[Xmca-l] Re: Inner thought in theater pieces

Wed Jul 12 12:42:53 PDT 2017

Hi, Daniel.

Fernyhough's book doesn't delve into the intricacies of a musician's *inner
ear*,
but he does cover internal speech without sound, internal sound without
words,
the internal *felt presence* of a person who doesn't speak, and internal
voices
that are disembodied. From these and other examples he suggests that
hearing
voices is a much richer phenomenon than just auditory perception: it is the
surface
level of an inner experience that embraces the imagining of a *person*, who
has
an individual point of view and a characteristic voice. Only pieces of this
inner
person may come to be experienced consciously.

Regarding the deaf, Fernyhough explores inner signing and inner voices--
yes,
deaf people who hear voices internally but who have never had the experience
of hearing the voices of others! Many of the internal musical experiences
that
you mention have auditory parallels in the case studies he presents.

As a former musician myself (in my youth), I have always wondered about
those
musicians who claim to have perfect pitch. I don't possess that ability,
but I have
absolutely no need for a tuning device when I tune my guitar strings: my
inner
(and outer) ear is all I need.

Since you raised the issue of the pairings of words and music, I'd like to
take this
opportunity to share a favorite quote from Yip Harberg, classmate of Ira
Gershwin
and composer of the words and music for The Wizard of Oz, Finnian's Rainbow,
and the Depression-era song Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?  Harberg gave a
lot
of thought to the relation between music and words, noting that:

Music makes you feel a feeling;
Words make you think a thought;
Songs make you feel a thought.

The quote above came to mind as I was eavesdropping on an earlier
conversation
on this listserv (a month ago!) concerning Vygotsky's notion of the unity
of thinking
and emotions in the formation of the human personality. Personally, I have
trouble
conjuring up an image of *emotions*, but I have no difficulty experiencing
emotions
when they take a musical form. I am much more comfortable thinking about
feelings
than I am about feeling thoughts. Intellectualizing emotions is a cultural
experience
that many men excel at, I suspect.

My two cents.

Peter

On Wed, Jul 12, 2017 at 12:33 PM, Daniel Hyman <daniel.a.hyman.0@gmail.com>
wrote:

> Many thanks to both Ulvi and Peter for the points about internal speech,
> its role in drama, and Fernyhough's work from last year. As I'm a musician,
> they bring to mind (hopefully) related questions (apparently glanced at in
> The Voices Within) which I'd be grateful to know more about, in the
> contexts of psychology or neurobiology:
>
> - Musicians use the term "inner ear" (though "inner voice" might be more
> specific) to denote the faculty of being able to subjectively "hear"
> melody, song, chant/rap (rhythmic words without melody), (groups of)
> instruments and the like, untethered to physical sound. The most extreme
> cases concern composers such as Beethoven, Smetana, and Fauré who lost
> their hearing in adulthood. But anyone who can read a score, practice
> toward matching a concrete tonal image, recall a concert, audiate what they
> are about to play or sing, or receive new musical ideas, does this. Need
> one only be a trained musician, or are there other paths to this ability?
>
> - Some "inner ear" experiences are paired with words, others with events
> (e.g., birdcalls, thunderstorms, night sounds of nature, the quickened
> pulse of desire, galloping horses' hooves), some with waves of feelings
> that might fit words (or not), some are simply music. How are these alike,
> and different?
>
> - Some pairings of words and music are socially organized (Mozart and da
> Ponte, Rodgers and Hammerstein, George and Ira Gershwin), others internal
> to one person (Wagner, Mahler). How are these alike and different? How does
> parody (the type where new words are fitted to an old tune) relate to a
> live composer setting words from a past poet?
>
> - Tinnitus (ringing in the ears after hearing loss) is now suggested to be
> the effect of the brain filling in tones it "thinks" are happening but not
> heard. Is this purely physical, or can experience, training, reflection, or
> other factors alter it?
>
> I guess the common thread is, what do psychology and neurobiology offer (or
> promise) to help us understand these types of musical experience, ability,
> and disability? Thanks in advance to anyone moved to chime in, or recommend
> readings.
>
> Daniel
>
> On Wed, Jul 12, 2017 at 10:50 AM, Ulvi İçil <ulvi.icil@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Thank you Peter.
> >
> > Ulvi
> >
> > 12 Tem 2017 17:38 tarihinde "Peter Feigenbaum [Staff]" <
> > pfeigenbaum@fordham.edu> yazdı:
> >
> > > Ulvi,
> > >
> > > Your questions about the science of inner speech monologue and its use
> in
> > > the analysis of theatrical material - to convey the internal richness
> of
> > > the 
> > > emotion
> > > 
> > > and thought
> > > 
> > > of
> > >  characters
> > >  - are tangentially addressed by Charles Fernyhough
> > > in his recent book The Voices Within. Charles is a colleague who works
> > with
> > > Vygotsky's
> > > theory of private and inner speech development, but who specializes in
> > > the dialogicality of inner speech and its role in people who hear
> voices
> > -
> > > both normal
> > > and hallucinatory. While he doesn't directly address the issue of
> > > theatrical characters,
> > > he does provide insights - based on evidence and research - into the
> > > creative
> > > writing process of novelists, and the various roles that inner voices
> > play
> > > in their
> > > work and thought.
> > >
> > > I highly recommend this book because of the admirable way in which
> > > Fernyhough
> > > manages to navigate highly complicated issues concerning a phenomenon
> > that
> > > is largely elusive - even though it constitutes the highest stage in
> the
> > > development
> > > of verbal thinking. As a less courageous researcher, I chose to study
> > > private speech
> > > because the data are empirical and tangible, subject to linguistic and
> > > sociolinguistic
> > > analysis.
> > >
> > > https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.
> amazon.com_Voices-2DWithin-2DHistory-2DScience-2D&d=DwIFaQ&c=
> aqMfXOEvEJQh2iQMCb7Wy8l0sPnURkcqADc2guUW8IM&r=
> mXj3yhpYNklTxyN3KioIJ0ECmPHilpf4N2p9PBMATWs&m=
> iXFaj8Q4I5K2fbAjp7wwg7xDtlZs8s_s7DI7l664u24&s=
> DEs5D5eLtGRTqr_XA8tkmjg4GFaAp_30zW3KKzPHIqg&e=
> > > Ourselves/dp/0465096808
> > >
> > > Peter
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > On Tue, Jul 11, 2017 at 2:36 PM, Ulvi İçil <ulvi.icil@gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > >
> > > > Nazim Hikmet uses widely inner  thought and momologue in a work to
> > convey
> > > > the internal richness of emotion and thought of his characters.
> > > Especially
> > > > inner thought.
> > > >
> > > > The name of the work is Ferhad and Sirin, and another name is Legend
> of
> > > > love.
> > > >
> > > > Anyone can see the very interesting content of the work, characters
> in
> > a
> > > > struggle in a triangle of love.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > It is a quite successful work, played by Bolshoi.
> > > >
> > > > My questions are:
> > > >
> > > > Does the science of psychology make wide use of such theater work?
> i.e.
> > > in
> > > > terms of the inner thought.
> > > >
> > > > Does the science of pscyhology make use of such theater work in terms
> > of
> > > > human development? i.e. in terms of the "defects" human beings
> possess.
> > > >
> > > > Ulvi
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > Peter Feigenbaum, Ph.D.
> > > Director,
> > > Office of Institutional Research
> > > <https://www.fordham.edu/info/24303/institutional_research>
> > > Fordham University
> > > Thebaud Hall-202
> > > Bronx, NY 10458
> > >
> > > Phone: (718) 817-2243
> > > Fax: (718) 817-3817
> > > email: pfeigenbaum@fordham.edu
> > >
> >
>

-- 
Peter Feigenbaum, Ph.D.
Director,
Office of Institutional Research
<https://www.fordham.edu/info/24303/institutional_research>
Fordham University
Thebaud Hall-202
Bronx, NY 10458

Phone: (718) 817-2243
Fax: (718) 817-3817
email: pfeigenbaum@fordham.edu