Earlier quoted context omitted.
You really don't know?
I really don't know what you're referring to, no.
Music Theory for Programmers
241–250 of 261 posts
Re: Music Theory for Programmers
#242Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sure. It is a trope amongst gigging musicians that over-intellectualizing the feels is a massive no-no. Hence the joke about Db being the saddest chord... also Phil Collins said that, he would know :-D... ...and C# being the most evil chord. Hilarious. I persist: "before you can be good, you first have to be bad" is more helpful music theory than that whole JavaScript visuals page.
I know the trope. My first guitar teacher taught me how to play songs but didn’t know the notes on the fretboard. It’s a bit like being able to drive a car without understand what the clutch and gears actually do. But personally, I couldn’t handle not knowing why the clutch needed to be pressed, or why a chord shapes is the why it is.
I put it to you that seeing a chord: on paper, or in math or in chord notation, (eg. FminSus4) is something you should only master once you are able to hear that chord.
Otherwise you are (that's a quote) "dancing about architecture" and hurting your ability to understand sound.
Re: Music Theory for Programmers
#243Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's no such thing as "music theory". Music theory was originally a tool for music critics in the 19th century to talk about conservatory music of the time. There's nothing rigorous, systematic or scientific in it; it's mostly a historical cultural artifact more than anything else. For example, music "theory" is completely helpless when describing an EDM track or how to compose one. EDM is one of the most primitiv…
Spoken like someone with absolutely zero grasp of music theory or modern electronic music. I almost want to congratulate you for the worst-informed comment I’ve read today.
Your jimmies seem rustled. Am I wrong tho?
Is music "theory" actually a theory? Can it be used to predict or construct something? Even just a two-note steady-pulse acid bass beat. I'm not asking for much.
Re: Music Theory for Programmers
#244Earlier quoted context omitted.
Spoken like someone with absolutely zero grasp of music theory or modern electronic music. I almost want to congratulate you for the worst-informed comment I’ve read today.
Your jimmies seem rustled. Am I wrong tho? Is music "theory" actually a theory? Can it be used to predict or construct something? Even just a two-note steady-pulse acid bass beat. I'm not asking for much.
It's not a scientific theory, but musical theory concepts are certainly used by players when playing. Would you rather it be called music ontology or something like that?
Re: Music Theory for Programmers
#245Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's also a really strong example of "missing the forest for the trees". Deriving Western music traditions from first principles does not help you to understand why, what, and how any of it actually works.
If we teach theory without first principles, all we have to do is say “C + E + G make up a major triad”; we may go as far as to explain that, in a major key, the I, IV, and V chords are major chords, the ii, iii, and vi chords are minor chords, and the vii chord is a very dissonant diminished chord. However, first principles explain “why” a major chord sounds the way it does, and “why” a minor chord has more tension.…
My point is that it’s great to understand “why” Western music is the way it is, but it’s largely not the point of music theory.
Music theory is useful because it establishes a vocabulary.
Re: Music Theory for Programmers
#246This is (mostly) not music theory and what is music theory is mostly wrong or incomplete to the point of being wildly misleading. Source: have degree and postgrad in music, was a professional musician until RSI put paid to that career, wife is a professional musician and teaches to postgrad level at 2 conservertoires, most of our friends are professional musicians, have a house full of scores and music books. If you…
Off topic, but given your credentials you might be a good person to ask. Any recommendations on how I should go about learning to play piano? I am just starting out. I have no music background except playing some basic self taught guitar in my teenage years. I can't read music fluently yet. I have access to a nice Yamaha with weighted keys.
The tried and true approach is to find a piano teacher in your area, schedule weekly appointments, set aside at least one hour of practice every day between lessons.
Re: Music Theory for Programmers
#247Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I am still not able to recognize a sound and understand what note that is That is called "perfect pitch" and it is not necessary to play music. It's very rare to have perfect pitch, and it seems to be innate, not something you learn. Contextual note recognition (relative pitch) is what musicians normally use to jam. It comes with practice and contextual clues that you pick up over tens of years (including familiari…
Isn't perfect pitch just when you can tell a note without having a reference tone? Once you have a point of reference things just go up and down and from there it should be manageable to identify each note. Also, not sure about the innate thing. Seems to me that it's just a neural pathway that can be created by playing or listening to a whole lot of music while being aware of which tone is which, for example by readi…
Perfect pitch is quite debated. What we know is that: 1) Most people with perfect pitch have it mostly on their main instrument, and they translate the pitch in their inner ear if they hear a different instrument, and 2) Many with perfect pitch report that it gets less reliable with age.
There seems to be many different ways of having perfect pitch. For example, some singers may connect it more to the physical sensation of applying tension to their vocal cords (so they have to be singing the pitch or imagine singing it to be able to tell). For others it's purely auditive.
Re: Music Theory for Programmers
#248This is (mostly) not music theory and what is music theory is mostly wrong or incomplete to the point of being wildly misleading. Source: have degree and postgrad in music, was a professional musician until RSI put paid to that career, wife is a professional musician and teaches to postgrad level at 2 conservertoires, most of our friends are professional musicians, have a house full of scores and music books. If you…
I started learning guitar last July, and I wanted to learn music theory (and standard notation) from day 1. I am following Absolutely Understand Guitar[1] as my music theory lessons (and Hal Leonard method for notation) along side my regular tutorials. So far I am very impressed. Quite beginner friendly, and learning music theory while starting out with the instrument has not been difficult for me at least. 1: https:…
I can't possibly agree loudly enough with this recommendation. I started with Hal Leonard method classical guitar books(1 & 2) and that was one thing...great books, but nothing compared to Absolutely Understand Guitar. That guy teaches and explains music theory in a way so effective it's not even comparable to other systems. Fantastic teacher, fantastic material, nothing but praise for Scotty West's music program.
Re: Music Theory for Programmers
#249Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's also a really strong example of "missing the forest for the trees". Deriving Western music traditions from first principles does not help you to understand why, what, and how any of it actually works.
If we teach theory without first principles, all we have to do is say “C + E + G make up a major triad”; we may go as far as to explain that, in a major key, the I, IV, and V chords are major chords, the ii, iii, and vi chords are minor chords, and the vii chord is a very dissonant diminished chord. However, first principles explain “why” a major chord sounds the way it does, and “why” a minor chord has more tension.…
Does music come from first principles, or is it a cultural product that's a result of a feedback loop between a listener/practitioner and an ambient culture and technological landscape? Parrotting is exactly how we learn music- we hear, and we reproduce what we hear. What you call "deriving music from first principles", I call, "post-facto justification for arbitrary aesthetic tendencies".
Re: Music Theory for Programmers
#250Earlier quoted context omitted.
I really don't know what you're referring to, no.
Try https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_note .
Ah, sure, OK.
There are "notes as the name of certain pitches", and "notes as things musicians play". The former is a relatively simple concept, the latter much less so. I do see that the vast majority of the wikipedia article is concerned with "notes as the name of certain pitches".