Dear Ludwig,

I think Victor Hugo summed things up rather well
when he said:

"Music expresses that which cannot be put into
words and that which cannot remain silent."

My choice in music takes many forms - from
symphonies, operas, and ballets, to folk music,
jazz and rock. It depends on my mood - what I'm
doing, and where I am. But when all's said
and done - it does have the power to move me -
as the words taken from "The Phantom of the Opera,"
express so beautifully:

"Softly, deftly, music shall caress you
Hear it, feel it secretly possess you
Open up your mind, let your fantasies unwind
In this darkness that you know you cannot fight
The darkness of the music of the night...

Close your eyes, let your spirit start to soar
And you'll live as you've never lived before..."

Those wombles just made my day Pericles.

Can music out-rate smells?

I smelt music once.

I raise you one Sigmund the sea monster
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2i5CFNEV7Zo&feature=related

I doubt it Pericles. But then I was thinking how fortunate that
you are for other reasons. In some bird species, the females only
have sex with the males which can sing really well. So if human
females became that fussy musically, many a bloke would miss out :)

My three dogs actually do a lovely little howling chorus together,
quite musical really. I must try and record it one day.

Words are insufficient to convey the range and depth of emotional engagement the 'right' music in the 'right' circumstances invokes but describing it as a clear sense of the numinous comes close... my chagrin in having a complete absence of any skill in making music is, though, compensated by the fact I'm not deaf.

In that childhood thought game of 'which sense would you retain at the expense of losing the rest?'­ - the answer has to be hearing. Not for the sake of speech but for the sake of music.

But I can still think that sound-to-color synesthetes are being greedy!

Can music out-rate smells?

It sure can especially when it:

"Smells Like Teen Spirit."

It can even top the charts and be a critical
and commercial success!

Dear Pericles,

Mistaken? I think not.

I have it on good authority from a mate in the underground that a certain Australian Jazz figure is huge in the wombat scene, in fact "Burrows at the Winery" held over twenty five years ago (and now available through the JBHiFi) was their Woodstock.
http://mobile.jbhifi.com.au/cd-dvd-music/catalogue/-don-burrows-at-the-winery-barcode-9399083637328/

Apparently many of the humans who attended heard strains of ’Oi sung wu to da moon’ emanating from deep below (sorry mate, funny handle to bring to a thread on music).

For the wombat kids a favourite is 'My Ma’s Soup’ll make you fart’