Although both sides in the Poison-Metallica spat claim that looks don't matter, each judges the bands on appearance. Of course, you can say, "Excuse me, Frank; these people are not great thinkers," but I'd counter by saying that I've got the same "contradiction" too - not that I think that hairstyle both does and doesn't matter, since I know it matters; but I'm uncertain how much.
I assume that I will never be certain how much "hairstyle" - or "baggage" - matters, nor should I be, since what matters varies from circumstance to circumstance. What blindfold tests do is to protect me from the hairstyle overdetermining my response. But blindfold tests can also cut me off from understanding what's going on in the music, since they cut out some knowledge of what the music might be responding to (the performer's previous work, how this work has been viewed by others, etc.). Of course, I can then rectify this by taking off the blindfold (and doing research).
And of course blindfold tests don't shut out my past responses to similar sounds or my knowledge of how such sounds play in the world - which is fortunate, because if such things were shut out I'd be deaf to whole hunks of the richness and emotion in the music.
no subject
Although both sides in the Poison-Metallica spat claim that looks don't matter, each judges the bands on appearance. Of course, you can say, "Excuse me, Frank; these people are not great thinkers," but I'd counter by saying that I've got the same "contradiction" too - not that I think that hairstyle both does and doesn't matter, since I know it matters; but I'm uncertain how much.
I assume that I will never be certain how much "hairstyle" - or "baggage" - matters, nor should I be, since what matters varies from circumstance to circumstance. What blindfold tests do is to protect me from the hairstyle overdetermining my response. But blindfold tests can also cut me off from understanding what's going on in the music, since they cut out some knowledge of what the music might be responding to (the performer's previous work, how this work has been viewed by others, etc.). Of course, I can then rectify this by taking off the blindfold (and doing research).
And of course blindfold tests don't shut out my past responses to similar sounds or my knowledge of how such sounds play in the world - which is fortunate, because if such things were shut out I'd be deaf to whole hunks of the richness and emotion in the music.