Classical Music Ears vs. Commercial Music Ears

[C hristian]

I've been listening to Classical music for about as long as commerical music (which includes house music, disco, all that).

When I hear an A in classical music that is not in tune (let's say, the common 440) , it really bothers me. I hone in on it. When I hear it in commerical music, music on the radio, or whatever, I hardly care.

Why is that?

Why am I bothered by instrements being out of tune in 1 genre, but not in the other?

am i alone in this?

[GROOVE VICTIM]

My music teacher back in highschool explained this to me. Something along the lines where the harmonics between certain instruments, whether it be a trombone, a piano, or an oboe, when tuned in the same key causes dissonence (sp) or the tones just clash. When instruments in an orchestra are tuned, some may have to be pitched slightly higher or slightly lower than other instruments.

That's all I can remember.

Peace

[upliftdisco365]

Originally posted by GROOVE VICTIM:
My music teacher back in highschool explained this to me. Something along the lines where the harmonics between certain instruments, whether it be a trombone, a piano, or an oboe, when tuned in the same key causes dissonence (sp) or the tones just clash. When instruments in an orchestra are tuned, some may have to be pitched slightly higher or slightly lower than other instruments.

That's all I can remember.

Peace

Good point, Groove.

In addition, I think that a lot of commercial music uses synthetic tones that are oftentimes generated by combining a group of tones (creating a problem similar to the one mentioned in Groove's scenario). Factor in ocillation and filtering and the fact that many of today's "writers" aren't really writers at all, you can barely make out what key some of these damn songs are in, let alone whether or not they're in tune.

[ October 28, 2003, 09:00 AM: Message edited by: upliftdisco365 ]