Neurological processing of consnance and dissonance as seen through Rite of Spring

The Rite of Spring by Stravinsky is one killer piece of work. Snaky oboe lines give way to implosive, full orchestral chords of sheerly dissonant weight, flitting toothy flutes chomp into wavering tones and when you see it with Leonard Bernstein conducting, you get a sense of just how tres difficile the work is for the concert players. But in delving even further, as I did upon listening to WNYC last night, I found that the dissonant layers of this work are actually known to cause schizophrenic reactions! Yes, that's right. How does this happen? Well, the brain processes sounds that are consonant in a much more streamlined way than it does dissonant sounds. Because of this tim elapse, apparently a jumble of confusion occurs, as was evident the opening night of the Rite of Spring. On this evening, reportedly, old ladies with cane sbeat each other, boos, hisses and throwing of objects underscored the performance of the work. Now check this out: one year later they performed again. What happened? Well, Stravinsky was lifted out of the concert hall on the shoulders of audience members and critics alike as the sounds they heard were already familiar, the pathways for understanding them had been established. Kooky. Check this decent clip of Bernstein conducting a youth orchestra.