Abstract
How can we understand and account for the often striking differences in the meanings made and the realities found by another when we are confronted with what might seem to be the "same" phenomena? Focusing on musical phenomena, I argue first, that a hearing is a performance, and then ask: what are specific differences in the hearings individuals actually make in listening to the same piece of music, and what can we take as evidence for such differences? Arguing further, that because it is considered professionally correct to report only the neat and clean results of research without making the reader privy to the circumstances that led to the questioning of basic assumptions or to the subsequent invention of novel experimental designs, readers are left with only the possibility to assimilate new ideas to the still unquestioned assumptions that they hold already. To confront these issues directly, I describe how and why I came to question assumptions hidden in the initial interpretation of my own research findings, and then ask readers to live through this process themselves, by following a dialogue between two students and myself as we experience the confusions and surprises involved in coming to hear even simple rhythms in new ways.
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