GG : Greyness, synaesthesia, and non-verbal communication

[Kate Clunies-Ross <katecluniesross@hotmail.com>]

Good evening, F-Minor
This discussion of GG's visions of greyness, and possible synaesthesia, is
fascinating. I have to admit that the possibility that he experienced a form
of synaesthesia never previously occurred to me , but the more I think about
it, the more it seems quite likely.
All his life Gould appears to have concerned himself with the problems of
clear, precise and artistic communication; to this end he employed writing,
speech and broadcasting, and - most wonderfully - his music. If his view of
the world was widened by the sort of sensory enhancement we have been
considering, then he would have been faced with problems that others may not
have been aware of; most of us communicate verbally, and even with people of
"normal" perceptions, this has its limitations. (I am using the word
"normal" only in the sense of describing the standard, statistically average
modes of experience: I too have no wish to suggest that Gould's perceptions
were in any way abnormal or due to a 'condition')
Words are foerever insufficient in that they can only be interpreted in the
light of an individual's own experience. We are, alas, not telepathic...and
even if we were, the offerings of various s/f writers suggest that this
might not be an ideal state of affairs! We think we understand others, but
can never be sure. If, for example, I state that "I love X", you may think
you understand what I am saying; but do you? Yes, you too may have loved,
but does the word mean the same to you? Do you feel the same emotion in your
heart, the same hopes and fears, the same delight, the same awareness of the
loved one right down to your fingers and toes? Do you dream the same dreams?
Are you even sure that we are talking about the same emotion? The English
language, so rich in many ways, is curiously miserly when it comes to
'love': the same word is used for a multitude of feelings, so that we have
to qualify it if we hope to make ourselves clear. Romantic love? Sexual?
Love of parents, children, friends, God, Truth, Art? There are even
illogical loves and passions that defy description. Nothing particularly
profound about any of this, but I hope it does illustrate our dilemma, even
with feelings that are common to all.
So what do you do if your world is radically different from that perceived
by others around you? Well, I suppose that depends on your innate abilities
and intelligence. But this is where non-verbal communication comes in.
It is a moot point, I think, just how much Glenn Gould realised that he
might be in some ways "different" to others. He could delight both in the
world hw saw around him, and the world inside his head, without thinking
about comparing them to the worlds of others. And it seems that although
eager to expound his ideas to others (I love the image of his exhausted
friends snoozing quietly, telephone propped against ear, while he happily
rambled on, oblivious) he was no good at listening. When did he  put a check
on his speech and simply listen in return? Successful communication should
go both ways, surely!
But of course, there is the music. He made it clear that to him, this was
the most important way of communicating something of himself to others, that
in fact there was little point to music without such personal expression.
A short while ago, there was an article I read in an English newspaper (it
wasnt my paper, and I read it in a hurry, without taking details) concerning
the ability of newborn babies to understand, in some way, spoken language.
It appears that research shows that an unborn child still in the womb can
hear enough to aquire the rudiments of the purpose of language, and it
influences their development and emotions. I have no idea how the
researchers determined all this!  But it appears that even soon after birth,
babies can distinguish the tones of their mother tongue from that of other
languages...they react differently to a foreign speaker, who sounds strange
compared to the mother whose voice has accompanied them through their
development.
It is well documented that Gould's mother made a habit of playing music
whilst he was in the womb, in a deliberate attempt to influence his
development. Music has a definite effect on brain activity, and emotion, and
it seems likely therefore that this early exposure to music helped to
establish his lifelong ability to use music to express his inner feelings.
This was his ecstasy...despite his protestations that he was the "Last
Puritan" and his apparent fear of open demonstrations of powerful emotions.
As I have said in a previous thread, I believe that this kind of experience
of ecstasy, the true realisation of an outer world, is vital for true
happiness. Otherwise we remain locked inside our own narrowed consciousness.
For the same reason we need to communicate with others. And much of what we
need to say simply cannot be said in words, so we look for other channels.
And in Gould's case, what a channel he had, with his music. To him, this
would have instinctively been a diredt route into his emotions and ideas,
the music acting directly n his mind, a type of instinctive, natural
language. 'The music makes me feel thus....so it stands to reason that I can
use it to show you directly how I feel, and make you feel the same...  I can
use it to transmit the same emotion to you without the need for any
intervening verbiage...'Ah, but the trouble is, this idea doesn't always
work. Not everyone is able to respond in the same way to music. I myself am
not a musician, therefore I personally  cannot use music in this way
(although I can respond to the music of others), and I suspect that many
other non-musicians (who form the majority of audiences!) ... whilst
delighting in the pleasure and beauty of music, and finding it exciting,
soothing, stunning, relaxing, whatever...do not see it as such a precise
method of communication that it can take the place of words. But then, its
not meant to. Any non-verbal communication has a different purpose.
An analogy comes to mind; the art of mime. OK, I know that mime artists
drive some people right up the wall (I remember a funny but scathing account
that Woody Allen once wrote after seeing a mime who, evidently. was not much
good) but when well-done, mime can be a revelation. I'm a great admirer of
Marcel Marceau (an aside; did he ever meet Gould, I wonder? I believe he
made his first ever appearence in North America at the Stratford Festival at
the time Gould was working there) Marceau is a traditional mime, and I
think, wonderfully easy to understand. His performances seem to exist on
various levels, from straightforward entertainment, to the symbolic, and
then, in many cases, to an underlying philosophy that takes a bit of digging
out to find. In England, our theatre seems to have lost its  tradition of
using mime, and many people simply do not see the point of it.They see it
merely as 'acting without words' (which it is not) and tend to ask what mime
can possibly do that regular acting-with-words couldnt do better. After all,
we produced Shakespeare, the consummate wordsmith, and our theatrical
tradition is largely based on him. But the purpose of mime is to express
what words are unable to say, not to replace them. You watch the language of
Marceau's body, and no matter what language you speak, you feel directly
what he feels, even if you would be hard pressed to name the emotion!
So with music. It lets us communicate all the feelings that language cannot
touch, and share them, with no barriers of race, speech, or creed. Well, in
an ideal world, anyway;  I know it is very difficult to learn  to appreciate
the music of other cultures, if we havent experienced it from early
childhood.
Sometimes indeed it seems to me that music has an emotion peculiar to
itself, which literally has no name; I have found myself listening to
certain pieces and feeling a great upwelling of emotion which seems to have
affinities with nostalgia, love, sadness, ecstasy etc but is not actually
any of them. It is a feeling confined exclusively to musical experience. I
am not sure if I am actually expressing myself very well; if I am not making
sense, thank you for your patience, anyway. Does anyone else out there
experience this type of thing?
There is a complexity to Gould's work (all of it, not only his playing) that
is profoundly fascinating. Maybe it is in part due to the nature of his
perceptions. I used to think that his fear of bright colours was simply an
emotional response, but in the light of recent postings, maybe I was wrong.
But if he did think himself that his perceptions were different from those
of others, he might not have been very happy with the idea. Those
Micronesian islanders accept their colourblindness because in their society,
it is normal. Oliver Sacks has also described the case of a man who lost his
ability to see colour in adult life, due (I think) to accidental brain
damage. He was peofoundly disturbed and depressed by his loss. I've
forgotten the name of the book this case appears in, but it is a fascinating
account; the man could, for wxample, distinguish between monochrome
photographs (which he described as 'clean', as they were not intended to
convey colour) and coloured pctures of the same subject (or the subject
itself) which seemed to have a muddy look to him, as though his brain at
some level was aware that colour was present, but he could not make himself
conscious of it. There was no delight in the multitude of grey tones there!
Most colourblind people of course see a whole range of colours; they simply
cant distinguish some  (usually red and green) that appear totally different
to the rest of the world. But someone with synaesthesia...! What a rich
world they must have, that is denied to other mortals. And if Gould
experienced this type of thing, even if in a minor way, what a gift for a
musician. Sight and sound and colour all interlinked, so that every note is
coloured, and vision is also heard... Could it actually be a bit
overwhelming?   I have read of cases of synaesthesia involving other senses,
notably one involving taste and touch...the guy felt the sensation of
feeling strange textures whenever he tasted anything, so he described
flavours as being pointed, spiky, rough, smooth etc....Wow. If Gould
experienced this, maybe it explains his reluctance to eat anything but his
oddly restricted diet...no, I'm joking.
Synaesthesia probably isnt as rare as we might think. In fact we can all
experience it in a fashion, thanks to certain substances. My psychiatrist
friend said people who use LSD often experience it (no, before you ask, I
havent tried) But I have experienced synaesthesia slightly, while under a
light anaesthetic for minor nasal surgery. I was aware that movements of
objects within my vision were accompanied by a low rumbling noise, and
whenever a light moved in front of my eyes I "heard' it as a lovely silvery
cascade of sound, running downwards from a high treble tone. I was told by
the anaesthetist later that this sort of experience is quite common with the
type of anesthetic he used. It was a fascinating experience (except for the
aftereffects on my nose, of course.) I've also experienced a period of
monochromatic vision (in my case, believe it or not, the prevailing colour
was not grey, but a kind of apple green....sounds pretty, but it was not. I
was not concerned with noting the multitude of shades, and the subtlety of
light and shade,,,I just wanted everything back to normal. (This episode
followed more serious surgery, for a brain haemorrhage, and was Not Fun) No
doctor seemed able to explain what was happening with my colour vision, so
they just ignored my complaints. No nice synaesthesia that time. And as a
footnote to a recent thread that considered the effects of pressure on
Goulds brain...well, believe me, ladies and gentlemen: you Do Not Want To
Know.
And on that nicely Gopuldian note (except I lived to tell the tale) I think
I will end my hypochondriacal (is that the word?) ramblings.
Except to say that dcespite haveing certain doubts about his emotional state
(I still think ,as per a previous thread, that APART FROM HIS MUSIC he was
not a particularly happy man) I think that the world Glenn Gould lived in
must have been a rare and beautiful place. And I am glad he shared it with
us.
And...oh yes....happy birthday.....!
Best wishes to all and goodnight (nearly midnight here in England)
Kate

PS I loke the idea of a multiligual F-Minor, but how would it work? Would
people provide their own translations of what they write? Its a bit
worrying! I can get by in French, and have a smattering of Romanian, and if
I dig deep into the dark recesses of my memory, there might be a spot of
Latin there...but how many Romanians or Ancient Romans subscribe to F-Minor?
 Alas, I have no German, Spanish,or Italian...and as for Russian, Japanese,
or Finnish....oh dear.....
















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