A Sonic Rorschach Test

July 21, 2016

On our walk to the train this morning, Liz and I both happened to hear the sound of someone playing a recorder/flute. The notes were singular, and very clear – and actually didn’t sound like someone practicing.

Each note went on for a few seconds, before the next sounded. A, then B, the C#.

After a few moments of this, I joked to Liz that my first thought was: “Quick, check to make sure all the children are ok.” Because my mind went immediately to fairy tales, and specifically to the Pied Piper of Hamelin.

Liz on the other hand, told me her first thought was of Jean-Luc Picard, from Star Trek: The Next Generation – and specifically the episode where he plays a Ressikan flute (in The Inner Light).

With both of us responding so differently to the same sound, I realized what we had experienced was a kind of sonic Rorschach test.

To which Liz replied: “Yeah, but my thing was nerdier.” And a moment later, “I won.”

Hard to argue with that. This is the kind of thing that happens when you think that you’re a Star Trek fan, but then your wife watches ST:TNG for the first time and shows you that she is more of a superfan that you’ll ever be.

In an attempt to match my wife’s nerdish ways, here’s a video sample of Picard playing the flute (though from a different episode):