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The example with the musician (the case of K.A) in the article doesn't support the "suddenly" part of the title. Specifically, that person knew how to play a b

The example with the musician (the case of K.A) in the article doesn't support the "suddenly" part of the title. Specifically, that person knew how to play a bunch of songs on the piano - it just didn't click for him until a certain point in life. If anything, that seems like something was missing from his picture that should have already been there. As in - not seeing the forest behind the tree for a while. It's not a sudden development, it's the opposite. Of course someone who can play popular music has some form of understanding of basic music theory (chords, harmony, voicing, structure - etc). Just like someone who has been coding for a while has some form of understanding of things like data structures, loop invariants, computational complexity, etc. even if they haven't formally learned them first. "Whereas he could play simple popular songs from rote memory before", the article says - well, at that point he already was a musician, even if he didn't know what the hell he was doing. But that's how anybody learns - you do some activity quite a few times, then you start seeing the patterns, then it clicks and becomes your nature. That's why you have exercises - in music, math, science, dance, sport, languag - anything that people learn. The surprising part is not how sudden the epiphany of seeing the structure came, but rather how awfully long it took and how far he got without seeing the structure. It's like being able to write down the first 50 terms of the Fibonacci sequence (1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, ...) from sheer memorization only, and only seeing the pattern that makes everything simple after doing it for years for fun. Must've been awfully difficult. ------------------------ TL;DR: the K.A. example doesn't seem unusual or "sudden" - more like connecting the dots one day.

xraystyle 8y ago
I don't think that's really it at all. Most of us have to sit in classrooms for months or read and study to understand the intricacies of music theory. None of that is necessary to learning a few pop songs on a guitar or piano. You can learn to play songs purely through muscle memory as long as you have a basic sense of rhythm. That doesn't mean you understand anything about musical composition, scales, chords, modes or anything else that underlies what you're playing. The epiphany described in this case seems like it's suddenly and intuitively understanding all of that, in addition to the layout of the piano (why it takes the form that it does) along with the ability to actually play the thing competently. I've been playing music for years. I understand a good chunk of theory. I wouldn't consider myself an expert by any stretch, but I understand the layout of the piano. I can't play the damn thing. Waking up one morning and having that ability would certainly be surprising.
- samsa 8y ago
  ^this. I have played guitar for quite some time, starting with basic popular stuff and then progressing to classical guitar. Despite being able to read music and play intermediate pieces I do not have the level of theory/understanding that the article suggests K A gained in his epiphany.
  - romwell 8y ago
    >I do not have the level of theory/understanding Or do you? Here's the level he gained: "I suddenly realized what the major scale and minor scale were, what their chords were and where to put my fingers in order to play certain parts of the scale. I was instantly able to recognize harmonies of the scales in songs I knew as well as the ability to play melody by interval recognition.” Are the italicized concepts unfamiliar to you, after that some time (how long was it?) of playing? And note that KA might have played for longer than you have before getting there - the article doesn't specify.
- romwell 8y ago
  I don't think you are disagreeing with what I said: >Most of us have to sit in classrooms for months or read and study to understand the intricacies of music theory. None of that is necessary to learning a few pop songs on a guitar or piano. That is not necessary, but once you play enough music, you learn the theory in practice. Or have enough data in your head to make that realization. I challenge you to play 100 pop songs on an instrument - any pop songs, any instrument - and not at least know things like major/minor chords, basic chord progressions (like the endemic I - V - vi - IV, aka "four chords"). >The epiphany described ... suddenly ... the ability to actually play the thing competently. >I've been playing music for years [...] Waking up one morning and having that ability [to play piano] would certainly be surprising. It would be surprising indeed! It also never happened. Not in the article, at least. Specifically, the article says: he could play simple popular songs from rote memory before Once you can play simple pop songs, you can play them all. Kathy Perry's songs have as much harmony as the top hits from Beatles or Bob Dylan.
  - xraystyle 8y ago

xraystyle 8y ago

I don't think that's really it at all. Most of us have to sit in classrooms for months or read and study to understand the intricacies of music theory. None of that is necessary to learning a few pop songs on a guitar or piano. You can learn to play songs purely through muscle memory as long as you have a basic sense of rhythm. That doesn't mean you understand anything about musical composition, scales, chords, modes or anything else that underlies what you're playing. The epiphany described in this case seems like it's suddenly and intuitively understanding all of that, in addition to the layout of the piano (why it takes the form that it does) along with the ability to actually play the thing competently. I've been playing music for years. I understand a good chunk of theory. I wouldn't consider myself an expert by any stretch, but I understand the layout of the piano. I can't play the damn thing. Waking up one morning and having that ability would certainly be surprising.

samsa 8y ago
^this. I have played guitar for quite some time, starting with basic popular stuff and then progressing to classical guitar. Despite being able to read music and play intermediate pieces I do not have the level of theory/understanding that the article suggests K A gained in his epiphany.
- romwell 8y ago
  >I do not have the level of theory/understanding Or do you? Here's the level he gained: "I suddenly realized what the major scale and minor scale were, what their chords were and where to put my fingers in order to play certain parts of the scale. I was instantly able to recognize harmonies of the scales in songs I knew as well as the ability to play melody by interval recognition.” Are the italicized concepts unfamiliar to you, after that some time (how long was it?) of playing? And note that KA might have played for longer than you have before getting there - the article doesn't specify.
romwell 8y ago
I don't think you are disagreeing with what I said: >Most of us have to sit in classrooms for months or read and study to understand the intricacies of music theory. None of that is necessary to learning a few pop songs on a guitar or piano. That is not necessary, but once you play enough music, you learn the theory in practice. Or have enough data in your head to make that realization. I challenge you to play 100 pop songs on an instrument - any pop songs, any instrument - and not at least know things like major/minor chords, basic chord progressions (like the endemic I - V - vi - IV, aka "four chords"). >The epiphany described ... suddenly ... the ability to actually play the thing competently. >I've been playing music for years [...] Waking up one morning and having that ability [to play piano] would certainly be surprising. It would be surprising indeed! It also never happened. Not in the article, at least. Specifically, the article says: he could play simple popular songs from rote memory before Once you can play simple pop songs, you can play them all. Kathy Perry's songs have as much harmony as the top hits from Beatles or Bob Dylan.
- xraystyle 8y ago