21–30 of 31 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Which only confirms the correlation. The author clearly points out he does not intend any causation.
> The author clearly points out he does not intend any causation. I'd say then that 'musicthatmakesyoudumb' was a poor choice of domain name.
Not directly related but Bob Brozman has some interesting thoughts on music - "African-based music normally has as the fundamental meter: both 2 and 3 at the same time. This opens the door to syncopation, polyrhythms and musical creativity, which occurs on a more primal level in the brain than harmony. It is acknowledged that Europeans developed harmony further than any other culture; but rhythmically their culture i…
That entire article sounds like pop psychology bullshit. There are far more likely explanations which don't involve implicitly claiming that before Africans even knew Europe existed, they somehow just knew they were going to be oppressed and developed backbeat-based music as a result. (Get real. Maybe you can build all of African-American culture as a reaction to slavery, I still think that simplifies beyond usefulne…
In any case, I think it's an interesting observation from his travels.
This is broken in so many ways. Of course the music listened to by the largest number of people is going to correlate to a more average SAT score. The children that regularly listen to classical are those with parents who either intentionally expose them to it at home (which means that they are likely well-educated) or have them take music lessons (which indicates both a concern for their child's mental development a…
A few people I know is like that - but they would for sure not have a classical music CD in their car.
Not directly related but Bob Brozman has some interesting thoughts on music - "African-based music normally has as the fundamental meter: both 2 and 3 at the same time. This opens the door to syncopation, polyrhythms and musical creativity, which occurs on a more primal level in the brain than harmony. It is acknowledged that Europeans developed harmony further than any other culture; but rhythmically their culture i…
That entire article sounds like pop psychology bullshit. There are far more likely explanations which don't involve implicitly claiming that before Africans even knew Europe existed, they somehow just knew they were going to be oppressed and developed backbeat-based music as a result. (Get real. Maybe you can build all of African-American culture as a reaction to slavery, I still think that simplifies beyond usefulne…
There is some evidence that these drums were used for communication.
This is broken in so many ways. Of course the music listened to by the largest number of people is going to correlate to a more average SAT score. The children that regularly listen to classical are those with parents who either intentionally expose them to it at home (which means that they are likely well-educated) or have them take music lessons (which indicates both a concern for their child's mental development a…
Maybe. One reason I listen to classical music is that it is nice if you study with it and it drains out the background music. (e.g. I find it less distracting to work with classical music on than with Korn or Papa Roach). A few people I know is like that - but they would for sure not have a classical music CD in their car.
Point taken, but an aside:
I find listening to classical music in the car to be an exercise in futility. The dynamic range of classical makes it so that you're constantly adjusting the knob so that you can hear then quiet parts, then turning it down when it starts blasting your face off.
For the car, I just prefer the "normal" stuff, which has a much smaller dynamic range and is more conducive to listening over the background noise of a moving car.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Maybe. One reason I listen to classical music is that it is nice if you study with it and it drains out the background music. (e.g. I find it less distracting to work with classical music on than with Korn or Papa Roach). A few people I know is like that - but they would for sure not have a classical music CD in their car.
they would for sure not have a classical music CD in their car. Point taken, but an aside: I find listening to classical music in the car to be an exercise in futility. The dynamic range of classical makes it so that you're constantly adjusting the knob so that you can hear then quiet parts, then turning it down when it starts blasting your face off. For the car, I just prefer the "normal" stuff, which has a much sma…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Maybe. One reason I listen to classical music is that it is nice if you study with it and it drains out the background music. (e.g. I find it less distracting to work with classical music on than with Korn or Papa Roach). A few people I know is like that - but they would for sure not have a classical music CD in their car.
they would for sure not have a classical music CD in their car. Point taken, but an aside: I find listening to classical music in the car to be an exercise in futility. The dynamic range of classical makes it so that you're constantly adjusting the knob so that you can hear then quiet parts, then turning it down when it starts blasting your face off. For the car, I just prefer the "normal" stuff, which has a much sma…
Also, the better stuff demands attention, which I prefer to give to the road and other drivers.
(I'm a fan of post-rock, which, for lack of a proper description, is sort of like prog rock meets Michael Nyman on the way to Brian Eno's house.)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That entire article sounds like pop psychology bullshit. There are far more likely explanations which don't involve implicitly claiming that before Africans even knew Europe existed, they somehow just knew they were going to be oppressed and developed backbeat-based music as a result. (Get real. Maybe you can build all of African-American culture as a reaction to slavery, I still think that simplifies beyond usefulne…
Maybe the implication is the opposite - backbeat-based music has been lost over time in our countries. Perhaps to the expense of gaining harmonic complexity. Perhaps due to the rise of marching music? Just thinking aloud. In any case, I think it's an interesting observation from his travels.
Many European instruments, especially in the era when European music as we know it today really started to take off (Bach's time), require significant technological advances to create. Not all of them, necessarily, but a harpsichord is not a trivial instrument. Having harmony, they developed harmony.
It is worth pointing out that both have spread the world over (with changes as they go, as cultural artifacts should travel), which I think further knocks out the "oppression" aspect. Plenty of non-oppressed people love a beat.
This is broken in so many ways. Of course the music listened to by the largest number of people is going to correlate to a more average SAT score. The children that regularly listen to classical are those with parents who either intentionally expose them to it at home (which means that they are likely well-educated) or have them take music lessons (which indicates both a concern for their child's mental development a…
The problem is that classical music enthusiasts tend to be rarer than rap enthusiasts, and the so-called "classical" music world is much more diverse than the world of rap, seeing as it spans many more centuries. You can be a die-hard classical enthusiast and never have heard of some very prominent composers, because there are so many. For instance, more people know Philip Glass than Steve Reich, but they're part of…
I'm guessing that you play piano (in regards to the "novice" part). Marsalis is a jazz sax musician; the Marsalis family is probably the closest thing that jazz has to a household name these days. The point I was trying to make with him is that instrumental music training rarely has such a limited scope in terms of genre: in the case of piano, even the most hardcore classical-focused piano teacher would still have their students dabble with Scott Joplin or whatever.
Einaudi does comtemporary classical piano / string arrangements, sometimes with a mix of digital / world type stuff for ambience. "Giorni Dispari" is the first song of his that I heard, probably one of my favorites of his and not particularly hard to play if you can find sheet music: http://tinyurl.com/dnj7t3
I haven't played much lately, as I'm currently a sleep-deprived college student living in an apt. Last two songs I remember working with are Carly Comando's Everyday (you can actually buy the sheet music from her directly on her MySpace page for a few bucks) and Greg Maroney's Castle of Shadows. I've developed a serious bent for modern / minimalist stuff lately. My favorite piece I've ever played is Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C# Minor; that song is a beast. It's definitely for the less experienced though, I doubt I'd be able to play it now without taking the time to get my skills back up to where they were.