Musical Practice and Performance Stack Exchange
Musical Practice and Performance Stack Exchange

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1500 questions
27
votes
8 answers

Are we all born with the ability to detect a note out of tune?

I would like to know why humans can detect a note out of tune relative to the scale or harmony. We seem to be born with the ability to notice, so why can't every able-hearing person sing or play an instrument in tune?
r lo
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10 answers

Why do we use such complicated notation?

I have just started learning about music from the internet. I have learned how to play the piano, but I don't have a real piano so I am playing a virtual piano. In my opinion, the notation which is used for music is very complicated. It has many…
Kartik
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27
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7 answers

Why does my thumb hurt when I play bar chords?

Certain chords cause my thumb to be sore. How can I play in a way to prevent this?
gak
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27
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10 answers

Can anyone learn to sing?

It may seem as a kinda dumb question, and I'm totally aware of this. But, what I'm going to ask may be specific enough to not get closed: I've been playing guitar and also a few other instruments for quite a while now, but I just can't sing. I can…
Michael Kunst
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27
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4 answers

In phase, out of phase pickups

What is the purpose of having guitar pickups out of phase with each other?
Jon
27
votes
11 answers

Are there pieces that require retuning an instrument mid-performance?

Are there any musical pieces that call for the musician to detune/retune the instrument, not in advance like a scordatura, but mid-performance? I think it would be a neat avant-garde concept—for example, temporarily adjusting the peg of a violin's G…
user3932000
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3 answers

What is concert pitch?

I was watching a song video lesson earlier today and it mentioned that the guitar should be tuned to concert pitch. What does that mean? Is it different from the normal EADGBE tuning?
Adam Lear
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27
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11 answers

Where do musicians draw their melodies from?

It has been in my head for so long. I am a visual artist, animator, I do motion graphics, 3D artwork and most of my work is done visually. I am puzzled by this question. Visual artists, they draw their inspiration from everyday life. their vision.…
Ted
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27
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4 answers

Why does a piano have only one or two strings per note in the bass register, but three for other registers?

Does it have something to do with keeping it in tune, since the smaller strings might be more prone to be stretched? (And therefore they spread out the impact to more than one string). Or maybe just to help keep them from breaking?
Stephen
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26
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7 answers

When we press a piano key, why does a high pitch note not run for as long as a low pitch note?

When we press the keys on the piano that exist on the ends, one can notice that when we press a high pitch note, it plays for a short bit and then the sounds fades away. However, when we play a low pitch note, it keeps playing for a lot longer i.e…
gyuunyuu
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10 answers

Are there any instruments that don't produce overtones?

Essentially all instruments produce overtones, which are frequencies other than the dominant frequency of the note. -- How do harmonics work? The use of "essentially" there got me thinking. Are there any instruments which do not produce…
Joseph Lennox
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26
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7 answers

How can I reduce the echo/reverb in a large room if I can't add physical damping?

I was at an event this evening in a restored ballroom - absolutely beautiful, but parquet flooring, high ceilings, solid walls etc all made for terrible acoustics, and in fact I could hardly make out the voice of the individuals on stage. I think it…
Doktor Mayhem
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26
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9 answers

How to modulate very smoothly and stealthily from major to minor?

I would like to modulate from G major to c minor in such a way that it would be almost unnoticeable to the listener. I'm composing a piece in a style that's very Arvo-Pärtesque minimalist-sounding, so that does limit the chromatic/enharmonic…
Kim Fierens
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26
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14 answers

Can one be too old to learn an instrument?

I own a guitar. I've owned it since I was about 13, but never really got into it because I was a spiteful teen who wanted to play the drums, and went out of my way to play the drums instead (to the dismay of my parents who acquired the guitar for…
nostalgk
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12 answers

Is it really mandatory to practise sight reading at the piano?

I have seen many questions & answers regarding practising sight reading the right way etc. But I couldn't find the answer to my question whether it is even that important to practise sight reading. What I mean by practising sight reading is for…
user46792
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