Friday, January 13, 2012

Which Is Which?

Last weekend, I went to a friend's house to be invited dinner. Her father was there at that time. Although I've met him a few times, I didn't know he likes wines and he was kind of enthusiast on them as much as collects them from all over the world. And, I drunk a bottle of wine which he recommended. It was fantastic, and tasted and smelled like what I've never had. However, I unfortunately do not have good abilities to remember that taste and smell for a long time. Actually, next day I already forgot what it tasted and smelled like, though I'm sorry for him.

For so long time, researchers have wondered whether we can distinguish ordinary wines from great ones. There are a lot of research conducted by many ways: http://www.freakonomics.com/2008/07/24/keep-the-cheap-wine-flowing/

The same thing happens in the music. Probably most people have heard of the name, Stradivari who is known as a great violin maker. His violin has been acknowledged the greatest and the most expensive one all over the world.

An article by NPR introduced an interesting experiment a few days ago. It was about a blind violin test, but the point of this experiment is a "double-blind" test. That is, all participants including players and listeners didn't know which one was a Stradivari violin. If you want to try your ability, go the link: http://www.npr.org/blogs/deceptivecadence/2012/01/02/144482863/double-blind-violin-test-can-you-pick-the-strad. You can also find the result!

Fortunately, I would have musician's ears, which means I was able to pick correct one! It seems like hearing something is good fit for me rather than tasting and smelling.