BBC R3 test: How Musical Are You?

[Lateralthinking1]

Well done anyway. I liked the fact that it emphasised enthusiasm, emotion, and social interaction because that is how in my naive way I enjoy it. Of course, I would love to have some greater technical understanding - I'm not a complete dimwit in that area either - but I could learn a lot more. That is why I have asked questions on virtually all of the boards and have learnt from the answers people have kindly given.

[vinteuil]

Never in a million years did I expect to see so many people proudly crowing about being unmoved, uncurious, apathetic, and amusical. The antisocial bias I could have predicted, but good grief! I was fully expecting to be subjected to a huge pile-on of people with perfect scores gloating and rubbing it in.

Eud: I'm a little surprised that you are so surprised. I thought you knew that most of us were British rather than American...

[doversoul1]

Well, I did try but I got so BORED half way through the first ‘test’ that I logged out. This is one of the most inane questionnaires I have come across. It’s so obvious what the questions are getting at, that it’s almost embarrassing to go along with it.

Besides, what is ‘Britain’s musicality’? I read the information but I still have no idea. Do I presume that there is such thing as National musicality? If there is, what is it suppose to tell?

Are other BBC radio stations taking part or is it just Radio3? If it is the latter, unless it is classical music related (or related to Radio3 remit), I really do not see the point. Singing along my favourite tune’ or ‘clapping and joining in’?

tony yy asks (#56) how much the BBC is paying for it but I’d ask how much the BBC is being paid for ‘letting out’ Radio3 so that the publication can have Radio3 logo. I can’t help being reminded of The Chart. ‘What you might like’ could have come straight out of Amazon. Are we really expected to believe that this is a serious experiment? Or is this another ‘entry point for wider audience’? Ah well…

[Donnie Essen]

I'm sorry if I slagged it off too hard. I didn't think anyone would actually care. It's true, some seem to like the low marks they got. It tells them something about themselves and how they appreciate music, rather than having winners and losers.

Regarding how much you like music and musical curiousity - on those self-assessment things, I tend to choose 'agree' for things, rather than 'strongly agree' or (a touch over-enthusiastic, I think) 'completely agree'. If you agree to something, you agree to it, particularly on questions like 'do you listen to music as an activity in itself?'. I suppose had I turned on the heat a little, I might have scored higher. But that just seems to me a good deal of having to figure out what they want you to say (a lot of tests have an element of that), rather than just using the logic in yer own head.

[Eudaimonia]

LT: Here's a fantastic site with all sorts of music theory study sheets and resources:

http://www.dolmetsch.com/introduction.htm

If you're looking for books, you could do a lot worse than to study Hindemith-- worked for me!

Paul Hindemith: Elementary Training for Musicians

http://www.amazon.com/Elementary-Training-Musicians-Paul-Hindemith/dp/0901938165

The Craft of Musical Composition: Book 1: Theory

http://www.amazon.com/Craft-Musical-Composition-Theoretical-Part/dp/0901938300/ref=pd_sim_b_1

The Craft of Musical Composition: Book 2: Exercises in Two-Part Writing

http://www.amazon.com/Craft-Musical-Composition-Book-Stap/dp/0901938416/ref=pd_sim_b_2

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

TWhat I'm really surprised about is why I did relatively poorly under "Enthusiasm for Music"... I would have predicted that would be one of my higher scores, not my lowest. No clapping, tapping, or background music, so that could be a lot of it.

These questions were topsy-turvy in my opinion - OK for Radio 2, perhaps, but the asumptions were wrong. It's rather like the attitude of shop assistants when you complain about piped music:
"Don't you like music then...?"

I remember doing a test during my PGCE year. One of the questions was whether or not I would declare an expensive item at Customs, even if there was absolutely no chance of being caught. When I said I would, I was deemed to be a liar. I think that response said more about the question setter than me.

[Eudaimonia]

DE: I think you're absolutely right about how similar the pop and hip-hop samples were. It really threw me too--I swapped two samples from each genre on both lines. Just goes to show that without the bling, it's pretty much the same. I don't listen to either genre, so it taught me something! Likewise the recommendations to listen to a programme on Radio 1: I've always taken a dump on R1 just on the principle of the thing (i.e. "not for me, don't bother"), but thanks to this survey I'll give it a shot at least once. That's the real value of all of this-- getting people to explore new things they otherwise wouldn't have considered.

(a touch over-enthusiastic, I think)

Baby, that's how I roll.

[Pianorak]

Emotional Connection: 100%

Emotional connection 0%

Since I have the highest regard for both of them do we now have proof positive that both parties polarised on this issue can be right?

[Donnie Essen]

DE: I think you're absolutely right about how similar the pop and hip-hop samples were. It really threw me too--I swapped two samples from each genre on both lines. Just goes to show that without the bling, it's pretty much the same.

What were you listening to - beats and rhythm? That would make sense. I was listening to 'texture' or something. But I'm pretty dumb.

I've worked in jobs where they've played Radio 1 all day. I would hear the same Kylie song like forty times in a week. Maybe they branch out in the evenings or something. But still, not for me. Folk find music in different ways, though. I listen to R3 some nowadays, but I've never been a big radio listener. I control what I hear through CDs and I hear about recommendations tons through various forums and the like. That quiz don't take such things into account, and then it makes assumptions about you. But I ain't gonna harp on about that.

[VodkaDilc]

I always assume that R3 listening and Guardian reading go together, but for any non-Guardian readers, here's their coverage of the project:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/jan/10/how-musical-are-you

[salymap]

I've decided not to do it. I don't know hip-hop from hip pain and I hate exams. I can't even have my blood pressure taken at the doc's without it shooting up. I should get all 0%s and I don't feel too cheerful at the moment anyway. I have no speakers attached to my laptop and I've got tinnitus Congrats to all who got high marks though.

[VodkaDilc]

salymap:
I don't like tests either - and have just the same problem with doctors and blood pressure, but these tests were fun to do - and there was every chance to opt out any time or to do as I did and think: "I can't be bothered with this sort of test" and go on to the next. Having no speakers could be a problem, though several sections are multiple choice written ones.

[Lateralthinking1]

Eudaimonia - Thanks for those suggestions. They are very interesting. If we had all read the Guardian article beforehand, our marks would have been even higher. Had I known that the fourth one was hip-hop, I might have got the full set there. Lat.

[french frank]

The groups, on my tinny laptop speakers, all sounded like a split-second of (rhythmic?) electronic instruments, and on that basis they sounded the 'same'. I was expecting some strings, some woodwinds, that sort of thing. As for deciding on the basis of one-second's listening ... I think I would always require more evidence

The beating time was interesting: once the beeping started, I couldn't hear the music at all well, so unless I'd started in, clapping vigorously before it started, I became completely disoriented and couldn't hear the musical beat at all.

Euda - I don't think anyone has been crowing about their 'low' results. I think we've just all been remarkably truthful . But, there is also the question of personality: if I'd done the test as astonishingly well as you did, I would have been very pleased, of course, but would never have announced it in public. Admitting we're not that great is something the British seem to find quite easy ...

[Pianorak]

If you're looking for books

If I could add another useful tome:

William R. Ward: Examples for the study of Musical Style (WM C Brown Company Publishers)