How many of you visualize scenes when playing or listening to music?

ranjit

I do this all the time but many of the pianists I know don't. So I thought it would be a fun poll. 🙂

keff

Is this something that you might do if the music has been memorised? I have to keep all my attention on a score, unfortunately.

ranjit

keff Is this something that you might do if the music has been memorised? I have to keep all my attention on a score, unfortunately.

Either memorized or when you're listening to music.

TC3

Playing music, not at all. Listening to it, maybe a bit? Sometimes I image the players. Other times I might have some abstract shapes and colors that bounce around and correspond to different instruments, but it's pretty subtle and not what I'm focusing on.

HeartKeys

Almost all the time for me. And it’s quite involuntary.

Sophia

What a fun question! I definitely see scenes. Not all the time, but when the piece seems to tell a definite story. For example when I play a whimsical tune I see a momma bear with bouncy youngsters running in all directions. Or a romantic tune, I see swans majestically sailing in a lake. Or with rambunxious music I might see a nasty thunderstorm raging through a forest. Like TC said, more when I listen than when I play (because let's face it, in most cases I need all my energy to keep hitting the right notes, haha).

ranjit

Sophia This is one of the perks of having a piece fully memorized and mastered! You can close your eyes and just focus on your imagination. Granted, it's very difficult to get to that point!

ranjit

Sophia I definitely see scenes. Not all the time, but when the piece seems to tell a definite story.

I have to wonder: Do you see the dance of the gnomes in Gnomenreigen? And water in Jeux D'Eau? It is partly why I really like Liszt.

TC3

As it occurs to me, I don't have a very good visual imagination or memory in general, so it's not surprising that I wouldn't visualize music. My aural and tactile memory are very vivid, but not so much the other senses.

Sophia

Well, you influenced my imagination here 😃 So yes, I see them dart around and play hide and seek... boy are they fast! They can sure run! Boundless energy, I got tired just watching them.

(Side note: that was some awful angle that showed the pianist's hands from BELOW, yikes!)

And the water in the second piece... I can see it. It's not a wild waterfall, but more like a brook splashing and splaying. At one point I think a tree floated by... and did you notice the deer drink? It was a little nervous... looking around in all directions, but it was just the wind blowing through the leaves in the trees behind it.

(Another side note: this is not one of my favourite pieces. Too many notes and not enough variation. Luckily all tastes differ and I fully appreciate people who do love it)

ranjit

Sophia Well, you influenced my imagination here 😃 So yes, I see them dart around and play hide and seek... boy are they fast! They can sure run! Boundless energy, I got tired just watching them.

Exactly! Mischievous gnomes piling on each other. You should definitely listen to more Liszt -- I highly recommend Cziffra, and look up what the titles of the pieces mean. I think you'll be in for a treat.

Sophia

Haha yeah, it's incredible what humans can do. Or is he human? I have my doubts... He might be a Westworld automaton 😱 I'm surprised the piano could keep up with him! I'm more into slower lyrical pieces, but oh boy... that skill!

ranjit

Sophia Or is he human?

Nope 😉

currawong

I do sort of visualise music, whether I'm playing or listening, but it's not scenes, or landscapes or anything of that sort. It may be colours or shapes - I do associate tone colours with actual colours (a little bit synaesthetic I suppose - brass sounds are yellow, flutes play pale blue). When I'm playing (and I almost always play from the score - I play far too much music to memorise it) I have the shape of phrases screening in my head. I'm not sure if that makes any sense, but it's something that happens, not something I purposely do.

TC3

currawong Very similar for me!

ranjit

Here are some recordings I recommend:

Animisha

When visualisation happens spontaneously, it is lovely! But unfortunately, the more complicated pieces I play, the less it happens.

Sophia

Along those lines, I always loved Disney's Fantasia. I remember how flabbergasted I was that Mickey as the sorcerer's apprentice was written to match the piece, not the other way around... they just seemed like they were made for each other! And the four seasons, the imagery couldn't be more fitting. There was even the "colours and shapes" visualisation that some mentioned here.

Since you really seem to live it, @ranjit I bet some music can make you cry real tears too, right?

ranjit

Sophia Since you really seem to live it, @ranjit I bet some music can make you cry real tears too, right?

Unfortunately, I can't relate to that one!

Tom and Jerry is also in the old style of cartoons, where the action matches the music.

TC3

Sophia I've wept from listening to music more than once, and not because of sadness but just the pure joyous beauty of it.

Stub

For me--nope. No images or scenes. Entirely aural.