Does what you see affect what you hear?
I have asked this questions many times after watching a stage production of Oliver at the Theatre Royal in Bath. They had removed the first four rows in the auditorium in order to accommodate the orchestra under the stage .. and we ended up in the front row looking straight at the orchestra. It was the horn player who attracted my attention when they were singing I'd Do Anything. He was playing a wonderful counter-melody that I really picked up on. I reckon that by seeing him play those notes as I was hearing them enabled me to pick out the counter-melody he was playing.
Here's another situation where I reckon that 'seeing' really does affect what you hear.
In March 2020 we had a Challenge to play a song from a piece of music .. Over The Rainbow.
This is the one I played (on my AR80 organ).
I played it in G, with the chords based on the music script below.
If the PDF does not show below, refresh the page. You may have to do this a couple of times.
Or, click the direct LINK to the music, underneath.
http://www.ar-group.org/Files/OverTheRainbow3.pdf
Now, Ron has posted this song in Instrumentals .. nothing to do with the Challenge (he wasn't even aware we had had this as a Challenge in March 2020).
Ron had said:
My arrangement of this old classic Judy Garland song using Alternative Chords which lends itself to a nicer backing.
You can listen to his arrangement using Alternative Chords by clicking the white arrow below:
And I listened to it, but to me it sounded like any other version of this that had been posted. So I asked Ron if he could send me the music with the 'Alternative Chords' he was playing. Which he has done .. below.
If the PDF does not show below, refresh the page. You may have to do this a couple of times.
Or, click the direct LINK to the music, underneath.
http://www.ar-group.org/Files/OverTheRainbow_Ron.pdf
So I have listened to Ron's piece again, with the music score up in front of me, following the written chords as Ron is playing it. And what a difference that makes! I can hear all the harmony being played, as by seeing the written chords in advance I can identify with the sound I am expecting to hear!
Would never have thought that seeing those chords would make such a difference to my appreciation of the music.
Hugh
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