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Random Stuff X: Something Weird


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6 hours ago, bleeder said:

I don't really have any great ones either (but I play a lot); I have a Squier Classic Vibe Thinline Tele (the only one I bought myself, I inherited the other two), a 70's Sigma (overseas Martin, basically), and the classical as the ones I play the most. 

sounds like alot of guitars around the place.

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To: everyone who replied to me with regards music...

Thanks! Er... I'm on mobile at the moment; maybe it's just my mobile, but I can never really add multiple people's names using the reference feature. :wacko: Which is why, haven't named you all here. Sorry 'bout that.

Anyhow! I'll drop ya'all a PM with some questions, if that's okay, but right now, I do have a dumb question:

What is an Octave?

I've seen them mentioned a lot, but I'm not sure if I understand them correctly...and they sound important in understanding how notes ad pitch and tone works.

If I understand it correctly... Octaves are like, degrees between notes? so there's (for example) A, then an octave below that is a different A note, an octave above is another different A note, and if you move up enough octaves, you reach the next note (in this case, B).

Is thatright, or am I even dumber than you thought possible?

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25 minutes ago, Quiver said:

What is an Octave?

I've seen them mentioned a lot, but I'm not sure if I understand them correctly...and they sound important in understanding how notes ad pitch and tone works.

If I understand it correctly... Octaves are like, degrees between notes? so there's (for example) A, then an octave below that is a different A note, an octave above is another different A note, and if you move up enough octaves, you reach the next note (in this case, B).

Is thatright, or am I even dumber than you thought possible?

You're right that going down octaves will result in a note that is the same but different (A to A, B to B, etc.). However, no matter how many octaves you go (up or down), you will always have the same note. 

This might not help, but it's funny nonetheless. 

 

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@Quiver, octave in music is basically what 10 is in decimal numbers.

There are different sounds:

C, Cis/Des, D, Dis/Es, E, F, Fis/Ges, G, Gis/As, A, Ais/B, H. Then you go back to C and all over.
(technically F would be Eis and E would be Fes... if there was such a thing)

This will be helpful:

88-key-piano-keyboard-layout.jpg

Between C and D there is a full tone. Between C and Cis there is a half tone. A tone is two halftones.

An octave is 12 halftones. Halftone is the smallest distance between two tones. It's a music atom, kind of.

Is this helpful?

EDIT: Oh wait, you guys have B instead of H. Huh. But the rest still stands.

Edited by Oversleep
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Just now, Oversleep said:

@Quiver, octave in music is basically what 10 is in decimal numbers.

There are different tones:

C, Cis/Des, D, Dis/Es, E, F, Fis/Ges, G, Gis/As, A, Ais/B, H. Then you go back to C and all over.
(technically F would be Eis and E would be Fes... if there was such a thing)

This will be helpful:

88-key-piano-keyboard-layout.jpg

Between C and D there is a full tone. Between C and Cis there is a half tone. A tone is two halftones.

An octave is 12 halftones.

Is this helpful?

For clarification, "is" means "sharp" (#) and "es" means "flat" (♭), which are the commonly-used terms  for describing notes. A note without either is known as "natural".

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2 minutes ago, Exalted Dungeon Master said:

For clarification, "is" means "sharp" (#) and "es" means "flat" (♭), which are the commonly-used terms  for describing notes. A note without either is known as "natural".

Well, I'm basing it all off on my knowledge from like 12 years ago and I have never studied what are all these called in English :P

Anyway, @Quiver, I forgot a thing: octave is 8 sounds. C,D,E,F,G,A,H (or B as you English folks call it) and back to C. That's why it's octave. 8 sounds.

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Just now, Oversleep said:

Well, I'm basing it all off on my knowledge from like 12 years ago and I have never studied what are all these called in English :P

Anyway, @Quiver, I forgot a thing: octave is 8 sounds. C,D,E,F,G,A,H (or B as you English folks call it) and back to C. That's why it's octave. 8 sounds.

Just realized that that sounded a bit critical, sorry--I was giving clarification for Quiver, not criticizing what you were saying.

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3 minutes ago, Exalted Dungeon Master said:

Just realized that that sounded a bit critical, sorry--I was giving clarification for Quiver, not criticizing what you were saying.

No worries. I even did the emoticon on the end and all... :P

I did some reading on wikipedia about music and it's not so bad. I mean, I half-remember some things and I got a decent grip on physics too... But I could use some good, not very advanced, book on music. Or music theory. Basically, with a good measure of physics in it.

Edited by Oversleep
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So, last night (or, well, early this morning :D) I finished the first season of Person of Interest. It's an absolutely amazing show, and I recommend it to everyone.

In the last episode:

Spoiler

Me: A cute psychologist who dresses in blue? Storms yes! ... Oh, crap, she's played by Amy Acker. I was told she plays a super-creepy villain person in this show. Crap.

Me, forty minutes later: ...craaaaap.

Now we just need our internet to work properly again so I can watch the rest of it on Netflix. :P 

Edited by Slowswift
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5 minutes ago, Slowswift said:

So, last night (or, well, early this morning :D) I finished the first season of Person of Interest. It's an absolutely amazing show, and I recommend it to everyone.

In the last episode:

  Hide contents

Me: A cute psychologist who dresses in blue? Storms yes! ... Oh, crap, she's played by Amy Acker. I was told she plays a super-creepy villain person in this show. Crap.

Me, forty minutes later: ...craaaaap.

Now we just need our internet to work properly again so I can watch the rest of it on Netflix. :P 

I love that show. If Firefight is ever adapted, I want Jim Caviezel (Mister Reese) to play Obliteration. 

And Finch is one of my favorite characters of any show ever. 

1 minute ago, Edgedancer said:

Do they sell dog houses? :P 

If those are dog houses, then they are suspiciously expensive and people-sized. :ph34r: 

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7 hours ago, Oversleep said:

Well, I'm basing it all off on my knowledge from like 12 years ago and I have never studied what are all these called in English :P

Anyway, @Quiver, I forgot a thing: octave is 8 sounds. C,D,E,F,G,A,H (or B as you English folks call it) and back to C. That's why it's octave. 8 sounds.

Technically, there's seven, not eight. Doh, rei, mi, fa, so, la, ti, and back to doh.
That's solfa, by the way. Very useful.

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Knowing the names of different intervals (spaces between different pitches) and what they sound like will definitely be helpful. The octave has already been mentioned: C to the next C (or A to A, F to F, etc), either up or down. The other intervals are also helpfully numbered.

Handy chart:

Spoiler

music-intervals-chart.jpg

Semitones = half-steps. 1 half-step = the space between two piano keys immediately next to each other, regardless of whether they're black or white. (F# and G, for example)

Examples of tunes you might know that begin with these intervals (low pitch to high pitch):

Spoiler

 

Minor 2nd: Jaws theme music

Major 2nd: "Happy Birthday to You"

Minor 3rd: "What is Love?" by Haddaway

Major 3rd: "Some Nights" by Fun or "When the Saints Go Marching In"

Perfect 4th: "Simple Gifts" or "Amazing Grace" (there are plenty of others as well; this interval is both pleasant and common)

Tritone (AKA Augmented 4th or Diminished 5th): This one isn't used very much because it kinda grates on the ears, and I don't have an example off the top of my head.

Perfect 5th: Superman movie theme music by John Williams (AKA the "Nobody cares if you upset a droid" segment of Moosebutter's a cappella "John Williams is the Man" medley) or "Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star"

Minor 6th: Doctor Who theme music (the DOO WEE part of the DOO WEE OOOOOOO)

Major 6th: NBC chime

Minor 7th: Drawing a blank on this one. It's not very common.

Major 7th: Also drawing a blank.

Octave: "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" (Wizard of Oz style like Judy Garland sings it) or "Bring Him Home" from Les Miserables

 

 

 

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25 minutes ago, Sunbird said:

Knowing the names of different intervals (spaces between different pitches) and what they sound like will definitely be helpful. The octave has already been mentioned: C to the next C (or A to A, F to F, etc), either up or down. The other intervals are also helpfully numbered.

Handy chart:

  Reveal hidden contents

music-intervals-chart.jpg

Semitones = half-steps. 1 half-step = the space between two piano keys immediately next to each other, regardless of whether they're black or white. (F# and G, for example)

Examples of tunes you might know that begin with these intervals (low pitch to high pitch):

  Hide contents

 

Minor 2nd: Jaws theme music

Major 2nd: "Happy Birthday to You"

Minor 3rd: "What is Love?" by Haddaway

Major 3rd: "Some Nights" by Fun or "When the Saints Go Marching In"

Perfect 4th: "Simple Gifts" or "Amazing Grace" (there are plenty of others as well; this interval is both pleasant and common)

Tritone (AKA Augmented 4th or Diminished 5th): This one isn't used very much because it kinda grates on the ears, and I don't have an example off the top of my head.

Perfect 5th: Superman movie theme music by John Williams (AKA the "Nobody cares if you upset a droid" segment of Moosebutter's a cappella "John Williams is the Man" medley) or "Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star"

Minor 6th: Doctor Who theme music (the DOO WEE part of the DOO WEE OOOOOOO)

Major 6th: NBC chime

Minor 7th: Drawing a blank on this one. It's not very common.

Major 7th: Also drawing a blank.

Octave: "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" (Wizard of Oz style like Judy Garland sings it) or "Bring Him Home" from Les Miserables

 

 

 

This is the stuff that makes solfa so handy. It's so easy to work out the notes and intervals if you know, say, that that is do-fa and you're in Bb major. That would be Bb to Eb, or a perfect fourth. It's really convenient.

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@A Budgie Solfa was one of the few things my meagre attempts at research turned up that I understood :P Actually, I had heard it referred to as Solfege, so I was planning on using that as the name of this setting.

... But wow. The more I hear about this stuff, the more I realize how little I know. Thanks to everyone!

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I have a Lasik consultation scheduled in a week!  ^_^

 

21 hours ago, Quiver said:

To: everyone who replied to me with regards music...

Thanks! Er... I'm on mobile at the moment; maybe it's just my mobile, but I can never really add multiple people's names using the reference feature. :wacko: Which is why, haven't named you all here. Sorry 'bout that.

Anyhow! I'll drop ya'all a PM with some questions, if that's okay, but right now, I do have a dumb question:

What is an Octave?

I've seen them mentioned a lot, but I'm not sure if I understand them correctly...and they sound important in understanding how notes ad pitch and tone works.

If I understand it correctly... Octaves are like, degrees between notes? so there's (for example) A, then an octave below that is a different A note, an octave above is another different A note, and if you move up enough octaves, you reach the next note (in this case, B).

Is thatright, or am I even dumber than you thought possible?

OK, so Western music is based on twelve distinct tones.  Each scale utilizes eight of those tones, with half and whole steps in between them.  Your standard major scale starts on a specific note (referred to as the "tonic"), and then progresses whole step, whole step, half step, whole step whole step whole step, half step, and ends on a higher version of the tonic.  The start and end notes are considered to be one octave apart.

This is, incidentally, why the piano has white and black keys.  The golden standard scale is "C" - and so to play a major scale in C on the piano, you use nothing but the white keys.  Starting a major scale on any other note will require the use of one or more black keys in order to create the correct pattern of whole and half steps.

Minor keys use a different pattern, but they're a bit weird, as there are three versions of each type of minor key - natural, harmonic, and melodic.  Honestly, there are textbooks out there that explain the differences between these better than I can off the top of my head.

There's actually a lot of mathematics and physics at work in music.  If you take, say, a properly tuned violin, and pluck its A string, it will play a A for you.  If you place your finger precisely halfway down the length of that string and pluck the string again, you will get a A precisely one octave higher.  Each successive octave requires halving the length of the remaining string.

Then with brass instruments, things get really fun.  Ever noticed that a trumpet only has three valves?  Did you think, perhaps, that each note has its own unique valve pattern?  Nope!  Brass instruments work on a musical concept called "partials".  Basically, when you hear a note, you're almost never only hearing that note.  There is a set and series of overtones that vibrate within that note, giving it richness and color.  Brass instruments take advantage of this.  When playing a note on a brass instrument, each fingering has a base note.  Each note above that is a partial; by adjusting and tightening your embouchure, you can change the note you are playing without ever moving your fingers.  From the base note, the next note above that you can possibly play is its octave.  Above that, and it goes to a perfect fifth, and then to the second octave.  The higher you get, the closer together the partials get.

Incidentally, the F horn (often incorrectly referred to as the French horn) is a tenor instrument played in the alto and soprano range.  Horn partials are notoriously close together, and thus players must have very good ears and a sensitive embouchure in order to play the instrument well.  It can get complicated enough that most college-and-above horn players use a "double" horn that has a second set of piping that you can switch over to with a thumb toggle.  It's set in a different key and offers a different partial sequence.

Technically, woodwind instruments have partials as well, but they're very difficult to access.  I can get a couple out on my flute, but generally the instruments aren't designed to take advantage of it.

And...I think that's enough for you to chew on for now. :)

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6 minutes ago, Kaymyth said:

There's actually a lot of mathematics and physics at work in music.  If you take, say, a properly tuned violin, and pluck its C string, it will play a C for you.  If you place your finger precisely halfway down the length of that string and pluck the string again, you will get a C precisely one octave higher.  Each successive octave requires halving the length of the remaining string.

For the record, violins don't have a C string. They have G, D, A, and E strings. Violas and cellos have C strings. 

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