Comment by com2kid | Hacker News Reader

Comment by com2kid | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

> I would love it if most liberal arts institutions "fostered a broad set of knowledge and skills whose value is not always immediately apparent." But they generally don't, at least not anymore.

All in all, I feel that I got a pretty well rounded education.

I took classes in philosophy, piano, base intro courses to all branches of science, GIS, art of listening to music (that was an awesome class!) a nice variety of history classes, English, painting, and then finally my major (CS) and my minor (Math).

I went to community college and transferred to a state university.

I can discuss techniques for using colored pencils, describe harmonics in FFTs from accelerometer input to musicians, have an intelligent conversation about many aspects of world history and culture, and then go to work and apply my skillsets to solving real world problems for my employer.

There really wasn't much group think. I got a taste of a lot of different fields, and at times I had to stretch my schedule to allow me to take a few more things I was interested in, but I have no real complaints. Heck my community college offered the piano courses as free to anyone who already had a full course load. (It counted as 2 credits they just waved the charge, and with practicing it took up a lot of time, but hey, free piano lessons!)

> art of listening to music (that was an awesome class!)

Great! Tell me more!

Once by accident I heard the Beethoven 7th Symphony and got hooked and didn't quit until I'd gotten through the D Major section of the Bach "Chaconne" on violin. Still, I never had a course of any kind in music, certainly not a course in "listening".

So, I still want to learn! How about some remarks on how to listen to each of the following three:

(1) some Bach

http://grooveshark.com/s/Cello+Suite+No+1+Bach/3seBIM?src=5

(2) some Vitali

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4B1ifcWa9o

(3) some Camille Saint Saens

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X79OkSayPSw

At least one!

For the Bach piece, some of what I get out of listening to it, especially with that performance, is (a) a story of some of what happened to someone over some interval of time, (b) the story starts in an indefinite way, (c) the story continues and starts to repeat, with emphasis in various ways, what is important in the story so that now we can begin to follow the story, (c) some parts of the story are stressful and, in this performance, are indicated by some playing close to the bridge, (d) the story gets some serious parts indicated by some of the low notes, (e) the story starts to change due to some important and different aspects that add tension, (f) the end is an ascending chromatic passage that indicates triumph over the source of the tension and ends in a climax with some repetition for emphasis, (g) in this performance the last note with the forte at the end of the note indicates a successful conclusion to the story and underlines the victory over the source of the tension.

Is that part of what is meant by how to listen to music?

> Is that part of what is meant by how to listen to music?

My sarcasm detector is broken.

The course covered the history of music (very much Western biased), taught us the names for the various aspects of music, how to identify the different elements in songs, the commonalities and interrelationships between genres of music, and had us sit down and listen to songs in a wide variety of styles.

Going into the course I listened to a very narrow selection of music, by the end of the course I had an appreciation for a much wider range of music, and I can find something enjoyable about almost any genre. I'd say that in the very least it made me a happier person who can find more joy in life!

It's been quite awhile since I took the course so I cannot remember all the vocabulary, which is unfortunate since I found that having the right words to describe something helps highlight its essence. That said, if I was going to work on a project with musicians, I would go and study up on the field again to regain that vocabulary, thus aiding in communication.

(I likewise had forgotten 90% of the EE material I had studied until my current job where I was reacquainted with the material!)

Thanks. No sarcasm intended.

Maybe what you described is similar to what my wife once took as a course in Music Appreciation: I met my wife at Indiana University, was a grad student in math, lived in the dorm next to the excellent music school there, liked music a lot, and took that opportunity to get started in violin.

My wife knew a lot about music -- piano, clarinet, voice -- but next to nothing about classical music; so with my being interested in music also, she took a course in the music school in music appreciation. She really liked the course.

So, maybe your course covered the sonata-allegro from, tertian harmony, major-relative minor, key modulation, medieval, classical, rococo, romantic, modern, etc.

Okay, thanks.

> So, maybe your course covered the sonata-allegro from, tertian harmony, major-relative minor, key modulation, medieval, classical, rococo, romantic, modern, etc.

Yup, this sounds more like it. Although we also covered topics like identifying common themes in music, how to listen to different soundscapes, and other similar topics. (Of which I cannot remember right now!)

We mostly covered classical music, but I ended up with an appreciation for a wide range of music styles. My Pandora channel list got really weird. :)

> art of listening to music (that was an awesome class!)

So you spent several hundreds/thousands of either your own or the state's money to learn the "art of listening to music". Would you say you got your/their money's worth?

> have an intelligent conversation about many aspects of world history and culture

In other countries, that purpose is served by high school (I think the US might be better off fixing high school, instead of pushing everyone thru CC).

Reply on news.ycombinator.com