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Message: <blockquote data-quote="WayneLigon" data-source="post: 2239899" data-attributes="member: 3649">Epiphanya. A sudden manifestation of the essence or meaning of something. b. A comprehension or perception of reality by means of a sudden intuitive realization. When did something that eluded you finally make sense, and what caused it (if you can identify the source)? I'm not a big music guy, though I do like music. I just don't know a great deal about it.  One of the most moving stories I ever read was about a teacher trying out a new computer that would interface directly with the human nervous system - the teachers were trying to see if these tiny computers were too distracting to the students. The thing could directly translate things he read, saw, etc. There are some very moving moments in the story, but at the end he comes home (one thing he notices is that the Chinese plaque they have in the hall literally says 'welcome friends' but it also means a whole lot more than that and due to the interface, he knows what all those meanings are) and decides to turn on some music while meeting with the other teachers to discuss their impressions about the interface. Suddenly he understands the music he's listened to all his life, why each note is like that and arranged like that and what the layering and other stuff really means and accomplishes. He breaks down in tears at the sheer joy the knowledge has brought to him. Earlier in the story he meets with an illiterate woman who, thanks to the computers interface abilities, can now read when she gazes upon words that were beforehand just meaningless symbols. That is the kind of revelation he has. I knew conductors were different in some way but I never could figure out why, or what they exactly did. I knew some were highly praised, but I never understood it. It was the people with the instruments that did things. You follow the notes and watch the timing and things should be like a cake: it should always turn out the same no matter who is at the helm.  Then... a few years ago I was listening to the radio and happened to turn to the classics station. They did something I had never experienced. The host wanted to show the difference in conductors, so he played three identical peices by the same orchestra but done by different conductors.  I never knew. It was like night and day. You could tell it was the same peice.. yet it was not. I finally understood conductors, what they do, why some are lauded for generations, and all that.</blockquote>

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