Tag: nomenclature

Why Twelve?

April 11, 2023
Musicians' Corner

[ EDIT as of 27 June, 2026: YouTube’s recommendation engine happened to point me at this video, which I had never seen nor known of before today, though it predates this post of mine which is itself now about three years old. That video is the only other internet resource I’ve seen that approaches this…

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Perfect Pitch?

November 22, 2022
Musicians' Corner
1 Comment

Welcome to yet another episode of “Somebody asked a question on social media so Robert wrote a blog post!” People ask about a thing called “perfect pitch.” Confusion about this phenomenon is so rampant that even the Wikipedia article about it contradicts itself in its first two paragraphs, which I quote here for reference: Absolute…

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Phineas Newborn, and Revisiting the Question of “What Good are Scales?”

August 22, 2020
Musicians' Corner

As students of music we aim to train our ears to hear each note on its own terms, and when we improvise, to intend each note on its own terms. To many of us, especially jazz students, scales can be crutches that work against the goal of musical intent because relying on rules like “every…

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Fun with Fills, What Good are Scales, and Thoughts on Growing Musical Vocabulary

March 22, 2020
Musicians' Corner

You know how every now and then you hear something and you’re like, “What was THAT?!?” Well, I was listening to music in the car a while back and this amazing fill caught my ear big-time. I made a note to come back to it because it sounded fantastic and a big part of it…

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