Comments for jakemandell.com http://jakemandell.com Music Snapshots Wed, 23 Jul 2008 23:53:01 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.4 Comment on How well can you hear shapes? Test your musical - visual symbolic intelligence! by Aidy Wyatt http://jakemandell.com/2008/how-well-can-you-hear-shapes-test-your-musical-visual-symbolic-intelligence/#comment-13598 Thu, 17 Jul 2008 10:35:52 +0000 http://jakemandell.com/2008/how-well-can-you-hear-shapes-test-your-musical-visual-symbolic-intelligence/#comment-13598 I have to say that I found it an interesting test, but I don't see how it's connected to what you describe as amvi. I do see sounds as colours and shapes, but what I see bears no resemblance to the things depicted in the test whatsoever. I spent the first couple of questions learning how *you* were representing each sound, rather than how they "look" to me, and then the rest of the test was simply matching the sounds to how I thought that you would represent them. If anything, it represents the logical, pattern-matching parts of IQ tests. As a test of how well I could decode your cypher, it's good. As a test for synaesthesia, I don't think it works. I have never, ever "seen" a sound as a square, let alone a whole melody as one. And none of the sounds you used were either black or red to my ears. I thin the test may say something about you, but I'm not remotely convinced that my result says much about me. I have to say that I found it an interesting test, but I don’t see how it’s connected to what you describe as amvi. I do see sounds as colours and shapes, but what I see bears no resemblance to the things depicted in the test whatsoever. I spent the first couple of questions learning how *you* were representing each sound, rather than how they “look” to me, and then the rest of the test was simply matching the sounds to how I thought that you would represent them.

If anything, it represents the logical, pattern-matching parts of IQ tests. As a test of how well I could decode your cypher, it’s good. As a test for synaesthesia, I don’t think it works. I have never, ever “seen” a sound as a square, let alone a whole melody as one. And none of the sounds you used were either black or red to my ears.

I thin the test may say something about you, but I’m not remotely convinced that my result says much about me.

]]> Comment on How well can you hear shapes? Test your musical - visual symbolic intelligence! by Kendrick Hough http://jakemandell.com/2008/how-well-can-you-hear-shapes-test-your-musical-visual-symbolic-intelligence/#comment-13535 Sun, 13 Jul 2008 04:24:26 +0000 http://jakemandell.com/2008/how-well-can-you-hear-shapes-test-your-musical-visual-symbolic-intelligence/#comment-13535 I brutally failed this test. I feel like it's an excellent communicator of right-left synthesis in the brain. To perform well in this test, you must be able to use concrete musical images in the brain and apply them to abstract, logical symbols. I am studying to be a singer and play piano, both skills that I have developing later in life. As a musician, I personally have a great amount of difficulty visualizing myself or my body (very important for technique) while singing or playing piano. It would be easier for me to write out these pieces in musical notation while listening to them or singing them back to you. The shapes mean nothing to me, and I find the association frustrating and futile. I can remember almost every musical piece in the test. I can't remember any of the sets of symbols. They've all become so much mental junk. I brutally failed this test. I feel like it’s an excellent communicator of right-left synthesis in the brain. To perform well in this test, you must be able to use concrete musical images in the brain and apply them to abstract, logical symbols.

I am studying to be a singer and play piano, both skills that I have developing later in life. As a musician, I personally have a great amount of difficulty visualizing myself or my body (very important for technique) while singing or playing piano.

It would be easier for me to write out these pieces in musical notation while listening to them or singing them back to you. The shapes mean nothing to me, and I find the association frustrating and futile. I can remember almost every musical piece in the test. I can’t remember any of the sets of symbols. They’ve all become so much mental junk.

]]> Comment on Medical school course notes: An integrative self-assessing approach by John http://jakemandell.com/med-notes/#comment-13384 Thu, 03 Jul 2008 07:03:47 +0000 http://jakemandell.com/med-notes/#comment-13384 Great notes! Cheers from Down under! Great notes!
Cheers from Down under!

]]> Comment on How well can you hear shapes? Test your musical - visual symbolic intelligence! by Kathleen http://jakemandell.com/2008/how-well-can-you-hear-shapes-test-your-musical-visual-symbolic-intelligence/#comment-13347 Tue, 01 Jul 2008 05:48:22 +0000 http://jakemandell.com/2008/how-well-can-you-hear-shapes-test-your-musical-visual-symbolic-intelligence/#comment-13347 This test is defintely too easy. I scored 100% first time. and with all the other tests I scored really badly. I haven't studied any kind of music except recorder in primary school and I sucked at that. This must have nothing to do with musical ability and more to do with logic. I am going to get my 6 year old to do this test now. It was fascinating though. I am not bagging the test, I just think it has nothing to do with musical intelligence. This test is defintely too easy. I scored 100% first time. and with all the other tests I scored really badly. I haven’t studied any kind of music except recorder in primary school and I sucked at that. This must have nothing to do with musical ability and more to do with logic.
I am going to get my 6 year old to do this test now.

It was fascinating though. I am not bagging the test, I just think it has nothing to do with musical intelligence.

]]> Comment on How well can you hear shapes? Test your musical - visual symbolic intelligence! by Deb from California http://jakemandell.com/2008/how-well-can-you-hear-shapes-test-your-musical-visual-symbolic-intelligence/#comment-13115 Sun, 15 Jun 2008 05:27:43 +0000 http://jakemandell.com/2008/how-well-can-you-hear-shapes-test-your-musical-visual-symbolic-intelligence/#comment-13115 Very interesting - I guess I'm not totally tone deaf after all. I've always been good with language nuances, but not music. So, I did better on the visual test than the first test. Thanks! Very interesting - I guess I’m not totally tone deaf after all. I’ve always been good with language nuances, but not music. So, I did better on the visual test than the first test. Thanks!

]]> Comment on About this Site by Natali http://jakemandell.com/about/#comment-13058 Wed, 11 Jun 2008 22:21:03 +0000 http://jakemandell.com/about/#comment-13058 Loved the adaptive pitch test. I know some studies say that a good ear isn't passed down from family members, but almost all members of my family have a great ear! I took the adaptive pitch test, scoring a .8 Hz! I'm self taught in piano and guitar (the only note I can actually read is C). This test just proved to me that I am above normal and it wasn't just in my head. Ever thought of making this a facebook application? I was looking on there and there isn't one musical test at all. I just thought it would be a cool idea if you could... Loved the adaptive pitch test.
I know some studies say that a good ear isn’t passed down from family members, but almost all members of my family have a great ear!

I took the adaptive pitch test, scoring a .8 Hz! I’m self taught in piano and guitar (the only note I can actually read is C). This test just proved to me that I am above normal and it wasn’t just in my head.

Ever thought of making this a facebook application? I was looking on there and there isn’t one musical test at all.
I just thought it would be a cool idea if you could…

]]> Comment on How well can you hear shapes? Test your musical - visual symbolic intelligence! by beth http://jakemandell.com/2008/how-well-can-you-hear-shapes-test-your-musical-visual-symbolic-intelligence/#comment-12932 Wed, 04 Jun 2008 05:59:13 +0000 http://jakemandell.com/2008/how-well-can-you-hear-shapes-test-your-musical-visual-symbolic-intelligence/#comment-12932 I agree with MerryArwen. I had trouble with the visual abstractions that were being used - it seemed more like a code (red means this, triangle means that) but if the object is just to encode the music with the abstractions, a key should have been provided. As someone with synaesthetic tendencies, the shapes and colors used totally conflict with my own visualizations of the sounds. Simple lines and shapes just don't "sound" like anything to me. I hear the musical samples with all kinds of colors (rarely red or black) and much more complex shapes than the ones used. I found myself tending to the more complex shapes (nested triangles, etc) regardless of whether they would be the "right" answer. I agree with MerryArwen. I had trouble with the visual abstractions that were being used - it seemed more like a code (red means this, triangle means that) but if the object is just to encode the music with the abstractions, a key should have been provided.

As someone with synaesthetic tendencies, the shapes and colors used totally conflict with my own visualizations of the sounds. Simple lines and shapes just don’t “sound” like anything to me. I hear the musical samples with all kinds of colors (rarely red or black) and much more complex shapes than the ones used. I found myself tending to the more complex shapes (nested triangles, etc) regardless of whether they would be the “right” answer.

]]> Comment on How well can you hear shapes? Test your musical - visual symbolic intelligence! by Madini Ladino http://jakemandell.com/2008/how-well-can-you-hear-shapes-test-your-musical-visual-symbolic-intelligence/#comment-12929 Tue, 03 Jun 2008 23:18:58 +0000 http://jakemandell.com/2008/how-well-can-you-hear-shapes-test-your-musical-visual-symbolic-intelligence/#comment-12929 This site rocks! Tests are terrific! These tests have 2 important goals for me: Neurobics (quite important for my brain) and test my musical intelligence !! This site rocks! Tests are terrific! These tests have 2 important goals for me: Neurobics (quite important for my brain) and test my musical intelligence !!

]]> Comment on How well can you hear shapes? Test your musical - visual symbolic intelligence! by Gill Joseph http://jakemandell.com/2008/how-well-can-you-hear-shapes-test-your-musical-visual-symbolic-intelligence/#comment-12917 Tue, 03 Jun 2008 11:13:38 +0000 http://jakemandell.com/2008/how-well-can-you-hear-shapes-test-your-musical-visual-symbolic-intelligence/#comment-12917 I really enjoyed this test. I got the first few questions, wrong, then learned to close my eyes and LISTEN instead of trying to see, and it took off after that. Fascinating work - thanks for sharing it with us. I'll definitely have a look at the other tests. :-) Gill, Edinburgh I really enjoyed this test. I got the first few questions, wrong, then learned to close my eyes and LISTEN instead of trying to see, and it took off after that.

Fascinating work - thanks for sharing it with us. I’ll definitely have a look at the other tests. :-)

Gill, Edinburgh

]]> Comment on About this Site by Do you see what I hear? « Communion Of Dreams http://jakemandell.com/about/#comment-12900 Mon, 02 Jun 2008 17:03:11 +0000 http://jakemandell.com/about/#comment-12900 [...] And now someone has tried to come up with a way to test what he calls “Associative Musical Visual Intelligence“: This is a completely new way to measure an often overlooked aspect of intelligence - I guarantee that you’ve never seen (or heard!) anything like it. What is AMVI? Associative Musical Visual Intelligence (or “amvi” for short) is a type of intelligence that’s difficult enough to define, let alone test. Many creative people can associate across sensory domains: they “hear” hints of shapes and can “taste” the essense of colors. At its most extreme this phenomenon is called synesthesia. However, I believe that creative people subconsciously employ elements of synesthesia every day when attempting to think of things in new ways. This is a logic test that attempts to measure one’s ability to correlate musical phrases with abstract shapes and symbols. It’s an interesting idea - try and come up with a new ‘language’ for visually understanding music. And I give him a lot of credit for trying to do so, just as I gave credit to Dr. Freedman for attempting to overlay a color interpretation to letter forms. But for me the test was very frustrating - the simple visual system that Mandell has created just did not jibe with my sense of what was going on with the music. As someone on MeFi (where I found this) said in comments: I got 95% and so, independently, did my girlfriend. We both got the exact same percentage distribution on the categories in the final score, leading me to believe that we both got exactly the same one wrong. [...] […] And now someone has tried to come up with a way to test what he calls “Associative Musical Visual Intelligence“: This is a completely new way to measure an often overlooked aspect of intelligence - I guarantee that you’ve never seen (or heard!) anything like it. What is AMVI? Associative Musical Visual Intelligence (or “amvi” for short) is a type of intelligence that’s difficult enough to define, let alone test. Many creative people can associate across sensory domains: they “hear” hints of shapes and can “taste” the essense of colors. At its most extreme this phenomenon is called synesthesia. However, I believe that creative people subconsciously employ elements of synesthesia every day when attempting to think of things in new ways. This is a logic test that attempts to measure one’s ability to correlate musical phrases with abstract shapes and symbols. It’s an interesting idea - try and come up with a new ‘language’ for visually understanding music. And I give him a lot of credit for trying to do so, just as I gave credit to Dr. Freedman for attempting to overlay a color interpretation to letter forms. But for me the test was very frustrating - the simple visual system that Mandell has created just did not jibe with my sense of what was going on with the music. As someone on MeFi (where I found this) said in comments: I got 95% and so, independently, did my girlfriend. We both got the exact same percentage distribution on the categories in the final score, leading me to believe that we both got exactly the same one wrong. […]

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