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[Moonkey]

What I wanted to discuss is, when I was thinking of a song I told my oldest brother, how do you hear with your mind? He didn't know. This bothers me in some way. I also wondered if someone who's deaf could hear with their mind. (Think of a sound they heard before they came deaf. But not born deaf)

  Here is an example:

(♪♪♪?--)[< < <[o---o]  ([o---o] = stereo. (♪♪♪?--)[ = Mind + ear. < < < = Sound. When you listen to a song directly that you didn't know, you can't think of a future part. But you can predict.

  Now let's say you heard heard the song before.

(♪♪♪♪♭)[ < < <[o---o].

You remember it from beginning to end. And can play in your head, every future tune. (If you knew the song well enough).

Now let's say the song sticks in your head.

(♪♭♪♭♪)[ - - -[o---o] ( - = no sound) You know the song, and listen to it with your mind. This also applies to any noise. The concept of the human mind and sound amazes me.

So, does anyone know how this works? If so, could you explain it to me?

[Thanos]

You cant totally play a song with your mind unless its a simple monophonic melody. But So many instruments, effects etc its hard for the mind to reproduce exactly but sure it keeps the general idea (melody) of the song.
A born deaf can't hear a thing with his mind like a born blind can't reproduce or see any images/colors because his mind doesn't know how to do this
Although its easier for a deaf to hear something with vibrations and stuff

[pspeed]

How do we remember a smell when we aren't smelling it?  It's kind of similar.

Actually, people "visualize" sounds in different ways and you can train that part of your brain for clarity.

I can remember tunes in my head after only hearing them a few times but my brain has not kept enough detail to properly play it.  If I try to sort the notes out on the piano then sometimes my brain is happy to think "Yeah, that sounds right" even when it is a little off and nothing sounds quite right.  I sometimes can't even seem to hum it accurately.  Usually if I hear the song again after that my brain goes "Ohhhh... that's what I was doing wrong."

...but maybe related, it also takes me longer than others to tune my guitar sometimes (by ear I mean).  So you can definitely train your "ear" to be more sensitive to variations.

[pspeed]

You cant totally play a song with your mind unless its a simple monophonic melody. So many instruments, effects etc its hard for the mind to reproduce exactly but sure it keeps the general idea (melody) of the song.
A born deaf can't hear a thing with his mind like a born blind can't reproduce or see any images/colors because his mind doesn't know how to do this

There are savants who can replay complicated piano pieces after only hearing them once.  Their brains are wired funny but they can do it.

Some guitarists I know remember the chords of a song well enough to piece them out string by string on the guitar... so they are hearing more than the single not.  I can do that for piano sometimes, too (and sometimes guitar) but then it's more of a "no, that chord still isn't right but let me try this instead" case).  My brother once tried to show me how to piece a chord together on the guitar from memory but my brain doesn't remember the same amount of information his does.

[Thanos]

There are savants who can replay complicated piano pieces after only hearing them once.  Their brains are wired funny but they can do it.

Some guitarists I know remember the chords of a song well enough to piece them out string by string on the guitar... so they are hearing more than the single not.  I can do that for piano sometimes, too (and sometimes guitar) but then it's more of a "no, that chord still isn't right but let me try this instead" case).  My brother once tried to show me how to piece a chord together on the guitar from memory but my brain doesn't remember the same amount of information his does.

Yeah its true, thats why i said the more the level of complexity of the song or chord increases the more hard is for the brain to keep track of it. Look for example some crazy jazz chord progressions. In that case tools such as music theory and harmony really help to work this out. Music is a collective procedure and the results are different from person to person

edit: I forgot to say and of course talent

[Moonkey]

After hearing the song once, I can usually play it out in my head. Drums, effects, most of it. Anyway, thanks for the information You guys are great. Better than most forums.

[ahmadsal]

Its because your mind finds a way to think (deaf people aren't stupid.) For us who could hear, we imprint the idea of the melody into our brain, and depending how strong we can retrieve ideas back (like the guys who can play after hearing once or likewise the guy who could draw a picture after seeing a city once), we can recreate the music. Think of it, music always originated from somewhere, and people complicated it over time. How did that first guy hear music in his mind and appreciate it before it came to the world. Our minds innovate (and thankfully paul is innovating mythruna  )