Texture.

One late night, many years ago, I was driving home on a familiar stretch of highway.  I don't remember where I was coming from... probably an obsessive practice session at school, surely something music related, as that is all I did in Minneapolis.  As I drove, I heard the most lovely piece of music on the radio.  It was reminiscent of the second movement of Beethoven 7, which I was not that familiar with at the time.  But it wasn't quite that.  I couldn't put my finger on it.  I reached over to turn up the volume, only to discover that the radio was not actually on. 

It was kind of freaky.

Touch.  Taste.  Why do we describe certain sounds as texture?  I mean, I do, too.  It's not that I disagree.  How is it, though, that our auditory sense feels certain sounds as certain textures, which is inherently tactile, is it not?  But it's visual, too.  I even describe certain smells as texture.  So somehow we all possess a degree of synesthesia.  Which is supposedly reserved for people with "special gifts," and is even considered a syndrome or condition.  But if I say to a student, "What color is this?" in a section of music, they will usually answer with a color.  Why do they recognize this as a valid question without even a blink?

And maybe this is the beginning of understanding the relationship between music and emotions.  Or any of our senses, for that matter.  Our senses make us feel physically, yet in a deeper way, emotionally.  I think in some ways our physical memory is capable of triggering even stronger emotional reactions than our psychological memory.  And I will admit to you, this is, perhaps, the first time I've even considered this concept, though it seems rather obvious.  But what does this say about us?  And does this make us more animal or more human, the supposition that we're even more affected by our physical selves than I thought?

When you walk into a room, and you smell that smell, does it not bring you back to your very own, exacting moment, that maybe didn't seem all that significant at the time, but you could describe in every perfect detail right now?

Here we go, Day 81: https://ia700703.us.archive.org/23/items/Improv11311/11_3_119_21Pm.mp3
and Day 81, Part 2, for kicks: https://ia600703.us.archive.org/24/items/Improv211311/11_3_119_28Pm.mp3

I think I had one too many glasses of wine.  Oops.