What do we really hear?

What do we really hear?

My inspiration for asking this, was watching a dog run around a field, sniffing at every opportunity. Probably recognising friends and enemies, male and female. The dog has a wide spectrum of smells. Then I think of my knowledge of smells. If I am looking for a new cologne, then after 3 different odours, it is all over for me. I won't recognise the fourth perfume as new or one of the original three. I could not go into a shop and pick out the perfume my lady friend uses, despite trying to spend a lot of time enjoying that smell. However, if I hear a tune, I would be able to whistle it, remember it and go into a record shop (if such existed these days) and have the assistant tell me what it was. Surely the way we appreciate sound and music must vary to the same extent as the dog's and my nose vary!

I have talked with friends who say they cannot pick up the beat of music, any music! Some who can, then fail when it comes to walking with a partner in their arms. Other friends cannot pick up a tune and have to learn the words of a song and the words drive the tune. I would have to know the tune and most of the time be la-la-ing until I remembered a few words.

At the top end of the acoustic appreciation spectrum will be true musicians. I used to play recorder and was part of a group of 20 or more with a professional conductor who could pick out somebody playing slightly out of tune. Most people will be in between those extremes. I listen most intensely to classic tango music. As most dancers, I can hear the layers of the music, pick out different instruments to dance to. When you feel your partner is responding to the music in the same way, it is bliss.

But what do some people hear? Is it just a cacophony of noise - how can you dance if you just hear white noise? How can musicality be taught?

Nietzsche "The onlookers thought the dancers were crazy, until they heard the music"