This promises to be the most unlikely post I will have ever produced: Yesterday I had an appointment with a dentist who had to accomplish some rather unpleasant though necessary work on my infrastructure (a good trendy word, no?). I took, as I always do, a CD player and a recording of Clifford Curzon playing Mozart concerti--his playing is so distinctive and so elegantly voiced. I take things I am studying, not for casual listening.

I notice that my hearing is very much more acute in that setting. I hear every slight deviation from equal temperament, though I do not have perfect pitch.

Apparently there is something to be said for being on edge.