I liked the post but can someone explain how macro choices change the acceptance volume? Is it their effect on the total number of available choices? Does picking E minor somehow give you fewer options than C major (I'm not a musician)?
[deleted]
Why effort scales superlinearly with the perceived quality of creative work
121–125 of 125 posts
Re: Why effort scales superlinearly with the perceived quality of creative work
#122I liked the post but can someone explain how macro choices change the acceptance volume? Is it their effect on the total number of available choices? Does picking E minor somehow give you fewer options than C major (I'm not a musician)?
I'm personally a little frustrated with these music theory answers. Trust me folks, these answers are nearly impossible for a non-musician to understand (and even as a musician it's a bit impenetrable).
E minor gives you the exact same amount of options as C major. The options are just shuffled around a little bit. You literally get the same amount of notes in either, just a slightly different set. It isn't any more complex. Listeners aren't going to notice a difference, except one will probably sound happy and one will probably sound sad/angry. The "acceptance volume", to use the blog author's term, isn't any different.
At best, it can change things a little bit for some instruments. For example, with a vocalist, their voice can only go so high. They might be able to hit up to a high C, but not even higher up to an high E. If you're in C major, that's great, the vocalist's highest note (C) is the 'home note' which sounds great (playing a C in C Major makes the song sound like it's 'finished'). If you're E minor, the 'home note' is E, and as mentioned they wouldn't be able to hit that note. So you wouldn't really be able to 'finish' on a high note.
Ultimately, I doubt the author is a musician. It was a strange example to make their point.
Re: Why effort scales superlinearly with the perceived quality of creative work
#123Earlier quoted context omitted.
Except for others who do that type of work and so know what to look for. I have a friend who does trim work in mansions - I can't take him to a restaurant near me because the trim work is terrible and he can't help but stare at it the whole time - nobody else notices.
Sounds like my dad (a former finish carpenter). He was never able to hold down a job because of his perfectionism. The union carpenters he worked with had a slogan: "If you can't see it from the freeway, nail it."
Reminds me of that typographer that specialises in historical typefaces and who according to their partner is insufferable when watching period movies as they point out all the fonts on the shops and set that wouldn’t have existed at the time.
Apologies their name alludes me.
Re: Why effort scales superlinearly with the perceived quality of creative work
#124Bands and artists do sometimes record a banger very quickly, and no, the effort is not in muscle memory or practice. If it was in muscle memory it would be repeatable feat, and it really isn't. Some work is technically polished and you can see/hear the effort that went into it. But there's a point where extra effort makes the work less good. Music starts to sound stale and overproduced, art loses some of its directne…
I just saw Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass in concert last night (he's 90 and can still play that horn!) and one of the things he talked about was recording his vocals for This Guy's In Love With You written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. He's a great musician but not much of a trained singer, and he said when he got into the studio, he sat down and did a relaxed first practice take, expecting he'd go and record…
And sometimes for some types of music they will intentionally re-do takes until the singer is a little hoarse and irritated to get a more 'raw' performance.
Re: Why effort scales superlinearly with the perceived quality of creative work
#125Earlier quoted context omitted.
One thing I learned from theater set construction is that you can slap some gaffer's tape and paint over any flaws, and the audience will never notice.
Except for others who do that type of work and so know what to look for. I have a friend who does trim work in mansions - I can't take him to a restaurant near me because the trim work is terrible and he can't help but stare at it the whole time - nobody else notices.
I went on a ferry ride with a friend who is a welder by trade and they spent a full hour examining the railings and critiquing the welding. It was pretty interesting.