person does not nor has not ever played music. I will
also assume anyone who does, or at least anyone who has reached even a
basic level of mastery, would not agree with him on this.

Any musician who can really improvise or jam does not 'think' about what
to play next. They just do it. Even among composers it is common to
remark that they have 'no idea' where the music came from which they had
just put to paper. This is also true for the other arts if not many other
human activities in general.

What is the point of practice if not to be able to act without thought?

On Feb 21, 11:26 pm, "Sean" blah.com.au> wrote:

"Immortalist" yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:a3f41bb6-8e18-4177-ba08-019c81f22bfd@h11g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
On Feb 21, 11:26 pm, "Sean" blah.com.au> wrote: