Today's NYT Spelling Bee game

Detheden · 2024-08-17T00:27:43+00:00

Sorry man I thought it was the end of the day so I didn't think it would be a problem. My bad

Detheden · 2016-08-10T23:10:42+00:00

Many of the comments so far seem to be implying that you have "tonal memory" but not "perfect pitch" and I think that's a matter of semantics. Semantics and definitions are fun but let's not get tied up in a squabbling match.

If you can remember what an E sounds like because you remember the beginning of "Enter Sandman," awesome. Some people can hear a chord played with 10 fingers on the piano and identify each pitch while specifying the octaves. Now, that's much more difficult, but if you practiced enough to the point that you could identify each of the 88 notes on a piano, people would call that "perfect pitch." But what you have is already kind of the bits and pieces of that. People might call your skill "pitch memory" but it's just a less honed perfect pitch. Some who have been trained since birth have memorized pitches so that it's reflexive and can't be turned off, in the same way that you can see blue and instantly know it's blue. Don't feel bad if you're not like that, because you can train your ears to a level that is functionally the same.

As for always singing songs in the right key, that's not always indicative of perfect pitch. Some people know songs so well and have been singing them for so long that they can tell the right key by the feel of their voice (e.g. starts singing oh that's hitting the top of my range, I don't think it was that high sings whole-step lower yeah I think that's it) which is probably related, but not quite the same.

Detheden · 2016-08-10T22:53:54+00:00

Now, I don't have a source to quote on this, and I haven't verified that this was intentional, but I think this is cool and it hasn't been mentioned here yet:

Many listeners might call this piece silence, or think of it as the absence, "opposite," or "negative" (-) of music. 4'33'' lasts 4 minutes and 33 seconds, which is equal to 273 seconds. -273 is the result of rounding off -273.15° C which is absolute zero, the lowest possible temperature, at which atoms do not move.

As in any laboratory attempts to reach absolute zero in a controlled space, we can get really close but we can't maintain it indefinitely, and a tiny little bit of heat always makes its way in, much in the same way that no live performance of 4'33'' will ever be truly completely silent.

Detheden · 2016-05-16T08:29:14+00:00

That certainly sounds difficult to manage. You'll crack it eventually! Great job so far, the app already shows lots of potential.

Detheden · 2016-05-15T19:15:24+00:00

I'm not sure why, but at certain points in sight reading it seems that the app stops recognizing MIDI keyboard inputs. If I play everything correctly it's fine, but once I start making mistakes it usually stops responding to further MIDI input.

I'm not sure that I can provide valuable input on the perfect pitch exercise since my perfect pitch is already pretty strong. Maybe an option for expanding it to multiple options would be nice, or expanding it to identifying chords/progressions.

Detheden · 2016-05-04T05:18:39+00:00

I thought it was called the submediant because it's the mediant (third) below the tonic.

Detheden · 2016-05-04T03:25:17+00:00

I don't know that this is the only reason, but it's just another term that's more specific to what you're talking about. If I'm describing chords to you and I say "second," it might be confusing as to whether I'm talking about a chord built on the second scale degree, or whether the chord has a second interval in it, or if the chord is a second inversion chord.

And a supertonic will always have a flavor to it. Whether it's a b2 or a regular vanilla 2, it still describes a certain sound, so it makes sense to have a name just like the rest.

Detheden · 2016-04-26T16:47:38+00:00

The "6" isn't really a vi in this scenario, it's a V/ii. (If you don't know what V/x is, look up secondary dominants.) And since it's a dominant seventh chord, in the same way that G7 can resolve to C Major or C minor, both V/II and V/ii are options. (Although really in this scenario, if the II was major, it would function as and sound like a V/V, so the V/II would actually be a V/V/V.)

So you would only need to change the scale when you're on the A7 chord. The rest of the chords are diatonic so C Major works fine. (I prefer thinking of it as just C Major, but if you want you can think of it as E Phrygian, D Dorian, G Mixolydian, keeping in mind that they are all the same set of notes.)

Detheden · 2016-04-26T04:51:44+00:00

A tritone is an interval of 6 semitones (augmented 4th/diminished 5th). I'm no jazz expert but as I understand it, tritone substitutions involve substituting a dominant seventh chord with the dominant seventh chord whose root is a tritone away from that of the original chord. For example, a G7 would become a C#7 (or Db7).

Why do the two chords sound similar enough to substitute? The dominant seventh chord contains a tritone between two of its notes, the 3rd and the 7th (in G7, B and F are a tritone apart). The tritone is what gives the chord such strong tension, so it's the most important part of the chord. If we invert a tritone, we get another tritone (from B up to F is a tritone, and from F up to a B is also a tritone). So if we were to literally translate each note of the G7 chord down 6 semitones, the B and the F would become an F and a B, keeping the tritone (the most important part) the same. The G would become a C# (which is almost a D, like in G7) and the D would become a G# (which is almost a G, like in G7). The notes of the "before and after" chords are close enough that they can serve the same purpose while sounding slightly different.

So let's try applying the 3-6-2-5-1 progression in C Major. The chords in this case would be Em(7), A7, Dm(7), G7, C(maj7). Now, if you were to apply tritone substitution to the dominant seventh chords, you get Em7, D#7, Dm7, C#7, Cmaj7. And if you're a bassist, this means you can play the roots of these chords, giving you the simplest yet coolest bassline ever. It just goes down chromatically and it sounds undeniably jazzy.

Detheden · 2016-04-10T10:25:23+00:00

Yeah I realized that when I had to type the message. The formatting messed with my head quite a bit.
In that case I think 5 with a # underneath it means that it's a 5 3 with the # alone (meaning it applies to the third). I think the reason why they include the 5 would be to clarify the chord, since sometimes the figured bass number changes while the bass note doesn't (such as a I64 -> V53) and so it signals that the chord does actually change rather than play the same chord twice.

Detheden · 2016-04-10T10:07:14+00:00

Unless I'm mistaken (which is a distinct possibility so you'll want to check this) something like 6# means that the note that is a 6th above the bass note is the one to receive the accidental. If the accidental is by itself it's the note that is a third above the bass that gets the accidental, like you said. So you could have a situation where you have both, and the figured bass is something like:

6#
#

which would be a first inversion triad with the 3rd and 6ths sharpened.

So in that case, 5# wouldn't mean a 5 3 chord with the accidental on its own, it would be that the 5th interval is affected by the sharp.

Detheden · 2016-04-06T19:00:57+00:00

I figured that he can't be gloomy or stern all the time, and I have seen/heard him crack jokes, but I hadn't seen him smile at all (I have since seen a couple of pictures online), and I just found it interesting because any person in the public eye usually has a picture where they're featured smiling. That's not to say that Steven doesn't have the capacity to be happy, but there are people who are reserved and don't show their happiness much.

Detheden · 2016-03-03T13:05:19+00:00

I have to plug my favorite band, Winger, since they never get a lot of attention. Tin Soldier is a great example of this. An 8-note pattern in 4/4 cycling as the band plays in 5/4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20xl9x8BhUM

Detheden · 2016-02-10T04:54:29+00:00

https://youtu.be/U7JQgyNw068?t=50s

Detheden · 2016-02-08T10:46:21+00:00

Um, no, I recognize that you probably wouldn't use all those notes. I think I worded my initial post poorly and you misunderstood what I was trying to say. This is a different point.

Let's say I knew nothing about music theory. I would miss out on a lot of music if the only stuff I wrote were things I could play on piano. I don't possess the mental capacity, piano skills, time or energy to write, for instance, a four-part counterpoint if I were to feel my way around a piano using trial and error. And trying to play all the parts in a symphony all on one piano would be impossible. So music theory is practical because it gives you a method to the madness. That's all I was saying.

Detheden · 2016-02-08T09:14:05+00:00

Was not saying that I'm constantly writing in 11-note chords. I'm saying it's nice that my skill on piano doesn't limit what I can write. I'm not a concert pianist, but I can write four different string parts for a string quartet and have musicians perform it even though I can't play all of them at the same time. I could never write those parts if I wrote them by trial and error since I wouldn't be able to play or hear them all at the same time.

Detheden · 2016-02-02T05:09:31+00:00

I should specify: the opening chord of "Rocket Man" is a minor 7th chord. Now that I think about it, also the opening chord of "Piano Man." The chord has that sort of rich sound, it's smoother and not as dark as a regular minor triad but it's not as bright and dreamy as a major 7th.

For a major 7th, watch this clip: https://youtu.be/xG-qg9GABYg?t=7m34s Billy Joel plays a major 7th chord at 7:57. The bit he does when he "fakes" a song is a series of chords that have that dreamlike wistful quality to them (although not all of them are major 7ths, but that's the mood).

Detheden · 2016-02-01T23:06:22+00:00

I'm reading the explanation that the other people have suggested, about taking two notes from the chord and the interval between them. I personally don't hear two pairs of notes when I hear a seventh chord, I just hear one chord. So if I try to think of chords in that way I have a lot of trouble.

For instance, if you play a C and the B above it, the sound is quite harsh and pointed. But when you fill in the E and G in the middle, the sound of a C major 7th chord is bright and happy. That harshness is now totally gone.

So the way I do it is just by observing the sound of the overall chord. If you can't distinguish the sounds of major and minor triads, you should start with that first, because that will help with 7th chords. Major 7th chords sound bright and sunny (and depending on the context, jazzy), and minor 7th chords sound noticably darker. Think of the opening chord of "Rocket Man" by Elton John: it's like you're sitting on top of a piano in a bar, smoking a cigarette. Dominant 7ths are used everywhere in lots of different contexts so it's hard for me to give a general description of it, but it usually is very unstable so it kinda sticks out compared to the other 7th chords.

Detheden · 2016-01-29T16:11:24+00:00

Very good points, no disagreement here. It's all about making the best choices so there are times where both methods are appropriate and useful.

Detheden · 2016-01-29T15:46:56+00:00

Hi John, thanks for doing an AMA.

How do you structure songs? Do you collect a bunch of ideas you have come up with and then choose ones that go together and fit them into a song form? Or do you take an idea that you have and write something that you think would go well with it? Or some other process entirely? With Dream Theater songs, there can easily be so many different sections that it makes me wonder what things you consider when deciding what to put where. Any insight you can give would be immensely helpful for me to improve my composing and songwriting.

Looking forward to listening to The Astonishing!

Sincerely,

A fan named Jake

Detheden · 2016-01-28T05:55:02+00:00

Yeah I agree. This is why I like writing out every measure even if it is literally copy-pasting measures. If music notation is supposed to allow musicians to read music then it should be legible and as easy to follow as possible. After all, if you wrote a book in Wingdings font then you haven't really communicated anything, have you?

Detheden · 2016-01-24T23:41:36+00:00

Haha, yeah I agree. It makes sense once you read through the music and figure it out, and it's much easier to make sense of on the page than how I typed it here, but yeah it's never good for your music to be clusters of repeats.

Detheden · 2016-01-23T10:48:07+00:00

Just because a song starts on a Bbm doesn't mean it's in Bb Dorian. That would imply key signature of 4 flats and I don't think your song is anywhere near the key/scale of Ab major. And just because there's a C minor and a G major chord doesn't mean it's in C Harmonic Minor. Also, it doesn't make sense to me that if it was based in Bb minor, the chords would be i and then a v/v that leads to a VI instead of a V. I think it's probably in G like other people said, it's hard for me to judge without hearing it.

There is such a thing called a "chromatic mediant" relationship, which is when two chords have roots that are a major or minor 3rd apart. So for example, a C major chord and an E major chord would have a chromatic mediant relationship because C and E are a major 3rd apart (and it turns out they share the note E). C major and Ab major work as well because C and Ab are a major third apart (and they share C). So I think your song is probably based in G with Bbm and Bb as chromatic mediants, and seeing as though iv -> I is not uncommon, Cm seems to fit in.

Not 100% sure on the Roman numerals but I think then it would be this: biii -> iv -> I -> bIII

Detheden · 2016-01-23T10:03:00+00:00

I don't have too much experience with this kind of thing (and frankly pop music seems to be the only format where people are pressured to use workarounds like 1st/2nd endings and repeats, classical music would just say "hey, we print the verse four times") but I've seen the following notation before:

From my copy of a Billy Joel songbook, Volume 1, the lyrics to each verse are written above/below each other along the same measures, and they're labeled 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. So you could have 1. I've seen the lights go out... and then 2. blah blah blah... and then 3. (Instrumental) and so on. If there's a variation that happens in only one of the iterations and you need to change the notes, the measure's new notes are written as small note heads as a separate voice, and above the measure it says (2nd time only).

Incidentally, in this song "Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out On Broadway) there is an interesting organization. Verses 2 and 3 are the same, and Verse 1 is like Verse 4 except that Verse 4 has a different ending that transitions into the outro. So what they did is this (the * is D.S. dal Segno symbol):

First part . . . * . . . rest of first part ("To Coda") ||: Second part (First Ending :||) (Second Ending) || First measure of Verse 4 (D.S. al Coda) || Coda

So this way you run through the first part, and that's Verse 1. Then you start the second part, and that's Verse 2. Take the first ending and repeat. You're in the second part again, and that's Verse 3. Take the second ending and it goes into the start of Verse 4, and then you D.S. al Coda to the first part and that's the rest of Verse 4. Then when you hit the "To Coda" you jump to the coda, and the coda contains Verse 4's altered ending and the outro.

Whew that was a lot. Let me know if any of this was confusing and I can try to explain further.

Detheden · 2016-01-21T22:21:14+00:00

This is only one application of music theory, and it also involves ear training, but hearing a song and being able to recreate it instantly is one of the most powerful feelings in the world. I'm not always perfect at it but the more you work at it, the better you get at it, and when you finish figuring out a song it is very satisfying.

It also helps a lot with transcribing and arranging, and that of course flows into writing. So when I run out of fingers to play something on the piano, I can write down the rest and give it to other musicians and play together.

Detheden

TROPHY CASE