4 ms·

FWIW, one of my beefs with classical music is the extreme lack of diversity in tones (ie: piano, violin, ...) as opposed to popular music (synthesizer) When yo

by 21 10y ago

FWIW, one of my beefs with classical music is the extreme lack of diversity in tones (ie: piano, violin, ...) as opposed to popular music (synthesizer) When you listen popular music on a timeline (70s, 80s, ...), you can at the same time see to the evolution of synthesizers and music production software.

jay-anderson 10y ago
I tend to believe the exact opposite and it's one of the reasons I dislike much of popular music. Good orchestral music makes use of a wide range of tonal, harmonic, and dynamic colors available. Bad (in my opinion) pop music sounds the same and uses the same limited orchestration of guitars, bass, maybe keyboard, drum set, + vocals and tends to have little dynamic or harmonic variety. I agree that synthesizers in pop music have been a welcome addition (70s & 80s produced some good music with it as you mentioned).
zodiac 10y ago
It has been changing slowly and slightly though, I often hear electric guitars in contemporary "orchestral" pieces (film scores like by Hans Zimmer, musical theatre like POTO)
rifung 10y ago
> When you listen popular music on a timeline (70s, 80s, ...), you can at the same time see to the evolution of synthesizers and music production software. I wonder how much of this is just due to taste or lack of familiarity? Not that you're wrong but for whatever reason I actually feel like classical music has a much greater variation of sound than pop music. I'm curious whether you feel like there's a lack of diversity among these pieces (which happen to be a few of my favorites =) Scriabin Etude Op42 No5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwqaOGikyNs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwqaOGikyNs Schubert Impromptu Op90 No3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxhbAGwEYGQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxhbAGwEYGQ Prokofiev Piano Concerto 3 Mvmt 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AdBi5IBrto https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AdBi5IBrto Shostakovich Piano Concerto 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCTEx3w2_jU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCTEx3w2_jU I admit though that I probably am biased, because frankly I enjoy the sounds of the instruments very much. If anything I suspect that having people listen to recorded music probably makes them less likely to appreciate classical music.
- 21 10y ago
  I think we are talking about different kinds of diversities. To say it another way, no matter how you bang at a piano, it still sounds like a piano. I was talking about diversity in what is technically known as "timbre". For example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1T-za0WH4Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1T-za0WH4Y You can say that these are toy sounds, that they don't sound like real instruments, I can then say that they are purer sounds. But I think we can agree that a classical orchestra cannot make these sounds, so in way it's less expressive.
  - rifung 10y ago
    > I think we are talking about different kinds of diversities. I don't think we are actually because I was also referring to timbre. But yes I suppose I would agree that by the nature of being limited to certain instruments, you are limited in what you can express. I suppose I just feel like each of those instruments can be played to produce a very wide variety of colors as well, but I do of course see what you are saying.

by 21 10y ago

jay-anderson 10y ago

I tend to believe the exact opposite and it's one of the reasons I dislike much of popular music. Good orchestral music makes use of a wide range of tonal, harmonic, and dynamic colors available. Bad (in my opinion) pop music sounds the same and uses the same limited orchestration of guitars, bass, maybe keyboard, drum set, + vocals and tends to have little dynamic or harmonic variety. I agree that synthesizers in pop music have been a welcome addition (70s & 80s produced some good music with it as you mentioned).

zodiac 10y ago

It has been changing slowly and slightly though, I often hear electric guitars in contemporary "orchestral" pieces (film scores like by Hans Zimmer, musical theatre like POTO)

rifung 10y ago

> When you listen popular music on a timeline (70s, 80s, ...), you can at the same time see to the evolution of synthesizers and music production software. I wonder how much of this is just due to taste or lack of familiarity? Not that you're wrong but for whatever reason I actually feel like classical music has a much greater variation of sound than pop music. I'm curious whether you feel like there's a lack of diversity among these pieces (which happen to be a few of my favorites =) Scriabin Etude Op42 No5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwqaOGikyNs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwqaOGikyNs Schubert Impromptu Op90 No3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxhbAGwEYGQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxhbAGwEYGQ Prokofiev Piano Concerto 3 Mvmt 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AdBi5IBrto https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AdBi5IBrto Shostakovich Piano Concerto 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCTEx3w2_jU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCTEx3w2_jU I admit though that I probably am biased, because frankly I enjoy the sounds of the instruments very much. If anything I suspect that having people listen to recorded music probably makes them less likely to appreciate classical music.

21 10y ago
I think we are talking about different kinds of diversities. To say it another way, no matter how you bang at a piano, it still sounds like a piano. I was talking about diversity in what is technically known as "timbre". For example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1T-za0WH4Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1T-za0WH4Y You can say that these are toy sounds, that they don't sound like real instruments, I can then say that they are purer sounds. But I think we can agree that a classical orchestra cannot make these sounds, so in way it's less expressive.
- rifung 10y ago
  > I think we are talking about different kinds of diversities. I don't think we are actually because I was also referring to timbre. But yes I suppose I would agree that by the nature of being limited to certain instruments, you are limited in what you can express. I suppose I just feel like each of those instruments can be played to produce a very wide variety of colors as well, but I do of course see what you are saying.