I just found this, after having already posted a bit here and thought I should perhaps also introduce myself.
I've been struck with audiophilia nervosa for at least 50 years, no in fact longer, because as I toddler I loved one of those gramophones with that huge funnel thing and the handle, which continually had to be turned for me. I sat before that thing in wonderment, not unlike that famous dog, well known to all vinyl lovers and I cried with rage, when my elders ran out of gramophone needles. (Early signs of addiction?)
Yes, I am an old wheezer, clocking over eighty now. My hearing ability fluctuates, sometimes I use hearing aids when listening, but thanks to that wonderful brain of ours this is no detriment to my listening pleasure at all. Brain compensates ear and hence also all those great discussions to and fro I have started to enjoy when I was pointed by member DEV to this site.
Speaking of brain and ear, I must confess that I belong to neither the subjectivist nor the objectivist camp. My training and my long working life in clinical psychology and psychotherapy have taught me, that a solid scientific base is an absolute necessity for that kind of work, but also to forget about it, when confronted with a suffering human being. "Ear" to me, has to do with sound and there is enough knowledge around here, expounded by wonderful minds, educated in the sciences, to explain to me how we hear. Science however to me seems to fall short, when I want to know, how exactly does our brain differentiate music from noise and last not least why music in all societies, can have such a huge emotional impact, in fact, if cleverly composed and interpreted, can adroitly exhort any emotional hue in a listener with an open mind to it. This is where the brain (and gut) come in, we so far still know so little about.
Part of your training as a psychotherapist consists in getting to know as thoroughly as possible your prejudices, your general likes and dislikes as well as carefully watching out for and assessing your gut feelings and emotions when confronted with a client. I still try to do the same when I am in audiophile mode, assessing the sound of my system. Here I try as best as I can within my limited abilities, to assess how my system sounds and why and when I hunt for faults and need to remedy them.
In music lover mode now, it is my brain which seems to have some sort of "gestalt" engrained in it as to how an instrument or music per se should sound, probably based on years of frequent exposure to live music (although the sceptic in me is quite sure, that exposure to stereos has muddled this, but pace sceptic for now) and here the subjectivist in me comes in, who will only judge a system as good, if he can forget about the rig and be drawn into the music, riding on the emotions that this particular music may trigger.
So I need both ear and science to understand what is going on, never forgetting that I am sitting in front of machines with their own set of rules and laws, but then my brain in music lover mode comes in and sometimes I am transported into a world of wonderment and joy, transcending all scientific findings.
I need both ear and brain and as in my training and work in younger days, I still feel the need to move freely between both the objective and the subjective worlds as a music lover AND audiophile, but then, I suspect, don't we do this all ?
I've been struck with audiophilia nervosa for at least 50 years, no in fact longer, because as I toddler I loved one of those gramophones with that huge funnel thing and the handle, which continually had to be turned for me. I sat before that thing in wonderment, not unlike that famous dog, well known to all vinyl lovers and I cried with rage, when my elders ran out of gramophone needles. (Early signs of addiction?)
Yes, I am an old wheezer, clocking over eighty now. My hearing ability fluctuates, sometimes I use hearing aids when listening, but thanks to that wonderful brain of ours this is no detriment to my listening pleasure at all. Brain compensates ear and hence also all those great discussions to and fro I have started to enjoy when I was pointed by member DEV to this site.
Speaking of brain and ear, I must confess that I belong to neither the subjectivist nor the objectivist camp. My training and my long working life in clinical psychology and psychotherapy have taught me, that a solid scientific base is an absolute necessity for that kind of work, but also to forget about it, when confronted with a suffering human being. "Ear" to me, has to do with sound and there is enough knowledge around here, expounded by wonderful minds, educated in the sciences, to explain to me how we hear. Science however to me seems to fall short, when I want to know, how exactly does our brain differentiate music from noise and last not least why music in all societies, can have such a huge emotional impact, in fact, if cleverly composed and interpreted, can adroitly exhort any emotional hue in a listener with an open mind to it. This is where the brain (and gut) come in, we so far still know so little about.
Part of your training as a psychotherapist consists in getting to know as thoroughly as possible your prejudices, your general likes and dislikes as well as carefully watching out for and assessing your gut feelings and emotions when confronted with a client. I still try to do the same when I am in audiophile mode, assessing the sound of my system. Here I try as best as I can within my limited abilities, to assess how my system sounds and why and when I hunt for faults and need to remedy them.
In music lover mode now, it is my brain which seems to have some sort of "gestalt" engrained in it as to how an instrument or music per se should sound, probably based on years of frequent exposure to live music (although the sceptic in me is quite sure, that exposure to stereos has muddled this, but pace sceptic for now) and here the subjectivist in me comes in, who will only judge a system as good, if he can forget about the rig and be drawn into the music, riding on the emotions that this particular music may trigger.
So I need both ear and science to understand what is going on, never forgetting that I am sitting in front of machines with their own set of rules and laws, but then my brain in music lover mode comes in and sometimes I am transported into a world of wonderment and joy, transcending all scientific findings.
I need both ear and brain and as in my training and work in younger days, I still feel the need to move freely between both the objective and the subjective worlds as a music lover AND audiophile, but then, I suspect, don't we do this all ?
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