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1500 questions
49
votes
9 answers
Why are orchestras tuned differently?
In 1936 American Standards Association (and the International Organization for Standardization in 1955) accepted that A would be tuned at 440 Hz (or cycles per second). Yet despite the fact that a standard has been accepted, orchestras frequently…
SRiss
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49
votes
10 answers
Why can't drums produce melody?
A note is a vibration at a certain frequency. A drum produces a tone with a certain pitch much like a string percussed with a mallet.
Why is a drum unfit for playing a melody while a string inside a piano (or any other melodic instrument) is very…
Three Diag
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49
votes
2 answers
What does a small x-like symbol before a note mean?
I've been playing piano by ear for a long time and now I am trying to learn the first movement of the Moonlight Sonata. I am a little confused about the meaning of a little cross placed right before a note.
It seems to cancel a sharp or something,…
Patrick Da Silva
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48
votes
12 answers
Key signature for writing in modes other than major and minor
I have trouble deciding what accidentals to put in the key signature for pieces in Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian or Mixolydian modes. There seem to be trade-offs associated with each choice.
For example, when writing in G Mixolydian, setting an empty key…
Gauthier
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48
votes
8 answers
How do I make piano chords sound interesting when playing along with popular songs?
I'm wanting to start playing along with popular songs and the easiest way to find lyrics and music only has guitar chords. I can play those chords on the piano but it just sounds boring. How should I be filling the space between chords to make it…
mrstein2
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48
votes
14 answers
Why does the scale have seven (or five) notes? Why not six?
I'm a programmer by trade, and I have always felt that music was arbitrarily difficult. Please forgive my inexperience with musical notation. I had a little thought experiment with my wife today, and I wanted to ask why we don't do it the way I…
Caleb
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48
votes
4 answers
What is the difference between a xylophone, a glockenspiel, a marimba, a xylorimba and a marimbaphone?
What is the difference between an xylophone and a marimba? What about a glockenspiel and a xylophone? Is it just the material and size of glockenspiel?
relome
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47
votes
6 answers
What's the difference between "modal music" and "tonal music"?
As the title says, what's the difference between "modal music" and "tonal music"? Is there also any other classification besides "modal music" and "tonal music"?
Alejandro García Iglesias
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47
votes
5 answers
When were the terms "Major" and "Minor" applied to keys?
In 1547, Heinrich Glarean published Dodecachordon in which he posited that in addition to the 4 existing pairs of church modes (plagal and authentic versions of modes with finals on D (Dorian), E (Phrygian), F (Lydian), and G (Mixolydian)), there…
Caleb Hines
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46
votes
6 answers
What are the practical reasons for still having transposing instruments?
I understand that historically there was a need for transposing instruments. e.g. Brass instruments would use lead pipes to change their key and players in brass bands would like to stick to the same fingering when swapping between instruments. …
JohnLBevan
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46
votes
12 answers
WHY do harmonics happen?
The answers to the question 'How do harmonics work?' were most interesting.
OK, that's the HOW it happens. But WHY does it happen ? What is the physics here ? Why doesn't a guitar string vibrate at one frequency only?
Punksta
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46
votes
2 answers
List of average genre tempo (BPM) levels?
I've been told before that a genre such as drum and bass averages a BPM of 160-180, whereas dubstep is around 140 BPM and hip-hop is around 115 BPM.
Does anyone know where I can get a list of popular genres with their average BPM?
Curtis
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46
votes
10 answers
Why learn scales? What are they for?
I tried Googling but it seems there is no answer for this one. So the internet assumes everyone knows what scales are for? Why should I learn them? Are they important to be a good guitarist?
J Roq
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46
votes
16 answers
How can I improve my piano sight reading?
I am 25 years old, and I started learning piano about 6 months ago. I really want to play the piano well, but it takes me so long to be able to play any piece of music. In the meantime, I'm using a pencil to write the note letter next to the note I…
iddober
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45
votes
8 answers
Does the difference in harmonic series between instruments have a significant effect on the consonance of the sound?
We all know that an instrument's timbre is uniquely determined by its harmonic series. Harmonic series are also very effective in describing whether an interval is consonant or not. For example, the perfect fifth (say C to G) is consonant because…
Ma Joad
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