Musicology For Beginners

[Dayna]

Thanks for explaining that.

[will vine]

Thanks for this thread Adam. It never ceases to amaze me that despite my hopeless addiction to music I have never found the time, energy, and the dogged perseverance to understand the nuts and bolts of it better. A cheap guitar has lain around the house for half my life begging to be played. I can knock out a few chords but I've never even really mastered getting it properly in tune.

Did you ever see that French and Saunders sketch where they played guitar according to the book but couldn't make it sound remotely "right"? The joke was that they then called as witnesses people like Mark Knopfler who proved similarly unable to make the right noises by working from the book. Like most F&S stuff it wasn't side-splittingly funny but it struck a chord with me (see what I did there?).

Anyway Adam, keep it coming as and when you have the time. I'll be lapping it up.

[Willy]

Did you ever see that French and Saunders sketch where they played guitar according to the book but couldn't make it sound remotely "right"? The joke was that they then called as witnesses people like Mark Knopfler who proved similarly unable to make the right noises by working from the book. Like most F&S stuff it wasn't side-splittingly funny but it struck a chord with me (see what I did there?).

Ha ha. yes, more please, -just don't lower the tone

I found that F&S skit, and I have to agree with the prosecuter. Who ever transcribed those books has a lot to answer for: Luckily Internet has solved the problem.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cIdJFmFkag

[NormanD]

Just flagging up a few things for future reference, svp.

- What are time signatures?
- The difference between harmony and melody
- What are chords?
- How do different harmonies in melody work - eg a 'third above', or a 'third below' (eg, examples of well-known duos, etc)
- What is counterpoint - is it only common in classical music?
- What are scales?
- What is 'orchestration' and 'arrangement'. You often see references to studio musicians who 'write out the charts'.

All in good time, all in good time, I know. Thanks Adam, keep 'em coming. And maybe you should think of writing a book - a children's book for adults, one that doesn't have to rely on cartoon pictures to keep our interest.

[Willy]

Willy: you mentioned Arabic notation systems. The Arabs are weird. They cut semitones down the middle into quartertones, thus giving you a potential 24 notes. Unlike the Indians or B.B.King (say) they don't just bend a note to where they want it to go, they actually go plonk straight on to the note between two semitones. A classical Arabic singer like Oum Kulthum or Fairuz can hit this quartertone smack on. It's extraordinary and not a little disconcerting the first few times you hear it.

It's why Arabic music sounds like that. Also they don't do harmony. All the instruments are playing in unison. They may be in different octaves and they may be taking a few liberties with the phrasing but they are essentially all playing in unison. If they're harmonising, it ain't Classical. Weird. But I like it.

(N.B: Unison means when two or more instruments are playing the same melodic line at the same time.)

Coo! Right, off to explore Oum Kulthum and Fairuz. Cheers Adam.

P.S. Just found a beautiful song by Fairuz and son: (modern?)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgvkP8WUwv0

[davidt]

I'm not qualified to comment on the pitch of the McCartney records but I would like to caution anyone using video as evidence of pitch. The processing of video can alter the pitch of a soundtrack.

For example I have 2 copies of Standing in the Shadows of Motown.
The PAL copy plays almost a semitone sharper than the US purchased NTSC region 1 version.

Likewise my NTSC Down from the Mountain (Alison Krauss et all) sounds in concert pitch but the BBC TV broadcast of the same film (PAL) was sharper.

I believe not all NTSC/PAL DVDs show this problem but 2 of my favourites did and it was so annoying that I had to buy the USA versions.

[I also put this forward as an argument against having region restrictions on DVD, since I believe we should be able to buy either NTSC or PAL depending on our preferences. Why should buyers in the UK be forced to buy a musically faulty product in some cases?]

OK. I'll dismount my hobby horse now and look forward to Adam's next installment!

David

[Willy]

For example I have 2 copies of Standing in the Shadows of Motown.
The PAL copy plays almost a semitone sharper than the US purchased NTSC region 1 version.

Hi Davidt, Very interesting stuff, just the kind of thing I want to know. It did occur to me that video recordings are horrible quality, usually, compared to analogue or "live" and even worse when played through piddling little pc speakers such as mine but for demo purposes Youtube is convenient.
I read somewhere that Grooveshark channels a lot of it's music at "correct" pitch. I like it anyway.
If, like me, anyone hasn't seen Standing in the Shadows of Motown it's available to watch here: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 3062514364
P.S. Very good film that, especially enjoyed the driving with Jamerson story.