Eat or Be Eaten

Abstract

A quiet symphony is heard in the background as I write in the corner of my favorite bakery. The music is a beautiful marriage of instruments; a blend of the soft sounds of oboes, violins, cellos, and the forcefulness of the brass instruments provides an inspiring atmosphere. If I concentrate on the music, a remarkable phenomenon occurs. Although the symphony as a whole continues, I can focus my hearing on the individual melodies of a single set of instruments within the song (Fig. 3.1). First, I concentrate on the soulful cry of the oboe, a sad melody that slowly climbs the scale. Next, I switch my focus on the French horns. This forceful staccato sound brings to mind a determined cavalry riding across a battlefield. The deep-voiced cellos sound like rolling thunder. Finally, I return to the symphony as a whole. Instead of listening to the individual voices of the instruments, I choose to integrate the individual notes of each instrument into the symphony and let the perfect harmony wash over me. Our auditory system processes stimuli in a very different way than our visual system.