John H. Dicus wrote:
>
> Dear Ray,
>
> I have been looking for something -- and reading your postings top the LO
> list, I thought you might be able to help.
>
> I do not know how to refer to the phenomena other than to describe it. It
> has to do with the brain's ability to combine audio signals from each ear
> into a composite that seems to bear little resemblance to either of the two
> independent signals. I heard it demonstrated once. The left ear signal, a
> type of musical progression, was played. It sounded somewhat choppy and
> discontinuous. The same was done for the right ear. But when both were
> heard together -- and I don't mean broadcast into the room simultaneously --
> rather one progression was heard only by the left ear while the other
> progression was heard only by the right -- the result sounded radically
> different and surprisingly unexpected.
>
> I'm trying to locate some more information on this phenomena, and possibly
> find an actual example for demonstration.
John,
The connections you describe are a part of my work but I was taught them
at Tulsa University in the sixties. We did a lot of experiments in order
to solve specific problems. This work was done prior to the right and
left brain structure that it has assumed in the present literature.
In music pedagogy I work with left and right dominance which creates a
different perception in the eye, the hand, the vocal cord, the foot, the
ear and even on separate sections of the tongue. The goal is, through
separation of the perceptions, to arrive at a symmetricality. When I
described my work, several years ago, to a group of neurologists, they
said that it was beyond what they knew or had read about.
I work with it practically and use the work of the great Somaticists, like
Feldenkrais, Alexander, Gindler and my teachers Elaine Summers and Ilana
Rubenfeld to give me a theoretical basis for a diagnosis and growth
procedure. I suspect that the writings of Karl Pribram, David
Krahenbuehl, John A. Sloboda and Rita Aiello would be a place for you to
begin. Paula Washington has done a wonderful study on brain waves and
perception but it is available only through New York University Ph.D.
Dissertations. Aiello states in her book "Musical Perceptions" (Oxford)
1994 that: "Given the complexity and the richness of the musical stimulus,
listening implies choosing which elements to attend to." Since the ears
access different parts of the brain, it would make sense that each part
would analyze the sound in a different manner. I cannot however prove
this except with personal anecdotal evidence.
For the singer it is important that one cord balance the other in the act
of vocal production. Organizing the hearing as well as the seeing is one
of the ways that we use to assure that balance. On an interest level,
this can be extended even to the feet. We use a slow spinning to access
the different functions. Turn to the left you get one perception and one
sound from the singer. Turn to the right and you get another. As the
singer advances, this cordal differentiation has to be integrated or they
will never be able to function on stage. You do the same with the eyes by
covering one eye and then the other. At first the perceptions are
distinctly different,i.e., size of objects, light and darkness etc. but
as you work with it they begin to integrate until both eyes are
individually seeing the same thing. In Gestalt therapy we use this as a
feedback device for the client to monitor their inner state by how they
choose to see the external. The initial NLP books also had information
about the various eye states. I know of no similar work with hearing but
I would be surprised if it hasn't been done.
I am sending this to the list, because there are other list members who
work with the voice. My work is very stage oriented,i.e., the theory is
bent to the practical. Perhaps someone else would be more current with
the literature on this than I. If anyone responds I would appreciate a
copy so that I too can get caught up on the latest.
Here are the books that I have in my library that might relate to your
study:
"Musical Perceptions" edited by Rita Aiello with John A. Sloboda, Oxford
1994
"The Musical Mind" John A. Sloboda, Oxford Science 1985
"Music and Discourse, Toward a Semiology of Music" Jean-Jacques Nattiez
trans. Carolyn Abbate; Princeton, 1990
"An Electroencephalographic Study of Musical Performance" Paula
Washington, Ph.D. Thesus 1993 New York University
There are excellent Bibliographies in these books; as for the NLP there
are people on this list who are experts in that and could give you advice.
Regards
Ray Evans Harrell, artistic director
The Magic Circle Chamber Opera of New York, Inc.
mcore@idt.net
--Ray Evans Harrell <mcore@IDT.NET>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>