Danny Tan wrote: >Is it true that musicians will be able to enjoy the music even through >listening to a symphony in a transitor radio (with no separation of >different instruments whatsoever), and because he can "see through" the >music, his enjoyment is the same whether it is from this transitor radio, >or the high end stuff that Roger Hecht has? Don't think for a minute that it is the "same" pleasure ... But it is true that I can look at a score and "hear" it inside my head. I also "hear" music that comes into my head unbidden. In fact, most of the time there is some composition churning away. I know my enjoyment of a symphony on a radio with a bad reception would be less than it could be with a fine reproduction on good sound equipment, or in a live performance. If I knew the piece well, I'd have more mental work to do to fill in the missing parts, but I also know from experience that I'd rather hear a well loved symphonic work with bad radio reception than no music at all. Many times in the good old days before in-car tapedecks and cd players, my husband and I would be listening to a favorite composition (like, perhaps, Klemperer conducting the Mozart Symphonia Concertante) and we'd have to pull over to the side of the road till it was over, for fear of missing parts of it. Did it have concert hall fidelity? Of course not. But it was the best game in town. Perhaps this will help to explain: I have the ability to "taste" flavors that might eventually go together in cooking just from reading a cookbook or shopping for vegetables, herbs and spices in a supermarket. I know artists who have told me they can "see" shapes and colors before they are on their clean, white canvas. Are these two abilities a substitute for eating real food or looking at real artwork? Naaaaa. But they certainly help with appreciation of subtleties. Sometimes when we listen to music through interference, we hear even more of it than if we were listening under perfect conditions, because we strain to hear it and concentrate on it more. It's that way with conversation in a crowded room, too. It isn't better, but it is a different listening experience. Mimi Ezust