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We are what we think & my blog entries reflect how I think. Have a sip of the poison of my mind.. It's not always lethal.

Monday, April 23, 2012

Musing About Music

Because sitting in the train traveling to work on a Monday morning can be as dreadfully boring as watching wet paint dry..

Right, so there are 12 musical notes in most forms of music (counting the sharps & the flats). That's actually the Western musical system adopted by even most popular Chinese songs. It's amazing how 12 notes can produce a gazillion songs:
♬♫♪ x ∞

I've read somewhere that a numerical combination lock consisting of 6 numbers produces thousands and thousands of combination possibilities. Or probably millions, I don't know, I'm no Math wizard since I can't count past infinity but you get the idea.

Imagine doubling the aforementioned possibilities of numerical combinations with 12 numbers and your mind will probably go Kaboom should you attempt to compute the whole shebang to the very last set of combination.

Translate that to the 12 musical notes and i think one can fathom why just 12 common musical notes could accomplish so much and still counting. I haven't even started on the different variety of forms each note can be produced, like pinch harmonics and natural harmonics besides their usual fretted state of sound on the guitar, for example.

Therein lies the key to musical improvisation and composition as well as the seemingly limitless beauty and breadth of music.

And for that matter, when one dissects a piece of music to figure out its structure, chord progressions and melodies all sung and made out of those notes, one's appreciation for the piece of music intensifies and shoots through the roof, mightily exploding said roof with a deafening sound, probably in the key of E if the explosion sounds like anything from Heavy Metal. Things can even get to the point of being musically orgasmic, darn it.

A, A# (or Bb), B, C, C# (or Db), D, D# (or Eb), E, F, F# (or Gb), G and last but not least, G# (or Ab).

Those 12 notes mentioned in the previous paragraph above are the very things that Rock your world so hard.

Oh yes, good Monday morning. Stay Funky and survive it. Then live to Rock again. You know what they say: No Music, No Life.


- De Lion Speaks

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