Should You Learn to Read Sheet Music? | Q+A
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- čas přidán 25. 06. 2024
- Also, what is Harmony of the Spheres/Musica Universalis? What is your opinion on music critics? And many more awesome and interesting questions about music!
insaneintherainmusic's EWI video:
• Here's Everything You ...
Bach Flute Partitas on IMSLP
imslp.org/wiki/Partita_in_A_m...)
Allemande from the Flute Partita in A Minor performed by Bert Alink
/ bertalink
Many thanks to xDEZIOx, james frank, blindmanwithecholocation, Ian Leggett, Tobiasz Fic, Justin Davis, Caleb Scola and Steven Backenstoes for your insightful questions!
0:13 Are you reading sheet music during this performance?
4:09 How do I learn to read guitar sheet music?
5:53 What is Harmony of the Spheres/Musica Universalis?
9:13 How do you feel about Berklee Online?
10:18 What is that electric flute thing?
11:04 How do those count-ins work?
12:03 What are your thoughts on music critics?
13:23 What is your camera/mic setup?
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Peace,
Adam
As a classical musician, the idea that a lot of gigs don't require reading music is mind-blowing to me.
Im in a band and my theory is sh!t but it sounds great
3:00 Actually... More or less every gig I have played at has required me to talk Norwegian. It's pretty common here in Norway. I didn't know it was different in the US, but maybe you're right. You should still practice more Norwegian though.
Trygve Mikalsen You never know....
@@andyfonseca3618 to be fair some music schools now teach language classes
Norge!!
I have one question for you...did you cringe at him reading norwegian? Lol
@@rtk90083 A little, it's like the typicle american trying to read norwegian.
EWI (electronic wind instrument)? I think you mean "uwu"
(thanks for the shoutout!)
@@insaneintherainmusic When that question started I was like "Carlos just made a video about that" and then I was pleasantly surprised
UWU
@u@
Senpai :o
And as a professional “classical“ singer I tell you that sight reading is absolutely paramount. It saves you shitloads of time.
Yeah about 2-5 weeks I literally sometimes go to my lesson only practiced a bit because I was busy with school and played my piece perfectly
I am a beginner too but my teacher taught me sheet music a lot and every piece I learn he tells me to say the notes then play the first 2 bars
Professional classical and jazz flutist here. Absolutely indispensable to me, not only for classical music but because I play a lot of other people's new jazz tunes and compose my own.
I can’t imagine not having the “music” as a guide but there’s the difference between classical and more improvisational jazz…
Please never stop using these informative thumbnails. This is such a strong middlefinger to all these clickbaity thumbnails dogdey CZcamsrs like to use all the time.
Great episode as always!
Agreed.
Ditto. It's the reason I subscribed to Adam
Not really
you can't really demonize all CZcamsrs who using clickbait though. Sometimes it's necessary/acceptable.
@@KnzoVortex That's true, some channels may deserve a lot of attention (very subjective), but I just like that Adam Neely does not try to maximise his view numbers and at the same time sacrifice a good looking and informative thumbnail.
If CZcamsrs choose to use overly-attention-grabbing thumbnails, that's completely up to them, but I personally am scared away by these, since this is often used to compensate for poor quality.
Good point though!
1) sorry to all of norway
2) the lick was harmonized in 19-edo this episode. lol.
Is musical pen pals ever coming back?
You're not forgiven.
Greetings from Norway though!
Hi
19-edo lick sounds amazing, did you create it on a DAW ? How ? I'd really like to know
As always, great videos Adam
Jumped straight down to the comment section after I heard the lick. Don't know how I feel about you answering my question before I even got the chance to ask. Feels like one of your "anti-clickbaits" only not in the thumbnail haha
Du er tilgitt : )
14:20
This is actually something I was told in filmmaking classes as well-- that no matter what the image looks like, if the sound is clean and clear, the audience will accept anything visually, and that if the sound is muddy, nothing can save it. No reason was given per se, but I always thought of it as that your eyes can fill in the gaps in something more "abstracted" better than your ears can. A fuzzy low-res face looks more like a face than a fuzzy low-bitrate conversation sounds like a conversation.
That's really interesting.. where did you take filmmaking classes?
I think this is at least partially because for most people vision is our primary sense. our brains are built to handle and prioritize visual processing and abstraction, so listening is more taxing than seeing (your brain had to know if that fuzzy shape in the trees was a tiger)
Elliott cracks me up!
Hi Ben :)
3:06 "Now this hasn't always been the case, because it used to be that speaking Norwegian was the only way of communicating ideas from one musician to another."
As a Norwegian, i can confirm
Adam, as a professional video editor, I can tell you unequivocally that quality sound is more important than visuals. Being unable to hear something clearly is extremely fatiguing to the viewer and they will eventually lose interest.
This is very true !
He actually goes over that in an older video!
The way he made that point in this video was super slick. Like, I agreed with it in concept but actually switching to cheap audio+good video, then cheap video+good audio, was incredibly drastic.
Yeah, people spend a fortune on a fancy camera but won't spend $50 on an off camera mic and cable.
I really love this vid in particular because he's absolutely right about Bach's music. During my band days, playing non-piano keyboard percussion instruments, I'd practice and perform Bach at solo and ensemble events. There were tricky runs in there but once it came together, it was a delight to play. I've always loved Bach's music especially and performing it only enhanced that love.
So what you're saying is... I should learn Norwegian, because you never know?
You should consider learning another language though :) It's good for you. If you're in America, I'd say Spanish would be a good one.
@@GraemeMarkNI And just one is not enough. I started to understand better English and Russian(my mother tongue) after an year of Japanese.
Du burde lære norsk viss du skal til Norge.
@@pixiepandaplush det er nynorsk
Joedoes Vi liker ikke nynorsk her i Tromsø.
I thought the Bach section was going to turn into a Yousician ad... missed opportunities.
“The beginning was just too frustrating”
Yousician advert: "I always wanted to learn how to play guitar..."
Me every time: Well fucking pick it up and actually play it then!
@@samuelgreen7248 but the beginning seems so slow and frustrating.....😂
As a german, I have to really congratulate you for your pronunciation of Bachs name! You rarely hear people from english speaking countries saying the "ch" the right way. Nice!
that's what I also noticed! I feel like he has a thing for the german language.. he swoons over the word 'gestalt' hahah
English is a germanic language, so it might be easier for him to pronounce words in german, but whenever he tries to pronounce something in latin or a romanic language it sounds likes he is trying to read it with his english accent
@@DavidMR152 I don't think language group has a huge impact on ability to pronounce stuff. Linguistically, Dutch is pretty much right between English and German, but it's a huge pain for speakers of either language (or most others) to pronounce, because most of the vowels are in unusual places. Equally, there's a huge difference in pronunciation between different Romance languages - I can't pronounce Spanish well, but I can at least be understood. In French I have no chance because the vowels are all really unfamiliar as an English speaker. It's a very individual thing. English speakers tend to struggle a lot with certain sounds in German - "ch", "er", "r", "ö" and "ü", for example, because those sounds don't occur in most forms of English, so I would suspect that he's either studied German at some point or at least taken time out to learn the pronunciation for one reason or another.
@@Sammie_Sorrelly Most music students at universities are going to pronounce Bach with the sound /x/ at the end. Most professors will say it that way at least.
@@mintyfresh9080 Yeah, I can imagine. I wonder where the line is drawn, however, since I'm sure less famous names that are harder for English speakers to pronounce don't get the same treatment. Hell, I study *translation* and plenty of my lecturers don't even make a decent attempt at "Schleiermacher".
Yeah, you are absolutely correct, audio matters more than video in filming. This was a lesson I learned in my first semester of journalism school, was blown away and never forgot. Glad to see you picked it up spontaneously :)
Yes !! Thank you for daring to say what you think concerning "reading music". I totally agree.
Adam Neely DESTROYS Ben Shapiro's knowledge of music with FACTS and LOGIC
Tak Ben Shapiro is a classically trained violin player. Fun fact
Adam didn't destroy Ben Shapiro with musical knowledge. He didn't need to.
He destroyed him with BASIC COMMON SENSE, LOGIC, and DECENCY!
Adam Neely BRUTALIZES And GUTS Ben Shapiro ALIVE With FACTS & LOGIC and CARPET BOMBS Israel KILLING HIS ENTIRE FAMILY.
@abradolf lincler joke
@@brown9671 That neither make his takes any better nor give them more weight.
One doesn't _Need_ to be able to read sheet music, but it is insanely helpful in visualizing the way music flows. Even when improvising I think in sheet music
As a piano player, I know other players with *very* different relations to sheet music. Some people can barely play *without* reading while some others *only* use the sheet to memorize the piece. I stand firmly in the second group, though I frankly wouldn't play a really long piece without at least following it on sheet in case I get lost.
The piano in its classical use is probably one of few instruments where the music that one person plays is complex enough to warrant reading it rather than figuring it out from a memorized sound. Then again, some people will rather memorize the sheet rather than the sound or the moves, and that I can't really understand.
Agreed, especially for rhythm! Before I knew how to read music I was frustrated that my timing and sense of rhythm were really shoddy on their own. Learning to read music really helped me understand how rhythm works because I learned about subdivisions of the beat, anticipations, and how different beats of a measure relate to each other. So even if you don't plan on being a good sight-reader or anything like that, learning to read can still benefit you.
*(Immediately orders Neely’s recommended literature in a somewhat aggressive fashion)*
Was that my recording of Bach's Allemande?
Hi Bert, yes! Apologies for not crediting initially, the credit didn't make it into the description. I've since added a card directing people to your channel. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the recording has a Creative Commons license, yes?
@@AdamNeely No apologies needed. It's indeed CC. I enjoy your videos a lot and it was quite a surprise (shock) to suddenly hear myself playing in one of them.
Videos like yours really helped me to get better (or less bad) at composing and arranging. Keep up the good work. Thanks.
Sweet mercy this should be top comment, I love this detail I would never have noticed if I hadn't scrolled all the way down here.
Wow you're lucky :]
@@TachyBunker But it could also be the tempo, I play it very slow.
I'd love to learn how to compose unique and interesting bass lines... As a guitarist I just end up riffing w/ the pentatonic like I'm playing guitar...
What ist there to start with? Assuming there is a chord structure a drum beat and some melodic line (either vocals or some type of lead) a useful way to approach this is:
1) Put down a grd, which shows when the drums are playing and when they are emphasiszed. I tend to break things down into either 16th notes or 8th note triplets (sometimes a combination of both) and go for 4 levels: Strong beats, weak beats, positions where there's neither, but the drummer still hits something and positions where the drummer doesn't hit anything.
2) Make indicators where the melody also does something and note wheter it is rising or falling.
3) Start to work out a basic rhythm to work with, loop the drum part and just clap. Mark these positions on your grid. Then work on note lengths, just start the at the position you put your claps and firgure out spots for rests.
4) Work out notes. On strong beats you want to mostly play the root, sometimes the 5th. On weak beats you want to play chord tones. On the positions where the drummer hits something you want to stick to scale notes. And for the other ones, anything goes. You can occassionally go for something more adventurous to introduce tension and on weak beats before chord changes you can throw in a lot of different notes that help you to work towards the 1. Keep in mind that you could also play a dead note.
5) Refine to work with the melody. If you look at the melody line you can see its contours, i.e. when it goes up or down. This is the point where you shift notes soe that you either follow the same contour or go the opposite way for at least some stretch of time. Remember (because that's something everybody forgets sometimes) that you have more than one octave to your disposal - 5th to 3rd can go down, but it can also go up.
6) As long as the drum groove stays constant you also want to keep the same rhythmic figure (we all know what repetition does). For fills you can start with your step 3 as a starting point, then add or subtract notes and work out the remaining steps.
7) Work out articulations, slaps, pops, Hs and Ps, slides etc.
you don't need to compose bass lines to create more complexed harmonic progressions. You just need to learn about harmony. And its a long way but its possible ifyou want it.
You don't need a lot of knowledge, bass is based on the *feel.*
Just learn a ton of basslines in the style you want to compose in, and you'll internalize the techniques. After a while it will click altogether and you'll be able to make great basslines on the go.
as a norwegian i´m impressed with the Norwegian reading, 10/10 effort
Gotta love that side note, "If we had cowbell, i would want more of it"
I really appreciate the effort put into these Q+As. Thanks!
I actually started learning to read sheet music last year because of Bach. It really feels like learning a new language. Slowly reading individual notes before understanding the phrase can be really frustrating, but it's so rewarding!
Hi Adam! I learned very basic music theory as a kid some 20 years ago and I could kinda sorta read sheet music but only very slowly so I gave up on it. Fast forward to a few days ago, I stumbled upon a short piece of sheet music and I found out and I could suddenly read, as well as audiate the whole thing in my head. I've been following your channel for a year and learned about modes and keys and chords and scales and I've memorised how the major and natural minor scales sound like in my head for my own entertainment, but I didn't realise they would actually help me read sheet music better. So thanks!
Love the background setup! ALSO GOOOOOO FLUTE PARTITA!!!!
Thats wild I just performed that last week for a competition
awesome seth! @@sethdemers1530
So passionate in presenting music the right way. Thanks man!
Thanks Adam, Once again your vids are interesting, informative, and extremely useful. I am a 63 year old professional keyboardist/pianist, educator, and producer/arranger for over 22 years. I instruct private students in piano and voice, and am about to launch a youtube channel soon. Gathering as much useful information as I can before I start though. One of my young Piano and Voice students will be attending Berkley in the Fall as a Freshman. He has been a private student of mine since about 4th grade. I was so pleased to hear what you said about what the "true" advantage of attending a Music School is. We live in a small community here in North Florida, and my student is sort of a big fish in a little pond. I shared with him almost word for word what you said about attending music school, particularly there at Berkley. It's one thing for an older guy like me to tell him something, but it carries more weight coming from someone closer to his age like you. I am certainly going to forward this vid to him as well as show it to him in class when I see him tonight. Thanks again.
Hope to see your channel's video soon!
Thanks @alejandrothefader at this point I literally have no content on my channel. But I will by the end of this month. Thanks for the feedback.
"Encyclopedia of Reading Rhythms: Text and Workbook for All Instruments" by Gary Hess is an excellent book for practicing rhythms.
I agree Adam. Quality Audio makes a tremendous difference in videos. Most producers don’t do as good of a job as you and I sincerely appreciate your attention to detail in that area. Your Videos are very clear and natural sounding even when you are walking outside. Your lower and slower voice helps. You have a gift for communicating. Keep up the good work!
You come for the information on music and you end up with knowledge about life and audio quality for videos. Really the best Chanel on CZcams. Much love from Brazil Adam.
This is pedantic but light does also physically touch you
Connor D Also light transfers energy to the atoms of your skins which heats them up so they vibrate more
I was looking for this comment, haha
sound is light.
Cole That was a joke right?
You’re right. That is pedantic.
Akai EWI! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Sorry im done, great video Adam!
Excellent as always Adam!
Thanks Adam for all you do. I've learned so much from you ! We are so lucky!
i don't think i've ever quite noticed that sound quality is more important for presentation than video quality. I've had this problem with a lot of youtube channels with terrible audio but couldn't quite put my finger on where the priority lies. thanks for pointing that out
I just realised that Adam's voice is sped up when he's reading the questions.
*I improved the **_video_** quality of my CZcams comments as much as I could, but I am really struggling with the **_audio_** ❗️*
I love how you compare things to express your opinion!
Adam, you would be a fantastic music professor at a liberal arts institution. The interdisciplinary focus of your Q&A's feels like a good seminar class. Keep up the good work!
Set up your camera at diner because you never know if you are going to talk about side reading with your pale.
please speak the english language
@@vyra8426 it looks like they were writing English the way Adam read Norwegian
They said what they said.
*Diner
*Side reading
*Pale
It's amazing how many unexpected things I learn from your videos every time. Like how audio quality is more important than video quality for example. Thank you.
Really enjoy these Q+A videos. I've been learning piano with music sheets for 6 months and what seemed impossible a few months ago is now doable, I can't play immediately but you keep seeing patterns everywhere being chords, intervals,... and it all starts to click, I really encourage anyone interested in starting now. I try to put in front of me a new partiture every single day (a real one, from imslp) and I try to play at least some bars, don't stop and you'll see amazing results very soon.
Syncopation is amazing; it got me into college! I also recommend Understanding Rhythm and Jim Chapin's Advanced Techniques for The Modern Drummer. Two great books also meant for drummers but that can help any kind of musician.
How would you incorporate Syncopation for practising non-drum instruments, e.g. guitar?
@@MK-xm2nh As Adam explains, I would start by picking one note and playing some of the exercises in the book. Then you can move to scales or melodies you compose yourself using the rhythms provided in the examples.Syncopation has a lot of exercises where you can use the top line to improve your rhythm reading skills and interpretation.
Mind blown! I am going to buy this book asap
who is the author of Understanding Rhythm? I'm interested in having a look.
m1st That would be Michael Lauren. Published by Manhatan Music.
for your next Q&A : I recently learned music theory but before that I played guitar for a while. I saw how it was easy to dodge basic music concepts while learning guitar with tablature and chord symbols (instead of thinking A-C-E, you just learn the finger position of "Am" without knowing the individual notes and their position on your fret). This make the guitar a popular and accessible instruments with all the available ressources, but tends to make a LOT of "I know a few open chords" guitarists without any musical knowledge. Thoughts on the subject ? Love your channel, it replaced my heroin addiction.
I love what I get out of your videos. Always something better than the click bait like titles promise. no matter how witty a title, it's just a starting point with your videos. I fucking love these videos, dude!
Another great video! Interesting that you talked about Berklee online courses. I'm a Berklee grad from way back, and I've considered continuing my education through their courses. However, with the cost of them such as they are, and the massive volume of free quality information (like yours) that's readily available, it seems like there's no need to do that. Keep up the great work.
Incidentally, you're spot on about how important making connections in music school is. One of the best parts of it.
Something I learned as a student studying sound and taking film classes is that you can always forgive a bad shot, but bad audio can never be forgiven.
Sheet music is tabs for keyboard players.
No it's not. Adam actually has a video about tab vs sheet music - look for "why you shouldn't use tab" with parenthetical afterthoughts
@@Anti-Prolixity How many ways are there to pluck C2 on the piano?
@@lukaszratynski I meant "how many buttons are there on the piano that can produce C2 sound".
@@LegsON Any educated musician can read the same sheet music indicating that C2 and play it correctly. A guitar tab as read by a mandolin or sax player will make no sense. Tabs are instrument specific, and the fact that the piano has only one key that produces a C2 is simply an aspect of its design.
@@LegsON First off - piano is primarily a percussion instrument, so unless you're actually using your fingers on the strings, you'd use "play", "strike", or "hit" to refer to the motion used to push on a key so that a frequency sounds, not "pluck".
Second, like the other comment says, it's really not just about playing the note. There are so many ways to ornament and express even one note, and it's arguably easier to make an interpretation of the music, note-by-note, based on sheet music (which can more clearly signify contours, dynamics, and playing style) without the complications of reading numbers for fast runs and arpeggios, as well as sheet music being more transferable between instruments than tab.
Hey Adam!
I just wanted to say that your videos are incredibly useful both in teaching music theory and spessiffic apects of musicianship, but also of healthy, helpful attitudes in the musical enviournment. Oh and I want you to know you've convinced me of buying a bass (and yes, I'm a guitarist, sue me) and learning to play it, so I want to thank for that as well. Keep them coming, you make the internet a richer place!
Great content Adam, thanks for the great videos.
As a beginning pianist, (2 years almost) I can tell everyone that even though you don't need to learn sheet music, it does help. Even some pieces may be relatively easy, it's even easier with a reference point to guide your playing.
I'm adult beginner ifeel too difficult reading sheet while playing, do u feel it is must to learn sheet music to play piano??? Pls hlp
for the next Q+A: what about this new BASS? dingwall I assume? how do you like it and why did you get it?
So much useful stuff in these Q&As, woah...
Always enjoy these...very informative in a casual/welcoming setting. Thanks Adam!
I love your videos ❤️
Same here :D
I'm always excited when Adam uploads new content~
Hey Adam! I hope you don't mind me interjecting, I have some thoughts on the sight reading/reading discussion. I am a freelance musician in the State of Colorado, and I can say that while I get a large amount of gigs that just require playing by ear, memorizing charts, and improvising; I would say that at least a one out of every three gigs I have require me to be able to sightread. Whether it's musical theater, playing for a churches Christmas eve/Easter services, playing for a traveling show coming into town, or playing on somebodies record; I usually get some sort of sheet music sent to me. But that being said, I am not a musician in New York; I am a musician in Northern Colorado. For me, I tend to see the music industry as pockets all around the country and each pocket tends to require different skill levels to meet the general proficiency. A cajun fiddler would feel just out of place at a irish session, as a bassist in a cover band would feel in a jazz club. Each pocket and geographical area has different needs to meet their musical economy. To be fair, I am assuming that most of the people watching your videos are also folks who sit closer into that modern Jazz pocket than I, but I wanted to just say for the other people reading who may not come from that background that the rules for one genre and geographical area are not the same for everyone else's.
I love hearing you talk about music. Great video!
Adam, you're the source of all useful knowledge, love your videos
Bach’s sonatas for Drum Set are my favorite
Insert drum roll
Syncopation is a really good book, but another really good percussion book is Technical Timing by Casey Cangelosi. It basically phase shifts the metronome for every exercise. It’s a really cool book, and people who aren’t percussionist can’t just omit the some of the drummer stuff that is in there.
Really, really wonderful job!
Thanks for shedding so much light on this art left in the shadows called music !
what happened to the TED talk you said you did? never found it on yt
TED takes it's time to release videos. He's listed as a speaker, but AFAIK none of the talks from the event he spoke at are online, yet.
As a classical guitarist, I am very used to reading sheet music (you can learn classical music with tab, but its not very useful for the more advanced pieces). As with everything, the more you practice it, the better you will get. I find that jazz musicians are usually not very good sight-readers, but definitely know more about music theory than a classical musician.
If you want to get better at sight reading, I would recommend starting with easy melodies in as many tonalities you can find. After you can manage that, try reading multiple notes at the same time. I wouldn't start with Bach, because its difficult music to read and perform for a beginner.
Loved the audio and video examples at the end showing the cameras and mics. Keep up the great work, Adam.
very true what you say about audio quality being one ot the most important things if not the single most important thing in a video production. thanks. :) love your videos, btw. big fan!
Hi Adam, I have a question for the next Q&A: do you have any tips for classically trained (not professionals though) musicians that want to go into jazz? I don't know about other instruments, but with violin you sometimes can say if someone has classical background because it sounds more awkward than jazzy and that's frustrating in a way
I'm no violinist, but I'd say check out Stephane Grappelli. French gypsy jazz violinist and helped pioneer that genre. It's likely not the style of jazz that you're going for, but he's the person the brought the violin into jazz as a solo instrument.
Same question for classical pianists. I've been that since ever, and when I spoke to my esteemed professor about the transfer of classical to jazz in terms of stylistic learning, and he said it would probably only take me about 20 more years, and that the left hand alone would take 5 years.
Also, Anna, I so relate to trying to play jazz as someone with a classical background sounding awkward. I recall trying to demonstrate "improvisation" on the insistence of a curious, boisterous and very creatively talented student who was interested in what I would come up with, and I recall him laughing and asking why I was more or less composing "video game music" (which may or may not have been a compliment).
@@thedeejaeebee5babee I think 20 years is a bit of an exaggeration, but it did take me at least 3-5 years or so to get to a pretty professional level (as in, people call me for jazz gigs and such). The LH is actually one of the easier parts if you're playing in a trio setting. The top level complexity of people like Brad Mehldau is way above the more basic stuff that someone like Red Garland would play.
The trickiest part I found in learning jazz was getting the rhythmic sense right. That's what you mean probably when you say that classical musicians can sound awkward. David Bruce had a video touching on this recently called "The Cuttin Edge of Jazz Swing Theory." Basically, the length of the first of two eighth notes changes based on the tempo. Eighths are almost completely straight around 300 bpm, but close to dotted eighth-sixteenths at 100, and the length of the notes changes based on the tempo and the individual's tastes.
This kind of thing takes a while to absorb. I used to just practice singing jazz solos or tapping my hands exactly in time with the ride cymbal beat to try and get that feeling down.
check out regina carter
Hi Adam! What application do you use on your iPad on a gig for your music organization?
I don't know specifically about Adam, but I and many other musicians use Forescore. I've loved it so far!
Hey Adam,
I just wanted to say that I really like hearing your general thoughts, and opinions on music and playing an Instrument.
About 10 years ago a band that I was in broke up. I had invested so much of myself into playing in that band that when we broke up, I lost all motivation to continue playing or writing music.
But after watching your gig videos and Q+A’s I’ve been inspired to pick up an instrument again.
Thank you
Not sure why your videos were “suggested” however, soooooo glad they were!!! Appreciate your vids. More plz.
Hi Adam, you've talked a lot about "polyrhythms = harmony" and how consonant intervals sound pleasant 'because' there's a simple mathematical relationship between the frequencies of the two notes... so this might be a bit outside the realm of your expertise, but could spark your interest nonetheless... Why the f*** is that the case? Why would we have evolved to respond favourably to certain frequency relationships and not others? I've never heard an answer (either from a musician or biologist) that was very satisfactory. Wondered if you had a perspective on this.
BoganComposer I think it’s because sounds similar to the human voice have harmonic overtones, so ratios close to those harmonics sound good to us. There’s probably more to it, though.
It's because simple ratios lead to more correspondence in the sound waves different notes make. Consonance is the perception of this correspondence, and dissonance is the perception of the absence of correspondence, meaning conflict between the peaks and valleys of the sound waves.
For example, that's why if we play 2 notes a minor 2nd apart, we can hear the wobble or conflict. The peaks of the sound waves are happening at mostly different times.
@@briankeegan8089yes, I understand that, but that doesn't really answer my question.
Why would we have evolved to care whether peaks of compressed air tend to line up more often or less often? The physics of it is straight forward; what is less straight forward is why our perception of the underlying physical phenomenon is wired that way, and so precisely calibrated at that.
@@xenontesla122 you might be onto something there. Although wouldn't many animal calls be likely to produce similar overtone series? But could be something like that. Maybe rooted in timbre. Maybe the particular timbre of human speech is dominated by particular overtone patterns and we evolved to react favourably to hearing noises that mimic speech patterns. But even then.... many human-human interactions are violent; so it doesn't make sense to always respond favourably to hearing humans. But maybe there's something else I'm not factoring in, like familiarity of tone. Like, familiar accents vs unfamiliar accents. Probably has some basis in overtones and shit.
@@jamiekarlstevensmusic3361 Our ears perform something akin to a fourier transform, with a number of tuned resonant chambers which generate different amounts of pressure, which is then picked up by what are basically touch sensitive nerve cells. Sound that occur in nature are pretty much all either pitched (i.e. they contain a fundamental frequency and inter multiples of that frequency) or noise (containing a broad band of frequencies). Harmony is in an uncanny valley, where the touch pattern is very similar to a pitched sound, but some frequencies are missing, including the fundamental. Say you have two notes playing with a 2:3 ratio in their fundamentals. If the lower note had a fundamental at 100Hz, then this would produce 100Hz, 150Hz, 200Hz, 300Hz, 400Hz, 450Hz, 500Hz, etc. Compare this to a single note at 50Hz, where you have 50Hz, 100Hz, 150Hz, 200Hz, 250Hz, 300Hz... There are only a few missing frequencies. The brain is slightly weirded out by those. Now take a ratio like 5:4, your fundamental would have to be 20Hz and you are missing, 20,40,60,80, get 100 and 120 but then miss 140, 160 and 180, then 220 then 260 and 280... And the further you go the worse it gets. However, if you throw enough stuff at it, the brain will switch to a noise mode of interpretation, i.e. there is a point where adding more intervals starts to make things less dissonant - hit all the keys on a piano at once and the impression is not really unpleasant.
Basically the brain processes sound as a touch pattern and then tries to connect that pattern to things like memory, working out what type of animal makes that noise, or whose voice that is, etc. And for noise it basically has a "not a useful pattern" category, "too hard to match, don't even try". There are various useful functions the brain can perfom, such as ignoring background sounds when trying to listen to a conversation or to find the direction from which one particular sound is coming, etc. Since most sounds the brain experiences are pitched, the patterns a pitched sound makes are easily found in memory. With a harmony the brain tries to do the pattern matching and for notes with simple integer ratios it starts with stored patterns that are at least close enough matches to work with. This also explains why you can develop a tolerance for dissonance, as hearing a particular dissonance often allows the brain to recognize the pattern it makes. This process is highly dependent on culture - if you hear music that features particular dissonances you will build up the memory for these dissonances, but for other dissonances your brain will still be in a position where it tries to pattern-match and fails to find a good match.
Hey Adam! I'm curious about your take on modes. Specifically diatonic modes. I've been playing guitar for 27 years and have been a full time musician for over 10. In this time I've never had what I consider a good understanding of how/when to apply specific modes. Over the years I've added Dorian and Mixolydian to my understanding of Ionian and Aeolian but the others tend to escape me. I guess it could be I've never had a situation pop up where I've necessarily needed them and relied strictly on playing melodically/relying on my ear and using a scale I'm comfortable with. As I want to continue getting better at outlining the chord changes in all styles I'm thinking gaining a better understanding of the application of modes would help. Oddly enough when I began studying the melodic minor modes my ear more naturally heard where I might apply them. Thoughts? Thanks so much! Love the channel and all the great info!
czcams.com/channels/fmAjVU0aF41zi7oWB8_TUg.html
You would need some kind of a modal progression to really find use for the diatonic modes. A good example would be "Oye Como Va" by Santana. The whole tune is based on a Dorian Im7-IV7 progression. Basically, a minor tonic chord but a major IV chord instead of a minor one that you would typically see in a minor key. The major IV chord is the most common "Dorian" chord. You can also hear this chord in "Mad World" and "Earth Song" and also in the main progression of "I Wish" by Stevie Wonder. The solo sections of "Light My Fire" and "Riders on the Storm" by The Doors also have a strong Dorian sound.
Mixolydian is another pretty commonly used diatonic mode. You can hear it in "Thunderstruck" by AC/DC and in "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" by Michael Jackson. The chord that "defines" this mode is the bVII chord in a major key chord progression, and sometimes the V minor chord (for example in "Learn to Fly" by Foo Fighters).
Lydian is IMO a pretty cool mode, probably my favorite. Not very commonly used, but Joe Satriani and Steve Vai do use it in some of their songs (for example check out "The Riddle" by Steve Vai - it starts with a strong Lydian vibe, the first note of the song is actually the #4 that's the characteristic note in Lydian). Lydian sound is usually defined by the major II chord in a major key progression (though if this chord resolves to the V chord, it's simply a secondary dominant - but a common Lydian progression would be something like C-D/C).
Phrygian is probably even less common than the ones mentioned above, though you do find some Phrygian vibes from metal. Phrygian is defined by the b2 scale degree (and the bII major chord), which makes it sound dark.
Check this video out, it's probably the clearest explanations of modes I have seen. /watch?v=bwaeBUYcO5o
@@MaggaraMarine Thank you very much!
@@deafconmediaZA Wow! That opening video is something else. Haha!
@@MaggaraMarine Your link to the video you recommended got cut off. Can you repost? Thanks!
Hi, i just want to say that i really, really enjoy your Channel. I'm an autodidact bassplayer from germany, i'm 32yo and don't think that i have a good knowledge level in musictheorie. Your Videos really inspire me to work on that. Wish i was a better musican in my age. Your videos are so densely filled with info yet understandebel. Please keep going. Hope that i can bring some ftiends and bandmembers to a higher level by handing over this inspirational feeling. And have them learn together with me. Thx a lot for having this Channel man.
Partita for flute allemande ! This is THE tune I can listen and listen and listen again. I'm so in phase with you Adam ^^
Question for next Q+A, I was messing around with a keyboard at my school when I noticed that e and e flat sound worse together than b and c. I know they are both a half step apart but why does this happen?
My answer could be nonsense since I don't know much, but maybe your ears had already established a tonic center from whatever you heard/played before, and the Eb - E clashed more because of this.
I'm guessing it's an electronic instrument. My electric piano can be set up in different tunning systems (Pythagorean, perfect tunning, well temperate, etc) and if the one in your school has that feature too, it may be whats causing what you hear. Sorry for the poor English, I'm from Argentina.
the curse of pythagoras
it's impossible to perfectly tune a piano czcams.com/video/1Hqm0dYKUx4/video.html
@@Agus00Gnr00slash I'm assuming it has to do with overtones
@@auto_ego thx
Question for next Q&A: What makes jazz sound so "cool"?
7ths and 9ths. Or just cool people improvising = cool music. Or this is a troll question. lol
The sexy solos
I'd say the rhythms more than anything. Yes, extended chords are very common in jazz, but I'd say the rhythmic sense is the most unique part of jazz.
@@crono303 Yeah, I'd agree with you there. Rhythm is what makes jazz jazz. Or, what makes jazz sound like jazz (to me, anyway).
heroin
As usual, well said, Adam. This is an example of why I contribute to your Patreon. Keep doing this, man. Well done. Media critics agree.
Great craic... thanks so much for sharing this!
Adam, do you call yourself Adam Feely in the bedroom?
Mr. Kneely McFeely gonna show you The Lick.
Most underrated comment
Christ, what have I stumbled upon
Next Q&A
@@mikuspalmis r/cursedcomments?
Adam is it ironic that a musician has a cup full of change next to their printer? Is the printer busking by chance? :) "Tip if you like my hard copy"
Thank you for this video!
Awesome video. Really answered the questions. I'm learning! :)
Adam: "classical musicians have bad rhythm."
Also Adam: "to develop good rhythm, use this book WHICH IS STANDARD MATERIAL FOR BEGINNING CLASSICAL PERCUSSIONISTS."
Tbf, I think he was referring to classical musicians like, cello and violin players.
I've heard playing two instruments is helpful when getting into music school, is this true?
Professionaly, if you're a wind player, it's pretty essential. Most saxophonists can also play clarinet and flute at the very least, if not more. However, it shouldn't affect your ability to get into music school a lot. It's definitely seen as a plus, and any piano skill you have will be helpful as well, because most schools require some piano classes.
I think you'll have a better chance if you're really good at one instrument rather than average at two. That being said, doubling could be useful if your main instrument is really popular (and therefore competitive). There will probably be more people auditioning for a jazz band on guitar than bass or drums (probably more sax than brass too), more flutes and violins trying to get into orchestras than low brass and double reeds, more women getting into choirs than men, etc, so if you can play something they really need, you have better chances of getting the spot.
The way speaking two languages is a good way to get into business, meaning that if you don't speak English you'd better learn English, and if you don't play piano you better learn piano. If your native language is English, or your primary instrument is piano, that's good enough.
In Europe, at least, the convention is to have a main instrument, at which you are really good and that you will study potentially as a soloist, but it is often required you know at least some piano or another common accompanying instrument, which you take basic courses in.
That Bach advice was the best advice I’ve ever received (musically speaking)
Thank you
Once you're okay with sight-reading Bach though, move on to 20th century music. The phrasing and musical ideas from Bach's era until ca 1920 are easy to understand and sight-read since the harmony etc. follows similar principles. Bartok and any twelve-tone composer, for example, wrote some music that sight reading skills learnt from Bach do not necessarily apply to - the "direction" of the music and the context of certain notes is much more difficult to parse out in my experience
excellent as usual
Question: Have you ever played music with no static temp ? Something that starts at 90bpm and ends at 160bpm. Can you still call it 4/4 if it always changes the tempo ? How would you write it ?
So the song would gradually accelerate? Yes, it would still be in 4/4. A good example of something like this would be Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King". You would just write "poco a poco accelerando" above the staff.
@@MaggaraMarine That's a good example. I'm also curious to know how fast tempo change makes human lose the 4/4 feel , and what if the tempo is more like controlled with the lfo with the still rising direction?
@@NaviRetlav I think as long as there is a clear beat, you will hear it as 4/4. The acceleration would have to be really fast, but then the maximum tempo would be reached so fast that it wouldn't even sound like a gradual acceleration any more. Some folk songs have pretty fast acceleration in them, like this one: /watch?v=hdb5siNzXmQ
But you can still clearly feel the beat. It doesn't lose the "4/4 feel". I would say as long as you have strong beats, it will sound like it's in 4/4 time signature with acceleration.
But if it's not acceleration and it's just constant tempo changes, then you would probably lose the 4/4 feel, because there would be no smooth transition between the different tempos.
Two examples of what you're talking about in action are The Bad Plus "Have You Met Miss Jones" and Wynton Marsalis "Autumn Leaves" from Standard Time Vol. 1.
The idea of tempo being static and strictly divided is a fairly new concept. Classical music is often very fluid in tempo; sometimes it's written in as accel or rit, sometimes it's because the musician/conductor feels like it. Take a listen to some recordings of the Bach flute partita Adam mentioned - the first movement is pretty much all 16th notes, but no self-respecting classical musician is going to turn on a click track and perform every note evenly (they might practice it that way!). I've heard some interpretations that make it sound like it's in groups of 5, rather than 4. In non-classical music, there's Herbie Hancock's Chameleon and Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven which both gradually speed up, but you'd notate them in 4/4 for ease of reading (except for the occasional time change in Stairway).
Adam, Pythagoras was by no means the first guy to notice that frequencies related by rational numbers (fractions of small numbers) sounded good together. In ancient Greece, long before Pythagoras, there were gazillions of musical scales, ALL of them based on rational numbers. 7 of those scales had official status, and they were called Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Hypodorian, Hypolydian, Hypophrigian and Mixolydian. The Dorian scale (ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the so-called "modes" of today), the Dorian scale was based on the number 11 and fractions involving the number 11. It had two modes: Harmonic and Modal. The harmonic ratios were obtained by incrementing the numerator, namely 11/11 (root), 12/11, 13/11, 14/11, 16/11, 18/11, 20/11, and 22/11 (octave). The modal ratios were obtained by decrementing the denominator, namely 11//11 (root), 11/10, 11/9, 11/8, 11/7, 11/6.5, 11/6, and 11/5.5 (octave).
The Phrygian scale was a similar contraption built around the number 12. Lydian on 13; Hypodorian on 14, Hypophrygian on 16, Hypolydian on 18 and Mixolydian on 20.
The knowledge of these scales was recovered by studies of archeological remains, and was presented primarily in a book called The Greek Aulos, I forget the name of the author now.
Harry Partch's book Genesis of a Music deals with this topic as well.
What Pythagoras did was to insist that all those scales were "bad", and that only the numbers 2 and 3, and powers of 2 and 3, should be used in music.
So, the Pythagorean scale was born, and its major third came to be obtained by the ratio 81/64, or, (3^4) / (2^6), which is slightly sharper than the major third in our modern (atempered) scale.
Nobody really liked the Pythagorean scale much, except the fans of Pythagoras. A thousand years later or so, the nascent Christian church based in Rome decided to adopt the Pythagorean scale as the true scale for Christians (I bet Jesus had never heard it, himself, but who cares, right?). So church music was strictly Pythagorean from then on.
Then we move (forward?) to the dark Middle Ages, where the Roman church, and its extremist Dominicans, decided to stamp out any musical scales except the Pythagorean, so they persecuted all "pagan" scales and instruments, including the Celtic Harp. But even after their military successes, musicians everywhere pretended to have a "bad ear", and played the pagan major third, instead of the ecclesiastic major third. The pagan major third is 5/4, the ecclesiastic one was 81/64, as I mentioned earlier; and it was extremely difficult to police musicians playing anywhere in the streets for coins; and their audiences preferred 5/4 over 81/64, as well. 5/4 is slightly flatter than our current (atempered) major third.
And finally we had the invention of the modern, atempered scale, based on powers of the 12th root of two. The semitone ratio is 2^(1/12). Adding semitones to an interval is like raising this number to a power. Thus, a 5th is 7 semitones, so the ratio is (2^(1/12))^7, which simplifies to 2^(7/12), which is equal to 1.4983070768766814987992807320298.
That's pretty close to the Pythagorean perfect fifth, or 1.5.
Something interesting happens with the major third:
Pagan major third: 5/4 = 1.25
Atempered M-third: 2^(1/3) = 1.2599210498948731647672106072782
Pythagorean M 3rd: 81/64 = 1.265625
So the brand-spanking new atempered scale's major third happen to fall somewhere between the Pagan and Pythagorean, but closer to the Pythagorean than to the Pagan; so the powers that be at the Roman Church decided to throw their support behind it, and that's how today we have an irrational scale, based on irrational numbers (roots and fractional powers of natural numbers are irrational numbers), which produces cacophony instead of music. Our present scale stands in opposition to what every civilization discovered sounded musical, perfect ratios. Now we have an entire scale of deliberately imperfect ratios. It is the musical equivalent to McDonnald's restaurants driving all other restaurants in the world bankrupt, and having no other choice for what to eat.
One "good thing" about the atempered scale is that the music can easily be transposed from one key to another without retuning the instrument.
The other "good thing" about the atempered scale is that a lot of its notes are so far from rational ratios that your ear can hear any number of ratios depending on harmonic context. Bach noticed that and exploited it to the max, modulating and modulating and modulating, suggesting that the harmony was going one way, then surprising you going another way. It was like stage magic, or illusionism, created on top of the scale's ambiguities.
Adam's content is so damn informative that I use them as literature digests for my own research
Due to this lockdown I've started the grind , and boy it's slow, but tabs just dont cut it when you want to learn something properly, I play bass, for fun and even I have realised that I need to know this stuff! Keep up the Good work matey!
Damn, shots fired at Ben Shapiro.
Shots should always get fired at that grifter piece of shit. Good on Adam for doing so.
I agree with Adam, but Ben does know music theory (just not a music person) look at his performances and knowledge from videos. Also I assume you above are mumbling in a corner.
@@Shinx7009 I believe his father was/is a jazz pianist, as well. So the knowledge and skill and exposure are there, at least in the areas of classical music and (some) jazz. Neither here nor there, though :) Great video, Adam!
@@dplunk13 Breathe... it'll be OK.
@Shinx7009 Yeah but it's modern rap music and he pretty much bragged about not knowing anything about modern rap music before beginning his analysis (bodak yellow was a huge song). Rap music is more about production and lyrics than music theory so knowing music theory doesn't fully equip him to analyse rap, and this is especially the case when he said that he wants to analyse the lyrics.
i’ve been thinking adam.
Do you consider sheet music cheating? Much in the same way that Tablurature gets a bad rap; is sheet music “better”? why don’t people put sheet music and tabs in the same boat?
Cheers from louisiana.
This is a good question.
Hello
Check out his video named : why you shouldn't use tab
He makes interesting distinctions between tabs and sheet music, that will answer your questions
HERE czcams.com/video/4X7qgBVnMfY/video.html
Just giving my two cents here:
Sheet music is a more comprehensive and informative way to read, learn, and write music than tab, or any other widely used form of musical notation for that matter. It is also the method used in Western music education, so it is generally accepted as the "universal" way of writing music. It may not be the most efficient method for some instruments, but it is much more easy to translate between instruments. In tab, you generally miss out on rhythm, names of notes/chords, key signatures, et cetera, unless they are added on to standard tab notation. Tab is a quick and easy method to read, learn, and write music, but it comes at the cost of not being able to communicate your ideas with other musicians (other than guitar and bass players). If I come up with a cool melodic idea on guitar that I want to hold on to, I'll usually quickly jot it down in tab, then translate it to note/chord names later. I myself am not very well versed in sight reading and I find it pretty hard to play from sheets on time, but I understand the importance and am trying to learn the concept.
In short, neither are cheating per se, unless you consider all forms of musical notation as "cheating." One is quicker to write and learn, one is more information dense. The biggest thing tab "cheats" you out of is easy communication with other musicians. Sheet notation is just the universally accepted method of writing down musical ideas for all instruments. I don't see why either or any form of notation is cheating.
I don't think tabs are cheating, and in some cases tabs are actually more efficient, for example when it comes to specific chord voicings (so that you don't only play the correct notes, but you use the correct strings too - for example if there are open strings or if the correct tone is achieved by playing the notes on the lower strings). But as said above, sheet music is better at communicating actual musical ideas - it is simply more musical. Tab on the other hand usually leads to more mechanical playing because it basically just tells you about the technical side of playing (i.e. which fret to play and what techniques to use) and doesn't really tell you much about the actual music.
Also, in some cases you need sheet music, for example if you write for a brass section and want to specify which brass instrument plays which part - you can't just tell the musicians to use their ears and figure out their parts.
But if by "cheating" you mean using sheet music when you are trying to figure out something by ear but simply can't do it, then yes, there's no difference between checking out the tab vs checking out the sheet music. It really depends on what your goal is. If you are practicing ear training, then anything other than listening to the song over and over again is considered cheating. But this of course only applies if you are doing ear training. You don't have to learn every single song by ear.
Cheating doesn't exist in music. Cheating is part of games, not art.
Always happy to see you dabbling with alternative tunings like 19edo Adam!
Syncopation for the modern drummer really is such a great book. I work out of it all of the time
The Shapiro diss was pure bliss.
Samuel It’s so strange, for some reason I see these two having the same energy, except Adam is reasonable and isn’t a douche. Also clearly more intelligent
@@Hoellewood_Solutions don't think so champ
Disagree. Both are very smart (albeit likely in different ways) and Shapiro is actually a very talented violin player, so his opinions on music are not actually as worthless as it seems Adam suggested.
If I wasn't already subbed, I would've subbed to Adam purely for the Shapiro roast
Next thing you know, they be saying Ben is a Nazi
I will always ship Adam and Fantano. The Bald and the Renegade Bald
Both play bass
Bass Baldies
5:46, i second, third and forth this! This book was like my drumming Bible when i first started and i still use it almost every day!
Hi Addam. I just wanna say that I haven't been able to access CZcams for 3 months (I moved to the countryside) and as soon as I was able to connect to WiFi (now) I started getting updated with your videos. What you do is amazing, both as a teacher and as a philosopher, I love your work and I love how you always emphasize that what you say is just your subjective opinion and not some kind of absolute objective knowledge; it makes me wanna meet you in person!. Thank you for the time your spend gathering information for us, your subscribers, you rock!!! (Actually no, you jazz, which in my opinion is even better). Keep this juicy knowledge coming!! Thank you.
Also I'm obsessed with Sungazer. It's funny how I moved to the middle of nature and birds singing but I listen to electronic-videogame-meme-dubstep music lol