Re: musical hallucinations

[Thomas G Brennan <g_brennantg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Over the past years that I've been a piano tuner I've discovered that while
tuning a tempered scale I can sometimes bring musical selections to mind (in an
auditory sense) by changing the speed of the beats of two notes I am tuning.
Both the speed of the beats and the particular notes chosen seem to effect this.
I seem to most often have this happen when tuning thirds and sixths but it does
sometimes happen when tuning fourths and fifths.  I suspect the lower frequency
of halucinations (memories?) of these notes have to do with the slow rate of the
beats used hence the minimal differences between them.  My halucinations tend to
be snatches of classical sounding music but I know of tuners who can trigger
entire pieces this way.  These are often pieces they have never heard.

Tom


Tom Brennan, CCC-A/SLP, RHD
web page http://titan.sfasu.edu/~g_brennantg/sonicpage.html