well, last night 'rain man' was on again on tv. i think the original guy whom they patterned the movie after (kim) and he was asked to listen to and give an analysis of beethoven's fifth. right away he said something like - oh, that's morse code for V =5 that would mean victory and that would mean winston churchill. his mind races and he doesn't hesitate to say immediately the correct information.
that is how you can tell genius and blunder. they give you the correct info in a matter of seconds. the info is stored, retrieved correctly, and spoken.
all this is because he is missing his corpus collosum
www.wisconsinmedicalsociety.org/savant/kimpeek.cfm anyway - you could be a savant, too, if they took yours out possibly. *would you like to experiment?
now - there is another element. that is photographic memory - which he is also said to have.
i wonder if with geniuses that they are able to see more cross connections between fields of study. they don't see music as soley music. maybe some mathematics and philosophy. it is a part of a whole. i think they said this on the pbs show.
do you think the mistake we make is thinking ONLY about the notes at first. maybe if we just gave up trying to think in a certain set way - we'd see more possibilities around us. when i sightread, i do try to put intensity and dynamics and emotion in - but what i mean is to be able to do what people with high iq do - must be more. i think it is an ability to put the music on as if it were a piece of clothing the first time. wear it around. remember how it felt. bask in it.
surprisingly, kim also could easily imagine the feelings of the composer at the time of the writing of particular pieces (because he was familiar with the history of the time). to empathize witha composer is a rare ability.
and, to see patterns that might be important to a particular composer. to bring them out. to bring out particular harmonies (voices) that the composer was fond of.
Topic: Music and IQ