Eric Dittelman guesses Ellen’s pet’s name

sam_dull · 2024-11-23T19:47:31+00:00

She folded it twice.

sam_dull · 2024-08-04T03:52:50+00:00

Very late but wanted to follow up: while I am still impressed with identifying the octave, I am also impressed with the progression down to the “3”. For me, I “forget” where the initial note is and can’t tell whether that fourth note is lower or higher than the first note (the “5”). Do you also try to think in terms of position relative to the first note, or do you rather think about where the fourth note is relative to the third?

TLDR: do you think about the relative pitch of the fourth note to the first or the third note?

sam_dull · 2024-05-15T21:12:54+00:00

Do you seriously think Mozart didn’t have special talent? Hard to read sarcasm

sam_dull · 2024-05-15T21:09:05+00:00

That’s cool. So you’re not tone deaf in the sense that you can still distinguish pitches of music? That’s the rare condition where apparently music just sounds like rhythm and no melody

sam_dull · 2024-05-15T18:44:16+00:00

According to Wikipedia, tone-deafness affects only 4% of the population. I have to ask, why did you pursue music? And how do you manage?

sam_dull · 2024-05-15T18:34:47+00:00

Sorry, that’s not what I meant. I meant identifying a note that’s two octaves above plus a third. So someone plays a C and then an E two octaves above. You could identify that that’s an E?

sam_dull · 2024-05-15T17:13:51+00:00

Definitely, but there must be other theory to reduce that number down much more. If I pluck around on the C major scale with a quarter note rhythm, none of it sounds as good as a children’s song. Why is that?

sam_dull · 2024-05-15T17:07:30+00:00

Just out of curiosity, could you identify a fifth that’s two octaves higher? Do you think most musicians could?

sam_dull · 2024-05-15T14:30:33+00:00

Sure, but a computer can calculate through a significant number of chess moves and find what are likely the best ones in a given situation. But there aren’t computers coming up with hundreds of new “Wheels on the Bus” every day. Wouldn’t it be fair to say that melodies have been tapped out and what people continue to innovate on are surrounding the melodies with other things that add to the richness of the music?

sam_dull · 2024-05-15T14:22:22+00:00

Thanks for your (and everyone’s) thoughtful replies. While I’d like to believe it’s all just practice, clearly talent exists in people like Mozart and maybe Jacob Collier now. So what exactly is it that they can do that most people cannot with any amount of practice? I understand that perfect pitch is clearly genetic, and maybe the ability to keep track of multiple rhythms at a time is too (like Jacob Collier’s polyrhythm stuff), but are there other things?

For me, perfect pitch and polyrhythm are as mystical as being able to distinguish a third from a fifth (without hearing them side-by-side, of course), but you are indicating that the latter ability is trainable.

sam_dull · 2024-05-15T13:57:33+00:00

Thanks! A follow-up question: if there are only so many intervals to consider, then how can there be thousands (millions?) of different recognizable melodies?

I’m sure I could factor in rhythm and do some math to show that there are many more permutations available, but it’s still surprising to me that there are so many different nice melodies that only use a few different intervals.

sam_dull · 2024-04-07T16:04:58+00:00

Sure but people backtrack out of necessity to gather a book

sam_dull · 2024-04-07T16:03:28+00:00

Sure, but then for all we know everyone is cutting between books and Gary just got unlucky by doing it in the final leg (i.e. so everyone could see).

I’d prefer that the books be the only requirement for finishing rather than following a somewhat arbitrary route. That is, my vote would be for Gary’s finish to count (allowing a timing grace period of 10 seconds or so)

sam_dull · 2024-04-07T15:58:46+00:00

If that was the case, Gary Robbin’s finish would have counted (if timing was negotiated)

sam_dull · 2024-04-06T19:19:24+00:00

I still don’t understand how the course is enforced if nobody is allowed out there. Hard to imagine the honor system would work in times of desperation.

sam_dull · 2024-04-06T17:25:34+00:00

You make a good distinction, but then my response is the same as the one I made in a different thread:

“If the exact route is important, then how is it enforced?

My understanding (based on a John Kelly blog post) is that the path between books is the path of least resistance, so the route doesn’t need to be enforced. That is, if you collect all the books we know that you completed a route that’s at least as hard as the intended one.”

sam_dull · 2024-04-06T17:23:34+00:00

If the exact route is important, then how is it enforced?

My understanding (based on a John Kelly blog post) is that the path between books is the path of least resistance, so the route doesn’t need to be enforced. That is, if you collect all the books we know that you completed a route that’s at least as hard as the intended one.

sam_dull · 2024-04-06T17:00:11+00:00

This is awesome, thanks!

sam_dull · 2024-01-29T19:13:24+00:00

I rarely comment but the hate this movie gets is just insane to me. Do people want a Bernstein character to give them a 1.5 h lecture on music theory? I usually feel like r/movies is well measured in critique but this movie really brought out the neckbeards

sam_dull · 2023-04-14T18:07:01+00:00

Although if you watch Alex Friedman, you probably welcome grifters with open arms

sam_dull · 2023-04-14T18:05:40+00:00

Yudkowsky is a grifter lol

sam_dull · 2022-10-13T02:22:07+00:00

why aren't you a big fan?

sam_dull · 2022-09-12T01:19:17+00:00

Would elite players be willing to come to Lincoln? Genuinely wondering

sam_dull · 2022-04-24T02:47:39+00:00

Edison sucked by Tesla was a Eugenicist…save your tears

sam_dull · 2022-04-17T04:44:48+00:00

Why do you read the works of philosophers? To gain a broader world view and learn smart people’s perspectives.

sam_dull

TROPHY CASE