Jim Tobin writes:

>As it happens, I was thinking about this just yesterday and the thought
>I had is that music can be heard as a form of nonverbal communication.

Isnt this the whole basis of The music of the future by wagner, the use
of leitmotifs and whatnot?  he had little use for vocal language as no
one can hear the words over the orchestral sounds anyway.  the interesting
thing would be if music could still speak to us if we hadnt any preconceived
notions as to what you hear.  for example, you hear minor mode music and
you dont think of sunny fields and picnics or where you hear something
that sounds like someone scratching their nails over a chalk board and
we would have similar associated images come to mind.

[log in to unmask] (Eric Willstaedt)