from Hacker News

What my musical instruments have taught me

by jvandonsel on 7/23/23, 1:56 AM with 41 comments

  • by pinewurst on 7/23/23, 2:05 AM

  • by haswell on 7/23/23, 3:07 AM

    I took piano lessons as a kid through my late teens, and then didn't touch a piano until 20 years later...about a month ago.

    I've been on a work sabbatical, and realized that I really loved playing back then, and that part of bringing balance back to my life might involve bringing music back into the picture.

    When I got the piano, I started easing myself back into the basics. But occasionally, I'd try to play some of the very technical pieces I'd learned as a kid. It felt as if I'd forgotten everything about playing them.

    I stopped trying, and refocused on learning new things. About a week into this, I sat down, and just played the technical thing without thinking about it. It was always there, and I hadn't done anything to relearn it, it just was somewhere beyond the circuitry that typically fires.

    Shortly after this came flowing out of my fingers, a flood of memories surfaced that shed light on issues of my childhood. My memory of that time period is mostly non-existent (trauma/abuse that I've been working through for many years), so having any glimpse into it is pretty surprising.

    Also disturbing, as it turns out, but it gave me something to work with where before there had only been pain and a sense of feeling lost.

    There's something magical about closing your eyes, and feeling the keys, and the keys becoming an extension of your thoughts and feelings in that moment, and feeling like you can spill your emotions onto the keyboard, and these beautiful sounds come out.

    I don't doubt that music reconnected some pathways that haven't been active for awhile. I'm trying to be more careful about playing music I learned back then though...

  • by noizejoy on 7/23/23, 9:02 AM

    I find musical instruments one of the better human technological achievements - with way more inherent upside than downside. That ranges from log drums and bamboo flutes to the latest software based virtual instrument and includes natural spaces like a cave, canyon or cathedral, and audio effects from a guitar pedalboard to software plugins.

    A crazy blend of physics, math, emotion and culture, craft and engineering that can bring joy (or tears) for beginners and virtuosos. Players and listeners.

    Something that can be experienced with a large crowd, a small group or in total solitude.

    A musical instrument can have mythical qualities bestowed by incredible craftsmanship or be a mass produced piece of crap. Yet even the latter can speak to you on some level in the right context.

    The incredible upside of software instruments and audio effects is, that I can experience virtual sonic spaces that are close approximations of real instruments and acoustic spaces that are totally out of reach for me - or something that’s never been heard in the natural world.

    Musical instruments are amazing!

  • by catsarebetter on 7/23/23, 9:13 AM

    I was forced to play the trumpet and french horn, did jazz band over the summer, all that stuff.

    It added a rich appreciation for music that I've grown into. Programming and technical analysis drain me, music energizes me. Can't live without it.

  • by skybrian on 7/23/23, 5:21 AM

    I don't play nearly as many instruments, but I find every instrument has something to teach. Examples:

    * A melodica is quite fun for a keyboard player because you learn about breath control and its relationship to phrasing.

    * The bass side buttons of many accordions are arranged based on the circle of fifths, so you'll be learning that well if you haven't yet.

    * Fingering isn't nearly as obvious or standardized on a chromatic button accordion as on a piano keyboard because so many choices are available. There are multiple useful ways of playing something as simple as a scale, and I have fun exploring them.

  • by kawera on 7/23/23, 3:58 PM

    "Today, tech companies promise to create algorithms that can analyze old music to create new music. But music is ambiguous: is it mostly a product to be produced and enjoyed, or is the creation of it the most important thing? If it’s the former, then being able to automate the production of music is at least a coherent idea, whether or not it is a good one. But, if it’s the latter, then pulling music creation away from people undermines the whole point. I often work with students who want to build algorithms that make music. I ask them, Do you mean you want to design algorithms that are like instruments, and which people can use to make new music, or do you just want an A.I. to make music for you? For those students who want to have optimal music made for them, I have to ask, Would you want robots to have sex for you so you don’t have to? I mean, what is life for?"

  • by emmanueloga_ on 7/23/23, 2:27 PM

    A lot of things that I know how to do now seemed impossible at some time: driving a unicycle or even a bicycle... playing piano with two hands!? Impossible!

    We all have memories of that moment when something "clicked" and we just "got it", but most of us forget about when we did not know!

    My point is: even though a particular musical piece (or any other creative activity really) may look impossible, who knows, after enough practice, it may "click" and become as easy as walking! The fact that someone was able to do the thing, means it must be doable :-).

  • by chaosprint on 7/23/23, 6:25 AM

    Interesting article. The study on this topic can be basically found in a community called NIME. https://www.nime.org/

    One of the most popular concepts there is `embodied music cognition`.

    How can we define music and musical instruments?

    In many cases, we tend to pre-assume the music we discuss is just the combination of melody, rhythm and timbre, but how about sound-based music?

    The author tends to have a negative attitude towards digital instruments, but I can share that I feel amazing when I created this piece together with the instruments:

    https://github.com/chaosprint/Packing

    My performance video can be found here:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYu55YZJH_s&t=102s&ab_channe...

    Now I am fully engaged on live coding:

    https://youtu.be/iKj7IibG0OU

    The main takeaway is that these digital music making tools offer a unique embodied experience while I feel tired of physical instruments.

  • by JasonFruit on 7/23/23, 4:12 PM

    After reading the article, I'm struck by a single thought: while that was imaginative and at points interesting, what did the writer actually say? It was a little like the sticky guy at the coffee shop who keeps talking, changing subject multiple times without finishing any, and won't let you get a word in edgewise: you like him well enough, but the conversation was for his own benefit, not yours.

  • by gtani on 7/23/23, 11:53 AM

    Very nice, I have a long history with piano, strings, woodwinds, percussion and digitals.

    I would like to try the oud especially with the long picks that are sometimes used by mandolinists in Europe. Intonation is different on different fretless instruments, violin, cello, bass guitar, my fretless Strat vs say pedal steel.

  • by uwagar on 7/23/23, 7:47 AM

    I'm sorry but who else feels this chap is overrated?