I am going to go full scientific on this one and you should treat that as a warning for yourself if you think you cannot handle technicalities. At the same time, you will notice that you already handle a lot of complex technicalities and that experience, more often than not, is a joyful one! Wait, what? Yes, we are talking about music. Do you notice the previous sentence where it is written ‘we are talking’? Even while reading this, your brain is interacting as if this is a conversation. That is how language works. If I write, “The processing of linguistic syntax takes place in Broca’s area in left inferior frontal cortex of the brain”, you may not like it. What you will like though, is that when you listen to music, this area has been observed to be active! Broca’s area is also know sometimes as the classic language area.
Thus, one may say that music is like language…
One may not be entirely wrong when one may say that. Building on that, one may also say that when one is listening to music, they might just be having a conversation with the musician. Mind not blown yet? Damn… Work harder Amod…
So let us talk about musicians talking about their influences. You may hear Steven Wilson saying his music is influenced by that of Pink Floyd or King Crimson etc. So what does it mean? Is he copying those musicians or is he making an extended version of their music using the current technology or what? Maybe the answer is more complex and yet simpler than that. Here is how music (a small part of it actually) works. In most normal ears, there is an inner part (which unimaginatively is called the inner ear) that contains the Basilar Membrane.
For the sake of simplicity, consider this as a piano on which the lowest key is at 20 Hz, the highest key is at 20,000 Hz and there is a key for each frequency in between (19980 keys). Now each frequency on the Basilar Membrane has a ‘critical bandwidth’. The brain does not like if two frequencies whose critical bandwidths intersect when they are being played together.
The brain loves when two frequencies fall out of each other’s critical bandwidths! This phenomenon is called Consonance. Simply put, the brain can identify these two frequencies as completely distinct and that is why it loves them. So when a chord is played, the brain loves it so much that we may feel goosebumps! Look at how insignificant your experience of ultimate joy when listening to music is :P Point is, this is how the ‘musical language’ works. And as is the case with any other language, you may like using certain words that usually are influenced by a certain philosophy, you will like certain kinds of music and the philosophy behind it and those become your musical influences! I was jamming with my college seniors while we were preparing for a performance. We had to come up with a composition to perform on stage and they did not have a drummer friend available, so I was called. I was a complete novice as compared to them and that is why they keyboardist looked at me as I was sitting on the ‘throne’ of our college drum kit and with a stern expression said, “You dare not repeat a beat or else…” In those times, the senior-junior dynamic of our college was, well, interesting so to speak and I had no choice other than bring in variations every 4 bars! That was also the sort of music he used to listen to and what we were composing. I kept on playing and I loved the whole exploration philosophy! That guy was one of the influencers for my music. I fell in love with the exploration philosophy after that incident. Similarly, many people who I came in contact with have influenced my music. A senior of mine introduced me to odd beats and progressive rock music which sort of has a philosophy of questioning the system and putting in place a different system (at least that is what I take from it). My Master’s Thesis guide and one of my favourite professors at the Technical University of Denmark, Jeremy Marozeau has influenced my music a lot. He loves collecting different musical instruments and had absolutely zero judgement towards any musical form. This zero-judgement philosophy is also something I fell in love with which has prompted me to explore electronic and psytrance music which I used to absolutely hate.
Music as a language is such a beautiful thing, and even without being aware about these complexities, we enjoy it so much.
And yet your mind is not blown!? What the hell do I need to do?
Do you know that the hair cells responsible for passing information from the Basilar Membrane to the auditory nerve can have permanent damage? Long exposures to extreme noise levels can cause permanent hearing loss. Those who go through this (many people above the age of 50) can experience how different the worlds with clear audio and without clear audio are. But there is a section of people who have not and will not ever be able to experience a world with clear audio. Sometimes new-borns need cochlear implants to be able to hear. Simply put, it is an electronic Basilar Membrane created by humans that goes in the inner ear of these new-borns.
It in essence bypasses the human ear to send signals directly to the brain. Needless to say, it has its limitations. For example, we discussed how the Basilar Membrane (in simple terms) can be compared to a piano having 19980 keys. It can be said the cochlear implants (in simple terms) have 22 to 24 such keys. Yep, that’s about it. Although it is a miracle in itself that we have created an electronic human ear, in no way have we matched the sophistication of the actual biological ear that most of us just have and which we take so much for granted. But wait, what is really the difference between having 24 keys (electrodes in the cochlear implant) and having 19980 keys?
Well, here is what it may sound like –
Here’s what was actually said in that simulation –
Those having cochlear implants need to train their brains differently to recognize speech. Have you ever thought how we learned speaking? Well, by listening! Imagine how it will be for those who can listen within such limits to learn how to speak?
Even if your mind is now blown by this, please don’t blow your ears.
It is indeed a precious gift.
*this blog has been published by the author in Mehfil - a Magazine of Literature and Art and on his LinkedIn profile
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