Phantom of the orchestra

[ellarien]

I often use (mostly classical) music to counteract boring background noise, using my portable CD player or the new MP3 player on the shuttle to Phoenix, and the laptop at work. I don't play it terribly loud, and I'm not usually concentrating on it. I've noticed that it sometimes takes me a while to register when the music stops; it's as if, when the earbuds are in place, my brain tries very hard to spin faint music out of random sounds, though what it gets is more like a distant orchestra tuning up than an actual performance.

Comments

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

Yes. And when I try to recapture what I thought I was hearing in near-silence, it runs away laughing.

It's like looking at a picture or scene and seeing it wrong at first. The wrong interpretation is strong and keeps possession until the right one snaps in, then the wrong one's gone for good, most times.