Hi and welcome to the DhO,
k bb:
My going theory is that noting is a bridge that allows more levels of the mind to be connected with the observed phenomena, essentially you are strengthening the interface between the subconscious and the conceptual parts of the mind. As well as training the conceptual parts to let go of phenomena more quickly.
It is, happily, much more simple than that; see below.
k bb:
In much of what I've read, there is great emphasis on seeing things as they actually are, without the filters of concepts.
This kind of vague instruction ("see things as they actually are, without the filters of concepts") can be very effective for some...but for others, I suspect it is not. (I don't think its particularly effective in general, but I think it's spoken a lot because it sounds "deep"). If you think that you understand this sort of instruction-- and so act in that manner-- but do not actually understand it, you may be leading yourself into misunderstanding, vis:
k bb:
Noting seems to be the opposite of that. You are attaching a conceptual label to what is happening, and with great speed. It seems hard to really deeply look at the sensations when I've tried to note.
When properly noting, one is not "attaching a label" onto the sensations, one is simply using a verbal tool to aid in ensuring that one is consciously recognizing as many clearly defined sensations as one can. This is why, as one moves on to the more advanced stages of noting, the verbal "note" (what I suspect is causing you to think of noting as "conceptual labeling") is dropped. Further, it's only after that point that one is able to achieve the necessary absorption in noting that will allow for big breakthroughs.
Trent