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1500 questions
20
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2 answers
Which accidental continues through the bar?
Messiaen's Prelude for Organ (no opus number, discovered posthumously in 1997, composed probably circa 1929) is rife with ambiguous accidentals. Some can be figured out by examining similar passages, but two cases are particularly egregious:
In bar…
Camille Goudeseune
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20
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5 answers
Is counterpoint still used today?
I was wondering if counterpoint is still used today or was it something that was just used by Bach? Does modern music like pop songs use it?
user34288
20
votes
7 answers
Where should I go to learn about non-Western scales (particularly Turkish & Greek)
Apart from Turkey and Greece, I mean.
I'm looking for fairly abstract musicological and comparative descriptions, not "how to play"-style information. Particularly interested in departures from the well-tempered 12-semitone "Western basic"…
Tikitu
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How useful is a metronome for playing the piano?
I've been learning to play the piano for over a year and a half now, and have never used a metronome to date. My rythm and tempo are usually decent, at least after playing the piece properly a few times. The pieces are however getting somewhat…
Noldorin
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How did the audience guess the pentatonic scale in Bobby McFerrin's presentation?
The video below is entitled "The Power of the Pentatonic Scale". And from the video you'd think that people are inherently tuned to the pentatonic scale. But I was wondering if they're really inherently tuned or did Bobby tune them? Could they have…
user34288
20
votes
7 answers
How can I improve my piano accompaniments?
When I play piano or keyboards, I've noticed that I keep slipping into playing the same chords (and variations thereof, such as very simple bass lines) with my left hand while I use my right hand to play some melodies. It doesn't sound wrong, but…
outofcaffeine
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6 answers
How to relax my wrists?
I began learning the piano recently. When I begin playing, my hands form nice 70-80 degree curves with the wrists relaxed. I can maintain this for trivial pieces with no significant hand motion. But as soon as I have to put any effort into playing,…
Jordan
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1 answer
What do these square notes mean (in the left hand)?
What are these notes about? I had to learn this piece in 8-27-1963 in my first year at the music conservatory in Bern.
The notes look like square notation, but the music was written in 20th. century.
It’s nr. 102 of Bela Bartok’s “mikrokosmos”.
Albrecht Hügli
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20
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7 answers
Teaching Bandmates to Count
I started out as a classically trained guitarist and spent my high school years playing bass in a (school) jazz ensemble, so I have some (limited) formal musical training. Playing rhythm in Jazz required me to be able to hold tempo/count/etc. do…
crasic
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4 answers
Why use accidentals instead of a key signature?
Using my ears, I determined the key of Theme from Schindler's List to be D minor. Looking at the sheet music that I have, I saw that the key signature is C major/A minor, but every single B in the entire first page is flatted with an accidental.
It…
General Nuisance
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1 answer
What do the smaller notes in the Treble Clef indicate?
This is piano sheet music for "I Will Follow You Into The Dark" by Death Cab for Cutie. I've been trying to search for what these notes mean. Do I play them with the left hand? Not play them? Are they optional? I'm not sure.
Andre Angelo
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7 answers
Do I need a teacher to learn violin?
I'd like to take up the violin, but I travel too much to take lessons.
Is it reasonable to learn violin without a teacher? And I take 'unreasonable' to mean "don't even bother- you'll be much better off learning another instrument if you can't take…
spiffytech
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4 answers
Why is automatic key detection hard?
From what I understand, it is difficult for automatic algorithms to figure out the key of a recorded piece of music. For example, in one review of a range of professional "DJ" software that had a key detection feature, the software typically scored…
Tyler Durden
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2 answers
Does the manner in which you release a tone on the piano affect its sound?
Watch how, for instance, Valentina Lisitsa releases her final chord of Chopin's Op. 9, no. 2 by pulling her hands up from the keyboard. Such a lift isn't reserved for slower music; this even happens at faster tempi, as we see with Horowitz at the…
Richard
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10 answers
Why is the first inversion of a C Major Chord very rarely used on guitar even though it is easier to play?
The open C Major Chord is one of the first basic chords taught to beginning guitar students. It is also one of the most common chords I see in the music I listen to.
The instruction books teaching the fingering for the open C Major Chord stress…
Rockin Cowboy
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