Visual Modulation of Sound

In the introduction to this chapter, we said that we actually don't know what music is, apart from the fact that we receive it by ears. And we have seen in the chapter "Aural Listening" that our experience of sound is not independent of visual stimuli to which we are treated simultaneously with the sound. Psycho-acoustics, inside of which questions such as these are explored, is a complex field; what interests us here however, is the relationship between space, movement and sound.

This is because this relationship is so tight, that we will argue that instrumental music is naturally bound to visual relationships that are paired with the sound picture we are receiving. For example, even if we achieve a perfect effect of reverberation inside a big chamber, we will actually experience this sound as such only if we are also presented with an image of that chamber in 3D. Likewise, if a music piece tries to suggest some particular motion of sounds, we will not fully percieve this even if sound picture is perfect, unless we are treated with an appropriate visual stimuli.

Simply, human acoustic perception is naturally bound with space and motion. Because of this, instrumental music might be an artistic medium that should always include projections of space and movement. I like to call this effect that visuals have on our experience of sound visual modulation of sound. If visual modulation is included in a piece of music, and if its done right, a piece can greatly benefit, when orchestration is concerned. We just might, in the future, not only listen to the music, but also watch it.