How do the arts communicate differently, and what are the consequences of those differences?

Yet another question and I don’t know if I can adequately explain what I would like to talk about.

This arises out of my question about whether folks read what they wrote and how they feel about it. In part, Josie seemed to suggest that he writes for himself.

In my response, I thought about the nature of dance and music, as compared to writing. I realized that in dance and music, the performers are working together, and the communication happens at that moment, between the performers and the audience, and then it is gone, except for what remains in memory (discounting technology for recordings).

Writing, on the other hand, is more like speaking. I think it makes more sense in conversation. It is for the purpose of communicating with others, but the communication works best if people take turns doing it. Unlike dance or music, everyone talking at the same time makes the speech meaningless.

Writing is different from speech in that it can happen asynchronously. Two people need not be in the same space at the same time in order to have a useful “conversation.” However, while dance and music can be done alone (if a tree falls in a forest and no one else hears it, etc…), it is kind of like talking to yourself, or…. writing to yourself. Generally, when we see people talking to themselves, we think they are crazy (although bluetooth is forcing us to change that idea).

Art works in yet another way. It’s kind of like a signpost at a corner. It sits there, waiting for someone to come along and appreciate it/ glean useful information from it. It is part of an even more asynchronous conversation.

Yet artists of all kinds will tell us they are creating art because they want to. For themselves; not for anyone else. To which I say, “bullshit!” Art is part of an important conversation. If it is purely for the artist who created it, then that artist is probably a bit, if not a lot crazy.

So these are my ideas about how the arts communicate differently. These are some of my ideas about the consequences of those differences. What do you see that I don’t see? How do you think the arts communicate differently? What do you think the consequences of those differences are? What do you think about my idea that speaking to oneself alone is necessarily representative of a kind of mental disorder?