When I play on guitar at the same time it does not sound good, why? Is it because my slow brain can not put together the tones to a logic pattern? Does real disharmonies exist?
Erm, what.
Confusing statement
Guitar and philosophy
don’t smoke so much weed
In philosophy I am sure there are very few questions that are really stupid even this question can pose a clever problem. Of course though I am no great musician. So I cant answer 
i don’t understand wht you mean, try putting your words together in a better way and we might be able to help…
consonant harmonies makes sense to us intuitively. I believe this is Darwinian, and its in line with the way we perceive balance and geometry in nature (See Pythagorus)
Dissonant harmonies can also be seen as beautiful, as they present a certain form of geometry. As we evolve, they become more of a factor. Humans like all sort of weird things for novelty value, and because perhaps the strange novel combinations represent a pungent variation that actually comes to represent the subtleties of human experience more accurrately, rather than the oversimplification consonant harmonies evoke of the human experience. For me, just under the surface, many atonal experiences of the world occur. These atonal experiences are expressed in cubist painting, absurdist art, nonsequitor humor and even the dischordant musings of Webern or Schoenberg; even Captain beefheart, and yes, Madcaplaughs, the Syd himself.
So Jabba, keep listening to the noise, keep reminding yourself that your life isn’t made up of perfect geometry. It’s messy. And when you come to see the parallels between the dissonance and your own experiences, the beauty will emerge. It’s not about logical patterns. It’s about stretching your ear to appreciate something that we were programmed to consider ugly. (This is also why rich people food is often disgusting and weird looking, and McDonald’s is the culinary equivalent of the diatonic three blind mice song.)
If you can’t even hear the normal harmonies, i.e., playing two strings at the same time in any variation doesn’t register with you, it means you’re a blank slate. Good luck.
Holy WOW Gamer
Woah! When putting thinker under your title. You sure was not messing around. Its true in philosophy that you learn something new every day.
I am actually taking what you have written down and pasting it on to a document to read some more, well its quite deep so I am having some trouble. This is great stuff and your efforts are not wasted.
I hope to read more of your views in other subjects.
Keep up the good work.
i think they do if you have an audience. if you look at it like a marriage. if you have disharmonies in marriage we walk away with half the money and a few houses. if you have disharmonies in your chord structure your audience walks away including the hot sexy guy with your girl
POINTLESS.
Start>Shutdown.
disharmonies are relative to who are listening. that’s why a small amount of people buy jazz and a large amount of people buy pop music
Harmony speaks to our basic need for unity, and disharmony speaks to our basic need for novelty. There’s a place for both. Musically speaking, atonal music has a rich and varied history, and there are plenty of reasons for its being. At one point in history, the flat 5 was considered the devil’s interval…it had no place in music. It was hard to listen to and evil. Today, it’s in nearly every Hollywood filmscore, perfectly conveying the tension/release aspects of common narrative action.
I think flat fifths exist in marriage, too. Some resolve up to a major fifth, or some you just learn to live with. Either way, you learn to appreciate the “off notes” that make your marriage more Stravinky and less ‘N’ Sync. I agree that most people go for the POP, but the ones who go for pop, jazz, rock, latin, rap, classical, have a higher probablility of not getting bored and not missing out in life. These are the people I’d have lunch with. Pass the chili pepper and goat cheese, please.
Charles Ives (who truly knows) once said People were so addicted to assonance that it seemed to him like a drug (I am paraphrasing)
Dissonance is a cool cool thing and all good music is based on the tension that arises from the assonance and dissonance of notes - consider that the Dominant Seventh Chord c - e - g - b flat contains within it the flat five. Even the most assonant scales contain harsh dissonances within them.
The reason for dissonance is because the harmonic overtones from notes that are dissonant actually physically bang against each other and sound bad to human ears.
of course, if any of you have ever heard Chinese Opera, dissonance is completely relative to cultures. Anyway, most of the classical rules of assonance aren’t used in 95% of the music we now hear in our lives,as we operate on a weird African/irish scale that has probably about 16 tones instead of the chromatic 12.
it’s dangerous to generalize about philosophy and music. the only thig I know is that All Republicans like New age music of some form or another
Music is like aural beauty. Much like shapes are like visual beauty.
Its all about fractions.
With music, its easiest to see on a string instrument like a guitar…
If you take an open string and make its length shorter by a 1/2, you get its octave. Halve it again and you get the next octave.
If you make the string:
2/3 of its original length, you get its fifth
3/4 of its original length, you get its fourth
4/5 of its original length, you get its major third
5/6 of its original length, you get its minor third etc…
Although actually, the fractions mentioned here are actually slightly off the frets on the guitar which might imply that the 12 note musical scale that we’re all so used to is actually less beautiful than it could be.
And oddly enough, even the divine ratio, phi, doesn’t seem to apply at all to the 12 note musical scale…
music and philosophy are very related. at least they both serve a similar purpose in my life. it’s something that I can listen to to pass the time, and occassionally chime in with my own harmony, if the structure of the song and my own vocal chords permit. And probably our philosophical musings are retreads in the same way most new artist releases on the billboard charts are retreads, if not more. my mind IS filled with radio cures.
Most questions that people think are philosophical are infact just silly.
Hello Oxfordwill,
Can you give me an example of a silly question? Just wondering, since I remember some statement saying “That you could even find philosophy under a rock”.
Mind you, to be fair I am sure there are some pretty confusing and strange questions, but I would only have thought that the person answering the question already knew the answer to be so crystal clear that he presumed the guy to be an idiot for asking in the first place.
My view of philosophy is to question anything and everything. Its far worse not to ask questions at all than ask less obvious questions.
this reminds me of “a socrates that also plays music…” from The Birth of Tragedy
music, like nature and the universe, is fractal
Alright well, a question’s silliness can depend on its context, but when we look at what silly actually means, we find that it means ‘exhibiting a lack of wisdom or good sense’ and ‘lacking seriousness’.
An example of a silly question in a seminar on the nature of justice would be ‘but does justice really exist?’. That would be a silly question in that seminar, and it would be made by someone who (in all good faith probably) thought they were being wonderfully philosophical. I know, because I have asked such questions many times in the past and still do sometimes.
edit: It is fashionable to question ‘everything and anything’ but is that actually going to get you anywhere, or is it perhaps better to be particular and methodical about what you question? Just a thought.
Thank you for your reply Oxfordwill,
Not a bad one indeed. Yes your correct. I like your answer about some questions lacking certain aspects in ordered to be answered.
Still! it is a question. If the person does not know the answer. Then they are honest with themselves. They just dont know. Be it wether they have researched the context of the question or not. The end result is they still have to ask.
Hmmm! The nature of justice sounds like a very interesting course. Your example is a fair enough answer. Why be in a course and ask such an obvious question? but then!! isnt that the reason your in that course in the first place? to ask questions? Perhaps your right there different qualities of questions. Yes! I agree, your right. I shall have to go away and look futher into this.
Although out of class when talking to others you may not know. I just cant see any question within the field of philosophy being silly. Do you think the sun will rise tomorrow? Who knows?
I like your statement that asking certain questions may not get you anywhere, but again. Asking nothing will be certain to get you nowhere.
Thats the whole point of philosophy, the foundation of field is to ask and question. Philosophers love to ask and admit they dont know much or little. You can ask one person a question and get a different answer each time. Isn’t life fascinating? No one ever seems to fully agree with each other.
I think I will close up my post with the saying “Every answer leads to another two questions”.
Thank you for taking the time to answer my question friend. May your path to knowledge be straight and I hope you meet many helpers and friends along the way.