Where is note one? Do you really think you walk around without notes already playing in your head?
Can you imagine what is happening inside your memory/imagination/fantasy/dream world as you sit in anticipation of what you will actually hear once the music begins? It would be next to impossible to figure that out.
But I am fascinated with the power of first hearing, and that includes the power of the sound that breaks the silence. In my case I have become aware that I recall the experience of utter surprise when I first heard sounds that "spoke" to me, isolated sounds in the piano music of Mozart--not the music, but isolated sounds. I never expected to hear sounds like those coming from a book, so to speak.
That is the experience I crave when I listen to music of any kind - that surprise.
I once knew a concert pianist who had never been led to deal with the overtones of the instrument. Every time he had to break the silence he was in agony, as he put it. I wonder if his audience could tell.
