 |
DXM: Well, you're the person who told me about Manfred Clynes, who has some interesting things to say in this area. I take it that it's not a widely accepted idea that there are, if you will, fixed musical forms that will always elicit the same feeling, as Clynes argues. Yates: No, it's not accepted but there is a good deal of evidence in physiology for that. But musicians would tend to fall on one side or another. He's still alive and living in Sonoma and is certainly a fine musician himself, but was well trained in scientific areas, which is why he was able to probe this question so deeply. He conducted research all over the world with different ethnic groups with very disparate backgrounds. And he feels that he has established that there are certain patterns hard wired in the human nervous system which he calls sentic shapes that correspond to fundamental emotions. Now, as a matter of fact, in certain areas, that seems to be the case. It's not limited to music. It takes place in certain forms of movement and in the visual arts. |