Is Music Subjective? What Do You Hear?

This is LivingPianos.com, and I'm Robert Estrin asking, what do you hear? You're going to be a part of this video. There's a music coming in your way, and just a little bit. The real question is, is music subjective? How much of our listening experience is cultural and how much is innately human? And this is such a tough question to answer. I thought I'd elicit your help in this. And I've got some original music that no one has ever heard before, which is a perfect vehicle for exploring this subject. But first, let's talk a little bit about how much of music is just cultural. For example, we're all used to hearing scary music like a diminished seventh chord. It's classic. The old pictures of the silent movies with a woman tied to the railroad tracks and the train is coming and you hear that. And so we assume those same emotions just from hearing the music. And you're wondering, is that just because we've been conditioned? Well, there is some of that, certainly, but there's more to it than that.

I've discussed in the past how tonality in a way goes against nature. What do I mean by that? Well, tonal music is based upon the natural occurring overtone series that's contained in all pitched sounds naturally. That's why a chord like that sounds very, very natural to us because indeed every single musical tone you hear contains those basic pitches in it anyway, whereas when you listen to harmonies that clash, it's grading. And one of the reasons for that is simple intervals are easy to digest because its simple math. An octave is a two to one relationship. That's very soothing, very easy to calculate. You're essentially calculating intervals in your head. I bet you don't even realize that, but that's exactly what you're doing. When you're hearing an interval, you're counting vibrations per second. And when they double, that's an octave and it's easy to hear, it's easy to calculate. Your mind can figure that one out. A fifth is a one to three relationship. That's pretty, but when you get to dissonances, they're very, very distantly related mathematically, and they're hard to hear as a result.

So some of it really is a biological, yet some of it is certainly cultural. Is major or minor inherently happy or sad? Hear a major chord. And it seems very cheerful compared to a minor chord. How much of that is innate in our biology or how much is just cultural? Well, you're going to hear some original music and you're going to get the opportunity to comment on livingpianos.com as well as YouTube and get a discussion going to see how this music makes you feel. I hope you enjoy it.

So there you have it, some music that no one has heard before, that you get the chance to comment on and get a conversation going, talk to each other on the blog at livingpianos.com, as well as YouTube, and see what this music makes you feel. And we'll get a feel then together, how much is innate? How much is cultural? Because after all, YouTube is global, and so as LivingPianos.com. So we have people from all around the world, people with different cultural biases. And we want to hear from all of you. Thanks so much for joining me. Again, this is Robert Estrin at LivingPianos.com, your online piano resource with lots and lots of content for you. Hope you enjoy this. We'll see you next time.

Find the original source of this video at this link: https://livingpianos.com/is-music-subjective-what-do-you-hear/

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