Janet
Max Output Level: 0 dBFS
- Total Posts : 8094
- Joined: 2010/01/02 19:04:11
- Location: Missouri
- Status: offline
Is there such a thing as a music nerd?
I recently got the book "Hearing and Writing Music.' Must have seen it referenced somewhere here...don't remember. I'm only up to chapter 3, but they're talking about how the scale was 'invented.' You know, I've been wondering about that (and how they first figured out how to write music on staves) for awhile...and find it fascinating, although a little tough to get around this simple brain of mine.
But I feel like a music nerd, spending part of my Saturday afternoon reading this. :)
(but I also figured some of you could possibly relate.) :)
|
bayoubill
Max Output Level: 0 dBFS
- Total Posts : 10899
- Joined: 2009/04/27 06:11:12
- Location: Shreveport Louisiana
- Status: offline
Re:Is there such a thing as a music nerd?
2012/07/28 18:11:12
(permalink)
Don't worry about that! A lady called me a Guitar Nerd a few weeks ago. I was reading stuff like Jazz: From it's origins to the present and Life of Jimi Hendrix.
|
Janet
Max Output Level: 0 dBFS
- Total Posts : 8094
- Joined: 2010/01/02 19:04:11
- Location: Missouri
- Status: offline
Re:Is there such a thing as a music nerd?
2012/07/28 18:12:03
(permalink)
Oh, I'm not worried. I'm sure many people consider me weird anyway. :) Sounds like a good read! :)
|
SteveStrummerUK
Max Output Level: 0 dBFS
- Total Posts : 31112
- Joined: 2006/10/28 10:53:48
- Location: Worcester, England.
- Status: offline
Re:Is there such a thing as a music nerd?
2012/07/28 18:25:47
(permalink)
It's interesting stuff for sure Janet.
From what I can remember, the 'western' scale owes a lot to the mathematics and physics of vibration and sound waves. Stuff we take for granted - like fretting a guitar string at the half way point (12th fret) to raise the pitch by an octace - is deeply rooted in this pretty basic science.
I've never delved into how other cultures have devised their scales and relative intervals, that would be facinating to understand. But I would have thought that the basic string length doubling/halving changing the pitch by an octave must be pretty universal.
|
SteveStrummerUK
Max Output Level: 0 dBFS
- Total Posts : 31112
- Joined: 2006/10/28 10:53:48
- Location: Worcester, England.
- Status: offline
Re:Is there such a thing as a music nerd?
2012/07/28 18:31:51
(permalink)
Mind you, having said that, the so-called 'blues note' doesn't, strictly speaking, fall on an exact note in the scale.
Didn't I read somewhere that instruments with fixed pitch, like piano and trumpet, often play a trill around the blues note to create the illusion that it's pitch is being played? Whereas instruments that can be played at any pitch, such as guitar (by bending a string slightly sharp) and trombone can actually 'hit' that note perfectly.
|
jbow
Max Output Level: -0.2 dBFS
- Total Posts : 7601
- Joined: 2003/11/26 19:14:18
- Status: offline
Re:Is there such a thing as a music nerd?
2012/07/28 18:32:39
(permalink)
I am just a general nerd... I am reading Plutarch's Lives. If I get too bored I read a Louis Lamour book (I am also reading through the 18 Sacketts books).. then go at Plutarch again. Some days I read both... and I do not own an MP3 player.
J
Sonar Platinum Studiocat Pro 16G RAM (some bells and whistles) HP Pavilion dm4 1165-dx (i5)-8G RAM Octa-Capture KRK Rokit-8s MIDI keyboards... Control Pad mics. I HATE THIS CMPUTER KEYBARD!
|
Janet
Max Output Level: 0 dBFS
- Total Posts : 8094
- Joined: 2010/01/02 19:04:11
- Location: Missouri
- Status: offline
Re:Is there such a thing as a music nerd?
2012/07/28 18:34:39
(permalink)
I had never even heard of the difference between equal temperament vs. natural harmonics, and the fact that string and wind instrument players can bend the note to the more pleasing natural harmonics, where obviously a keyboard player can't. (probably one reason I've never noticed or heard of it.)
This is so interesting to me: For over 2000 YEARS!!!, musicians, philosophers and mathematicians tried to derive a 12-tone scale that would provide the natural intervals of the harmonic series. Unreal! (I thought it just happened!) :)
He says there are Indian scales of 22 & 53 tones per octave! The Arabs have a 3/4 interval. But no mention as to how they were derived.
All this to learn intervals better and be able to compose faster...even w/o an instrument, something I'm sadly deficient at.
|
Janet
Max Output Level: 0 dBFS
- Total Posts : 8094
- Joined: 2010/01/02 19:04:11
- Location: Missouri
- Status: offline
Re:Is there such a thing as a music nerd?
2012/07/28 18:38:07
(permalink)
Just saw your post, Julien. Yeah, I usually try to have more than one book going at once, so I can have a choice. Unless it's extremely fascinating and I can't put it down.
I don't own an mp3 player or iPod or anything similar either. For some reason, although I can't hardly stand not to have music playing in the house and car, I rarely think about it when working outside. I'm still waiting for them to evolve into something simpler and cheaper. Or see more of a need for one.
|
Janet
Max Output Level: 0 dBFS
- Total Posts : 8094
- Joined: 2010/01/02 19:04:11
- Location: Missouri
- Status: offline
Re:Is there such a thing as a music nerd?
2012/07/28 18:40:07
(permalink)
Just saw your second post, Steve. (you guys are too quick!) Yeah, he definitely mentioned the guitar thing. I wonder if I could even heard the difference in pitch on a guitar and piano? Most likely not, since a piano has to be really out of tune for me to hear it. But I'll check when I get a chance.
|
SteveStrummerUK
Max Output Level: 0 dBFS
- Total Posts : 31112
- Joined: 2006/10/28 10:53:48
- Location: Worcester, England.
- Status: offline
Re:Is there such a thing as a music nerd?
2012/07/28 18:44:54
(permalink)
jbow
I am just a general nerd... I am reading Plutarch's Lives. If I get too bored I read a Louis Lamour book (I am also reading through the 18 Sacketts books).. then go at Plutarch again. Some days I read both... and I do not own an MP3 player.
J
He he, that struck a chord (no pun intended) with me Julien. Generally speaking, I usually have (at least) three or four books on the go at once  I just checked my bedside table and I have six bookmarked tomes in various stages of completion. If anyone's interested, I'm currently ploughing through: - The Clash, The Music That Matters; A Complete Guide To Their Music - Tony Fletcher
- Attack Of The Theocrats! How The Religious Right Harms Us All - And What We Can Do About It - Sean Fairclough
- Einstein's Dreams - Alan Lightman
- '77 Sulphate Strip; An Eye Witness Account Of The Year That Changed Everything... - Barry Cain
- Free Will - Sam Harris
- The History Of The NME - Pat Long
PS, sorry for the hijack Janet 
|
RobertB
Max Output Level: 0 dBFS
- Total Posts : 11256
- Joined: 2005/11/19 23:40:50
- Location: Fort Worth, Texas
- Status: offline
Re:Is there such a thing as a music nerd?
2012/07/28 19:36:16
(permalink)
Seize your nerdiness, Janet.
Some may consider us weird, but I prefer to think of us as eccentric.
The thing with knowledge and understanding is the more you have, the more you want.
My basic tenet: The more you know, the more you know you don't know.
Read on.
My Soundclick Page SONAR Professional, X3eStudio,W7 64bit, AMD Athlon IIx4 2.8Ghz, 4GB RAM, 64bit, AKAI EIE Pro, Nektar Impact LX61,Alesis DM6,Alesis ControlPad,Yamaha MG10/2,Alesis M1Mk2 monitors,Samson Servo300,assorted guitars,Lava Lamp Shimozu-Kushiari or Bob
|
Janet
Max Output Level: 0 dBFS
- Total Posts : 8094
- Joined: 2010/01/02 19:04:11
- Location: Missouri
- Status: offline
Re:Is there such a thing as a music nerd?
2012/07/28 19:37:42
(permalink)
"The more you know, the more you know you don't know." So true! :)
|
craigb
Max Output Level: 0 dBFS
- Total Posts : 41704
- Joined: 2009/01/28 23:13:04
- Location: The Pacific Northwestshire
- Status: offline
Re:Is there such a thing as a music nerd?
2012/07/28 20:39:07
(permalink)
Nerd?
(Just don't ask me about the spreadsheet I created showing every possible scale made from the 12 usual notes AND the names of each along with their modes... Nerd indeed!)
Time for all of you to head over to Beyond My DAW!
|
bapu
Max Output Level: 0 dBFS
- Total Posts : 86000
- Joined: 2006/11/25 21:23:28
- Location: Thousand Oaks, CA
- Status: offline
Re:Is there such a thing as a music nerd?
2012/07/28 20:52:02
(permalink)
craigb
Nerd?
(Just don't ask me about the spreadsheet I created showing every possible scale made from the 12 usual notes AND the names of each along with their modes... Nerd indeed!)
Craigb, send me that spreadsheet please. I can't be arsed to do it.
|
Wookiee
Rrrrugh arah-ah-woof?
- Total Posts : 13306
- Joined: 2007/01/16 06:19:43
- Location: Akahaocwora - Village Yoh Kay
- Status: offline
Re:Is there such a thing as a music nerd?
2012/07/28 21:00:51
(permalink)
Quite possibly. With regards to the "invention" of the scale in Howard Goodalls "Big Bang" series, the start of which can be located here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgQptKXzcTY , he gives a very interesting explanation.
Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain.
Karma has a way of finding its own way home.
Primary, i7 8700K 16Gigs Ram, 3x500gb SSD's 2TB Backup HHD Saffire Pro 40. Win 10 64Bit Secondary i7 4790K, 32GB Ram, 500Gb SSD OS/Prog's, 1TB Audio, 1TB Samples HHD AudioBox USB, Win 10 64Bit CbB, Adam's A7x's - Event 20/20's, Arturia V6, Korg Digital Legacy, Softube Modular, Arturia Keylab-88, USB-MidiSport 8x8
|
craigb
Max Output Level: 0 dBFS
- Total Posts : 41704
- Joined: 2009/01/28 23:13:04
- Location: The Pacific Northwestshire
- Status: offline
Re:Is there such a thing as a music nerd?
2012/07/28 21:48:48
(permalink)
bapu
craigb
Nerd?
(Just don't ask me about the spreadsheet I created showing every possible scale made from the 12 usual notes AND the names of each along with their modes... Nerd indeed!)
Craigb, send me that spreadsheet please. I can't be arsed to do it.
It's up on one of my websites, but my ISP dorked up something yesterday and I'm now getting a 500.19 IIS error on everything. They're still working on it (it's not that hard - they changed a permission somewhere and it needs to be fixed - *Sigh*).
Time for all of you to head over to Beyond My DAW!
|
jbow
Max Output Level: -0.2 dBFS
- Total Posts : 7601
- Joined: 2003/11/26 19:14:18
- Status: offline
Re:Is there such a thing as a music nerd?
2012/07/28 21:56:03
(permalink)
uh... I also keep a couple of books by John Owen on hand. I've read most of Thomas Watsons work and I've read and I re-read Walter Marshall's masterpiece from the late 16th century.
I find them helpful...
J
Sonar Platinum Studiocat Pro 16G RAM (some bells and whistles) HP Pavilion dm4 1165-dx (i5)-8G RAM Octa-Capture KRK Rokit-8s MIDI keyboards... Control Pad mics. I HATE THIS CMPUTER KEYBARD!
|
trimph1
Max Output Level: -12 dBFS
- Total Posts : 6348
- Joined: 2010/09/07 19:20:06
- Location: London ON
- Status: offline
Re:Is there such a thing as a music nerd?
2012/07/28 22:26:05
(permalink)
uuummmm...it be kinda weird going to a booksale and buying books on using Kontakt5....and thinking you got a good deal for $1.... 
The space you have will always be exceeded in direct proportion to the amount of stuff you have...Thornton's Postulate. Bushpianos
|
Crg
Max Output Level: 0 dBFS
- Total Posts : 7719
- Joined: 2007/11/15 07:59:17
- Status: offline
Re:Is there such a thing as a music nerd?
2012/07/28 22:33:08
(permalink)
Janet
I recently got the book "Hearing and Writing Music.' Must have seen it referenced somewhere here...don't remember. I'm only up to chapter 3, but they're talking about how the scale was 'invented.' You know, I've been wondering about that (and how they first figured out how to write music on staves) for awhile...and find it fascinating, although a little tough to get around this simple brain of mine.
But I feel like a music nerd, spending part of my Saturday afternoon reading this. :)
(but I also figured some of you could possibly relate.) :)
Janet, why would you ask a bunch of music nerds that question? So why isn't there a #&b between 3&4?
|
RobertB
Max Output Level: 0 dBFS
- Total Posts : 11256
- Joined: 2005/11/19 23:40:50
- Location: Fort Worth, Texas
- Status: offline
Re:Is there such a thing as a music nerd?
2012/07/28 23:01:53
(permalink)
Crg
Janet, why would you ask a bunch of music nerds that question? Because sometimes we sound like Charlie Browns parents to the people around us, and it's kind of nice to know you guys are out there. Is that about right, Janet?
My Soundclick Page SONAR Professional, X3eStudio,W7 64bit, AMD Athlon IIx4 2.8Ghz, 4GB RAM, 64bit, AKAI EIE Pro, Nektar Impact LX61,Alesis DM6,Alesis ControlPad,Yamaha MG10/2,Alesis M1Mk2 monitors,Samson Servo300,assorted guitars,Lava Lamp Shimozu-Kushiari or Bob
|
craigb
Max Output Level: 0 dBFS
- Total Posts : 41704
- Joined: 2009/01/28 23:13:04
- Location: The Pacific Northwestshire
- Status: offline
Re:Is there such a thing as a music nerd?
2012/07/28 23:02:16
(permalink)
Crg
Janet
I recently got the book "Hearing and Writing Music.' Must have seen it referenced somewhere here...don't remember. I'm only up to chapter 3, but they're talking about how the scale was 'invented.' You know, I've been wondering about that (and how they first figured out how to write music on staves) for awhile...and find it fascinating, although a little tough to get around this simple brain of mine.
But I feel like a music nerd, spending part of my Saturday afternoon reading this. :)
(but I also figured some of you could possibly relate.) :)
Janet, why would you ask a bunch of music nerds that question? So why isn't there a #&b between 3&4?
There is on some scales, no?
Time for all of you to head over to Beyond My DAW!
|
Janet
Max Output Level: 0 dBFS
- Total Posts : 8094
- Joined: 2010/01/02 19:04:11
- Location: Missouri
- Status: offline
Re:Is there such a thing as a music nerd?
2012/07/28 23:07:00
(permalink)
Crg... :)
John...Howard Goodall... so much more to explore! :)
craigb, and the rest...I knew I was in good company. :)
|
Janet
Max Output Level: 0 dBFS
- Total Posts : 8094
- Joined: 2010/01/02 19:04:11
- Location: Missouri
- Status: offline
Re:Is there such a thing as a music nerd?
2012/07/28 23:11:06
(permalink)
Bob...missed your post...yes. And I sorta feel like that with gardening too sometimes. (and other things too.) But people enjoy my flowers, so I don't care. :)
|
noldar12
Max Output Level: -69 dBFS
- Total Posts : 1075
- Joined: 2006/07/07 20:30:16
- Status: offline
Re:Is there such a thing as a music nerd?
2012/07/29 00:40:23
(permalink)
Yeah, definitely nerdy.
Does the author mention anything about Guido's hand, Gregorian Chant runes, etc.?
Some of the very early attempts at polyphony/harmony/counterpoint from the extant music of the 11th and 12th centuries are rather "interesting" (one cannot necessarily say "good"): for example, works by Leoninus and Perotinus.
FWIW, when composing, I still sometimes prefer modes over the new-fangled things like major/minor tuning systems <smile>.
As for alternate scales, while not scale related, I am thinking of some Middle Eastern folk music that had a very complex meter of 23/8 with very specific groupings of 2 and 3.
|
Guitarhacker
Max Output Level: 0 dBFS
- Total Posts : 24398
- Joined: 2007/12/07 12:51:18
- Location: NC
- Status: offline
Re:Is there such a thing as a music nerd?
2012/07/29 08:39:35
(permalink)
Janet
"The more you know, the more you know you don't know."
So true! :)
yup
My website & music: www.herbhartley.com MC4/5/6/X1e.c, on a Custom DAW Focusrite Firewire Saffire Interface BMI/NSAI "Just as the blade chooses the warrior, so too, the song chooses the writer "
|
SteveStrummerUK
Max Output Level: 0 dBFS
- Total Posts : 31112
- Joined: 2006/10/28 10:53:48
- Location: Worcester, England.
- Status: offline
Re:Is there such a thing as a music nerd?
2012/07/29 09:09:37
(permalink)
RobertB
Seize your nerdiness, Janet.
Some may consider us weird, but I prefer to think of us as eccentric.
The thing with knowledge and understanding is the more you have, the more you want.
My basic tenet: The more you know, the more you know you don't know.
Read on.
Well put Bob.
|
Janet
Max Output Level: 0 dBFS
- Total Posts : 8094
- Joined: 2010/01/02 19:04:11
- Location: Missouri
- Status: offline
Re:Is there such a thing as a music nerd?
2012/07/29 18:37:45
(permalink)
Jim, I haven't gotten that far into it, but it looks like Howard Goodall on youtube will. Fascinating. Not sure if it will help me play any better but maybe I can try to sound like I know what I'm talking about when I teach young piano students. Maybe.
Steve and Herb...Bob's good at that, isn't he? :)
|
Rain
Max Output Level: 0 dBFS
- Total Posts : 9736
- Joined: 2003/11/07 05:10:12
- Location: Las Vegas
- Status: offline
Re:Is there such a thing as a music nerd?
2012/07/29 21:39:17
(permalink)
Janet
I recently got the book "Hearing and Writing Music.' Must have seen it referenced somewhere here...don't remember. I'm only up to chapter 3, but they're talking about how the scale was 'invented.' You know, I've been wondering about that (and how they first figured out how to write music on staves) for awhile...and find it fascinating, although a little tough to get around this simple brain of mine.
But I feel like a music nerd, spending part of my Saturday afternoon reading this. :)
(but I also figured some of you could possibly relate.) :)
Is there such a thing? Why do you things I hang out here? lol Said it before - I'm the guy who read the whole manual TWICE before I even installed my first Cakewalk product. For someone who'd never touched a synth (or any midi device for that matter), the chapters about NRPN were pretty hardcore. lol Seriously, even talking to people who are in the business on a regular basis made me realize that they could only suffer so much obsessive geek talk. I do have one buddy back home in Montreal with whom I can talk about compressors and plug-ins for 6 hours straight. But he's an exception. Fortunately, there's internet.
TCB - Tea, Cats, Books...
|
noldar12
Max Output Level: -69 dBFS
- Total Posts : 1075
- Joined: 2006/07/07 20:30:16
- Status: offline
Re:Is there such a thing as a music nerd?
2012/07/29 21:48:15
(permalink)
Janet, as far as traditional music history is concerned, the long-standing key text has been the various editions of ye olde Grout: A History of Western Music. More recent editions at least discuss other types of music besides "classical".
The book can be a cure for insomnia at times (as I remember it), but there really is no substitute for it. Older, used, editions can be had for a decent price.
|
Janet
Max Output Level: 0 dBFS
- Total Posts : 8094
- Joined: 2010/01/02 19:04:11
- Location: Missouri
- Status: offline
Re:Is there such a thing as a music nerd?
2012/07/29 21:57:46
(permalink)
Rain, I'm the gal who couldn't even understand the first cakewalk manual I read...and it was the beginner's version! I had no idea what any of it was talking about. Fortunately, some very kind, helpful and wise guys (Reece, Bob, Albert, Herb & Greg among them) helped me out extremely patiently, or I wouldn't have recorded the first song.
Jim, sounds interesting. I'll keep that in mind when I need another 'fix.' :)
|