Cochlea from Medical Dictionary- The Free Dictionary
When I was in high school, I was blessed to attend a two week music workshop at the University of Georgia. I began by playing oboe in the orchestra, but switched to sing in the advanced choir. It was much more rewarding to me, and I thoroughly enjoyed singing Alto to Mozart's Dixit Dominus as one of the classical pieces we sang for the cumulative concert.
In the poem below, I demonstrate my semiotic theory of iconic realism by writing a description of the hearing process, but one aspect of that process is unexpected: the cochlea is dormant. This human ear is deaf. Thus, this perfect individual will never hear...Dixit Dominus. (It is God's Word.) I have placed the iconic representation of hearing with an iconic composition, Dixit Dominus to bring awareness of the beauty in all of humanity, especially in those individuals who cannot hear.
Dixit Dominus
by Jeanne I. Lakatos
The chorus swells; waves rush in,
their flow controlled
by the canal's turbid banks.
Membrane pulsates -
Malleus, Incus, Stapes
vibrate
through a liquid universe.
Electrical impulses meander
in and out and around
minuscule hair cells within.
Majestic cochlea sits on its throne,
dormant.
Eighth nerve to the brain reaches out.
Mozart sheds a heavenly tear.
This perfect one will never hear ~
Dixit Dominus.
To hear Mozart's Vesperae solennes de Confessore, Dixit Dominus, click onto this link:
Click onto the link below to see an animation of sound felt along the basilar membrane in the cochlea:
