General Q&A about music, for fans, artists, and composers.
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Years ago I acquired a bowed psaltery, with a bow shaped something like this: Every psaltery bow I've seen "in person" has this arched shape. Bows for other instruments (like violins) have a fl...
Some bass guitar players seem to avoid playing open strings in most situations, reportedly for the reason of the sound. Open strings are generally not avoided when playing double bass, although th...
I recently watched the film Shine (1996, by Scott Hicks). It depicts the life of the pianist David Helfgott. As Wikipedia explains in Shine (film): In London, David studies under Dr. Cecil Park...
Consider the following musical scale, with a root of A: A — B — C — D — E — F — G# — A This is, quite clearly, A Harmonic Minor. Let me rewrite the above scale in terms of tone (step) differ...
Instruments with parallel strings, a resonating body, and a neck over which the strings are stretched appear in many cultures. The oud is an Arabic instrument, from which the European lute develope...
Joseph Haydn is frequently called "the father of the symphony." He made important advances in symphonic composition, but he wasn't the first to write symphonies in the classical form. The title ar...
Composers of the classical era, especially Mozart and Beethoven, considered certain keys appropriate for certain moods. What reasons did they have for this? There are practical reasons for choosin...
I recently discovered Boots of Spanish Leather, a 1963 song by Bob Dylan through Joan Baez's cover in Any Day Now (1968). Its lyrics really moved me, so I tried to understand them deeply. The Wiki...
I was introduced to the song "Dust Bowl Dance" by Mumford and Sons through this video, about the character Percy from Campaign 1 of the D&D show Critical Role (spoilers in video). The song fits...
I came across this video and would like to know more about the instrument the woman is playing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF9mtpw365c (Starting at 0:16.) The instrument is shaped sort of l...
A friend and I were having a conversation about the similarity of music to speech, and the importance of phrasing with silence or resolution to allow reflection on what has been heard. Is there any...
Great Music of the Twentieth Century (2018), by Robert Greenberg B.A. music (magna cum laude) from Princeton, Ph.D. music composition from U.C. Berkeley. Lecture 14 "The World Turned Upside Down"....
Please consider these two excerpts: J. S. Bach: Christmas Oratorio 2, Chorale: Brich an, o schönes Morgenlicht W. F. Bach: O Wunder, wer kann dieses fassen cantata, Chorale: O liebes Kind Th...
If I want to insert a verse in the lyrics of a MuseScore document, e.g., adding a verse that goes above all the others, how do I move the existing verses to make room for it? Obviously it can be do...
I've been seeing that many traditional sound systems have switched from long runs of audio cable to using networking cable using the DANTE system. Is this a proprietary system or open standard? Doe...
What are the best techniques for singing while masked? Completely or partially uncovering while singing defeats the purpose, since projecting our voices increases the chance of spewing pathogens in...
I've been listening to the Second Viennese School for 5 years now, and I love their music. Yet whenever I listen to a tone row, especially a new one, I can't hear its transformations in my head. I ...
I'm impressed by Kevin Wang's ability to identify chords aurally. He graduated with a BM in Piano Performance from the Rochester School of Music in 2016. I'm assuming that he has never seen t...
The emboldened sentence below isn't evidenced on Wikipedia. Is it true? If so, why? Yevgeny Mravinsky - Wikipedia The music of Dmitri Shostakovich was closely associated with Mravinsky, beginni...
I'm assuming that Stravinsky was healthy, could see and hear well, and had no personality disorders. How could a skilled composer like him be unskilled at conducting? Stravinsky as Pioneer of a Ne...
I enjoy, and have no problems with: Xenakis's pieces for Solo Instruments (esp. tonal pieces like Six chansons pour piano), Percussion (Ensemble), or String (Ensemble). no more than a ha...
I've been listening to Into the New World (song) since 2007. But I didn't realize until today that Mindblown. : SNSD the opening phrase in ITNW contains the same sequence of notes as the first ...
I love this piece, and I've been craving similar music! The vocals feel like yipping, but liberating and uplifting! I don't know how to embed video in http://www.splitmusic.co.uk/placements/cathay...
At 0:20, Duke University Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor of Music R. Tarry Todd Education Ph.D., Yale University 1979 M.Phil., Yale University 1976 B.A., Yale University 1974 pur...
I don't understand the analysis and dialogue, starting at 15:04, between Kevin Wang BMus (Eastman) in Piano Performance and Jenny Yunyi Ji BMus (Eastman), MMus (San Francisco Conservatory of Mu...
Please see https://youtu.be/P_6i0Js-aw4?t=184. This is Tiffany Young singing Not Barbie, on her Lips on Lips tour in San Francisco, dated March 15 2019. As her fan (to her right) tries to speak to...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoZdwam7wgw is based on just one piece, Mahler's Symphony 2, and a sample size of one from which we can't conclude anything. But I've noticed these wildly different ...
Can anyone substantiate the asserveration below? Why do some people dislike Schoenberg so intensely? : classicalmusic That didn't happen, I think, for two reasons. First, as I mentioned, his mus...
I'm assuming that Jenny Ji hasn't hoodwinked us by covertly consulting the score, before reviewing this song in this Youtube video. To improve my ear training, I deliberately refrained from readi...
I can brook listening to Boulez's 3 Piano Sonatas, Le Marteau sans maître, Pli selon pli, and Répons. I've listened to Boulez's OTHER compositions THE PAST 20 YEARS, but nothing else of his resonat...
At 1:45, Kirill Petrenko has the paper score for 4'33" opened on his conductor stand. But use of sheet music feels guileful and uncandid for 4'33". Can't a competent conductor or musician "conduc...
Are the textbooks below using 'differential' correctly? Why not just write 'different'? The structure of differential identity is such that in order for there to be a limit at all, one differen...
I'm unsettled to find merely 2 CD's of Rautavaara's Piano Concertos 1 and 2 Laura Mikkola (pianist), Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra, Eri Klas (conductor), Naxos (record company) Ralf Go...
I trust my reasoning is obvious, self explanatory. I'm referring to relatively arcane composers who composed AT LEAST 3 piano concertos like John Field, Paul Hindemith, Ernst Krenek, Bohuslav Mar...
This video uses an instrumental version, which https://www.aha-music.com/identify-songs-music-recognition-online/rec/04d5ec380b0c7a48dc815be0ae3c6e81#record-div identifies as Ocean by "The Nights A...
I hope it's obvious to you that this music sounds "Chinese". Why though? Does it use a Major Pentatonic scale? parallel harmony in fourths and fifths? portamento? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=...
At 0:24, as this comment correctly REaffirms Love how serious the conductor is, putting his hand up for all the time Kirill Petrenko starts his handwaving. Why? His handwaving and gestures fe...
We love and listen to the Second Viennese School like Berg, Schoenberg, Webern — even before my daughter was born! My daughter's studying music at university. To guard privacy, I don't want to writ...
My daughter's been listening to KPop, like Girls' Generation Into the New World. You can watch the Ballad versions, with NO dancing, at the Tokyo Dome for the 2011 Girls Generation Tour, and Girls ...
