source file: mills2.txt
Date: Mon, 2 Oct 1995 21:57:31 -0700

Subject: Psychoacoustics

From: Gary Morrison <71670.2576@compuserve.com>

I finally got a chance to read some of Brian's postings on psychoacoustics.
I have a comment that some of you might agree or disagree with.  

   Brian made a strong point that how people hear pitches is critical to
composition, and xenharmonic composition more than traditional.  I certainly
agree that, even if it were a boring topic, psychoacoustics can provide valuable
insights for people like us.  I never would have imagined myself writing
anything to detract from that premise.  

   But uh...  I guess here I am.  

   I recall a conversation I once had with a LaRouchie (and I'm not for a
bananasecond implying that Brian is a LaRouchie!), who was trying to convince me
that hearing was "a complex electromagnetic process".  She cited as evidence,
that individual air molecules in a soundwave move far greater distances than the
surface of the ear drums they excite.  I just had a heck of a time trying to
convince her that everything about the transmission of sound to the ear drum can
be accounted for quite well by macroscopic measures like air pressure.  

   So although applying quantum mechanics to explain the motions of galaxies may
be useful in locating and proving a superunified field theory, we need to be
cautious about getting too bogged down in the microscopic details of
neurophysiology for practical matters such as composition.  

   Ultimately all that matters is, "how does it sound".  And I think it's only a
slight oversimplification to say that what sounds like "X" to the composer,
within reasonable limits, will sound "X" to an audience.  At some level of
detail you have to ask yourself whether knowing the exact neurophysiological
reasons WHY it sounds like "X" really matters all that much.  

   I'm certainly not disputing that there are compositionally valuable insights
to be gained from mathematically modeling sound perception.  Bill Sethares'
timbre mapping concepts strike me as an excellent example of this.  Still,
sometimes forests are more meaningful than the vein structures of the individual
leaves of the individual trees.  


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