John Turnbull wrote:
> In article <7fogco83qq.fsf at faith.csis.hku.hk>,
> Lee Sau Dan ~{@nJX6X~} <sdlee at faith.csis.hku.hk> wrote:
> >>>>>> "John" == John Turnbull <john at turnbull.org> writes:
>> > John> I guess it depends what you call thinking. I wouldn't
> > John> consider reacting to be thinking.
>> >Driving may be a complicated set of reflex reactions. But I won't
> >agree that Tetris is also simple reactions.
>> I don't see how it can be anything but, especially as the pace picks up.
> Feels more like acting without thinking. What do you consider thinking?
><snip>
> No, but I don't consider humming a familiar melody to be thinking. I am
> likely to think verbally of the name of the tune though.
What about performing a musical work? Especially when playing in an
ensemble without a conductor (quartet, quintet, whatever) - there is quite
a lot of mental activity involved. For me at least, most of the mental
activity is not verbal - it is musical. I am, for example, likely to
think about how the notes I play fit in with the notes that everyone else
is playing, or about how I need to play a little louder to bring out the
melody, etc. - mostly, without words.
And if you still say that performing a memorized work requires no thought
- a contention that I will violently disagree with - what about
improvising? You would have to say that improvisation involves some kind
of thinking. And yet, even when I'm improvising together with some
people, I don't think verbally.
--
Larisa Migachyov
Quaternion Press Publishing House
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