i am in the process of fighting a nasty infection in my left ear. I had a bit of a scare the other day when I plucked my fiddle strings and wondered how in the world my instrument had gone so utterly out of tune...only to test the strings against an electronic tuner and find that the fiddle was fine, and it was my ear that was -way- off. Things have improved somewhat on that front, fortunately, but there has been an interesting development: as of this writing, it appears that the resonant frequency of the goo in my ear is G. When I play a G (any octave, but especially the open G), it HURTS. A slightly sharp or flat G? Just fine. I wonder if this can be generalized, and if people can learn to tune by ear by having their eustachian tubes filled with substances of various densities and viscosities, each resonating with a different note. Imagine the possibilities!
But I digress. I expect that as I recover, the physical properties of the fluid in my ear will change and that I may even be able to use my fiddle to track my recovery. In the meantime, though, those G's are wicked painful. So: what are everyone's favourite A major tunes?
TDM, take care of yourself. Ears are really badly designed and some infections (as I know from personal experience) can get in and strip out some of the nerves in your cochlea. I hope that doesn't happen to you but if you get dizziness, get some expert assessment from a specialist.
First and most important - hope you get better soon.
Your comments however made me think about synaesthesia - a condition that really fascinates me - wonder whether other people have come across it or even know anyone with it?
I have it a little bit, Ian. I certainly associate keys with colours, and occasionally actually see the colour involved. For instance, A major is decidedly yellow. It really shouldn't make any difference if you transpose a tune out of its original key ... but somehow it does.
You have my sympathy and empathy - I'm fighting a nasty infection in my right ear at the moment. In addition to oral antibiotics the doc gave me some antibiotic ear drops yesterday which promptly blocked my ear completely. I'm in a right state with it, I can tell you. Do we have a "dominant ear" like we have a dominant eye? My right ear is the only one that ever feels right when I'm using the telephone, though my other ear works perfectly well. I'm finding it uncomfortable to listen to music at all today.
Thanks all. Today I just have a ringing sound in my left ear, a bit of loosening fluid, and no pain. So....an improvement, I guess?
Unfortunately, I have plenty of experience with ear infections; I got them 3-5 times per year from infancy until age 6, by which point I'd developed partial or complete immunities to all available antibiotics and was starting to lose my hearing. I had surgery, my hearing emerged just fine, and the frequency of the infections dropped off, though I still got some. This last one, was a doozy, sending me to the ER begging for mercy. I was dispatched with antibiotics and painkillers; a few hours later, my eardrum ruptured, and the pain eased.
Yesterday I went to the non-ER doctor, who put the fear of God in me. He gave me a through, technical rundown of what it is that makes me in particular so prone to ear infections and so bad at fighting them when they do occur. He said that if I do everything right to fight this infection, I'm merely at "significant risk" of permanent hearing loss. If I put any additional stress on my immune system, the infection (already healing slowly) will worsen, and it's practically a sure bet I'll lose hearing. So yeah, you can bet I'm taking care of myself. Not only am I working from home, I'm not going outside. I'm not even opening windows, as even that resulting difference in air pressure can put serious stress on the involved tissues. And hmm, it's time for another pill (this is the one to take with food, so I'd better eat...)...
Re synesthesia - I know someone who has it. Associates musical notes with colours and numbers. She told me the other week, definitively, that a particular shade of purple was the number 4. I think it was also an E, but I don't remember. I also remember reading that while synesthetes disagree on what notes, letters and colours correlate, there's almost universal agreement that A is red.
Wow - you have been through the wars. The bursting eardrum you mention may have saved your hearing on that occasion - but there's so much stuff that's near / affected by the ears. Good luck for a quick and complete recovery.
Hope you and Steve Shaw recover well and fast, good thoughts your way. I had forgotten there was a name, "synesthesia", for what helped me identify notes/chords ( each had its own color) in music classes. I felt like I was cheating because I could get the note/chord right most all of the time, especially when I didn't doubt myself. For me, the instrument used to produce the note makes a difference. So do some people find colors musical? Interesting thread.
My synesthesia is a positive help in identifying keys - it works a treat for me. D is a rich dark brown or sometimes red, Em is purple, Bm is a blue, Dm is a bright green, D dorian is a darker green, Am is a beige and G is a bright yellow, which is why the local English session can be "bright yellow all night".
Interestingly enough, the D on my bouzouki (A string 5th fret) is a fantastic, bright blue-white a bit like looking at a bright star on a clear night.
I'm feeling quite lefty out for *not* being synaesthetic...
Does major scales being fat and minor scales being skinny count?
Apparently, most people have a bit of it left (the theory goes that most people lose it soon after birth as the senses disentangle). But if I described two shapes, one blobby and one spiky - one called Kiki and one called Bubba, which would be which?
I got the same fright about my ear 1 1/2 year ago after swimming in a pool that might not have been good to my ear.
I could not hear much, and sound got distorted on that ear.
It turned out the real reason was a gigantic wax buildup in the ear that had trapped water inside.
After this incident I try to make sure to flush ears regularly; there are special devices to squeeze water inside, but a used ketchup squeeze-bottle (rinsed & filled with water) will do the trick.
Music, health, and applied physics
Music, health, and applied physics
i am in the process of fighting a nasty infection in my left ear. I had a bit of a scare the other day when I plucked my fiddle strings and wondered how in the world my instrument had gone so utterly out of tune...only to test the strings against an electronic tuner and find that the fiddle was fine, and it was my ear that was -way- off. Things have improved somewhat on that front, fortunately, but there has been an interesting development: as of this writing, it appears that the resonant frequency of the goo in my ear is G. When I play a G (any octave, but especially the open G), it HURTS. A slightly sharp or flat G? Just fine. I wonder if this can be generalized, and if people can learn to tune by ear by having their eustachian tubes filled with substances of various densities and viscosities, each resonating with a different note. Imagine the possibilities!
But I digress. I expect that as I recover, the physical properties of the fluid in my ear will change and that I may even be able to use my fiddle to track my recovery. In the meantime, though, those G's are wicked painful. So: what are everyone's favourite A major tunes?
# Posted on January 12th 2011 by Tall, Dark, and Mysterious
Re: Music, health, and applied physics
Hope you're better soon!
Here's a good one
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/230
# Posted on January 12th 2011 by airport
Re: Music, health, and applied physics
... or you could just tune up to Eb
# Posted on January 12th 2011 by Hup
Re: Music, health, and applied physics
TDM, take care of yourself. Ears are really badly designed and some infections (as I know from personal experience) can get in and strip out some of the nerves in your cochlea. I hope that doesn't happen to you but if you get dizziness, get some expert assessment from a specialist.
# Posted on January 12th 2011 by Mark Harmer
Re: Music, health, and applied physics
First and most important - hope you get better soon.
Your comments however made me think about synaesthesia - a condition that really fascinates me - wonder whether other people have come across it or even know anyone with it?
http://www.uksynaesthesia.com/
I cover it in school, and once managed to identify a student who had it without having realised.
# Posted on January 12th 2011 by ian stock
Re: Music, health, and applied physics
I have a friend who has synaesthesia... she sees colors associated with spoken words. Apparently she sees yellow with my name!
# Posted on January 12th 2011 by fiddletreegypsy
Re: Music, health, and applied physics
I have it a little bit, Ian. I certainly associate keys with colours, and occasionally actually see the colour involved. For instance, A major is decidedly yellow. It really shouldn't make any difference if you transpose a tune out of its original key ... but somehow it does.
# Posted on January 12th 2011 by ethical blend
Re: Music, health, and applied physics
I hear music when I write. Feels like a definite asset - although I don't know what it feels like not to hear music when I write. Interesting stuff
# Posted on January 12th 2011 by oriley
Re: Music, health, and applied physics
Apparently the composer Scriabin had it - to the extent that he ascribed different colours to each note and 'painted' his compositions.
# Posted on January 12th 2011 by ian stock
Re: Music, health, and applied physics
You have my sympathy and empathy - I'm fighting a nasty infection in my right ear at the moment. In addition to oral antibiotics the doc gave me some antibiotic ear drops yesterday which promptly blocked my ear completely. I'm in a right state with it, I can tell you. Do we have a "dominant ear" like we have a dominant eye? My right ear is the only one that ever feels right when I'm using the telephone, though my other ear works perfectly well. I'm finding it uncomfortable to listen to music at all today.
# Posted on January 12th 2011 by Steve Shaw
Re: Music, health, and applied physics
Hang in there TD&M, sounds rough!
Try Peter Street in A, great tune and sweet on the fiddle!
# Posted on January 12th 2011 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: Music, health, and applied physics
Thanks all. Today I just have a ringing sound in my left ear, a bit of loosening fluid, and no pain. So....an improvement, I guess?
Unfortunately, I have plenty of experience with ear infections; I got them 3-5 times per year from infancy until age 6, by which point I'd developed partial or complete immunities to all available antibiotics and was starting to lose my hearing. I had surgery, my hearing emerged just fine, and the frequency of the infections dropped off, though I still got some. This last one, was a doozy, sending me to the ER begging for mercy. I was dispatched with antibiotics and painkillers; a few hours later, my eardrum ruptured, and the pain eased.
Yesterday I went to the non-ER doctor, who put the fear of God in me. He gave me a through, technical rundown of what it is that makes me in particular so prone to ear infections and so bad at fighting them when they do occur. He said that if I do everything right to fight this infection, I'm merely at "significant risk" of permanent hearing loss. If I put any additional stress on my immune system, the infection (already healing slowly) will worsen, and it's practically a sure bet I'll lose hearing. So yeah, you can bet I'm taking care of myself. Not only am I working from home, I'm not going outside. I'm not even opening windows, as even that resulting difference in air pressure can put serious stress on the involved tissues. And hmm, it's time for another pill (this is the one to take with food, so I'd better eat...)...
Re synesthesia - I know someone who has it. Associates musical notes with colours and numbers. She told me the other week, definitively, that a particular shade of purple was the number 4. I think it was also an E, but I don't remember. I also remember reading that while synesthetes disagree on what notes, letters and colours correlate, there's almost universal agreement that A is red.
# Posted on January 12th 2011 by Tall, Dark, and Mysterious
Re: Music, health, and applied physics
Yes, A is definitely red!
# Posted on January 12th 2011 by Earl Cameron
Re: Music, health, and applied physics
I had once an ear infection like that, but mine was in E.
# Posted on January 12th 2011 by Gallowglass
Re: Music, health, and applied physics
Wow - you have been through the wars. The bursting eardrum you mention may have saved your hearing on that occasion - but there's so much stuff that's near / affected by the ears. Good luck for a quick and complete recovery.
# Posted on January 13th 2011 by Mark Harmer
Re: Music, health, and applied physics
Hope you and Steve Shaw recover well and fast, good thoughts your way. I had forgotten there was a name, "synesthesia", for what helped me identify notes/chords ( each had its own color) in music classes. I felt like I was cheating because I could get the note/chord right most all of the time, especially when I didn't doubt myself. For me, the instrument used to produce the note makes a difference. So do some people find colors musical? Interesting thread.
# Posted on January 13th 2011 by janmarie
Re: Music, health, and applied physics
My synesthesia is a positive help in identifying keys - it works a treat for me. D is a rich dark brown or sometimes red, Em is purple, Bm is a blue, Dm is a bright green, D dorian is a darker green, Am is a beige and G is a bright yellow, which is why the local English session can be "bright yellow all night".
Interestingly enough, the D on my bouzouki (A string 5th fret) is a fantastic, bright blue-white a bit like looking at a bright star on a clear night.
# Posted on January 13th 2011 by Sugarfoot Jack
Re: Music, health, and applied physics
I'm feeling quite lefty out for *not* being synaesthetic...
Does major scales being fat and minor scales being skinny count?
Apparently, most people have a bit of it left (the theory goes that most people lose it soon after birth as the senses disentangle). But if I described two shapes, one blobby and one spiky - one called Kiki and one called Bubba, which would be which?
# Posted on January 13th 2011 by ian stock
Re: Music, health, and applied physics
Bubba is a genial deputy marshall in Tucson.
Kiki is a no-nonsense dominatrix in Stockholm.
# Posted on January 13th 2011 by oldstrings
Re: Music, health, and applied physics
"Does major scales being fat and minor scales being skinny count?"
For me, they're the other way around.
# Posted on January 13th 2011 by Jon Kiparsky
Re: Music, health, and applied physics
I got the same fright about my ear 1 1/2 year ago after swimming in a pool that might not have been good to my ear.
I could not hear much, and sound got distorted on that ear.
It turned out the real reason was a gigantic wax buildup in the ear that had trapped water inside.
After this incident I try to make sure to flush ears regularly; there are special devices to squeeze water inside, but a used ketchup squeeze-bottle (rinsed & filled with water) will do the trick.
# Posted on January 14th 2011 by FiddleTramp