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Hmm..
What album were you playing- (Shaka what?) Shaka Zulu?- Chaka Kahn? What was it?
Several years ago, I had a cat who sings whenever Urhu music was played. She tries to sing exactly with it. Her intonation is bad but, I can hear her trying to phrase it out. No biggie there. But I tried testing her one day.
I did this by playing a cd of Shamisen music right after the erhu music ended. From the first pluck of the instrument, my cat lost it! Stood on all fours, arched her back, pointed her ears and violently left the room. Without speaking as she normally would. Shes was quite a chatterbox.
I tried another experiment- I played urhu music followed by Shamisen music and went directly to GuZheng pieces.
Slightly diffrent outcome in that she returned much happier when the GuZheng music was being played. Even tried singing to it!
This incident made me do serious research on Shamisen. Why does my cate hate it so much? When I learned how these instruments were traditionaly made, everything became clear. That will always stick in my mind as "How my cat taught me something".
I have always been interested in animals and their perception of music. But your dog sounds incredible.
Bruce
Nelson Zink <zink@newmex.com> wrote:
Twenty years ago someone sent me a record. I unwrapped it (shaka what?) and
put it on the turntable. Right at that moment my puppy walked into the room
and as the music started he stopped dead in his tracks. Frozen. And then he
began to sing. This wasn't howling and yapping, it was a kind of skat
singing. He could phrase and used intonation. My reaction to the music was
the same as my dog's (except for the singing part). It was a major version
of "What the hell is this??"
I'd seen Monty mentioned in the Whole Earth Catalogue and so sent away for a
flute. Anytime I could get a tone out of it the dog showed up and set to
singing. We had other dogs and they'd all get into the act with the ordinary
dog yipping and yapping. Anyway, this Zen dog of mine would only do his
singing to shakuhachi or small planes flying overhead. Other music or
sounds didn't interest him particularly. Sometimes we'd go outside and I'd
play (if you can call it that) just so he could sing.
Basically, I put the flute away until after his death because of the uproar
it created in the household. I don't know which was more unusual, my Zen dog
or the shakuhachi. I've always wished I had one-tenth the musical ability of
my dog.
So I've been interested in where the sound that captivated us both comes
from. What is this sound and where does it come from? My passion is to
know, to understand. That's been the basic drive behind my website.
Nelson
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--0-1185132292-1043885968=:50144
<P>Hmm..
<P>What album were you playing- (Shaka what?) Shaka Zulu?- Chaka Kahn? What was it?
<P>Several years ago, I had a cat who sings whenever Urhu music was played. She tries to sing exactly with it. Her intonation is bad but, I can hear her trying to phrase it out. No biggie there. But I tried testing her one day.
<P>I did this by playing a cd of Shamisen music right after the erhu music ended. From the first pluck of the instrument, my cat lost it! Stood on all fours, arched her back, pointed her ears and violently left the room. Without speaking as she normally would. Shes was quite a chatterbox.
<P>I tried another experiment- I played urhu music followed by Shamisen music and went directly to GuZheng pieces.
<P>Slightly diffrent outcome in that she returned much happier when the GuZheng music was being played. Even tried singing to it!
<P>This incident made me do serious research on Shamisen. Why does my cate hate it so much? When I learned how these instruments were traditionaly made, everything became clear. That will always stick in my mind as "How my cat taught me something".
<P>I have always been interested in animals and their perception of music. But your dog sounds incredible.
<P>Bruce
<P> <B><I>Nelson Zink <zink@newmex.com></I></B> wrote:
<BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid"><BR>Twenty years ago someone sent me a record. I unwrapped it (shaka what?) and<BR>put it on the turntable. Right at that moment my puppy walked into the room<BR>and as the music started he stopped dead in his tracks. Frozen. And then he<BR>began to sing. This wasn't howling and yapping, it was a kind of skat<BR>singing. He could phrase and used intonation. My reaction to the music was<BR>the same as my dog's (except for the singing part). It was a major version<BR>of "What the hell is this??"<BR><BR>I'd seen Monty mentioned in the Whole Earth Catalogue and so sent away for a<BR>flute. Anytime I could get a tone out of it the dog showed up and set to<BR>singing. We had other dogs and they'd all get into the act with the ordinary<BR>dog yipping and yapping. Anyway, this Zen dog of mine would only do his<BR>singing to shakuhachi or small planes flying overhead. Other music or<BR>sounds didn!
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