Questions tagged [hearing]
Coherent distinguishing of aural sensations. See also "ear-training"
66
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109 views
Are musicians better than nonmusicians at learning echolocation? [closed]
Is there any evidence that musicians are faster than non-musicians at learning the skill of echo-location, i.e. the technique of navigating a physical environment by making tongue clicks and listening ...
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4answers
2k views
Is the ear really phase insensitive?
According to Ohm’s Law of Acoustics, the ear is phase insensitive due to its resonant structure. For example, changing the phase angle of the 3rd harmonic of a note drastically changes the shape of a ...
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3answers
113 views
I'm a singer struggling with tempo and time
I'm a singer with a decent voice and technique, I also used to play the violin so I can read classical sheet music and sight-read pretty well. However, I've always struggled with counting.
I have no ...
2
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2answers
186 views
Do I need ear protection to practice piano? [duplicate]
I once stumbled on a question on which someone suggested to consider buying ear protection for the child who was learning violin, because on the long run, playing violin can damage the child's ears.
I ...
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2answers
281 views
Does swaying your head like Stevie Wonder improve your musical hearing?
Stevie Wonder famously sways his head left and right when he's performing on stage. I've always thought that it was a listening technique linked to his blindness; I assume you can locate sounds easier ...
3
votes
1answer
90 views
Is there literal correlation between sounds and the words to describe them?
In English, we describe pitches as "high" and "low", as being "sharp" or "flat". A timbre can be "fat". At least one study suggests that there is a ...
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3answers
86 views
Why does my head fill in the 'home' note when playing a different mode of a harmonic minor scale?
I've been learning and experimenting with modes only recently, despite having played guitar for almost 11 years. In the past, I would use a "no-holds-barred, free-for-all" approach to ...
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8answers
3k views
How to develop a musical ear when even singing poses great difficulty?
I love music and would love to develop a musical ear. My problem is that I can't get started. All tutorials that I find start at a more advanced point compared to where I am at. I can't carry a tune. ...
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2answers
61 views
How to find/hold vocal pitch within tone clusters
I sing in a choir that performs a lot of music containing very close, tone-cluster type harmonies. We stand mixed rather than in sections, so it's especially challenging to find my pitch and maintain ...
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0answers
36 views
Improving perfect pitch? [duplicate]
I've always had good pitch hearing but never perfect. Things like 1/32 tone change is hard to notice. I was wondering whether it can be improved (if you have some to begin with) to achieve "...
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vote
3answers
205 views
How can you detect seventh chords by ear?
I've been trying to detect seventh chords, major and minor seventh for at least one week, doing them unsucessfully...
My method have been, for the moment, going to musictheory.net and trying to learn ...
3
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1answer
82 views
At what nps a note could be considered as just continuous hum?
I am just curious to know the limit of our ear to distinguish time between two notes played. For example: A person playing quarter note at 60 bpm(4/4) is easily distinguishable because the delay ...
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2answers
137 views
Does perfect (absolute) pitch ever go out of tune?
When someone has perfect pitch, can it get "out of tune"? I've heard of musicians who had perfect pitch but as they got older they didn't have perfect pitch any more, or maybe it just got &...
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2answers
457 views
Sometimes I naturally sing songs in the right key. Do I have perfect (absolute) pitch?
Sometimes I'll be singing a song, and then I'll play a recording and discover I was singing in the same key. Does this mean I have perfect pitch?
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2answers
95 views
How to practice hearing what other people hear and techniques to detect I'm diverging
I'm not hearing sound objectively.
For example when I produce music, even after the final mixdown, I think my brain is actually adding things that aren't objectively there. Not entire instruments and ...
4
votes
1answer
212 views
Singing and hearing quarter tones
I’ve just received a choir piece that contains some (rare) quarter tones on long held notes. For example, a B which slides into a Bᴓ (that's a half flat).
I’ve tried singing the part where it happens. ...
14
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3answers
2k views
Why can't wearing both ear muffs (whether passive or active) and earplugs simultaneously yield more than 36 dB noise reduction ratio (NRR)?
I read on Wikipedia:
Using both ear muffs (whether passive or active) and earplugs simultaneously results in maximum protection, but the efficacy of such combined protection relative to preventing ...
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1answer
122 views
Why does the formula to compute the Noise Reduction Rating (NRR) subtract 3dB?
Context: NRR (Noise Reduction Rating) is the noise reduction standard used in the United States, and SNR (Single Number Rating) is the European Union's standard for showing the attenuation of hearing ...
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1answer
1k views
Why do SNR ratings tend to be about 3 dB higher than NRR ratings? I.e., what difference(s) in the testing procedures account for this gap?
I read on https://eardefender.co.uk/snr-vs-nrr/ (mirror):
SNR (Single Number Rating) is the EU’s standard for showing the attenuation of hearing protection. [...] NRR (Noise Reduction Rating) is the ...
4
votes
1answer
137 views
How can I achieve maximum hearing protection, beyond custom-fitted earplugs + earmuffs?
I sometimes attend events with very loud music, e.g. Technoparade (> 110dB next to speakers) and at times need to stop listening the music, without having to move. How can I achieve maximum hearing ...
4
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2answers
1k views
If the resolution of human hearing is approximately five cents, how can musicians play works with intonation changes of less than five cents?
Sources1 suggest that the frequency resolution of humans—our ability to discriminate differences in pitch—is limited to around five cents.
If this is the case, how can musicians play an excerpt like ...
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3answers
141 views
How do you decide which key signature a certain music is in by ear, from hearing it?
When I hear a song or a melodious tune, I can often figure out the relative pitches and play the tune on the piano. But I usually only play it on C major (the simplest scale for me--occasionally G ...
2
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1answer
101 views
Ear and singing training
I have read plenty of different questions related to ear training, even way more answers, but I'm still struggling to obtain a clear-cut answer (provided that it exists). I have taken up on singing ...
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1answer
307 views
Ear monitors or headset to monitor my voice with PC
Hello I have a question that I hope is in the right place because it involves several different subjects and I thought this forum was the best for this since it is close to singing along with an MP3 ...
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4answers
520 views
Exercises to go beyond basic relative pitch, and notice if any given interval is out of tune, by how much, and in which direction [closed]
Some people set a lot of store by "perfect pitch" but I feel that really good relative pitch is more important. What exercises can you suggest to improve this ability?
EDIT : perhaps I am not clear ...
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2answers
192 views
Why do I hear characters to keys in equal temperament? [closed]
I know, I'm not the only one who hears key characters. But I have heard time and time again that equal temperament means that all keys are equal and thus there aren't any characters to it beyond Major ...
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1answer
45 views
Head voice and chest voice [duplicate]
When I hear something (a song for instance) I want to be able to tell whether I am hearing a head voice rendition or that of a chest voice.
3
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2answers
498 views
Most useful piano exercises to memorize for playing by ear?
I'm not talented at all but I consider myself very dedicated and with a good ability to learn and memorize new material through my hands (not ears)
I'm playing the piano on my own for 2 years, ...
29
votes
3answers
5k views
How do professional electronic musicians/sound engineers combat listening fatigue?
As an amateur bedroom composer working in a DAW on my song, I might have a general idea of how something ought to sound, but through endless 'random walking through knob space' - i.e. tweaking ...
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3answers
136 views
To compose music, do you have to be able to hear?
I am asking this question out of sheer curiosity. Ludwig van Beethoven was deaf but still made some amazing songs. Just like Beethoven, do your ears have to work normally (Like not deaf), to be able ...
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1answer
28 views
Help With Transcription of Vocals for “Broken Lungs” by Thrice [closed]
I have the lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass, and drum parts for this song. I cannot, however, hear what note Dustin starts singing on so I can transcribe it. What is the very first note and/or ...
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4answers
146 views
Why am I not hearing concepts I'm aware of? [closed]
I've been playing guitar for more than 10 years, although not very seriously. I'm not at all gifted, but I'm not tone-deaf either. I've always thought that I'm not meant to understand music, so I didn'...
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2answers
296 views
Deafness and intonation in music
I have a question I'm hoping someone may be able to help with.
I'm 52 years old and have been a professional musician all my life. I play violin, viola and cello and these days do mostly remote ...
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3answers
2k views
Am I the only one to hear Cb instead of B here?
This comes from BWV 847 (the C minor fugue from the Well Tempered Clavier).
Look at the third beat from measure 28.
I can't help but hear an A flat minor chord here, that is Eb, Cb, Ab. Especially ...
5
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3answers
1k views
“Along the way” ear training in your daily routine
I am an amateur musician, not good at ear training. But I want to improve, unfortunately my time is limited as music is just a hobby. So in this post the author suggests doing ear training in your ...
2
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1answer
121 views
Hearing through distortion
Are there any tricks to figuring out the (exact) chords of a song that has really strong distortion or other effects?
I can vaguely hear what chords there are but can’t figure out the exact variant.
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2answers
913 views
I have semi (explained) perfect pitch but can't handle harmonic intervals. What do I practice?
As the title suggests I have a form of perfect pitch that is not exactly perfect pitch. So let's say I hear a melody. I can name the notes as I hear them if they're not insanely fast of course. The ...
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1answer
72 views
Stage monitoring for drums - in ear and speakers combined
I am a drummer and I am using in-ear for live performances as monitoring.
But sometimes I have problems with the cymbals mix which can get to really high frequencies during the performance (moments ...
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2answers
87 views
Are there similarities between musical temperament and colorimetry? [closed]
It is well known that musical temperament is the basic of music theory, just as colorimetry is the basic of color theory.
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2answers
490 views
Unable to properly hear myself singing, but can hear well playing or singing others
I'm looking on a voice (singing) a little like an instrument where you don't use muscles on fingers, but muscles inside your neck/throat.
I got some practice in playing bass (guitar/double-bass) and ...
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2answers
123 views
Hearing Aids for Music
I have a hearing condition called Enlarged Vestibular Aqueduct, which causes just slight hearing loss for me. I'm getting hearing aids next week.
I play the violin, piano, and clarinet, and I have ...
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2answers
832 views
Why does Libera wear earpieces?
I listen a fair amount to the Libera Children's Choir, and one of the things that I've noticed is that frequently they wear ear-pieces in one ear or the other (For instance, Joshua Madine in his right ...
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votes
3answers
211 views
Are theremin's pitch hand positions unique?
I don't know much about theremins, and wondered about this: given a constant volume, I would like to know if I can produce the same note with different hand positions or if all notes have a specific/...
4
votes
1answer
258 views
While playing fugues, do pianists follow each voice simultaneously?
I'm learning the piano and my teacher always says to me: "just focus on the melody, sing it in your head, and voicing and phrasing will go along", which works greatly as long as the piece is a mix of ...
0
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1answer
286 views
Inear wired monitor for drummers
I need an advice from someone that has experience with this kind of situations. I am drummer for a fast and loud band. In our last tour I experienced locations with good and bad sound.
I have a ...
2
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1answer
304 views
How accurately can a good musician judge an interval to be out of tune? [closed]
This is for a music/physics crossover experiment. Almost everyone will be familiar with the Doppler Effect, even if they don't know the name. Imagine that a vehicle is blaring its a siren or ...
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2answers
380 views
Hearing overlapping sound
When I sing/hum lets say C note and then play on a piano a C note too, the sound I hear overlap so that I can immediately know if its the same note or not.
I want to know if everyone can do this ...
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0answers
52 views
How can I prevent filters from falling from my earplugs when I remove them?
I have a few pairs of flat-response attenuators (a.k.a. musicians earplugs). On one of them, the filters tend to fall when I remove the earplugs from my ear. How can I prevent that?
Demonstration:
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3answers
1k views
Being deaf and still produce music, how is that possible
Does anybody knows Sean Forbes? He is deaf, but produces music, like this. According to sources he can also play guitar and drums, how is this possible? Also check out the story of Patric Costello.
...
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2answers
13k views
Do I have perfect pitch?
I only meet some of the criteria of perfect pitch.
Whenever I hear a note, I can name a song or piece starting with it. I also remember the right key of music I hear, and, when I try to play it on ...
