Abstract:
In this paper, I draw some comparisons between the visual perception of objects and events and the audible perception of music. In the first part I consider the fact that observers can identify objects presented at different orientations and that they can frequently identify an item as the same despite changes in its appearance, for example by ageing. I argue that these cases are paralleled in music listening. Thematic ideas can be (sometimes, but not inevitably) recognized when they are inverted or played backwards. In addition, within music it is crucial that various musical statements, including ones that differ in their intervallic sequence, are sometimes recognized as versions of a single theme. In the closing sections, I compare instrumental timbre with visual colors, and explain that timbres are experienced as properties of the instruments from which they issue. Moreover, I suggest we hear in and through musical sounds the actions that go into their making.