Sensory Differences: A gift from Charlie
Feeling heat on the floor rather than coming out of a radiator in the wall.
Hearing an entire book rather than reading words on a page.
These are small changes in how I’ve been taking in sensory data—-the bathroom in my parents’ house is heated through the floor; I have been listening to an audiobook while running in northern California—I am wondering if this is the sort of sensory dysfunction my son Charlie experiences, to a much, much greater degree?
It’s not strange; it’s different.
Eucalyptus trees dropping oily leaves here in Bay Area fog; smooth green lawns in New Jersey.
It’s a gift Charlie has given me—-a taste of his way of being in the world.
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POSTED IN: Autism Lit, Sensory, Writing
11 opinions for Sensory Differences: A gift from Charlie
mcewen
Dec 25, 2006 at 2:32 pm
Running! Running? Do you know what day it is today? Definitely something dysfunctional there. Stop sniffing the eucalyptus oil it’s doing funny things to you. Cheers
Kristina Chew, PhD
Dec 25, 2006 at 2:47 pm
It’s worse…….running up a hill because that’s where my parents live…….
Julia
Dec 25, 2006 at 4:25 pm
Oh, great, now all this talk of running has me wanting to open the PDQ Bach cd my sister’s husband sent me, to hear “Iphigenia in Brooklyn”. :)
Kristina Chew, PhD
Dec 25, 2006 at 6:38 pm
Haven’t heard of that CD—-sounds like something I need to hear.
Julia
Dec 25, 2006 at 6:58 pm
Check it out here. The sample doesn’t have the bit I was reminded of by your discussion of running, though. :) (Having both that cantata and the “New Horizons in Music Appreciation,” aka “The Beethoven Sportscast” (because half the people familiar with it don’t remember the official name) on one album is great!)
Daisy
Dec 25, 2006 at 7:22 pm
Julia — Only he who is running, knows.
Kristina, it’s hilarious. In fact, if you try to listen to it while running, you’ll probably have to stop and sit down so you can laugh out loud.
Julia
Dec 25, 2006 at 7:26 pm
It is hilarious.
My favorite thing about it, though, is the double reeds. (Without instruments attached to them.)
Kristina Chew, PhD
Dec 25, 2006 at 8:06 pm
What I’ve been running to is in a bit of a different vein!
Phil Schwarz
Dec 25, 2006 at 11:01 pm
My favorite “PDQ Bach” concoction by Peter Schickele is the slow movement of the /Quodlibet/ (on the very first PDQ Bach album, I think). It’s a piece constructed entirely of melodic fragments ripped off from the 9 Beethoven symphonies and the Brahms 1st symphony. It ends by quoting the opening bars of the slow movement of Beethoven’s 5th, only it “short-sheets” the audience with an utterly banal premature resolution to the tonic, which ends the entire piece. The audience is expecting to hear more bars of the slow movement of the 5th, only the piece has (sappily) ended, and it takes a good 20 seconds or so for the audience to realize that it has been ripped off — and then the laughter and applause ensue.
It’s a beautiful demonstration of false expectation — dare I say false theory-of-mind? — leading the audience astray. /Very/ funny to witness (and be part of).
It’s in the same genre as my all-time favorite Mel Brooks film moment. That moment comes in the film /High Anxiety/, which is a rollicking send-up of the great Alfred Hitchcock films. But my favorite moment is not connected with any of the Hitchcock films. It’s a short sequence in which the protagonist and his party are driving down the LA freeway, and someone in the conversation mentions the key phrase “high anxiety”, at which point music swells up dramatically. But the characters on-screen hear and react to the music too — first by looking at one another, then looking out the car windows to the next lane, where a big honking intercity bus with the logo LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC passes them by, chock full of musicians playing away fortissimo. :-). Another playful tug at the audience’s theory-of-mind.
– Phil, rambling :-)
Merry Christmas, and a happy and healthy new year!
Kristina Chew, PhD
Dec 26, 2006 at 1:58 am
Rambling and associating! My favorite Bach is the fugues—
Lisa/Jedi
Dec 26, 2006 at 11:37 am
Triple thumbs-up fo PDQ Bach! Brendan adores the cd “1712 Overture & Other Musical Assaults”, particularly “Einstein on the Fritz” (we love the Phillip Glass pastiche…). Must be heard to be believed…
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