The move to remove sheet music from Oxford

Music is simply math. The relationships between notes and tones that sound pleasant together are as easily described by formulas and algorithms as by sheet music.

Since math is racist, it stands to reason that music must, itself, be racist.

Drink more Brawndo. Its got electrolytes!

a reply to: freedomSlave

Unless you're German, in which case even your guitar chords may still show your B flat (A sharp) as a B, while your B natural is an H.
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originally posted by: Rob808

originally posted by: MichiganSwampBuck
I had a Philosophy of Art course in college and a discussion on Western music theory came up, actually a student mentioned micro tonal intervals and eastern scales, basically questioning the whole western culture the course covered. The subject digressed into cultural relativism and got way off topic.

Then the discussion got heated a little and one white male student, a guy who never spoke in class and kept to himself, suddenly and very loudly proclaimed that we use western theories because "they were right" and those are the best ones to study. His loud and aggravated tone shut down that BS down and we got back to the class studies of the course.

The mechanics of harmony, melody, and rhythm and their inner related complexities are visually expressed in written form, regardless of the ethnicity of the music made into notation that is then played by an orchestra. Race and ethnic cultures have nothing to do with a system of musical notation that has been evolving for centuries. It was the only way to preserve music of every kind for centuries.

Other than primitive recordings, how would we have preserved the music of black jazz musicians from the jazz era if those black musicians didn't know musical notation and write up the sheet music for use while playing? How would that music be interpreted without a black director who knows his sheet music and score sheets?

They used to say that music is the universal language, but I guess that universal language is actually hate speech now.

The entire thought process here is flawed. There is no right. It’s history, culture, art. The “rules” of music are only formed to work around the structure they created, they all are broken by other forms of music/art. Eastern microtonal music has plenty of value to be learned, if that’s the subject of the class cool study it. If the subject is classical western music, cool study it. If it’s Tin Pan Alley, cool... enjoy and learn from what things are and stop overlaying faux morality over things.

A bunch of dumb pretentious kids in college for music debating about racism in their art... yeah you guys really are accomplishing a lot for the world and your future...

Just curious, why do you feel it’s important to mention the gender and race along with the viewpoint of a particular student from your class? It seems to only serve to display your own prejudice and bigoted ideas.

That was 30 years ago, I have no clue what they are studying in the Liberal Arts colleges these days. I guess I was prejudiced and bigoted to point out that a white guy was defending Western European culture in a class on that subject. It was a white woman who brought up the subject of micro-tones actually, because her husband was a "micro-tonal composer". I don't remember that any black students were in that class. If adding such details makes me a bigot, then I guess that must be true then.

It just so happens that the western scales are related to the physics of acoustic overtones, where as micro tones are are not within a specific harmonic arena (atonal). But the rule to break all rules in music is, if it sounds good it is good, if you want to use that as a value judgement on ethnic music quality.

a reply to: Guyfriday

WTF - but that's not what you claimed. Go back and slowly re-read my response to yours

Cancel Culture, Same Story... Different Names:

In June, the Convention drafted the Constitution of 1793, which was ratified by popular vote but not enacted. Simultaneously, the Committee of Public Safety carried out thousands of executions against supposed enemies of the young republic. Its laws and policies took the revolution to unprecedented heights—they introduced the revolutionary calendar in 1793, closed churches in and around Paris as a part of a movement of dechristianization, tried and executed Marie Antoinette, and instituted the Law of Suspects, among other initiatives. Members of various revolutionary factions and groups were executed.

Thermidorian Reaction: A 1794 coup d’état within the French Revolution against the leaders of the Jacobin Club that dominated the Committee of Public Safety. It was triggered by a vote of the National Convention to execute Maximilien Robespierre, Louis Antoine de Saint-Just, and several other leading members of the revolutionary government. It ended the most radical phase of the French Revolution.

The Reign of Terror


Maximilien Robespierre "the Incorruptible" and the deist Cult of the Supreme Being was and is quite the historical controversial character to this day.

The French Revolution was the opening salvo in the War on the Rest Of Us by the socialists in the world. Jacobins, Fabians, communists, many different names, but all the same ideology...The French Revolution was when they decided that they were losing the ideology game and needed to use violence to achieve their aims. It always ends badly. What we really need is for the leftards to turn on each other. Maybe, IDK, such an upside down clown world of nonsense and fake reality.

a reply to: freedomSlave

I Can't read sheet music , many musicians can't read sheet music,

OK, congratulations. I can barely read it myself... then again, I am not a musician. I can barely play a radio.

Still, I need to point out that not knowing how to read sheet music is not something to brag about. One can speak without knowing the alphabet, too, but they cannot immortalize those words they speak on paper for others to read later. What they create with their voice is lost forever once the echo dies down.

Your music is lost forever once you finish playing it.

Oh, sure, someone can record it... and then someone can learn to play it "by ear." Someone can also hear the person speaking in my example and recite what they heard... but will it be really his words? Or would those words get shifted just a tiny bit? And then the next one to recite it might shift it a tiny bit more... and then again... and again... and again... finally the words that person spoke are completely different than they were when he spoke them. If he had wrote them down, then that record could be passed through the hands of millions of others, and his words would not be changed from one to the next.

If someone plays your music by ear, will it really be your music? Or will it be close to your music? How many slight differences will the next musician add in or take away? And the next? And the next? Will your music eventually change from what it is now to something that sounds like punk rock?

That's what language does for us. It allows us to communicate from one person to another, from one country to another, from one time to another without losing any part of the original. It's a good thing. I am fine with the fact that you can play without reading music; my father could too, as well as many others I have known. I simply don't think it should be something to brag about, any more than illiteracy should be something to brag about.

Come to think of it, I have known very few of those people who didn't want to learn to read sheet music.

TheRedneck

a reply to: TheRedneck

A casual fireside plucker likely doesnt need it. But knowing how to read music exposes you to relationships and theory unlike any other simple skill.

Reading music is very simple once you understand the concept. I agree that with the internet there is no reason not to.

a reply to: dug88

lol the only samples I use are drums . I program them .. I play Piano , Synths , Guitar and Bass .everything in my music I play out except for the drums. I use sounds in my sampler to twist even further than what they are .. I have been playing over 30 years I have developed a grasp of what works musically and what doesn't . I do know chords scales and the notes ... Not sure what you are getting at .. Just because I said I don't read sheet music and don't know theory.. Not sure how that equate that I don't know scales and chords and notes

The Beatles wrote some of the best songs , Eddie van Halen wrote some of the best songs , Eric Clapton wrote some of the best songs .. Tell me or any of these musicians what key to play in and chord changes .

Also missing the first chunk of a song while figure it out that you never have before ... All I can say is shove a classical player to play a piece they never heard before with the sheet music and I am sorry they would not fair to well also the first go .. This is a very moot point ..

a reply to: TheRedneck

Play in the key of C Chord changes are C E A F Course C A D

People should be more focus on their own music instead of imitating me or anyone else note for note , add your own style and flavor . Personally I hate cover songs that are an exact replica of the original

Also I wasn't bragging I was pointing out many great artists don't know theory or know how to read sheet music lol .. But hey you might think those people sucked and their music sucked I don't know .. I think Eric clapton and Eddie van Halen and the beatles did pretty good .

Sure is a lot of butt hurt over my comment about people who don't read sheet music lol

a reply to: freedomSlave

Play in the key of C Chord changes are C E A F Course C A D

And that makes no sense to me whatsoever. Which is my point. I am not a musician, but if a musician didn't know those notes (those are notes, right?) it wouldn't make any sense to him either. Some sort of standard language must exist, or no one will be able to communicate... that applies to text, music, math, everything.

As for those great artists...
Jump by Eddie Van Halen
Let It Be by the Beetles
Layla by Eric Clapton
Seems all those great songs are available on sheet music. Maybe Eddie Van Halen couldn't read it, but it was still made available for others. And just think what he could have done had he been able to understand what others did before him.

You speak a lot of synthesized music. Well, you're talking to a guy who creates that... not the music per se, but the electronic instruments that produce it. My Senior Design project was a fully electronic guitar, with visible lasers for strings and variable touch sensors instead of frets. Had I not understood how music was created and the mathematical relationships between notes, I could not have accomplished that. I couldn't have even begun to create it. You are building on things that others did before you, while poo-pooing their attempts to pass their accomplishments down to you.

All I am saying is that there is a whole world out there that you are missing out on, simply because you seemingly think you don't want it. Unless you try, you'll never know if you can. Unless you push yourself, you'll always be an amateur.

And it's free on the Internet. One doesn't even have to pay for lessons today. Eric, Eddie, John, Ringo, and George didn't have that advantage until they were already stars. Then it was probably easier to pay someone to write the sheet music for them. Touring is a big time-consumer.

TheRedneck

a reply to: freedomSlave

It's not butt-hurt. People are trying to help you understand.

TheRedneck

a reply to: TheRedneck

Not poo pooing lol .. I have no use to learn it nor do I have a desire to learn it .. Yup I am an amateur part time basement musician that likes to make music . I have a full time job , I am a full time single dad . I am perfectly happy where I am at in all these things , I do not aspire to be the next Mozart or the Next Jimmy page .. As I said some people have a use for it others don't .

a reply to: TheRedneck

lol Right and I am trying to help people understand it is not for everyone.

But if one is going to major in music yeah they probably should know how to read sheet music

a reply to: Gothmog

A culture that doesn’t take the development of it’s youth seriously is a culture exhaling it’s last dying breaths. Sad.

a reply to: freedomSlave

That's fine. I used to be the same way... I could fix electronic stuff for myself, adapt something to fit my needs. Why would I need anything more? College was something I had no interest in. After all, I had a regular job; electronics was just a hobby.

But I kept pushing myself. I kept finding things I didn't know how to fix or adapt. And the more I learned, the more I realized how little I really knew.

I finally went back to college. I came out understanding worlds more than I understood before. The difference was daylight and dark. I never got to work in the field other than a couple of internships... health problems hit and I became disabled. But I thank God every day that I made that final leap to understand while I had time.

I don't really care if you ever learn to read sheet music. Doesn't affect me in the least. I'll go to sleep tonight not losing one microsecond to the thought of you learning anything. I won't dream about it. In the morning I'll wake up not even remembering this conversation for some time probably. Do as you will. I simply tried to offer a bit of advice.

I'm a bit curious now, though... do you consider NOAA to be "butt-hurt" when they issue a storm warning? They're giving you advice, too.

Good luck with your music.

TheRedneck

Guess at the end of the day I would rather be an amateur making my own music than a professional who only plays other peoples music

Great books have been written using the same letters that smaller men have used.

It's not the note, the word, the sword that becomes legend.

It's who wields it.

originally posted by: DontTreadOnMe
You don't remove the past to improve the future.

Here all this time I thought people that went to Oxford were smart.

a reply to: TerryMcGuire

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