Musicianship (was RE: I'm going to write an Anziowin/scanning interface for filePro...)

[John Esak]

Oh yes, I was just kidding about the left brain right brain thing... I know
the two hemispheres are quite, quite separate, but assigning one to artistic
and one to logical/scientific is kind of counter productive in understanding
the brain.  I will read your suggestions.  The last spurt I did on reading
about the latest progress in brain science and understanding finished with a
book on the brain by the guy who invented the Palm Trio phone, and Grafiti
and all that. My brain isn't working correctly just now, can't remember hiss
damn name... Or title of the book. (Jeff something, about Intelligence...)
But, it was very, very good... So I took the trouble to contact the guy via
email. After about 4 or 5 exchanges, it was *clear* and I mean clear that
the guy was and is a complete asshole... Sorry not even putting any
asterisks in a*sh*le on this one. He doesn't deserve them. He deserves the
whole word.  To write such an insightful book and then be such a jerk...
Very, very difficult to understand. I guess money, *does* corrupt one beyond
fixing! :-)  Still, his basic idea in the book was amazing... And a little
fantastic, but it has gained some respectability.  Especially, because he
was able to form an Institute to back him up on it... :-)  he says that the
pattern recognition you are talking about filters down through the layers of
the brain irrespective of what it actually is... A sound, a visual picture,
a taste. The same algorythm which deciphers one deciphers all of them.
Irrespective of the input channels, optic nerve, ear canal, etc, taste buds.
Even though there are general areas assumed to do certain things, like the
video cortex... He posits that the video cortex would process a taste in the
exact same manner. Obviously, I can't duplicate his  logic from memory and
in a couple sentences, but his book is on Audible.com, and Amazon.com... And
all you have to do is find out who designed the Trio to get to it. Worth the
read. Much more detailed and specific than Three Pound Universe or the like.
Basically, he tears apart the whole AI push, since they are not
understanding the basic architecture of the brain, they will not ever get to
what they want. :-) After I determined this guy was a jerk, I re-read the
book. Some parts of it do make great sense, some of his analysis is not
correct in my opinion though.  Sort of like being able to bat, but not
pitch, or vidce versa. The guy himself has problems laying out cogent
distilations of what his ideas really may mean.

John

P.S. - "On Intelligence" - Jeff hawkins

Hey, and while I was looking this up, I bought "this Is Your Brain On
Music"!  Thanks...

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bob Rasmussen [mailto:ras at anzio.com] 
> Sent: Saturday, September 18, 2010 12:37 PM
> To: John Esak
> Cc: filepro-list at lists.celestial.com
> Subject: Musicianship (was RE: I'm going to write an 
> Anziowin/scanning interface for filePro...)
> 
> Hi John,
> 
> Corrections noted.
> 
> I am moderately good at sight reading piano music, especially 
> if it's in a 
> style I'm familiar with. I can do pop stuff easily, show tunes with a 
> little more difficulty, and classical stuff poorly. 
> 
> I do think a lot of it has to do with different parts of the brain, 
> although I believe the right/left divide is now widely 
> recognized as a 
> vast oversimplification. I've been reading a lot on brain 
> science lately, 
> and it's faschinating stuff. If you haven't read "This is 
> Your Brain on 
> Music", read it (or listen to an audiobook if there is one). 
> Another good 
> one is "How We Decide".
> 
> Anyway, I think sight reading has a lot to do with pattern 
> recognition. I 
> remember years ago scientists (and programmers at IBM) 
> studied how chess 
> grand masters did it. They found that they weren't looking at 
> individual 
> chess pieces, they were looking at patterns on the board, and 
> correlating 
> those with other patterns.
> 
> It turns out our brain has a section that is really good at pattern 
> recognition, quite separate from the part that does rational 
> thought. When 
> a rational thought just "doesn't seem right", these two parts 
> of our brain 
> are in conflict. Recognizing when this is happening ("metalogic" or 
> "executive function") can give us a great advantage in life. 
> I could go 
> on...
> 
> When I am doing a good job sight reading, I am recognizing 
> chords, and 
> playing them with my left hand. It helps if there is a chord 
> name above 
> the staff, but that's not required. My eyes and brain 
> recognize the note 
> pattern, as A minor perhaps, and my left hand plays A minor in some 
> inversion (not necessarily as it's written), but my rational 
> brain never 
> really thinks the words "A minor". I imagine something 
> similar goes on 
> with guitarists. The melody line is less likely to be in a 
> pattern, so 
> that takes more concentrated rational thought. Rhythm, by the 
> way uses a 
> different part of the brain, and so do lyrics. It's all quite 
> amazing if 
> you think about it.
> 
> It is interesting that many programmers are also musicians. 
> An older-timer 
> once told me that in the sixties, when there weren't workers 
> available 
> with computer science degrees, folks like IBM hired musicians. I also 
> wonder if the discipline and practice of learning a 
> two-handed instrument 
> might strengthen the multilateral connections in our brains.
> 
> One last observation about metalogic: One of the best skills 
> to learn (and 
> there is evidence that it can be taught to children) is to 
> detect when 
> you're distracted, and avoid it.
> 
> Now I have weeding to do.
> 
> 
> Regards,
> ....Bob Rasmussen,   President,   Rasmussen Software, Inc.
> 
> personal e-mail: ras at anzio.com
>  company e-mail: rsi at anzio.com
>           voice: (US) 503-624-0360 (9:00-6:00 Pacific Time)
>             fax: (US) 503-624-0760
>             web: http://www.anzio.com
>  street address: Rasmussen Software, Inc.
>                  10240 SW Nimbus, Suite L9
>                  Portland, OR  97223  USA
>