An Epiphony about sound...

[m1469]

Lately, I have found very little point in learning "notes" (at least how I have formerly thought of them). 

I heard myself say while teaching a lesson today that "you are not just learning notes, you are learning sounds".  For whatever reason this really hit me.  This student and I were working on getting some things even ... and we were working on trying to hear the sound we wanted before playing, and then playing it.  yadda yadda.

Anyway, I guess I realized a big thing in that.  Ever since I had started taking piano lessons and other music lessons, I have thought of music as "notes" more than sounds.  Today though, there is a spark that will change everything for me.  I asked myself what is the difference between a "sound" and a "note".  The answer I found is that it seems a sound has a character.  My former thoughts on "notes" basically did not.  They were more or less flat seeming to me (in concept).  Well, this was my epiphony.  I realized that essentially, there is no reason I could not hear each specific piano note with its own unique sound, as though each were a unique bird call or something.

I started thinking about Perfect Pitch, which is something I am working on (when I feel like it  ).  I would not currently claim that I have it, but, I realized that people who do have it are probably hearing this character in the sound, and they remember that character and therefore that specific sound.  Is this right ?

My next desire was to sit at the piano for hours, just listening to discern the various characters of each pitch (haven't done it yet).  I immediately got filled with questions when I thought about doing this.  I guess questions that I will write down and try to find answers to through experimentation.




m1469

[zheer]

 

[m1469]

 

[prometheus]

Music is about tones. Notes are tones written as black dots on paper. As a pianist you don't really have to thing about tones, you can limit them to notes. But as a musician you can't. For example, a singer has to worry about many things concerning their tone.

[alzado]

I thought your posting was interesting, as was the reply.

Another observation that can be made is that one rarely if ever hears an isolated tone or sound.

Chords are quite different, and notes played while an earlier note is being held -- a type of chord -- also take on a different character.  These are sounds plus harmonics.

Even an individually struck note may take on a character from its "neighborhood" -- the notes struck immediately before or after. 

I believe you are correct in emphasizing the sounds, because your interpretative contribution to the production of the music is to affect and finesse the qualities of the blended sounds.  There are numerous ways to do this, and I hardly need to tell you.  (Pedaling, forte, crescendo, staccato, and on and on.)

[rc]

A musician needs imagination... We have to create lines out of dots, perspective out of sound.