A physicist can analyze the sound waves music makes in the air, and a musicologist can describe the formal structures which composers use when they harness those vibrations, but it is impossible to describe adequately the effect music has on us except by some sort of poetic analogy. Perfume is similar. A chemist can analyze its molecules in a laboratory, a perfumer can tell us what ingredients went into the bottle, but the effect of perfume on us, our response to it, is intangible.
— Columnist Stephen Hough, from Nosing around II – music and perfume at The Telegraph.
Wow! I guess I didn’t really ever look at it that way, but how true the article is. The similarities between perfume and music are very noticeable and connected. Great post Robin. I also love that photo with all the fragrances in it.
So thought provoking
Thanks for the great post, Robin.
I was just thinking the other day about about how a really good sensory experience can seem to almost bleed into your other senses. for example, I sometimes feel like I can “see” a really good rhythm in a song, and the way the various percussive elements all fit together like some kind of tightly woven auditory tapestry. or with a really good perfume, you can hear the various notes come in, sometimes in perfect harmony, sometimes in carefully orchestrated dissonance that then resolves itself into an amazingly satisfying “auditory” experience, as I discovered so recently (I only just really discovered perfumes about a month ago, and it’s been quite enlightening, I must say!)