Besides, Lord Vetinari, the supreme ruler of Ankh-Morpork, rather liked music.
People wondered what sort of music would appeal to such a man. Highly formalized chamber music, possibly, or thunder-and-lightning opera scores.
In fact the kind of music he really liked was the kind that never got played. It ruined music, in his opinion, to torment it by involving it on dried skins, bits of dead cat, and lumps of metal hammered into wires and tubes. It ought to stay written down, on the page, in rows of little dots and crotchets all neatly caught between lines. Only there was it pure. It was when people started doing things with it that the rot set in. Much better to sit quietly in a room and read the sheets, with nothing between yourself and the mind of the composer but a scribble of ink. Having it played by sweaty fat men and people with hair in their ears and spit dribbling out of the end of their oboe… well, the idea made him shudder. Although not much, because he never did anything to extremes.
I am a conductor and pianist with a decent level of absolute pitch who reads sheet music to myself like this all the time, and this description captures the synesthetic experience really well!
The weirdest part in my experience is that it’s easy to listen to an audiobook at the same time because the sections of the brain that process each of those things are totally separate, just how you can listen to music and study at the same time.
it’s easy to listen to an audiobook at the same time
This blows my mind and shows what a different experience this must be, compared to what I was imagining. I suppose you’ve been reading sheet music for a long time now? Almost like a second “language.” Do you enjoy reading sheet music?
Vetinari IRL. From Soul Music by Terry Pratchett:
I am a conductor and pianist with a decent level of absolute pitch who reads sheet music to myself like this all the time, and this description captures the synesthetic experience really well!
The weirdest part in my experience is that it’s easy to listen to an audiobook at the same time because the sections of the brain that process each of those things are totally separate, just how you can listen to music and study at the same time.
This blows my mind and shows what a different experience this must be, compared to what I was imagining. I suppose you’ve been reading sheet music for a long time now? Almost like a second “language.” Do you enjoy reading sheet music?
It’s just about my favorite activity, yeah! Though it’s best when I can play it out on the piano, it’s a lot like playing a rhythm game like OSU.
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