Musical questions and answers thread

[Pulcinella]

I have tried that dictionary, with and without the first note, but it hasn’t helped. It isn’t necessarily in C major though.

Aren't there apps that you can whistle or play the tune into that will (might?) tell you what it is?
How about singing it to Alexa and seeing what she says?

[Ein Heldenleben]

I have tried that dictionary, with and without the first note, but it hasn’t helped. It isn’t necessarily in C major though.

Funnily enough I’ve never successfully identified a melody using my dictionary! If I had to guess in an exam I would say , because of the slightly non standard turn the melody takes, it’s something like one of those Dimitri Kabalevsky children’s piano pieces we all used to plough through. Equally it could be one of those Composers keen on 3/4 eg Richard Rodgers.

[cloughie]

Aren't there apps that you can whistle or play the tune into that will (might?) tell you what it is?
How about singing it to Alexa and seeing what she says?

Probably ‘I don’t know that one!’

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Aren't there apps that you can whistle or play the tune into that will (might?) tell you what it is?
How about singing it to Alexa and seeing what she says?

I don’t have Alexa.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

My hunch was a Tchaikovsky ballet, but I haven’t found it yet.

[hmvman]

There's a tune going through my head. It's something I've known for many years, but I've been going through my memory banks for days, and I just can't identify it. It starts something like this:

It's not "La Mer" by Charles Trenet is it, EA? It's not quite the same as the notes you've written but it struck me as similar.

[RichardB]

It's not "La Mer" by Charles Trenet is it

It isn't "La Mer" (which is in 4/4 time). I don't recognise EA's tune though!
.

[Serial_Apologist]

Funnily enough I’ve never successfully identified a melody using my dictionary! If I had to guess in an exam I would say , because of the slightly non standard turn the melody takes, it’s something like one of those Dimitri Kabalevsky children’s piano pieces we all used to plough through. Equally it could be one of those Composers keen on 3/4 eg Richard Rodgers.

Not during the Cold War, surely?!

[Ein Heldenleben]

Not during the Cold War, surely?!

His work is in countless American anthologies of that period so yes . He must have made a small fortune from them.

[ardcarp]

Going back a few posts:

why didn't what we now know as Middle C become A?

I think many people have wondered that. I even had a very young pupil who asked why C wasn't named A. Perceptive young person. But as the system probably arose because the 'standard' keyboard was born of the Aeolian mode, the only answer remains, "It is because it is" !

Teaching elementary keyboard sight-reading, is most often done by
(a) identifying the alphabetical note from the stave (in two different clefs)
(b) identifying the alphabetical note on the piano keyboard...at the correct pitch
(c) playing the right note

That is actually quite a difficult calculation for a young beginner. Systems which avoid note names (A,B,C, etc) and which just go straight from a note's position on the stave to the keyboard works wonders. (You can learn the letters later.) And for God's sake avoid any system which adds coloured notes and coloured sticky labels into the mix. That never works.

[Joseph K]

I think many people have wondered that. I even had a very young pupil who asked why C wasn't named A. Perceptive young person. But as the system probably arose because the 'standard' keyboard was born of the Aeolian mode, the only answer remains, "It is because it is" !.

... but also, it occurred to me that the letter C wraps around a line better than an A does, if that makes sense - hence the C clef and the primacy of the letter C rather than A.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

It's not "La Mer" by Charles Trenet is it, EA? It's not quite the same as the notes you've written but it struck me as similar.

I don’t know that one, but I’ll investigate.

[RichardB]

I don’t know that one, but I’ll investigate.

It definitely isn't the tune you posted, but the original version has a really beautiful orchestral arrangement.

[Ein Heldenleben]

It definitely isn't the tune you posted, but the original version has a really beautiful orchestral arrangement.

The Trenet La Mer has the first three notes in common with EA’s mystery tune . Trouble is so does the finale theme from Brahms 1 and half a million other pieces.

[ardcarp]

but also, it occurred to me that the letter C wraps around a line better than an A does, if that makes sense - hence the C clef and the primacy of the letter C rather than A.

Er? A C clef doesn't look anything like a C ! Maybe we're talking at cross purposes.