Re: [OT] Vivi, the Virtual Violinist, plays LilyPond music

[Dr Nicholas Bailey]

On Friday 18 Mar 2011 08:14:48 Dmytro O. Redchuk wrote:
> Let's say, i love J. S. Bach very much (well, let's say), as much as my
> father and grandfather (etc). So, can i really be sure that i understand
> his music as good as my grandfather?.. I mean that every Beethoven's
> symphony contains "a piece of information" -- can i be sure that i can
> recognize it as good as my grandfather? Yes, i know this can not be
> measured at all.

I'm not sure you can't measure that. You should see what MRI scanners can 
measure these days. Get yourself scanned now, then perhaps your great 
grandchildren really will be able to see if they respond in the same way 
(using the same mechanisms) as you.

On Friday 18 Mar 2011 13:15:56 James Lowe wrote:
> Hello,
> ...
> When you are a 'grandfather' you will know the answer because the 'good'
> stuff of today will still be around or known and the 'bad' stuff will not
> (or rather it will be 'somewhere' but everyone will have forgotten about
> it). I am sure there are some exceptions but they won't be the rule, and
> of course things like distribution 'back in your grandfather's day' would
> have made some differences, but this frankly is not a consideration in our
> linked world today. We are exposed to more good and bad stuff than ever
> before.

Hmmm, I'm not sure. The point you make about distribution may be the more 
significant. You might find there are petabyte disks in your watch with the 
whole of human culture on them, or else your phone will be quantum-entangled 
with the whole of the web giving instant access to absolutely everything :) 
The real problem will be categorising it. Two ways: "what do people who listen 
to the stuff I like also listen to"; and (this is another reason why work like 
Graham's is important) "What is there that is played in the same manner as the 
the stuff I like." The second, I believe, is beyond the state of the art, 
because we don't know what "in the same manner" means.

On Friday 18 Mar 2011 11:15:02 Kieren MacMillan wrote:
> Graham,
> ...
> I *do* think so -- and recent studies on youth support my belief with
> evidence. On the music side, consider the fact that recent studies have
> shown a majority of young people prefer the sound of compressed audio
> (e.g., low- to medium-bitrate MP3s) to uncompressed audio. [Pause here to
> fully appreciate the horror of that statement.] Independent of the content
> of the music itself -- the debate about which is far more subjective --
> many listeners can no longer appreciate what music is physically supposed
> to sound like.
Let's not confuse music with audio or sound. Everybody's hijacking the word 
"Music" these days. "Music Industry" (record industry), "Music player" (audio 
player). Music is a process and we "make music". How do we make it? Let's 
experiment... <reaches for source code>
> 
> A lower barrier of entry by definition allows people to "get into the
> field" with less experience, less training, less discipline, less
> persistence, and so on. Are there some benefits to this? Sure. Does it
> increase the amount of crap we have to wade through. Absolutely. I have
> yet to see any field -- athletics, art, construction, law, comedy,
> whatever -- where a lower barrier of entry doesn't increase the amount of
> crap. And, unfortunately, I also see in the audience for that field a
> concomitant decrease in discriminatory powers.
True, I'm sure, but more disturbing is that hardly anybody (in the UK at 
least) benefits from a general musical education in the state sector. You have 
to buy your lessons privately pretty much everywhere. What goes on in schools 
is "music appreciation" or, worse, "free improvisation" (except that it's not, 
except in the literal sense).

Lowering the barrier to making music might be a good thing. It's very 
different from lowering the barrier to people imposing their compositions on 
you in the local lift/supermarket/train etc etc. Perhaps exposing people to 
the process of making music might be a good defence against waning 
discrimination?

Thank you, everybody, for a great thread!

Nick/.