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

Most Popular

more tags
1500 questions
17
votes
7 answers

Is it necessary to learn the names of fret notes?

I know the names of the notes up to about the fifth fret on each string. I play from sheet music occasionally, but mostly from tabs - so is it necessary to learn the names of the notes for each fret to be able to play the majority of songs?
whostolemyhat
  • 1,472
  • 12
  • 21
17
votes
3 answers

What's this w-shaped ebony item from my grandma's violin case?

What's this w-shaped ebony item from my grandma's violin case? Possible it's not violin-related.
it's a hire car baby
  • 273
  • 2
  • 7
17
votes
6 answers

How to make songs with chords that don't belong in a scale?

I've always wondered how come there can be a chord progression with some chord that doesn't belong in the particular scale... Moreover, how can it be possible that this progression is in any key at all (D5 Db5 C5 B5)? Anyway, I just want to learn a…
Peter
  • 353
  • 1
  • 3
  • 7
17
votes
7 answers

What is the reason a given note can have different "sounds"

People, instruments, objects, etc. all are capable of producing "sounds" that sound different (not sure the proper term for this) but can produce the same note. Given that sound can be represented with an oscillating wave, and the wider the peaks…
Ryan Griffith
  • 281
  • 2
  • 8
17
votes
9 answers

Do I need to practice recovery from confusion? How?

I am going to do a live performance soon. I'll have sheet music; no improvisation. I have practiced my part fairly well at home, but I am sure I'll get confused and make mistakes during the performance, because it's in a different setting.…
anatolyg
  • 2,615
  • 4
  • 29
  • 52
17
votes
7 answers

Playing Classical Guitar Pieces on a Steel-String Guitar

I'm an acoustic guitar player but have recently developed an interest in classical guitar. I'm not quite at liberty to buy a classical guitar (with nylon strings and what not) and the stool thingy, and was wondering whether it was 'inadvisable' to…
Anti Earth
  • 273
  • 1
  • 2
  • 7
17
votes
8 answers

Want to learn composing and producing music with a DAW. Where do I start?

I am a computer engineer and a passionate music listener. I have been listening to movie scores and soundtracks for many years now and it has really inspired me to want to learn more about music and how to create it. I am especially inspired by Hans…
Inder
  • 179
  • 1
  • 1
  • 3
17
votes
6 answers

What's special about cello strings?

I've built a skeleton cello (680mm scale length, 79mm fingerboard radius) and due to the high price of cello strings (2-400$ a set?), I found some flatwound bass strings whose string gauges seem to match well (0.100 to 0.045). Tuning these up to…
Brydon Gibson
  • 353
  • 2
  • 7
17
votes
3 answers

How do I play this chord with an overlapping sharp and flat?

How do I play this chord (underneath the red arrow in the attached image) that seems to have both D sharp and an E flat? Am I misreading it? EDIT: the clip is from the piece "Manchega" by Louis Moreau Gottschalk. Here's a link to the sheet music…
Piano Noob
  • 173
  • 5
17
votes
3 answers

What are all these symbols in some old sheet music?

Looking at this sheet music of Pietro Antonio Locatelli's "L'arte del violino" Op. 3 we see that the sheet music is pretty old. I have no idea if this is perhaps the original one or not but it does look pretty old. Being an amateur self-taught…
Fixed Point
  • 522
  • 3
  • 10
17
votes
5 answers

Piano music with two treble clefs, and notes between staves

I do not understand why there are two treble cleff staves and why there are music notes in the middle of the two staves. Which hand should I play those notes with and why are there two treble cleff staffs? Thanks for any help! :) Here is a picture…
Sheela
  • 171
  • 1
  • 1
  • 3
17
votes
7 answers

Can music be arrhythmic?

The question is in the subject. Can music be arrhythmic(metrically) by the meaning of classical music theory?
Rudziankoŭ
  • 295
  • 2
  • 5
17
votes
5 answers

Piano can play hands together but not separately. Why?

At my piano lesson yesterday, my playing was OK hands together, but when directed to play hands separately to improve my playing (of course), I didn't know it well enough, and I have struggled today and feel less confident. Is this normal? My…
chembluebtinternetcom
  • 201
  • 2
  • 4
17
votes
2 answers

Is there a historical reason why we say "C sharp" but notate on the staff "sharp C"?

Early music students are often confused with where to place accidentals: When we speak, we say the note name first and then the accidental: C sharp. When we're writing away from the staff, we do the same: C♯. But when we notate in the staff, we…
Richard
  • 84,447
  • 18
  • 194
  • 369
17
votes
3 answers

Why use 5 or more ledger lines below the bass clef instead of ottava bassa lines for piano sheet music?

One thing that has bothered me when listening to classical music with the sheet music also scrolling by is its persistent use of 5 or more ledger lines for low enough bass clef parts instead of ottava bassa lines. Examples (all pulled from public…
Dekkadeci
  • 14,111
  • 2
  • 28
  • 58
1 2 3
…
99 100