Those who own Audioquest cable...what do you think?

[Paul R]

Actually, scientists recently discovered neurons that fire when a person hears music, whatever the style and whether he likes it or not.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/09/science/new-ways-into-the-brains-music-room.html

Distinct Cortical Pathways for Music and Speech Revealed by Hypothesis-Free Voxel Decomposition. - PubMed - NCBI

 

Interesting abstract, though on the surface, it seems to say that they found some correlations, but only from a limited data set. Do you have access to the full text article? I did not really want to spend $31.50 on it.

[esldude]

I bet it was to gross manifestations, such as in a movie soundtrack. Hard to get my cats or dog to pick out the string section. The cats do seem to have an aversion to piccolos though...

 

You have me on the piccolos. The one instance I am sure had piccolos didn't seem to adversely upset the cat.

 

Now for pointing out the string section that is why I prefer dogs to cats. Get a German Wired haired pointer or even a German short haired pointer. Their pointing ability is excellent thru selective breeding.

 

 

Here is a good example. This shorthaired pointer has just located someone playing a banjo. Not a string section, but it has strings. Notice how he has cocked his head to one side. I know I didn't teach him that.

 

[Paul R]

We may be born with the ability to learn how to do those things, but we are not born with the ability to do them. More importantly, when it comes to creating music or art at a high level, some people are born with the talent to do so and others are not.

 

If you were born with normal human form and normal human mental capacity, you were born with the ability to do them. Yes, just as with speech or table manners, you have to learn these tasks, however this is not a magical ability you aquire at a certain age.

 

Talent is something else entirely, and perhaps defines how well and how easily you will be able to learn a particular task.

 

I am sure people are born with talent too, but most talent is the result of nuture, dedication, and ernormous amounts of hard work and practice.

[Paul R]

You have me on the piccolos. The one instance I am sure had piccolos didn't seem to adversely upset the cat.

 

Now for pointing out the string section that is why I prefer dogs to cats. Get a German Wired haired pointer or even a German short haired pointer. Their pointing ability is excellent thru selective breeding.

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]24605[/ATTACH]

 

Here is a good example. This shorthaired pointer has just located someone playing a banjo. Not a string section, but it has strings. Notice how he has cocked his head to one side. I know I didn't teach him that.

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]24606[/ATTACH]

 

 

LOL! You have mme there...

[Teresa]

Yep, it is definitely a learned skill...There are people with no physical defects that simply cannot learn to hear the stereo image...

 

I never heard “imaging”, “soundstage” or “spatial information” from my stereo until I listened to Beethoven’s Wellington’s Victory on a Westminster Gold LP when I was a teenager. I heard the British coming from one side of the room and the French from the other, and I sit there amazed. One of the biggest wow moments of my life. After that I could hear “imaging”, “soundstage” and “spatial information” from my other recordings.

 

In my case it was a learned ability due to exposure to an extreme example of such. After that my mind had the ability to build an illusion of a soundstage while listening to music.

 

Sometimes I wonder how long it would have taken me if I had never heard the drastic imaging effects of something like Wellington’s Victory. Perhaps never, and that would be a shame.

[semente]

Interesting abstract, though on the surface, it seems to say that they found some correlations, but only from a limited data set. Do you have access to the full text article? I did not really want to spend $31.50 on it.

 

My wife is a Neuro, I can check if she has access to it.

[semente]

Actually, scientists recently discovered neurons that fire when a person hears music, whatever the style and whether he likes it or not.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/09/science/new-ways-into-the-brains-music-room.html

Distinct Cortical Pathways for Music and Speech Revealed by Hypothesis-Free Voxel Decomposition. - PubMed - NCBI

 

I sometimes find myself tapping feet to some techno/dance beat or humming a pop tune my kids have been listening to ad nauseam...

 

R

[semente]

You have me on the piccolos. The one instance I am sure had piccolos didn't seem to adversely upset the cat.

 

I'd check the tweeters...

 

Here is a good example. This shorthaired pointer has just located someone playing a banjo. Not a string section, but it has strings. Notice how he has cocked his head to one side. I know I didn't teach him that.

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]24606[/ATTACH]

 

When I was a kid we had an all brown one; my dad is a keen hunter.

 

R

[semente]

If you were born with normal human form and normal human mental capacity, you were born with the ability to do them. Yes, just as with speech or table manners, you have to learn these tasks, however this is not a magical ability you aquire at a certain age.

 

Talent is something else entirely, and perhaps defines how well and how easily you will be able to learn a particular task.

 

I am sure people are born with talent too, but most talent is the result of nuture, dedication, and ernormous amounts of hard work and practice.

 

I agree.

When we were having sighted drawing classes at the Uni, some of my colleagues had to work really hard while others went through it like a breeze.

Two years latter the drawing skills of the vast majority was identical.

 

R

[Jud]

A little thought will show that both nature and nurture must be involved.

 

Karelin was never going to be a good jockey, but it took intense training to make him a champion wrestler.

[gmgraves]

I would venture a guess that the same could be said of the music composed in the classical era. They weren't all Mozart's for Beethoven's back then either.

 

Sure, there are probably hundreds of composers throughout history who wrote music of such unsurpassing mediocrity that both their names and their works have slipped mercifully into obscurity. But we're really not concerned with them, are we? We are concerned with those composers whose work has stood the test of time. Work that is often performed and recorded all over the world - even in places where Western culture is somewhat alien (China, for instance.) It might be interesting to note that for the last 20 years or so, most of the hottest young classical pianists and violinists have been Chinese. Our Western youth might be indifferent to their own cultural heritage (as sad as that is), but at least SOMEBODY is watching out for it in our stead.

 

 

Also I believe your position to be a bit overstated. It may be that in your opinion that music should never be written. But I would say that much of the music you would point to as worthless had genuine meaning and value to some peoples lives at that time.

The value of music has nothing to do with anything but what it say to it's listener.

 

He didn't say what music shouldn't have been written, I believe he was just extrapolating on Robert Heinlein's general observation that "90% of everything is junk." - or words to that effect.

[Boy Howdy]

If you were born with normal human form and normal human mental capacity, you were born with the ability to do them. Yes, just as with speech or table manners, you have to learn these tasks, however this is not a magical ability you aquire at a certain age.

 

Talent is something else entirely, and perhaps defines how well and how easily you will be able to learn a particular task.

 

I am sure people are born with talent too, but most talent is the result of nuture, dedication, and ernormous amounts of hard work and practice.

 

Paul:

The cognitive psychological research on individuals who excel in a wide range of activities (geniuses), both physical, involving strength and coordination as well as mental, involving interactivity, timing and sequencing, have shown that the single underlying correlate to be practice. Lots and lots of practice. As a musician for the last fifty plus years, I have played with a large number of very good musicians. There are clearly moments of inspiration that "steer" musical behavior but to actually perform (repeat) the inspiration takes time and effort.

Mike

[semente]

Paul:

The cognitive psychological research on individuals who excel in a wide range of activities (geniuses), both physical, involving strength and coordination as well as mental, involving interactivity, timing and sequencing, have shown that the single underlying correlate to be practice. Lots and lots of practice. As a musician for the last fifty plus years, I have played with a large number of very good musicians. There are clearly moments of inspiration that "steer" musical behavior but to actually perform (repeat) the inspiration takes time and effort.

Mike

 

This probably explains why the Chinese and Japanese are now top performers both on classical music and in sports.

 

R

[Paul R]

My wife is a Neuro, I can check if she has access to it.

 

Cool!

[Paul R]

Paul:

The cognitive psychological research on individuals who excel in a wide range of activities (geniuses), both physical, involving strength and coordination as well as mental, involving interactivity, timing and sequencing, have shown that the single underlying correlate to be practice. Lots and lots of practice. As a musician for the last fifty plus years, I have played with a large number of very good musicians. There are clearly moments of inspiration that "steer" musical behavior but to actually perform (repeat) the inspiration takes time and effort.

Mike

 

+1.

[mansr]

He didn't say what music shouldn't have been written, I believe he was just extrapolating on Robert Heinlein's general observation that "90% of everything is junk." - or words to that effect.

 

You're thinking of Sturgeon's Law

 

I was replying to this:

I imagine without too much difficulty I could in a few minutes knock out a list of 100 likely to last. In terms of the musical genre of those times and like 98% of the songs, I don't think so.

[wwaldmanfan]

You are quite correct. Talent is genetic. You have it or your don't. This "everybody is born with abilities to do anything, they just need nurturing" is a lot of new-age hypereagalitarian nonsense. If everyone was born equal, we'd all be able to write a Beethoven 9th, write Shakespeare-like Sonnets, and paint a Van Gough. We aren't because most of us don't have the talent that we could develop to do one of those things. much less all of them.

 

Were George and Fred Steiner related to Max Steiner ("King Kong", "Gone With the Wind", "The Searchers", etc.)? I always assumed that they were.

 

I've looked into this, and I don't believe they were related. Max Steiner's body was work was certainly impressive. He was a true Hollywood legend.

 

If anyone is interested, you can read Wendy Waldman's biography here:

 

Wendy Waldman - BIOGRAPHY

 

and download her classic, 1970's WB albums here:

 

https://www.ponomusic.com/find/wendy%20waldman

[Allan F]

If you were born with normal human form and normal human mental capacity, you were born with the ability to do them. Yes, just as with speech or table manners, you have to learn these tasks, however this is not a magical ability you aquire at a certain age.

 

Talent is something else entirely, and perhaps defines how well and how easily you will be able to learn a particular task.

 

I am sure people are born with talent too, but most talent is the result of nuture, dedication, and ernormous [sic] amounts of hard work and practice.

Not when it comes to the creative arts. Hard work and commitment may be necessary to nurture the talent to produce great art. But hard work will not produce great art without the essential innate talent. For example, most people can probably learn how to play a musical instrument. But, only those with talent can learn how to play it really well.

[gmgraves]

You're thinking of Sturgeon's Law

 

I was replying to this:

 

 

OK. I knew it was one of the "big" Sci-Fi writers. Thanks for the correction.

[gmgraves]

I've looked into this, and I don't believe they were related. Max Steiner's body was work was certainly impressive. He was a true Hollywood legend.

 

If anyone is interested, you can read Wendy Waldman's biography here:

 

Wendy Waldman - BIOGRAPHY

 

and download her classic, 1970's WB albums here:

 

https://www.ponomusic.com/find/wendy%20waldman

 

 

Thanks. I would have sworn that they were related. That kind of musical talent (writing film scores) is rare, and to have two different families into the same genre of composition with the same surname would seem somewhat unlikely.

[Paul R]

Not when it comes to the creative arts. Hard work and commitment may be necessary to nurture the talent to produce great art. But hard work will not produce great art without the essential innate talent. For example, most people can probably learn how to play a musical instrument. But, only those with talent can learn how to play it really well.

 

Which is pretty much what I said in the message you quoted. On the other hand, all the talent in the world is only potential until it is realized through hard work and practice. The most talented pianist in the world still had to learn how to play the piano, just like everyone else.

 

-Paul

[CR250]

Not when it comes to the creative arts. Hard work and commitment may be necessary to nurture the talent to produce great art. But hard work will not produce great art without the essential innate talent. For example, most people can probably learn how to play a musical instrument. But, only those with talent can learn how to play it really well.

 

I think you're right on that one. My brother has something called perfect pitch. He can tell what any note or chord is instantly and with 100% accuracy. Needless to say, my parents tried to shove a piano down his throat. It wouldn't fit. Neither did the French Horn. He is an excellent mortgage broker, though.

[mansr]

I think you're right on that one. My brother has something called perfect pitch. He can tell what any note or chord is instantly and with 100% accuracy. Needless to say, my parents tried to shove a piano down his throat. It wouldn't fit. Neither did the French Horn. He is an excellent mortgage broker, though.

 

Can he identify the opening chord from A Hard Day's Night?

[Jud]

Can he identify the opening chord from A Hard Day's Night?

 

That and the final chord of She Loves You are so relatively unique I'd be amazed if he couldn't.

[CR250]

Can he identify the opening chord from A Hard Day's Night?

 

As long as its a note, then yes. He heard a horn beep when he were kids and he said it was an F sharp. We later found out that he was right.

 

"Up until the mid 1960's most American car horns were tuned to the musical notes of E flat or C. Since then, many manufacturers have moved up on the scale to notes F sharp and A sharp."