1. Human fingers are hypnotic. For evolutionary reasons, our brains are wired to give primacy to visual experience. (You notice this in novels – most descriptions are visual.) This makes it easy to lose yourself watching the musicians play versus listening to what they play. I find this especially true with guitarists. At some point of complexity, the shapes of the chords start to matter more than their sounds; you’re less interested in the notes then in how fast they’re produced. (Jimi Hendrix is as impressive with the sound off.) It’s a ten-digit ballet, as acrobatic and mysterious as an Olympic gymnastics routine. Who remembers what song was playing when the medals are handed out?
2. Closing your eyes lets you better understand how the notes interact (versus the musicians). It can feel like you’re being let in on a secret when you catch the drummer winking at the bassist mid-song. You may better understand the scene and the internal dynamics of the group, but this doesn’t help you grasp the music itself. What you witness is cooperation, while eyes closed, you better notice how the instruments argue, make love, come together and come apart. Eyes open, at best, you see the band in a groove.
3. You can better comprehend the physics of sound. Open eyes, it feels like the music is coming to you in a tunnel (which, again, my hunch is that this is a result of a biological privilege afforded to vision). Eyes closed, you feel surrounded by the sound. It becomes a cathedral, a mosaic, a lover’s bed and a tomb.
H/t: The four gentlemen sitting in the first row at a recent Village Vanguard show. Two pairs of friends, all clearly jazz-heads, talking shop until it started, at which point their eyes went shut and didn’t open again. They must know what they’re doing, I thought, closing my eyes. Sure enough. They did.