When someone makes an assertion that something is "the greatest" of anything, then yes, it becomes a question of empirical reality. And the whole "god" argument doesn't carry any weight at all with those of us who see no reason to postulate the existence of such...
--- In newmellotrongroup@ yahoogroups. com, fdoddy@... wrote:
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> That's the problem, modern folk are hell bent on everything being "verifiable empirical fact". If you can't see it, it ain't true. What a bunch of crap that ends up being when trying to create beauty, find God, or just plain old trying to feel joyful. So anecdotal evidence or instinct has no weight on things musical? I think it's more than just "very nice", it's essential for people to develop there own musical systems, no matter how unsupported they are. Laugh, go ahead, laugh at Yanni's own system of music notation or balk at the legitimacy of turntables as instruments, or question the "sonority" of a Balinese monkey chant. But they work...
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> I have never met Bernie Kornowicz face to face, but I'll guarantee you if I did, it would prove my intuition that he is a quality human being. Why? I've seen the smile on his face and read his emails and posts, however brief or trivial and gotten a feeling for him. Intuition and feeling but no verifiable empirical analysis needed.
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> My mother is dead. I loved her. Do you need me to show you that I loved her to prove it empirically?
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> fritz
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> -----Original Message-----
> From: jonesalley <jonesalley@ ...>
> To: newmellotrongroup@ yahoogroups. com
> Sent: Sun, Dec 6, 2009 1:50 pm
> Subject: [newmellotrongroup] Re: Tronspotting
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> This is all very nice, but it only rises to the level of unsupportable assertion of opinion, not independently verifiable empirical fact.
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> > > The human voice is one of the only "perfect" instruments. We all
> > > know that polyphonic instruments are well-tempered and thus each
> > > chord produced is "close", but imperfect. If you've ever sung in a
> > > group without accompaniment, whether it be madrigals, barbershop,
> > > etc., one of the great opportunities is you can sing each chord
> > > perfectly because the trained human ear can seek the perfect chord â€"
> > > and ring overtones (and undertones if you're really good) all over
> > > the place â€" it's one of the reasons that choral/ensemble singing is
> > > so fun!
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Music began with someone humming….
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > I think almost everyone here would agree. The human voice is the
> > > greatest of all instruments.
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