tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2022615131472916654.post4156734096206460903..comments2023-10-07T14:34:06.703+01:00Comments on Horn Thoughts: A bit more on musicalityJonathan Westhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00527063732905729010noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2022615131472916654.post-85497367758686917422009-09-13T19:13:55.398+01:002009-09-13T19:13:55.398+01:00Lyle,
Even though I wrote this in response to a su...Lyle,<br />Even though I wrote this in response to a suggestion from you, don't feel you need to respond to all of it. It's enough that you (and hopefully others) have found it informative and helpful. That's primarily why I'm writing this blog, to try and pass on what I know to others who will find it helpful, particularly things not covered well in music education.Jonathan Westhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00527063732905729010noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2022615131472916654.post-15835322964766671092009-09-12T17:47:43.540+01:002009-09-12T17:47:43.540+01:00Jonathan - You've already given me more to pon...Jonathan - You've already given me more to ponder than I'll be able to get to and post on. It's really a treat for me reading your language on all these issues. It's interactions like this that really help me think and write more clearly about what I'm up to. Thanks.Lyle Sanford, RMThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312150272934828223noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2022615131472916654.post-21259371115719224552009-09-12T15:06:16.125+01:002009-09-12T15:06:16.125+01:00Hi Lyle
Thanks for responding. One thing I didn...Hi Lyle<br />Thanks for responding. One thing I didn't bring out in that last post, but which you as a music therapist are probably aware of, is that ways of expressing emotions (e.g. facial expressions, body posture, tone of voice etc) aren't merely the outward expression of inner emotions, but that there is a complex feedback mechanism between one's physical posture and emotions. Your expression affects your emotion as well as <i>vice versa</i>. <br /><br />And if your expressions unconsciously mimic those of somebody else, and their expression is a reflection of their emotional state, and your emotional state is affected by your own expression picked up from them, it means that there is a chain of events that allows emotions to be communicated directly from person to person.<br /><br />The reason we find it hard to describe all this is that it's like an iceberg, it is mostly out of sight, operating at a level beneath the kind of conscious thought that is communicated using words.<br /><br />I suspect it is for this reason that musicality is not often directly taught - how do you find the words to describe non-verbal modes of thought? Instead, where the teachers are even aware of the issue, they just hope that the pupils will somehow pick it up as they go along.Jonathan Westhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00527063732905729010noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2022615131472916654.post-15651637344176213692009-09-12T13:09:01.035+01:002009-09-12T13:09:01.035+01:00Very nice points. Thanks again. Hope you keep comi...Very nice points. Thanks again. Hope you keep coming back to this subject of musicality. These posts have been very helpful for me because while I've thought about much of what you're saying, using "musicality" as a general descriptor had never occurred to me, and it's very handy and helpful.<br /><br />About the mimicry - I briefly worked with some very young children this summer so they could sing with my group in church. Most were too young to read, so I taught the song by call and response. Visited their Sunday School class a couple of times and made a CD for them that had a track of me rhythmically chanting the lyrics with hand claps. On the recording of the performance was really amazed at how well they picked up on the subtle rhythms and vocal inflections I'd used. The intonation was all over the map, but the rhythm was solid and the words clearly understandable and very expressive. <br /><br />The other thing about the "mimicry" concept is that it's part of what a music therapist does when trying to engage a client in the process of making music. One way to do that is to try to mimic the client's emotional state with the music so as to make a connection, and to then move the music's emotional content in a therapeutic direction.Lyle Sanford, RMThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312150272934828223noreply@blogger.com