What Have You Been Listening To?

[AsaFromNasa]

Pythagorean divinity.





If the synth sounds hurt, just decrease the volume.

Wow that Pathetique with the different tuning is so weird and beautiful. The Igor Levit Beethoven piano sonata cycle is like my bible and I've listened to it so many times that basically everything else sounds weird, although i guess this time it's on purpose.

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Also, have you seen this video of Bach's crab canon played on a mobius strip?



If you like Bach and math i would highly recommend Godel Escher Bach by Douglas Hofstadter. It's a fun book and it made a big impression on me when i read it in high school.

[Thricegreat]

This is Beethoven's best work.



Analysis

[Thricegreat]

Wow that Pathetique with the different tuning is so weird and beautiful. The Igor Levit Beethoven piano sonata cycle is like my bible and I've listened to it so many times that basically everything else sounds weird, although i guess this time it's on purpose.

Pythagorean tuning is the tuning. It is the most natural one based on whole numbers.

The frequency ratios are exactly whole numbers. For example an octave is exactly 1:2, a perfect fifth is exactly 2:3, a perfect fourth is exactly 3:4, a whole step is exactly 8:9. So it is basically number theory in your ears.

In contrast equal temperament is based on the logarithm log_2. The base is 2 because an octave is 1:2 and it divides an octave into 12 parts logarithmically. I don't think it is necessarily wrong, but it has made what were integers into real numbers.

[kshmr]

Just missing the Bob Dylan's time

[kshmr]

doing anything but actually studying

[BobDeus]

If you like Bach and math i would highly recommend Godel Escher Bach by Douglas Hofstadter. It's a fun book and it made a big impression on me when i read it in high school.

What is it about? Would it hold up for a 'mature' reader? I always heard about it, but was wary of this book that just throws a bunch of famous names in the title, and nobody ever articulated what it's really about.

Pythagorean tuning is the tuning. It is the most natural one based on whole numbers.

Pythagorean tuning is a fun diversion, but there is more to tuning than 'whole' or 'real' or such. Well, one of the first problems is that it doesn't fit the 12-tone system well, so you must make choice on those matters, i.e from C to F#, do you use the aug4 or dim5? You can go in-between and approach a (2*sqrt(2))/2 ratio, it will sound quite ugly! There were instruments made to solve this by having more keys like the 'cimbalo chromatico', but they are difficult to play and I think were made only rarely by special request.
The harmonic complexity of the instrument you are working with has some effect, so you see many variations of tuning methods for the tonally complex harpsichord. It may also have to do with how easy it is to remember and perform a certain kind of attunement; the lone musician must often tune his keyboard, as wood is constantly expanding/shrinking as humidity changes (can be quite large, depends on how porous the wood is) and metals expand/shrink slightly as temperature changes. Evaluating how good a tuning sounds is not an exact science. My opinion is aligning with historical practice for the piece is the best idea, it makes a huge difference to a piece. To give a very strong example, the Well-Tempered Clavier by Bach was written specifically to demonstrate a particular tuning system (one of the Konigsbergs?) and how it had the unique trait of being harmonious in all of the keys. Many other Baroque keyboard works may be made with specific temperament in mind, though the composer more often does not make note of this, which is cool! To me Baroque is so fascinating because of the experimentation/improvisation, and the irony is that historically informed performance has opened up a whole field of creativity and interpretation for this era.
I feel Pythagorean tuning works nice with a less tonally complex instrument, maybe a string instrument.

[Thricegreat]

Pythagorean tuning is a fun diversion, but there is more to tuning than 'whole' or 'real' or such. Well, one of the first problems is that it doesn't fit the 12-tone system well, so you must make choice on those matters, i.e from C to F#, do you use the aug4 or dim5? You can go in-between and approach a (2*sqrt(2))/2 ratio, it will sound quite ugly! There were instruments made to solve this by having more keys like the 'cimbalo chromatico', but they are difficult to play and I think were made only rarely by special request.

Of course I know that there are things like Pythagorean comma. But the matter of 'whole' or 'real' is religiously and ideologically the most important point. Because there was even Hippasus who was supposedly murdered because of his discovery of irrational numbers.

[BobDeus]

Of course I know that there are things like Pythagorean comma. But the matter of 'whole' or 'real' is religiously and ideologically the most important point. Because there was even Hippasus who was supposedly murdered because of his discovery of irrational numbers.

I'd better not catch you eating beans
I thought the Pythagoreans were always half-aware of irrational lengths through geometry, but refused to take the problem seriously on account of their physical beliefs in space being discrete in a kind of numeric 'atomism'.
Anyway, I disagree that Pythagorean is 'the most natural' tuning system, just because I feel 'natural' is a meaningless notion. I loved music theory, but it is the most artificial of all branches of knowledge. Pythagorean is certainly a simple system, beaten by equal, but what's most important after historical context is whether a tuning sounds good or not, or rather, if you can find it useful in your musical work or performance. I am most taken to meantone, not just because it was dominant in my favourite period of classical music, but because I feel it has a heavier sense of tension-release, which is significant in that period distinguished by counterpoint.

[AsaFromNasa]

If you like Bach and math i would highly recommend Godel Escher Bach by Douglas Hofstadter. It's a fun book and it made a big impression on me when i read it in high school.

What is it about? Would it hold up for a 'mature' reader? I always heard about it, but was wary of this book that just throws a bunch of famous names in the title, and nobody ever articulated what it's really about.

It's been a very long time since I've read it, and it was probably too advanced for me at the time, but from what i remember Hofstadter claimed that consciousness arises from the complex interactions of different levels of the brain. The conclusions were much less impressive to me than the very eclectic path he took to arrive at and explain them. A short dialogue primer precedes each chapter and they are usually the best part. He throws in art, music, logic/math, physics, buddhism, computer science, and probably much more that I don't remember. Part of his thought is concerned with how we think thorough analogies, which is why he ties together all of these different things. Its not just to steal search rankings when people look up Godel, escher, or bach (which is how i found it). For me, it was like a theme park instead of a road trip to a specific destination. It meanders a lot so you might get frustrated if you're looking for a concise read. He wrote a different book called "I am a strange loop" that cuts down on a lot of the fluff and tries to get to the point, but in this case the fluff is what makes the book good. I think most people either love it or hate it.

[YeeYee]

I rceently found an absolute gem of shoegaze music, it reminds me of an older phase of shoegaze like my bloody valentine ( which isnt the oldest thing but whatever ) and it has very nice touches that still make it refreshing, each track has a diffrent atmopshere and they all conjoin in one like this giant tide that continously drowns you in music while still refreshing it in every track, big reccomendies for shoegaze lovers!



https://allunderheaven.bandcamp.com/album/collider


I got a TON of shoegaze albums/tracks ranging from 10 views to just classic/ popular ones, maybe ill post em regularly or make another thread ( i doubt anyones gonna be there ), if anyones interested feel free to dm me for em ofc!