----- Original Message ----- From: Stewart McCoy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Lute Net <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: 15 October 2003 00:17 Subject: The cost of lute music
<snip> > "Boone was musical successor to the dichotic phenomenon Blind Tom, > who, though said to be semi-idiotic, repeated the most complex piano > compositions after one hearing, including the mistakes often planted > to trap him." > <snip> > However, bet or no bet, these two pianists do seem to have had a > remarkable aptitude for memorising music at first hearing. > Dear Stewart, I'm not sure "aptitude" is quite the right word. There some people who are usually "autistic" who have phenomenal powers of musical memory, or perform amazing feats of arithmetic, without knowing how they do it (a common sort is the "date calculator", who can immediately tell you what day of the week it was on the 13th November 1765). These poor people are usually very disabled in other ways (they used to be called "idiots savants"), in fact it may be because they are so disabled in other ways that they are able to perform these feats. "Normal" people like you and me may vary enormously in our skill at remembering certain types of things, but there is no way that our mental functioning can be directly compared to these people. Their existence does, however, seem to point to the amazing potential of the human mind. I sometimes wonder if even "normal" people could tap that potential, if only they knew how... Best wishes, Martin
