[extropy-chat] An imaginary anecdote

[Sean Diggins]

This is really a little anecdote which is off topic, I guess, but if anyone
here can shed some light on why this happened, I'd be very interested in all
views:

Just before I woke this morning, I was in a very lucid, "linear" dream where
I went to a huge zoo with my aunt and her daughter (she and I always shared
a secret attraction to each other, but neither EVER took _that_ any
further...not being part of the Bristish Roral Family and all that..). So,
we get through the toll gates and not long after I'm suddenly tapped on the
shoulder by...Bill Murray!. I've been laid up for the last month with an
incredibly damaged lower back ('nother story) and it seems Bill's job at the
zoo is to recognise people wth back problems and CARRY them around the zoo.
Naturally, I don't mind at all, so off we go and Bill is wisecracking in his
usual hilarious manner, even while he explains he is doing this work as part
of therapy to recover from a breakdown after Lost In Translation. And man,
he is SO funny, but of course, all this wisecracking is coming from MY brain
(and I'm not recalling lines from his movies, as far as I know...although we
do exchange quite a few off the cuff gags regarding Groundhog Day and this
zoo role...)

Somewhere along the way, Bill says "mind if I hum a tune" and I of course
say "no problem." He starts humming the most beautiful, melancholic melody
that I cant resist adding a "Nashville shaded third", and even stetching
beyond, going in harmonic directions I never even normally think of.....but
every decision works beautifully. Murray is stunned and naturally says "you
must be a singer", which I'm not. I am a professional musician (double bass
player) and audio engineer. I do sing harmony and the occasional lead, but
I'm not very good at it and have a lot of trouble with pitch and note
choices. I gravitate towards the 5th, swapping to the 3rd without any
particular reason or at any particular time. And I often miss...unless
extensively rehearsed. Even then, I mostly sing a bit flat. Yet in this
dream, both Bill and I have perfect pitch. Other things subsequently occur
involving Bill which are hilarious, but this is the part of the dream I'm
most interested in. 

My question to the list is this: Is it possible that conscious limitations
to our musical abilities are bypassed when we are asleep? Is this a problem
related to the fact that my physical senses were only functioning
metaphorically? (ie my ears werent "hearing", my voice wasn't
"singing".....? And this is also weird - how was I able to create very funny
gags for Bill and I, or were they not very funny at all and I'm just
recalling it differently? Is there a more talented part of our brain which
kicks into gear during dreams and is pushed into the background during
consciousness?

Anyway, it's off topic, but I hope most of you will be OK with me posting
this...

Thanks,

Sean