Huh. I love windchimes. Well, I guess I can understand how someone could find them irritating, in theory, but to me the *feel* of listening to them is a soothing sensation like ... running water, or crickets, or the soft breathing of a loved one, or ocean waves in the distance, if any of those are soothing to you. They just sound mellow and melodious, generally, although some of the little tinny ones are too high pitched for me.
I can't quite say *why* they are soothing. The repetition and variation helps, the fact that they are generally tuned to some kind of notes helps, the way they synch up with the effects of breeze on the sounds and sights of nearby foliage helps. I won't voluntarily sit under the ones on our porch when it's blustering up for a storm, though, so there is a limit for me as to what is too much clatter from them.
I am familiar with mild frustration with the unanswerability of "Why does that seem good to you and not-good to me," too. I feel like that for a lot of music. I've noticed some patterns in what I do and don't like, but they are idiosyncratic.
I like the patterned randomness of a sound straying back and forth between a set of possible notes. I like the rise and fall that goes with the rise and fall of wind. I like the lasting resonance, the shimmery quality of metal ones and the hollow deep richness of wood or bamboo. I like the *idea* of them, just as I also like kites and pinwheels and wind-sculptures; and rain gutters, and sand ripples, and waves breaking on rocks. I like gongs and flutes and New Age music, which have sometimes similar sounds. I like owls and crickets, and am reminded of them by wind chimes.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2016-08-16 01:43 am (UTC)I can't quite say *why* they are soothing. The repetition and variation helps, the fact that they are generally tuned to some kind of notes helps, the way they synch up with the effects of breeze on the sounds and sights of nearby foliage helps. I won't voluntarily sit under the ones on our porch when it's blustering up for a storm, though, so there is a limit for me as to what is too much clatter from them.
I am familiar with mild frustration with the unanswerability of "Why does that seem good to you and not-good to me," too. I feel like that for a lot of music. I've noticed some patterns in what I do and don't like, but they are idiosyncratic.
I like the patterned randomness of a sound straying back and forth between a set of possible notes. I like the rise and fall that goes with the rise and fall of wind. I like the lasting resonance, the shimmery quality of metal ones and the hollow deep richness of wood or bamboo. I like the *idea* of them, just as I also like kites and pinwheels and wind-sculptures; and rain gutters, and sand ripples, and waves breaking on rocks. I like gongs and flutes and New Age music, which have sometimes similar sounds. I like owls and crickets, and am reminded of them by wind chimes.
Does any of that make sense at all?