There are whole worlds we do not see

I've had a number of interesting experiences this weekend (a consequence of hanging out with some pretty awesome friends!) but one of the most memorable was listening to choral music with my friend David. He said that a recent experience he's had made him suddenly appreciate the power and importance of choral music in a way that he hadn't experienced otherwise. It occurred to me suddenly that, in the context of music, there are so many different 'worlds' created by different sounds and their social and cultural contexts. It requires a great deal of cultural (and sometimes, technical) information to appreciate each one, but more than that, each genre or 'soundworld' seems to require a different states of mind. Given the stimuli most of us have in our everyday environments, it seems likely that most people cannot access certain sound world in lieu of some sort of extraordinary communication - there are whole worlds we do not see. It's awe-inspiring to think that this particular issue applies not just to the appreciation of music, but to almost every concept in life - and also, it gives us a clue that rather than assuming everyone naturally has the tools to appreciate everything, we should be seeking to create and exploit extraordinary experiences if we really want to broaden our horizons.

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