Here is my dominant function, and the last function alphabetically (did you notice I sorted them alphabetically?). Hopefully I will not bore Te-lovers as I close out this part of the book.
Ti generally
Ti is as interested in how things work, and how things add up, as Te. But Ti will take its own path to figure out the how. It isn’t concerned whether the result is practical or agreed upon or demonstrable; it’s concerned that it’s accurate and valid.
Ti…takes a long time. I like to describe Fi as a smell test and Ti as a stress test; they’ll agree in the bulk of situations. Fi might write some things off too quickly; Ti might not be available in a low-data or think-fast scenario, and Ti might miss what is obvious to everybody else. But Ti also can solve some really odd problems sometimes by going through everything and coming up with something bespoke.
I like to describe Ti v. Te by asking what the speed limit is on a given road. Ti wants to tell you what’s printed on the sign; Te wants to tell you the actual speed people go on that road. Ti will be more correct in answering the question, but Ti might also insist on going that speed limit even if the driver behind them is about to ram into them. Te will go with the flow of traffic more.
What Ti values in music – Uniqueness/intricacy
Ti wants a song to make sense, and it’s happy if it’s playing by its own rulebook. Ti can appreciate mathematically-inspired choices in a way that the other functions just don’t care about; Ti might be inspired to create out of mathematical inspiration.
If it’s not unique, it can at least be intricate – like following along with a mystery or a working out a puzzle. Frank James’s portrayal of an INTP musician involves someone who made a song in five time signatures at once. My most-played song off my first album had four polymeters at once, because I am obsessed with time signatures. So…yep. My inspiration for writing might be some detail that is downright boring to someone else; my life is a long life of excitedly sharing a single production element to someone like it’s the eureka!-iest moment of my life and them not having any idea what I’m on about.
When Ti is too dominant
Unhealthy Ti songs are inscrutable and inaccessible, and often proudly so. That might be from being discordant (logically put together but unpleasant to listen to), too clever by half (a perennial problem with me), or otherwise being something that can only be admired rather than liked. I’ve been guilty of these.
Some examples
Many think of Aphex Twin as Ti music. I think if his single “Ventolin” as unhealthy Ti music. Named for an asthma drug whose side effects include tinnitus (so Wikipedia tells me), that’s why there’s a tinnitus-type sound going through the entire track. It makes absolute sense to describe this to you, and it’s evocative of what it wants to evoke. It also is very difficult to listen to. Not that Aphex Twin cared about that sort of thing…but this is what I mean. Other cognitive functions might have not put that sound in there for the entire song.
On the healthy end, my favorite song ever, Genesis’s “Firth of Fifth,” goes to several different places but ties the pieces together through recontextualizing melodies. It also starts with a bizarre sequence of time signatures that I could not tell you off the top of my head. When I heard it for the first time around age 15, I knew from the initial seconds that it was going to be one of my favorite songs. Motifs are really great for making Ti music connect – they’re handholds for the listener to grab onto.
I also submit the Susumu Yokota album Love or Die. Coming after Wonder Waltz, it was his second straight album entirely in 3/4 time, and it’s the better one. “For the Other Self Who Is Far Away That I Cannot Reach” is beautiful, while “The Scream of a Sage Who Lost Freedom and Love Taken for Granted Before” is an all-time favorite of mine. Doing everything in 3/4 colors the approach to each sound exploration while holding the album together. It’s Ti-governed creativity at its finest.
Next part: 16 Personalities + Music
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