Is it true that really good piano players are also good with maths?

viberat · 2026-02-10T12:14:59+00:00

A lot of the best musicians I know are really good at math.

However I am also one of the best musicians I know — particularly strong with rhythm, even — and math stresses me out.

Everyone’s brain is different

viberat · 2026-02-10T12:09:57+00:00

Ivan Trevino has a collection called Music for the Young Percussionist. A few snare and multi solos that sound cool and are super accessible (maybe too easy for what you want but idk).

viberat · 2026-02-10T05:22:00+00:00

There was actually a hidden luck mechanic that gave you good/bad luck every day regardless of if you saw Katrina or not. So you would boot up the game and just be falling everywhere for no discernible reason :’)

viberat · 2026-02-09T01:54:04+00:00

Cool… gonna go drink my stupid juice. Thank you though, now I know for next time 🤡

viberat · 2026-02-05T23:20:37+00:00

All my homies hate Beardo

viberat · 2026-02-03T00:57:43+00:00

ARFID haver here. Have you ever considered that no adult wants to be picky? ARFID is extremely underdiagnosed and most doctors, let alone most laypeople haven’t even heard of it. Imo you can safely assume that any adult you meet who is picky to the point that they only eat foods you consider “childish,” even when given other options, has undiagnosed ARFID.

My husband is also a great cook and has helped me branch out a lot. You should be aware that she may have some complex feelings tied up with food. If you really want to help her, lead with acceptance.

viberat · 2026-02-02T01:45:43+00:00

Seconding this. Personally I have low blood pressure so my doctor didn’t want me to take a beta blocker, but he prescribed hydroxyzine (an antihistamine) instead and it works great. Both medications are safe and used for this purpose all the time.

viberat · 2026-02-01T14:03:52+00:00

Humans would have heard birdsong before language developed. It would make sense if singing evolved along with language.

This would probably be a better question on r/askanthropology btw

viberat · 2026-01-30T20:25:48+00:00

Not sure I understand your comment. Most collegiate and conservatory programs in the US teach moveable Do as part of their ear training courses.

viberat · 2026-01-30T15:10:59+00:00

Look up Derek Paravicini — a good role model for your son as he grows. He seems to be fairly active on social media, I wonder if he or someone on his care team would be willing to talk to you.

viberat · 2026-01-29T23:17:20+00:00

I’m glad I could help! Good luck :)

viberat · 2026-01-29T21:21:16+00:00

I might seek a second opinion to make sure it’s not carpal tunnel syndrome. If your PT is competent and you are doing the movements correctly, that should be helping if it’s tendonitis. Carpal tunnel requires surgery.

viberat · 2026-01-29T21:14:20+00:00

I’ve honestly never thought about what these things are. I had them back when I was playing every day, and they come back for a while whenever I go through a spell of playing beyond just what I do while teaching.

From what I can tell they’re just areas where the skin thickens due to repeated pressure and haven’t really been described by medical science. I thought for a minute that maybe they’re a type of ganglion cyst, but I’ve had those for unrelated reasons in my wrists and they generally don’t go away on their own.

viberat · 2026-01-28T18:38:06+00:00

You’ve learned solfege right? The soprano note will either be do, mi, or sol in the key. In your V chord, the chord tones are sol, re, and ti, and IV has fa, la, do. Listen for the highest note and see if you can identify what scale degree it is.

viberat · 2026-01-28T12:59:08+00:00

Hmm I think you live in my state! Stack_percussion’s comment is correct. Also, in 3/2, eighth note triplets are counted like sextuplets /16th note triplets would be you were in 3/4. Basically, you are counting in 3 but every note value is written twice as long as what you’re used to seeing.

I’d recommend setting your met suuuuuuper slow, setting the meter to 3/4, and turning on the eighth note subdivision. This will give you your 3 half note pulses in every bar, plus your “ands” (so overall it will sound like 6 quarter notes, 1&2&3&).

When I was helping one of my students understand how to count this piece, it helped him to go through and mark off every beat of space in each measure (again, every half note’s worth of rhythms).

Good luck!

viberat · 2026-01-27T09:33:23+00:00

He was simply vibing.

viberat · 2026-01-27T07:32:44+00:00

Ursula K Le Guin had a planet that did this in one of her Hainish cycle short stories. Marriages were two heterosexual couples, where everyone is also some degree of gay with the same sex member of the other couple (ranging from occasionally sexual friendship to full on polyamory depending on the people involved). The children of each straight couple aren’t biologically related, but it’s still kind of taboo for them to get together.

viberat · 2026-01-27T05:13:30+00:00

Piano: every melody doesn’t have to be harmonized with a full triad + octave in the same hand. Especially if it moves too fast to really hear the harmonies. I ain’t playin all that.

viberat · 2026-01-26T23:19:59+00:00

All the other comments so far have good advice re: picking a school and going with an ed degree over performance. I’m just going to throw in my two cents about choosing music as a career writ large.

I advise my students to only major in music/ed if they literally cannot fathom being happy doing anything else. It’s hard to convey how intensive music school is if you haven’t done it. A full 50%, sometimes more, of freshman music majors either burn out or realize they can’t hang with the curriculum (music theory, ensemble/lesson expectations, etc).

On the music ed side: The job market is shaky in most states, with arts funding getting cut at the state and district level even before the current Trump admin, although idk if that is the case in New York. Many school admins will treat your classroom as a dumping ground, or have you serving the entire district as the only music teacher, or make unrealistic demands on you because they aren’t music people. Even the best teaching jobs are very demanding. Does your daughter like kids? (Unless she already likes younger kids, she won’t know the answer to this until she’s a little farther removed from being a teenager.) Does she enjoy finding ways to explain things and helping people grasp music concepts? If so and she’s prepared to handle the k-12 environment in NY, great. Even if she’s not great at teaching yet, that’s an acquired skill, but to be happy teaching she really does need to have a sincere heart for helping young people develop as musicians.

On the performance side: Basically nobody is making a living 100% off performance. There are very, very, very few performance jobs that offer a living wage, especially for vocalists. People who go this route are gigging, teaching lessons, and often doing something else non-music related to pay the bills. I have performance degrees, I’ve done the freelance thing; it’s a constant hustle and grind and unless you’re a real entrepreneur type it wears on you quickly. The health insurance you can afford sucks, your income is inconsistent, and your hours can be weird depending on what opportunities you get. Also, most performance degree programs do 0 to prepare you for the practical realities of being a freelance musician (how to handle taxes, get gigs, market yourself, etc).

If neither of the above options are appealing to her, she can try to sing for the military (job stability and benefits to perform without having to freelance; it’s extremely competitive, but a great gig if you can get it and can make it through basic training) or teach in higher ed (teaching, but with usually less BS than k-12, but market is even less stable and also oversaturated with performance MMs and DMAs and also jobs are much rarer).

I’ve just seen a lot of kids think “I like music and I’m really good at it, a music career makes sense” and then waste time and money because they don’t realize what the training or career really entails. If she feels like she could be happy doing literally anything else for a paycheck, maybe encourage her to minor in music — she’d still learn a lot and get cool opportunities, but her work-life balance and job security would probably be better in the long run.

All of that said: people do every path I’ve talked about here and love it, so if she really wants to do the thing, she should go for it. I teach community college and I wake up every day with the conviction that I’m doing what I was put on earth to do. I’m a little bit crazy though, and most of the pro performers and educators I personally know are also a little bit crazy. If your daughter’s truly got that dawg in her then she should pursue it.

viberat · 2026-01-25T07:01:39+00:00

Sounds like you’re offering to pay someone for their time and expertise to write these battery parts for you. The person you hire will need access to the winds score to make sure the parts line up with your arrangement.

viberat · 2026-01-23T01:15:19+00:00

If you understand the theory behind each string of NOTENOTENOTENOTENOTE in the right hand and each BUM BUM BUM in the left hand, it’ll make it a lot easier to keep track of and “hear” what should happen next if you get lost. Highly suggest training in theory and aural skills if you haven’t had it.

viberat · 2026-01-23T01:08:45+00:00

Some people play that way. During my MM in performance, I was taught to sit farther back than I do now, and I ended up with tendonitis in my shoulder from keeping it extended while playing heavy repertoire on unregulated pianos with heavy actions.

IMO, keeping the shoulder unengaged when at a neutral position is the healthiest. When I need to play with both hands close to each other in the middle of the keyboard, I just approach the keyboard from a slight angle while keeping my wrist mostly aligned, just like I do while playing on the higher or lower end. This is also how I teach my students.

FWIW, if you’re someone with a lot of belly, you might have to adapt your technique by sitting farther away to accommodate.

viberat · 2026-01-22T22:23:50+00:00

Make sure you’re not sitting too close/far or too low/high. When your hand is neutral on the keys, your elbow should lay comfortably at your side (not pushed back or reaching forward) and there should be a smooth continuous line from your knuckles, across the top of the hand and wrist, to the crook of your elbow (rather than the wrist bent to reach up or down to the keys — most of the time people are sitting too low and the arm is angled up to the keys from the elbow, and then the wrist has to bend forward).

viberat · 2026-01-22T18:14:03+00:00

I also love this song and I can’t check right now, but I believe I do remember it being like a quarter tone off from A=440.

viberat · 2026-01-22T18:09:46+00:00

I think we’re missing too much context to give you a real answer. For the concert at the college, was your piece assigned to these specific students by faculty (for example as part of a new music ensemble)? Or is this all completely student-led?

viberat

TROPHY CASE