GhostofVermeer

Short piece about the Kennedy assassination. Kennedy Assassination

Mental defect is normally read as some type of learning disability, but if you wish to go by the exact definition, then fine. However, I think you would run into quite a bit of trouble if you called someone who's tone deaf mentally defective, or someone who's colorblind mentally defective. Whether scientifically correct or not, it is not generally accepted by the public to call people who have a sensory problem mentally defective as that is normally used for other types of problems. If you would please show me what information you are citing in which the condition is referred to as a mental defect it would be greatly appreciated. Either way, there are a lot more tone deaf people than you may realize, and all I've been trying to say is that those people who are tone deaf will not be able to get it. There are different degrees of being tone deaf, just as with being color blind as well.

It's no secret that some people are tone deaf. It's rare, but it's true. Just like some people are blind or color blind. Are you arguing with me that a tone deaf person can train themselves to take dictation, like a blind person can train themselves to see the difference between yellow and brown? This is all I've been saying this whole time. Dictation is a learned skill, that's obvious - you need a knowledge of the staves. However, some people can't hear the difference between notes, they are tone deaf, and thus can't take dictation.

All I said was that for the aural section of the exam you need to have some ability in music to hear the chord changes/melodic intervals. There is no way to practice that if you have absolutely no ability. Some people's abilities are in math, while others are in languages. Some people no matter how much they practice just can't learn a language proficiently from a class. Music is even harder to learn because some people just really have no ability for it, as I've learned from experience. I've never said anything about my or my peers abilities being good, or even slightly above abysmal, all I've said is that some people just can't get the aural section with any amount of practice. My point is not complicated, it's not physics, it's not higher level college theory. I don't appreciate your tone. If you solely wish to continue "humoring" this discussing, please save yourself the effort.

Yes, I did ask for your opinion and was glad I had it, I just wanted to respond with my view as well. This was supposed to be a discussion forum after all, there's no point in having people just pop in and say their opinions and then leave. I also never implied that the examples were complex, that's one of the reasons I started this thread. To ask people what level they thought the examples were. Still, I disagree that talent plays no role in the test. I'm not saying anything about how far talent will take you, just that it's impossible to do well on the test without any musical talent whatsoever.

I disagree to a point on that. Yes, the tests do test how much you've studied, but someone with absolutely no ability, or extremely little ability will never be able to get some of the examples. For example, my mother took guitar lessons for two years and could never learn to play a single chord (eventually her teacher gave up on her and recommended she quit). She still can't sing a melody at all and can't even clap on beat- she just has some problem with music. I think the test does indicate something, I'm just not sure how much. I believe that saying it means absolutely nothing is an overstatement. Everyone in my class was exposed to melodic/harmonic dictation at the same time, with no prior experience, (me included) and some people have done very well consistently without any practice while others continue to get 2/24, 1/16, etc.

So, I have my AP music theory test this coming Monday, and I've been studying and working so I can get a 5. I'm relatively certain I will, since I got a 5 on my practice exam and I've improved a bunch since then. However, I've started to think of what it actually means to get a 5, meaning in comparison with the other musicians around the world. I was recently talking with a violinist friend of mine who is in the Juilliard pre-college program. She's fantastic, but I had no idea whether she knew any theory or how her ear was. I asked her if she can do dictation like on the AP theory exam, and she told me that Juilliard expects so much more than the AP does. So, my question is, with this in mind, does getting a 5 on the AP exam mean you're good at music/have a good ear, or does it just mean you have a basic level knowledge of music and some ability that puts you slightly above average. If I struggle melodic dictation (I have trouble remembering the melodies since to me they sound just like exercises and aren't at all memorable), does this mean I'm almost musically illiterate, or are the melodic dictation examples truly hard? I think it's an interesting question, and I'm sure other people have wondered as well.

Thanks Antiatonality! That's very helpful! I think it's more my aural memory that's the problem. I have all my intervals down pat, I'm great with them when they are isolated, I know them instantly. The problem is that when they're played in a piece I seem to mix them up. I confuse P5s with M6s, P4s with M3s, etc. I'm not totally sure why. I don't know if there is anyway to do melodic dictation based on this, but I'm actually pretty good at harmonic dictation. I can almost instantly tell what the chord progression is. Is there away to think about melodic dictation harmonically? That seems to be more how I work.

I'm in AP Theory now and I'm becoming very worried about my skill (or lack thereof) in melodic dictation. I'm really terrible at it, plain and simple. I'm great with intervals and can write them instantly, but I just can't seem to memorize the melodic dictation melodies. I get a couple measures and then the rest just becomes a blur to me. I thought that maybe part of my problem was that I'm not good at sight reading on my instrument either. Does anyone have any good tips for melodic dictation? I don't want to fail the AP in May :o

Well, what audience are you going for? The average person in terms of a rock band will want a drummer.

Thanks Christopher! That's very helpful. And Tokkemon, I might do that too, but it's always fun to share compositions of your own with the class :).

I wasn't planning to use guitar. I was planning to write something out in Sibelius and then use my sampling software to make a semi convincing mock up. Thanks anyway though!

No one will want to see you play live...but it's not cheating. It's really hurting you more in the end. People like to see drummers.

Recently I got assigned a project in my European history class (highschool not college) to research a revolutionary figure and make a presentation on him. I picked Tchaikovsky (I really wanted Schoenberg, Debussy, Wagner, or Beethoven, but they weren't choices) so my teacher suggested that I do something interesting and play a Tchaikovsky piece for the class on my instrument. My instrument is guitar, so that doesn't really work. I offered to write a piece in his style and explain what his style is. So, what are some of the things I should look out for when writing in his style. I know the main thing is to get that Russian sound and for it to sound powerful, but anything more theoretical or structural? Thanks in advance! P.S: To those of you who will say "Do your own work", the project is supposed to be about his life and what his famous pieces were, not anything to do with music theory. I'm going to research that myself too, but I wanted to know if you guys have any tips.

Alright so I've been experiencing something that I think is sort of weird and was curious if anyone has been having the same problem as me. I tend to feel like there's a literal wall in my mind that's blocking out the sound of what I'm writing, and I can sort of feel the wall in my chest too. It's almost as if my true personality in my music is behind this wall, but I hear only the trite things. For example if I'm trying to write a melody I'll start with the first note or two and I won't feel this wall. Then slowly the wall comes down and I'm writing two melodies at once, one very cliche and one that's pretty original, but the original one is blocked out by a Mozartian one and I can barley hear it. I still know it's there though because my mind feels extremely preoccupied by two different things, sometimes more. It just feels like the one that I'm really writing fades into the distance, but is still there. The time that this becomes most apparent is when I'm trying to remember a piece of music. Someone can play me a melody and five minutes later I can barely reproduce it in my head. It starts out as the correct melody, but then it starts changing into a Mozartian melody (it's always Mozartian, I don't know why), BUT the true melody is playing in my head (sometimes very loudly) except I can't focus on it. In someways this is helpful because it's really easy for me to think up a melody and counter-melody, or multiple counter-melodies, but I can't hear my own music. It's like I can make a well developed baroque fugue for 4 voices or Mozartian symphony in my head instantly, but I can't hear my music that's also playing in the background. Does anyone else feel this way? What have you done?