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1500 questions
30
votes
5 answers
What is the difference between mono and stereo?
I've always wondered what the difference between the two is, and sometimes (games, movie players, etc), you are given a choice of mono or stereo sound. I toggle both but don't hear any difference.
So, how do they actually differ?
Zaenille
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30
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13 answers
What kind of a guitar can I play without thumbs?
Because of arthritis, the thumb joints on both hands are gone, after playing acoustic guitar with a pic for 40 years in Church folk groups. I can't squeeze the neck with my left hand and can't hold the pic with my right hand - actually I can do it,…
Frank
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30
votes
3 answers
Why does music seem to transpose when I yawn?
You might have experienced this a few times : when you listen to music and yawn, what you hear seems to transpose slightly.
Why does this happen?
I'm thinking it could be the tension of the eardrum that changes and leads to different vibrations.
user13550
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6 answers
Difference between "Bar" and "Measure"
I was taught musical theory in the UK where I grew up. I was taught what a bar is. In my experience, the terminology "measure" is not used in a musical sense in the UK.
Since living in the US, I have generally found that "measure" is a direct…
Digital Trauma
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30
votes
5 answers
Is "16va" proper notation?
Is the notation "16va" or "16vb" ever used to mean to transpose what is written up or down two octaves?
I cannot think of how else you would represent the highest and lowest notes on a piano without using excessive ledger lines, but I have never…
Mike
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30
votes
1 answer
What happened to Jazz in 1980?
In this great interview by Rick Beato (around 01:13h) Pat Metheny says that in 1980 something happened - "we all know what it was" - and young musicians suddenly started to play for their parents and not so much for their friends anymore.
Since I'm…
Bipolar Minds
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votes
4 answers
Is there a sound theoretical reason why a capella choirs "drift off" of the starting pitches in a piece?
Is the "comma pump" an empirical problem, or merely theoretical?
It's a standard music theory exercise to show that certain chord progressions don't actually quite work. For example, in the I-IV-ii-V-I progression, following the "naive" method of…
Micah
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30
votes
3 answers
C Trumpet in Beethoven's 5th symphony
For a school assignment, I am playing part of Beethoven's 5th Symphony on keyboards. While analyzing the piece, I'm confused by the trumpet part. In the score I am using, it is written as 'Trombe in C', which I interpret as a C trumpet. However, the…
Connor
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29
votes
8 answers
Why are the 4th and 7th scale degrees removed from the major scale to make the Pentatonic scale?
The Pentatonic scale is often described as being the major scale with the 4th and 7th notes removed. E.g The C major scale is C D E F G A B C, so the C Major Pentatonic scale is C D E G A C.
Why are the 4th and 7th scale degrees removed why not say…
David Kethel
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29
votes
3 answers
How do professional electronic musicians/sound engineers combat listening fatigue?
As an amateur bedroom composer working in a DAW on my song, I might have a general idea of how something ought to sound, but through endless 'random walking through knob space' - i.e. tweaking different values on the synth while listening to the…
Ingolifs
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29
votes
9 answers
Why can I easily sing or whistle a tune I've just heard, but not as easily reproduce it on an instrument?
People with perfect pitch can easily reproduce a tune they've just heard on their instrument of choice.
Most trained musicians without perfect pitch can also do this, but they would have to experiment a bit first to find the correct notes.
However…
F Chopin
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29
votes
7 answers
How many (major and minor) keys are there? Why?
I am wondering about how many major and minor keys there are and why.
Here are some suggestions:
24 keys
One could argue that there should be one major and one relative minor key for each of the 12 equal tempered enharmonic notes, that is for each…
Ulf Åkerstedt
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29
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12 answers
Sites with a good selection of sheet music
When I look online for sheet music for the piano or flute, I find that a lot of the websites that promise great collections of sheet music are nothing but ad filled sites that talk about sheet music (but don't actually have any.)
The sites that DO…
Melanie Shebel
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29
votes
3 answers
When playing drums behind the beat, what instruments define the actual beat?
As a drummer, I'm trying to improve my micro-time to put more feeling in the grooves I play. For certain songs (ballads for example), you usually try to get a "laid-back" feeling by playing slightly behind the beat. Then the question is, if the…
groovingandi
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29
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6 answers
Why you need a rest here in this score?
Beginner warning :-)
This is the piano sheet music for Elgar’s Variation, Nimrod.
Please do note: I am currently learning time and key signatures with my theory teacher, but in looking at the music here I can not understand why this rest is…
cmp
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