The Nature of Sound

            Pitch and rhythm are essentially the same thing.  Sound does not exist!  Just air moving!  The Paradox can be restated:  To experience music, one must not know anything about it’s complexity.  And yet the only way to realize the importance of ignorance is to devote your life to its study.

            Air oscillating, breathing back and forth hundreds of times per second.  Sound does not exist!  There is no slinky shooting through the air delivering sweet violin notes to your ears.  Just air that moves slightly – much less than a millimeter, and that displaced air pushes the nearby air which crashes around and the dominos all fall down until the air gets pushed into your ear, where the air rubs up against fancy hairs and the next you know your brain is looking.

            Of course, we can perceive vibrations with much more depth and clarity than we can perceive light bouncing around the room.  Our eyes are dull butter knives next to the razor sharp katanas that slice and capture every nuance and irregularity in simple bouncy air.   

~ by zimmermusic on May 13, 2008.