I can't see tunes, but when I'm listening to a fiddler I can sometimes feel the notes they're playing in my own fingertips as though I was playing the piece myself.
Does that count?
Sara
I used to sit and watch nature shows on TV (with the sound off) while I was learning tunes. But I had to stop because every time I closed my eyes I would see the spider, snake, bird or whatever that was on TV while I was learning that particular tune.
I have a mild case of synesthesia - letters and numbers have permanent, unchangable colors in my mind's eye (I still see them as black on paper). So depending on the key of the tune that I play or recognize when listening, there's a prevalent color. Tunes in G are mostly blue, tunes in A are red, because the letters have those colors. Also, if there are dominant notes in a tune, say alot of C's in a tune in A, then it's a red tune with green spots.
Mind you, it's not the "outward" case you're talking about, the room doesn't go blue when someone starts up the Banshee. It's just the way I remember and perceive tunes in my head.
Jack Gilder wrote: I used to sit and watch nature shows on TV (with the sound off) while I was learning tunes. But I had to stop because every time I closed my eyes I would see the spider, snake, bird or whatever that was on TV while I was learning that particular tune.
------
Hmm. I've often practiced songs or tunes at home with sporting events on the telly (sound down, of course). Maybe that's why I say, "Hey, learning this jig was a slam dunk!" or "Wow, I really struck out on that reel!" But at least I don't start yelling "GOOOOOAAAALLLLLLLLLLLL!" when I do a set of tunes really well.
This is somewhat off the premise of Fatwah's original post, but there are songs and tunes for which I have a particularly strong memory or association.
I always have a soft spot for Jez Lowe's "Durham Gaol" because I learned it about a month after my wife-to-be and I started going out, and I think it may have been the first song we worked out together. And the two of us for years could hardly play "The Silver Spear" with a straight face, because it conjured up the memory of a party in Dublin to which we were invited, with grand promises of a session to beat all sessions -- to find that the only other musician was a quite inebriated piper who apparently really liked "Silver Spear" since he insisted on playing it at least half a dozen different times.
Tunes I've learned recently, meanwhile, may carry with them an image something akin to what Jack wrote. Because of our apartment renovations, we had to move our gerbils into the room where I practice. Sometimes, the critters get very bouncy, and jump up and down and do little backflips in their cages (it's one of the funniest things I've ever seen). If I happen to be playing when they are in this state -- and one could have a whole other discussion on whether my music helps _put_ them in that state -- it's almost as if I have furry little step dancers working with me. "Hamster Dance," indeed.
Does playing jigs to the TV coverage of horses warming up for the show-jumping at the Olympic Games count? If so, I am guilty of that one.
I would love to accompany to a horse and rider competing in freestyle dressage to music - I think it would be so radical instead of taped musac. Horses are totally rhythmic animals, warmblooded metronomes - they walk in 4 time, trot in 2 time, canter in 3 time, gallop in 4 time, and they love music.
Horses and ballet have been successfully combined, I know, so why not horses and ITM? It must have been done before heaps of times.
The only problem is that when I tried to play my fiddle to a stable yard full of horses once, they all went a tad crazy, whirling round their boxes with their eyes popping out of their heads and steam coming out their ears (well, nearly!). Must have been making an ass of myself.
We had a gig in a pub that seemed to have wall-to-wall TVs around the whole place. Our regular Wednesday night gig coincided with a television sports event where small pick-up trucks raced around an arena that had a dirt track consisting of nothing but hills. The trucks would race around constantly flying in the air and colliding with each other. It was nearly impossible to play with any steady rhythm there at all. And even if we closed our eyes, having the spectacle as a backdrop made it difficult for the punters to relax. I'll never understand why the pub had the blasted TVs on when the music is playing to begin with. It's a curse of the modern world.
I'm sorry, but I seem to be the one who strayed from the whole synasthesia thing about this thread. To be a little more relevant, I can offer up the notion that I sometimes can smell the tunes.
My dictionary doesn't have 'synasthesia' in it. It does have 'syn-' but not 'asthesia'. I assume you are talking about other aethetics (is this an English/Aussie spelling?) eminating from the music, in which case, Jack, I was the hijacker - or maybe I can visualise a horse cantering when I play a jig. Even if it is off the thread, I'd still like to accompany a dressage horse in freestyle on my fiddle, I think it would be synaesthetic, giving the music synergetic stimuli: the aroma of a warm relaxed horse, sonorous breathing, muscles rippling, coat gleaming, horse and rider in harmony, athletic, gymnastic, elastic - like the music. What colour should it be? - all the colours of the rainbow - or a halo.
Oh! I do love being on holiday.
Jack, I was going to tell you about the jelly wrestling, cricket, football etc. that regularly featured on the big screen beyond a session I used to attend. Soundless though, and you could look up and laugh and then get back down to it.
Ghost bats find their prey by olfaction being literally "as blind as bats" - and there is definitely a taste in tunes - some in good and some in bad.
Oops! Way way off the mark. So niaive. But what the heck. Can't take it back now. Never knew about such a phenomenon. Neither did my Aussie dictionary either *cheesy grin*.
Well Jan, I either know all about this subject b/c: A. I enjoy partaking in hallucinogenic drugs, B. I was required to know the term for my psychiatric nursing rotation, or C. both.
I have a tune which reminds me of my love, it seems that everytime I play it, I get a message or she phones, its very scary. I play it very often so she'll phone but its started going wrong cos of over playing and so has our relationship. My plan is to re learn the tune and see what happens i'll keep u all posted lol!
seeing a tune
seeing a tune
Who can see tunes? In colour? How steep are the contours of the notes?
I'll go further - taste, smell, feel (I mean *outward* feel - not the internal sensation we all get when we hear a great piece played).
Am I freaking youse? I don't mean to - nor do I mean correlating dots - just seeing a tune for yourself.
# Posted on April 2nd 2004 by Rudall the time
Re: seeing a tune
Session synasthesia? Ooooo......
# Posted on April 2nd 2004 by emily_bmore
Re: seeing a tune
I can't see tunes, but when I'm listening to a fiddler I can sometimes feel the notes they're playing in my own fingertips as though I was playing the piece myself.
Does that count?
Sara
# Posted on April 2nd 2004 by sara g
Re: seeing a tune
I used to sit and watch nature shows on TV (with the sound off) while I was learning tunes. But I had to stop because every time I closed my eyes I would see the spider, snake, bird or whatever that was on TV while I was learning that particular tune.
# Posted on April 2nd 2004 by Phantom Button
Re: seeing a tune
I have a mild case of synesthesia - letters and numbers have permanent, unchangable colors in my mind's eye (I still see them as black on paper). So depending on the key of the tune that I play or recognize when listening, there's a prevalent color. Tunes in G are mostly blue, tunes in A are red, because the letters have those colors. Also, if there are dominant notes in a tune, say alot of C's in a tune in A, then it's a red tune with green spots.
Mind you, it's not the "outward" case you're talking about, the room doesn't go blue when someone starts up the Banshee. It's just the way I remember and perceive tunes in my head.
# Posted on April 2nd 2004 by Bleedin' Heart
Re: seeing a tune
Jack Gilder wrote: I used to sit and watch nature shows on TV (with the sound off) while I was learning tunes. But I had to stop because every time I closed my eyes I would see the spider, snake, bird or whatever that was on TV while I was learning that particular tune.
------
Hmm. I've often practiced songs or tunes at home with sporting events on the telly (sound down, of course). Maybe that's why I say, "Hey, learning this jig was a slam dunk!" or "Wow, I really struck out on that reel!" But at least I don't start yelling "GOOOOOAAAALLLLLLLLLLLL!" when I do a set of tunes really well.
This is somewhat off the premise of Fatwah's original post, but there are songs and tunes for which I have a particularly strong memory or association.
I always have a soft spot for Jez Lowe's "Durham Gaol" because I learned it about a month after my wife-to-be and I started going out, and I think it may have been the first song we worked out together. And the two of us for years could hardly play "The Silver Spear" with a straight face, because it conjured up the memory of a party in Dublin to which we were invited, with grand promises of a session to beat all sessions -- to find that the only other musician was a quite inebriated piper who apparently really liked "Silver Spear" since he insisted on playing it at least half a dozen different times.
Tunes I've learned recently, meanwhile, may carry with them an image something akin to what Jack wrote. Because of our apartment renovations, we had to move our gerbils into the room where I practice. Sometimes, the critters get very bouncy, and jump up and down and do little backflips in their cages (it's one of the funniest things I've ever seen). If I happen to be playing when they are in this state -- and one could have a whole other discussion on whether my music helps _put_ them in that state -- it's almost as if I have furry little step dancers working with me. "Hamster Dance," indeed.
# Posted on April 2nd 2004 by sts
Re: seeing a tune
What's wrong with your ears?
# Posted on April 3rd 2004 by ...
Re: seeing a tune
Sometimes I see tunes in red, white and blue when I'm doing gigs At Ibrox, and sometimes I see them in green, white and gold when I play at Parkhead.
Ask Danny aboot Ibrox and Parkhead, coz he started the joke!
Jim
# Posted on April 3rd 2004 by Worldfiddler
Re: seeing a tune
...and don't watch cheesy kids' anime shows while you're practicing with the sound off. Makes your hornpipes go all funny.
# Posted on April 3rd 2004 by Gzeg
Re: seeing a tune
Does playing jigs to the TV coverage of horses warming up for the show-jumping at the Olympic Games count? If so, I am guilty of that one.
I would love to accompany to a horse and rider competing in freestyle dressage to music - I think it would be so radical instead of taped musac. Horses are totally rhythmic animals, warmblooded metronomes - they walk in 4 time, trot in 2 time, canter in 3 time, gallop in 4 time, and they love music.
Horses and ballet have been successfully combined, I know, so why not horses and ITM? It must have been done before heaps of times.
The only problem is that when I tried to play my fiddle to a stable yard full of horses once, they all went a tad crazy, whirling round their boxes with their eyes popping out of their heads and steam coming out their ears (well, nearly!). Must have been making an ass of myself.
# Posted on April 4th 2004 by Clear Drops
Re: seeing a tune
We had a gig in a pub that seemed to have wall-to-wall TVs around the whole place. Our regular Wednesday night gig coincided with a television sports event where small pick-up trucks raced around an arena that had a dirt track consisting of nothing but hills. The trucks would race around constantly flying in the air and colliding with each other. It was nearly impossible to play with any steady rhythm there at all. And even if we closed our eyes, having the spectacle as a backdrop made it difficult for the punters to relax. I'll never understand why the pub had the blasted TVs on when the music is playing to begin with. It's a curse of the modern world.
# Posted on April 4th 2004 by Phantom Button
I think I hijacked this topic... sorry
I'm sorry, but I seem to be the one who strayed from the whole synasthesia thing about this thread. To be a little more relevant, I can offer up the notion that I sometimes can smell the tunes.
# Posted on April 4th 2004 by Phantom Button
Re: seeing a tune
Sometimes I think I smell the Guinness when playing a tune in a session. Does that mean it really is an authentic traditional Irish tune?
Trevor
# Posted on April 4th 2004 by Trevor Jennings
Re: seeing a tune
What, Jack, like when they stink, you mean? *grin*
# Posted on April 4th 2004 by Zina Lee
Re: seeing a tune
My dictionary doesn't have 'synasthesia' in it. It does have 'syn-' but not 'asthesia'. I assume you are talking about other aethetics (is this an English/Aussie spelling?) eminating from the music, in which case, Jack, I was the hijacker - or maybe I can visualise a horse cantering when I play a jig. Even if it is off the thread, I'd still like to accompany a dressage horse in freestyle on my fiddle, I think it would be synaesthetic, giving the music synergetic stimuli: the aroma of a warm relaxed horse, sonorous breathing, muscles rippling, coat gleaming, horse and rider in harmony, athletic, gymnastic, elastic - like the music. What colour should it be? - all the colours of the rainbow - or a halo.
# Posted on April 4th 2004 by Clear Drops
Re: seeing a tune
Thanks for offering to be the fall guy, Jan, but I think I hijacked this thread by the fourth reply. BTW, does anyone ever taste the tunes?
# Posted on April 4th 2004 by Phantom Button
Re: seeing a tune
Oh! I do love being on holiday.
Jack, I was going to tell you about the jelly wrestling, cricket, football etc. that regularly featured on the big screen beyond a session I used to attend. Soundless though, and you could look up and laugh and then get back down to it.
Ghost bats find their prey by olfaction being literally "as blind as bats" - and there is definitely a taste in tunes - some in good and some in bad.
# Posted on April 4th 2004 by Clear Drops
Re: seeing a tune
Yep - I can definitely smell something round here.
;o)
Dave
# Posted on April 4th 2004 by showaddydadito
Re: seeing a tune
I don't know about the tunes but Michael Gill makes me see red. Does he ever take a day off from being a total plonker?
Cath
# Posted on April 4th 2004 by Cath
Re: seeing a tune
Some very "colourful" language, there, Cath.
# Posted on April 4th 2004 by Johnny Jay
Re: seeing a tune
Oh no . . . someone's said it.
# Posted on April 4th 2004 by showaddydadito
Re: seeing a tune
It's all gone very quiet.....
# Posted on April 5th 2004 by showaddydadito
Re: seeing a tune
Yes Dave, I think it's time now to creep out for a nice long walk ...
Trevor
# Posted on April 5th 2004 by Trevor Jennings
Re: seeing a tune
It depends on whether I'm drinking gin.
# Posted on April 5th 2004 by Romkey
Re: seeing a tune
synaesthesia.... a very desired effect of hallucinogenic drugs like LSD or Ecstasy...... there's lots on the web, here's one link of many.
http://www.macalester.edu/~psych/whathap/UBNRP/synesthesia/intro.html
# Posted on April 5th 2004 by emily_bmore
Re: seeing a tune
Oops! Way way off the mark. So niaive. But what the heck. Can't take it back now. Never knew about such a phenomenon. Neither did my Aussie dictionary either *cheesy grin*.
# Posted on April 5th 2004 by Clear Drops
Re: seeing a tune
Well Jan, I either know all about this subject b/c: A. I enjoy partaking in hallucinogenic drugs, B. I was required to know the term for my psychiatric nursing rotation, or C. both.
# Posted on April 5th 2004 by emily_bmore
Re: seeing a tune
**inserts ominous music**
# Posted on April 5th 2004 by Pádraig
Re: seeing a tune
Ooo I'm seeing flashes of violet... must be in the key of Bflat minor... ;)
# Posted on April 5th 2004 by emily_bmore
Re: seeing a tune
Anyone have the ABCs for that slow reel, "Inna Godda Dovida"
Note to Jeremy: I would've posted this in the tune request section, but I'm just takin the piss.
# Posted on April 5th 2004 by Phantom Button
Re: seeing a tune
I miss Danny. Remember him?
# Posted on April 6th 2004 by showaddydadito
Re: seeing a tune
Yeah, what happened to Danny? - I think I must have missed an episode
# Posted on April 6th 2004 by Q
Re: seeing a tune
Q, he's transmogrified into Fatwah.
Trevor
# Posted on April 6th 2004 by Trevor Jennings
Re: seeing a tune
Ate too many pies eh?
# Posted on April 6th 2004 by showaddydadito
Re: seeing a tune
I miss Treabhar MacSheonin too. This fiddly ken guy just isn't as good.
# Posted on April 6th 2004 by showaddydadito
Re: seeing a tune
But why, Danny, why?
# Posted on April 6th 2004 by Q
Re: seeing a tune
Gave up trying to spell Trehabe .... whatever it was
Trevor
# Posted on April 6th 2004 by Trevor Jennings
Re: seeing a tune
Wonder if Danny had the same problem, which could be why he became Fatwah
Trevor
# Posted on April 6th 2004 by Trevor Jennings
Re: seeing a tune
LOL @ ate too many pies.... I love youse guys! Even you trebhmhvermaschooiennieeninnn
# Posted on April 7th 2004 by emily_bmore
Re: seeing a tune
I have a tune which reminds me of my love, it seems that everytime I play it, I get a message or she phones, its very scary. I play it very often so she'll phone but its started going wrong cos of over playing and so has our relationship. My plan is to re learn the tune and see what happens i'll keep u all posted lol!
Andy Sheehan
# Posted on April 18th 2004 by andrewtaylor27