DOSIS
Various Composers Lyrics

We have lyrics for 'DOSIS' by these artists:

Aka.Cropher Todo cambio Prendiste las luces de mi habitación Quiero so…
Blumfeld Gebt mir meine Dosis Von dem, was mir zusteht Den Rest Ich h…
Dvicio Solo dios sabe, solo dios Qué es lo que te pasa Qué…
Dvicio Reik & ChocQuibTown Solo dios sabe, solo dios Qué es lo que te pasa Qué…
Dvicio Reik ChocQuibTown Solo dios sabe, solo dios Qué es lo que te pasa Qué…
End Street Bakit ba ganon Kahit anong gawin ay tila kulang na kulang…
Jovenes Pordioseros Dame la dosis nena Dame la dosis nena Dame la dosis... Yo s…
Kid Dolce Tu risa tu cuerpo el momento los blones La brisa en…
Kid Munni Oye Ashley preciosa ahora si te haré el truco de…

KitschKrieg Trettmann Von jetzt an geht alles auf mich, jeder Drink, jeder…
One Killer Ella no era así, ahora es más adictiva que el…
Paloma Mami Yo-Yo-Yo, Red, put yo fingers on the beat Tentarte no debí,…
Ríal Guawankó Tu me conoces perro escojo el beat y entrompo laid…
S V T Me dice que no piensa en mi que porfa que…
Trettmann Von jetzt an geht alles auf mich, jeder Drink, jeder…

We have lyrics for these tracks by Various Composers:

411 Tell me your fable A fable Tell me your fable Tell me your…

The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos

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Most interesting comments from YouTube:

Olivier DALET

@Harold L Potts Well, I excluded organs (and accordions fall into this category as well) because their "Human-machine interface" is a keyboard, and this is what prevents the player to reach notes in-between the half tones we know (although in the case of accordions, there are some techniques that allow the player some control over the note pitch), however you are right that organs are basically huges sets of recorders wired to a keyboard (and accordions the same but with harmonicas) ;)

Clarinets are cylindrical bores - that's why they have 12th key instead of an octave one (Oboe and saxophones have a conical bore on the other side and an octave key. Flutes are a strange beast: cylindrical but with an octave key, because the pipe is doubly open and not close/open as for the other instruments). Then the shape of the bore is not what allows one to reach quarter tones more or less easily.

Just found a video with a clarinetist explaining how he's playing oriental scales: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwkZy9CAklA

And then, some hijaz maqam improvisations:
on a clarinet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgH0Ze3z_X0 or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjNfPuUnEeE
on a saxophone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pg5vL8E3Suw

Zvonimir Tosic

@Donald Bryant The so-called "Fifths", are chromatic distances of 7 semitones. If we look at the frequencies of the notes, "the Fifths" or 7 semitones apart, are 1.5x the frequency rate of the original note. 1.5x is the simplest and most harmonious distance apart from the full octave (which is 2x the frequency).

THAT is why in one music key, we search for its "Fifth", (chromatic note 7 semitones apart) to begin a brand new music key that will have the tonic most harmonious to the original tonic, and in consequence, be the best key to EXTEND the original key.

For example, from the key where the tonic is C, we search for its "Fifth", to begin the next most harmonious key. The "Fifths" happens to be note G, which is used to begin the key of G. that key of G — voila!— contains almost ALL the same notes the key of C has, apart from one; and that one is F#.

Then, inside the key of G, its "Fifth" is note D (as G and D are frequencies 1.5x apart), which will be used as a tonic of a new key of D. The key of D will have almost all the notes of the key of G, plus one more sharp, which is C#. And so on. THAT is how we get "sharps" — through the so-called "circle of Fifths".

What does this mean in REALITY? If we can start composing in one key (say, in the key of C), and EXTEND our music motif in the key of G, it will sound very similar to the key of C (because the key of G has the majority of notes the key of C has) but will provide us one EXTRA note (F#), to have at our disposal.

It allows composing music by gradual shifting the mood and storytelling, (say, shift from the key of C to the key of G), instead of an abrupt shift in mood and overall confusion, which would happen if suddenly many new and unfamiliar notes are used. Say, if we shift from the key of C, which has no "sharps", to the key of F#, which has 6 sharps, the mood and sound shifts abruptly. We would think we are listening to a completely different song.

Gio Giochka

Great video, really helps to understand our tuning system.

Somewhat confusing in this system is the definition of "equal distance" between any two consecutive notes.

If x and y are consecutive notes (eg x=A3 and y=A#3), then

f(y) = 12th√2 × f(x),

where f(x) and f(y) are the frequencies of x and y, and 12th√2 represents the 12th root of 2 (see video at around 13:10).

This is because the frequencies don't increase linearly, but exponentially.

All comments from YouTube:

David Bennett Piano

4y↑1.3K

❗ CORRECTION: At 5:41, it should read "For Major Sixth multiply by 1.666, and Minor Sixth multiply by 1.6" but I got them the wrong way around 😅 Thanks to Hans Bakker for spotting this 👍

AFRoSHEEN T3 Arc Michael

@Teddy Dunn I think you don't understand why theres 12 and it's not 12 its 13 because open is one. 22 or anything beyond 13 will never resonate with anyone. It's all about the unison octave perfect 4th and perfect 5th because these perfects create a triangle in the Greek tetracktys from their ratios and sound the most pleasing in harmony. Why try to add more than 13 notes when really all you need is 7 to 8 notes to tell a story. 12 is what you end up with when you divide the octave evenly. I'd like to see the 22 or 24 resolve on other notes that aren't the perfect 4th or 5th or the leading tone type cadence. Not only are they the most pleasant sounding but they all resolve back to the root or octave.

Switzerland

666?!!!

Stephen Arbon

@Latchezar Dimitrov
I think that is a modern day compromise,
baroque and earlier instruments, the fingering on was not necessarily the same between F# and Gb etc, and acheived just a slight difference in tone.

AINIEL YABUT

@David Bennett Piano 8ve more like P8

AINIEL YABUT

@Farahen Den 1.66666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666

104 More Replies...

Matthew Shaw

3y↑2.3K

Im not "playing the violin badly", I'm just experimenting with microtonality

Skylar Higgs

I feel this in my soul

Zetsuke4

Just make sure you play your perfects right

Olivier DALET

Harold L Potts

@Olivier DALET I must defer to your greater knowledge when you state that some clarinet.players [ presumably intentionally ] can " produce music full of quarter tones ". I had the same effect while learning to play the clarinet - in my case accidental squeaks resulting from a weak embouchure and a poorly trimmed reed.
You mention organ pipes and infer that they are " wind instruments ". Actually I think they are better decried as whistles. Baroque recorders are likewise whistles, [ the note is produced by perturbations of the air flow over a knife edge ]. and like all such instruments can be " overblown " to produce approximations of quarter and half tone - also known as " bum notes ". Beyond the scope of this discussion I suppose is the fact that the oboe and to a lesser degree the clarinet also are sometimes referred to as " conical pipes " in which the colour of the note is affected by air compression in the pipe.

Olivier DALET

@Harold L Potts well, virtually all wind instruments (except organ because of their keyboard) can fit your 'analogue' category: even though they look like a piano with holes and keys, each note can be bent by using your mouth. Hence, Balkan or Turkish clarinet players have no problem playing music full of quarter tones. You can also think of Gershwin's rapsody in blue

44 More Replies...

George Reynolds

3y↑580

This should be taught in schools as a linked maths-music lesson to show students how maths is embedded in many aspects of life. Excellent explanation of the 12-tone octave - thanks!

Darrell Mortensen

It wasn't by chance the Boston Conservatory of music was it?

George Reynolds

@Thomas Some teachers are just not gifted! But it's good that your school teaches music theory.

Thomas

I'm a french students and we learn that in Highschool. I think that the most part of the class find this chapter very boring. And I think it's also bcs the teacher begin the chapter with :"I literally don't want to make this chapter but I will do it because it's on the program"

Brexistentialism

Exactly.

Christopher Robin Garrish

With 3 second attention spans?

22 More Replies...

Web Security

3y↑282

I'm really bad with music and been trying for DECADES to get it explained and most music people can't explain it well, this was a massive help.

Michael Mcknight

2y↑1

@Tony Haven Dammit I didnt even think of that. Good point.

Tony Haven

2y↑4

DECADES is how I tune my 7 string

William Bruckmann

3y↑134

Just learned more music theory in 18 minutes then I have my whole 55 years…bravo.

Steve K

2y↑4

75 years. Bravo for sure.

liquidbraino

3y↑106

I remember taking piano lessons when I was a kid and realizing this point myself (@ 1:35). So just as an experiment I transposed the song "Minuet" by Mozart into different scales/chords just for fun but of course keeping the same interval. I found it fascinating that it was still the same song even if I started on a different note and just retained the intervals.

Justin Philip Nash

Its like a rubix cube.

wilsjane

2y↑6

@Mike Gacek This is easy when you know the scales, but a lot of people do not realise that the notes in every scale are the same intervals apart.
I only discovered this when I had not done my homework, forgot a few of my scales and had to work them out during an exam, where I did not have an instrument.
Surprisingly, many professional musicians do not realise the mathematical relationship. They simply obey the scale.

TaxPayingContributor

2y↑2

Bach did one called A Well Tempered Clavier.

Mike Gacek

2y↑7

My son did the same thing with a song when he was young. Played the same short song in every key till the octave. He figured it out.

RagingGeekazoid

2y↑24

If you're wondering what "evenly spaced" means, it means the frequency ratios between notes that are next to each other are all the same. That ratio multiplied by itself 12 times has to equal 2, so the ratio must be the 12th root of 2, i.e. R =1.059. The other intervals are the powers of that number from 1 to 12, for instance a whole tone is R squared and a minor third is R cubed.

RagingGeekazoid

2y↑3

@George Reynolds I did the math. It says you're a troll. Individual notes have frequencies, not ratios. Only intervals have ratios.

George Reynolds

@RagingGeekazoid You really don't understand yet behave like a world expert! I already showed you that the variation in ET from the perfect ratio is not the same for all notes. Do the math.

George Reynolds

2y↑1

@RagingGeekazoid They are not "equally" off key in equal temperament. With A at 440 Hz, perfect C should be 264 Hz but with ET will be 261.6, a difference of 2.4 Hz. However perfect E should be 330 Hz but with ET is 329.6, only 0.4 Hz off. is that clear?!!

RagingGeekazoid

@George Reynolds Sorry about the wording. I should have written "equally" instead of "evenly". Anyway, I was just explaining what "equally spaced" means in the video at 7:10 and 13:10. What you do with a piano is called "equal temperament", which is tuned exactly the same for all keys, which is exactly what the video describes starting at 12:35, and which is exactly what I've been explaining. Is that clear enough now? 🙄

4 More Replies...

Bill Zebub

2y↑5

I have been dying for a channel like this! Thank you for your eloquent teaching.

David Bennett Piano

Thank you! 🙂😃😃

Natalie Dalea

3y↑4

Viewing songs as intervals instead of notes opened my mind a whole new way AND THEN you added the part about octaves sounding so good together they’re perceived as the same note - I’d never once in my life realized octaves aren’t actually the same note. They have the same letter names, but these are completely different frequencies. I see music a whole new way.

Bryan Gantt

3y↑43

That was literally the first formal training that I can remember getting on music. Thank you so much I learned a ton.

Tuh Mater

3y↑1.1K

“There are usually only 12 notes”

Trombones and fretless string instruments:
they will never understand our power

JSMusic

Clarinet in Rhapsody in Blue: Am I a joke to you?

Andrew E.

Laughs in Trombone glissando

malthuswasright

You can play microtones on any instrument.

Communism Is The Real Pandemic

Even fretted stringed instruments, as you can bend notes to whichever pitch you like. Not to mention having access to a whammy bar, which does the same thing in either direction. The guitar is a very versatile instrument.

James Louder

@Crimadella Phone "...weather [sic] you are moving up or down a scale..." Hold it right there. Are you telling me that a D-major scale is D,E,F#,G,A,B,C#,D going up, but D,Db,A,G,Gb,F,E,D going down? You don't know, do you, that if you asked a well trained violinist to play you those two scales, they would used different accidentals ascending and descending--and you would hear it!

Unlike you I haven't taken a poll, so I guess I'll have to take your word about that statistic of yours. Still, I dunno...wanna put a little money on the table about that last 0.009%

45 More Replies...

Mose

3y↑19

This is so well presented. I would love to see this aforementioned video on non western tuning systems.

Steven Wheeler

2y↑2

Thankyou so much for this video. I've been asking people this question for literally 20 years and the replies I've had from musicians and physicists never tallied with each other. This is the first time I've heard someone explain it to me (a non-musician) in a way that I understand. Great video and I will be sure to check out your others.

CatServant

2y↑7

My late wife was the musician in my family. She played multiple instruments. She knew all about temperament and tonality. I, on the other hand, was only trained in vocal music, so the intervals are the important thing. It’s great to see both points of view in one video. Also, being a retired engineer, I appreciate the mathematics.

Graham Saunders

2y↑2

60 years ago I worked for a company that pioneered electonically produced tones. The organs were tuned on 12 PCBs using an oscilloscope to equal temperament. When done, I was charged with 'tweaking' the potentiometers on each PCB to make them sound 'right'. We never discovered the science behind this phenomenen. This video explains this perfectly. Thank You.

How I Met The Opera

4y↑182

As a musician who also makes videos, I know how hard it is to try to organize complex information in a clear manner. You´ve absolutely nailed this, great job!

David Bennett Piano

4y↑22

Thank you! This one really was a challenge so I’m really glad it came across ok! Thanks

Cloeren Jackson

2y↑8

This is my favourite music theory channel. Many of the others are just "Look at this mad chord progression Tool used" but this one is made for people who really want to learn music theory and the topics are ones which can quickly be applied practically to compositional or harmonic ideas. It's designed to be something you can use rather than something to make you go "wow". It's very well organised and presented too, again to be followed and understood, rather than to make you go "wow".

ostros

2y↑1

Dear David, thank you, this exactly what I have been trying to understand since I started learning how to play an instrument - why notes are like this. Thank you, it’s a very informative material, easy to grasp, at least for my STEM mind. Thank you.

Dmitri Vassiliev

2y↑1

Hey Dave, awesome job. This is pretty advanced stuff to me but it's totally fascinating considering that the frequency was first discovered about 120 years ago. I guess the intervals were not measured initially but were set by ear. Awesome! Thanks for such an interesting video.

Faramund

3y↑43

I love how you're taking the subjective part out of it and showing us that, yes, there is obviously a reason behind the fact we perceive certain sounds to be pleasing (alignment = consonance = harmony, disalignment = dissonence).

Jovet

3y↑5

Constructive and destructive interference would have topped that off, too.

CWA

3y↑177

I don’t play music or know why I was recommended this but I was fascinated and watched to the end. This was so well explained. Great production!

David Bennett Piano

3y↑11

Thanks!

Joe Gopher

2y↑1

I've always wondered about this but just accepted a 12 note octave as the way it is. So satisfying to now know why. I love this channel.

Reed Farnsworth

2y↑1

This was fascinating. It answered so many questions I've had for decades. It makes sense now. Thank you!

Karlheins Sohl

2y↑1

OH MY GOD!!!! This is simply the best explanation I've ever heard! 🤩. I've been playing music for 20 years and this was just so satisfying to watch. Really sensational job cover all the bits in your explanation. just wow!

Conway Restom

2y↑1

What brilliantly clear, and beautifully structured and presented, teaching. Well done! And thank you for giving me such an insightful view of something I've never before been able to get my head around.

Scott Fineshriber

2y↑2

As a music lover who is not a musician I find this fascinating. 👏

bb

2y↑1

i just found your channel and really appreciate how you break down normally complicated topics so simply. this topic especially. i’ve always wondered about this. your explanation is so simple and crystal clear. thank you very much!

Reeble Snarfle

2y↑1

Absolutely LOVE the song you created at the end. Haunting, yet mesmerizing. A real foot tapper, as you were yourself doing.😎👍💜

Tim Daughters

2y↑7

Thanks for explaining this. Your explanation about tempering helped me to understand something my 7th grade music teacher said 50 years ago. He told us that in Bach's time the harpsichord would need to be retuned every time the performer wanted to play a piece in a different key, and that if we were to hear a piece played back then, it would sound strange to our ears. Now, I understand why.

Thomas S.

4y↑2.4K

music in school: hella boring
music when you voluntarily are interested in it and research music theory on your own: cool and interesting

aussie_boy

Luv it !

aussie_boy

Here here!

aussie_boy

Must be good to wake up each day knowing you’re a genius.

pLanetstarBerry

Honestly every music teacher I've had (except one) had no chill and made it super stressful to learn this stuff. Having all this be explained in a calm, straightforward manner helps me retain it.

Gui Maricato

If my teachers did that i would be happy

45 More Replies...

Adam Griffin

2y↑2

This is fantastic. I've had years of musical training and many more years of teaching myself and these kinds of basic concepts always eluded me. I love videos like this that can really get to the core of the concepts at hand and explain them thoroughly and so clearly.

Zach Marsh

2y↑1

Ever since I opened myself up to quartertones, I've discovered harmonies and intervals that are some of the most beautiful things I've ever heard.

Johnny Steen

3y↑19

My dad was a piano technician and he once mentioned something about "spreading" the octaves out a little so the interval between notes was just a tad longer, he said this was a good compromise and tends to sound better than straight equal temperament. But my memory is a little fuzzy.

Ray Del Rosario

I'm assuming Elton John uses that technique.

Carsten Altvater

Your dad was absolutely right. Especially if you play music from the romantic period an equal tunig it is tantalising to (especially my) ears. The spreading makes the piano sound more brilliant and richer.

Irwin Shung

2y↑6

This is actually related to the physics of strings under great tension, and not because of an attempt to create pure intervals. Piano strings tuned to the integer ratios described in this video will still beat, necessitating that the piano be tuned "slightly out of tune."

Steve A. B.

2y↑1

This answered many questions I had but could barely form into words. It also showed me how much more there is to music than I thought there was, and how incredibly complex and magical it is. Thank you.

Danny Taddei

3y↑341

I’m 58 and started playing piano at age 2. I make my living from music. I studied my entire life and though I knew the basics of this I have never understood it as I do now. Your videos are superb and I always learn something from them. Thank you.

Dean Burgess

yes taddeiiii ... when micro-tonality seemed so far away..

Edward Clark

You go old man!

Ren

It makes you think about how many things we take as granted.

Jellocicle

3y↑1

This is so wholesome

I don't know

@Hi Everybody Trombone more like tromboner

7 More Replies...

Johnny Pope

3y↑4

This is one of the most informative & interesting videos I've ever watched. I know music theory, and I know a lot about synthesizers and stuff, but this video taught me a lot of things I didn't know and provided several Aha moments. Great job. Well produced, well written, and well narrated.

rockstar450

3y↑1

I love your work you are so experienced yet take so much pride in the accessibility of music the scene is lucky to have you!

Christopher Green

2y↑6

I have a Master's degree in Music Theory, and you just explained this subject so much better than I could have!

Plissken

2y↑2

Maybe he has a doctorate.

Scott Vincent

2y↑4

Great video. You clearly show and explain the foundations of music theory.

Bryan Kehler

2y↑1

As a musician, I can't believe this is the first time I'm hearing about temperament. I had thought that how pleasing a song sounds in one key or another was fairly subjective and people were just being finicky when they insisted that it had to be in a particular key.

Chad Woolley

2y↑2

Great explanation! I've been an amateur musician for 40 years and nobody has ever explained intervals to me this way.

Steve Bond

3y↑1

Good job David, nice explanation. Talking microtones, Blues (e.g., on the guitar) would hardly work without string bending, that can be awesome. Couple all this with the different scales, key signatures & modes and mind blown! So much to learn. I could never grasp it sufficiently well at school (50 years ago) , became an electrician and later programmer, but now I'm relearning and videos such as this make it a lot easier.

P H

2y↑1

Wow! Absolutely fascinating! The whole of music is a giant compromise. Had no idea.

No wonder I was more Eric Morecambe than Andre Previn in my short-lived piano period.

Great video - thank you!

chipcurry

4y↑675

I’ve been playing music professionally for over 50 years, and this is the first time I’ve completely understood this.

OldCountryman

That’s sad.

Christer Albäck

Mee too :)

J Merlo

3y↑1

@tannertuner - Paradoxically, after having watched this marvelous video, I feel kind of redeemed from darkness.

J Merlo

@chipcurry - Same here. Lol.

Thomas Scheurich

You're better off not understanding it early in your years of trying to make it work professionally.

16 More Replies...

Mark Freiheit

3y↑1

Well-done. Great video. We learned the difference between 7 octaves using 2^7 x the original frequency, vs. 12 5ths (3/2)^12, to show the significant mathematical difference between the fifth the octave, when going up 7 octaves, in a “Physics of Music” class at Oberlin.

Tony Barry

3y↑3

What an excellent video. I love the combination of history, physics and music theory to eloquently explain a very complex topic. I was sorry to hear most music is equal interval, I’m sure we’re naturally atuned to the multiples of the the root note. The music of the spheres…

jgonzalezvalle

2y↑2

Hi David, I just saw your video, very interesting. Long time ago a music teacher gave me a much simpler and maybe more probable explanation about the origin of the notes (intervals). The starting point is that after the octave, the perfect 5th is perceived harmonious, and that is 1.5 times the frequency. So if you start with C, its fifth will be G. But hey, G must also have its own fifth too, and then you have D. You can continue this sequence of fifths until you end up in another C. This means that is the end of the sequence before it repeats itself. Then you put all the Fifths together and you realize you can only have 12 and those are our musical notes to this day. I would like to know your thoughts about it. Great channel. All the best!

Alan Kent

2y↑1

This was an excellent video. I had learned these things in music theory classes and music history. I bring this up because of the well tempered klavier.

I am interested in a discussion in modality and intervals relating to just temperament previous to the advent of equal temperament.

CanYaDigIt

3y↑461

“It’s not the frequency, but the intervals”

This makes so much sense!

Tonio Kettner

the sky is blue

Gamacé ou lapprentiessage

@Pierre Bierre Very impressed that the A at 1'05 is shown at 446Hz! Going crazy :D

Adolfo Samudio

3y↑1

The frequency is still what makes E sound like an E and a D a D. Melody is where the intervals start to matter.

Mark Hathaway

I had always heard that music was both notes and the spaces between. Now I have seen why the scale itself requires that. Thanks.

Johannes Rudbeck

to bad we have non pure intervals....

10 More Replies...

Pierre Chaput

2y↑1

Dude you Rock. I haven't seen anyone else on here who explains these things so clearly, completely and accessibly, with great relevant visual and audio examples. Thank you, I'm spreading the word. :)

Ohana ilo

2y↑4

This was a very helpful and educational broadcast. It had a, “University Professor like feel to the music lecture.” It explained it all in quite a good detail of the how and why, in dealing with the basic understanding of the mystery of music playing and arrangements. Thank you, well done. 👏🏆

Bekahoot

3y↑1

This was really interesting! I have studied some traditional music theory, but didn't quite understand why it works! I have had trouble sometimes because I think in intervals rather than notes, so it's great to hear you say that this really is what makes melodies. I also appreciate your emphasis that this is only the Western way of doing things. Too often our music classes give the impression that this is the only right way to make music.

Stalg Gelbean

2y↑1

Wow, amazing. This makes me understand music a lot more. 😊

Lo!KA

4y↑5.1K

Maybe more will be added in the next update.

Keags

2y↑1

Sorry but the developers stoped working on music a long time ago maybe try something fanmade

ハルちゃん

@Nana Macapagal their music is really awesome tho

Sven Kortjohn

Gotta upgrade from chromatic

Francis Chin

The next update: I can play F for respect, and X to doubt.

Stäni Steinbock

@GSM My banjo teacher explained to me why the note we call H is called B in English: "Well "Aitch" doesn't even sound like a note, does it?". The story is officially another, though: When writing the letter b you can see the round and "soft" forms of it. This was used for what in English is called "B flat", while, to indicate "B hard" (= B sharp) they wrote it with an h which, depending on the type of letters you use, has a hard angle. "Hard" is "Dur" in French (not sure if I spell it right) and that's what major scales are called in Swedish etc, scales with a major third. Scales with a minor third are called "moll" which, probably spelled a little differently in French, means "soft", to indicate a scale with a "soft" third.
I hope this explains a little of the background. BTW "Skarp" in Swedish can mean both sharp and hard, like a major third may be perceived, as compared to a minor one.

60 More Replies...

YKLWEF

Thanks for this exposition; it's always pleasing to hear from a musician who understands just intonation and uses it in his work. I believe, though, that your explanation for why the ear prefers JI intervals could have been more complete. It is because individual notes contain harmonic components which either align or clash with harmonic components from other notes. If I play C and E, for example, the fifth harmonic of C either aligns with or does a "wah-wah" against the fourth harmonic of E. This is made vivid if the two tones are sine waves without harmonics. Then there is dissonance at near unison, but that's it: other intervals have the same feel whether tuned JI or 12-tone.

sheepman

2y↑1

I really enjoyed this presentation. A tiny detail, though contrary to part of this video, is that luminaries such as Beethoven, Bach, Palestrina, Haydn, Brahms and Mozart, plus many others, all regarded the interval of the Perfect 4th as dissonant, not consonant. This is due to the 4th's 3:4 ratio of vibrations per second (vps) or hertz. The is due to the clash of the strongest harmonics in the overtone series of the two tones that make up a Perfect 4th interval, which form strong major and minor 2nds--highly discordant.

A few ordinary people, and lots of music professors, regard these Perfect 4th intervals as consonant. This drags us sadly back into "subjective" territory.

The discord of the Perfect 4th is--like other dissonant intervals--possible to mitigate through addition of chord tones and through melodic preparation before the discords arise.

The Perfect 4th seems to form that "pivot" point between concord and discord: From most consonant to most dissonant: Perfect Unison (technically not an interval at all), Perfect Octave (8ve), Perfect 5th. Then imperfect intervals: Major 3rd, Major 6th, Minor 6th, Minor 3rd. Then dissonances: Perfect 4th, Minor 7th, Diminished 5th (a.k.a. Augmented 4th, or tritone), Major 2nd, Major 7th, Minor 2nd.

Masi Guru

3y↑1

Played piano in my youth. Never really occurred to my about the number of notes. This is totally fascinating.

Bruce Kalter

2y↑1

Thank you, David, for another well done, informative, educational and interesting video.

Penultimate Name

4y↑251

It should be mentioned that before Bach instruments were tuned to the key the piece was written. Bach was a bit of a scientist. He was the first to prove an instrument can play in all twelve keys without continually tuning the instrument. The Well Tempered Clavier was written to prove it could be done.

Peter Harrison

3y↑1

@soaringvulture Sound designers who design and build instruments like those are the ones who usually come up with these kinds of ideas. From a practical standpoint, they're just too different from the way a normal keyboard, piano, or organ plays to be of any use in a performance or classroom setting. However, sometimes these guys come up with new ideas in design that are interesting and really do take off. The Theremin is one example. The Hammond B-3 organ is another. And also the Fender Rhodes electric piano. There's even a keyboard-based electric hurdy-gurdy. The keybed is in a circle, believe or not. You can find it here on YouTube. Not an easy instrument to play at fast tempo, but probably good at slow things.

soaringvulture

@Peter Harrison Why would you reverse the pitch other than to make yourself suffer?

Jon James

@watercool5 The note with the 3/2 ratio to another was noticed long before the diatonic scale in which it is the 5th one developed. This interval was at the heart of the Ancient Greek scale system. The diatonic scale was developed from there. It would be better to investigate how the 7 notes of the diatonic scale came to be chosen. Whilst I could give a trite modern perspective the actual historical development was far more interesting but complicated. Perhaps a follow up video will pursue this.

The black keys on a keyboard were mainly added to allow all the intervals of a major 3rd to be played. At the time the sounding of the two notes in this interval together was quite new and that is why they were set apart from the white ones. Much later many tried and failed to popularise keyboard layouts along the seemingly more logical lines you queried. Liszt mistakenly prophesied that one of these types demonstrated to him would soon replace the one over which he was then the supreme master. You are in good company.

The current keyboard layout of 2 sets of black notes in groups of 2 & 3 does uniquely map pretty well to the 12 diatonic scales as identified by music notation’s key signature note sequences. Perhaps Bach, at least, would not have composed so fluently amongst these scales without this layout. We are still using the same 12 scales and it’s notation so perhaps this explains the layout’s durability.

hiphop4eva

@watercool5 - Because the interval of a perfect fifth is five notes away.

Say you want to find the perfect fifth of the note C. You start on C, and start counting up to 5 STARTING ON C. So: C, D, E, F, G. Therefore, the perfect fifth of C is G. Say you want to find the perfect fifth of A. You do the same thing: A, B, C, D, E. The perfect fifth of A is E. The only exception to this is the note B, (the perfect fifth of B is F#) but that sparks an entirely different discussion entirely, so for the sake of simplicity you can just ignore that.

Basically, the names of these intervals aren't named after the ratio between the notes, they are named after the conventions of the keyboard. After all, an instrument player might not even know the mathematical details of the tuning system, but he would know about the notes that he uses to play music with. So doesn't it make much more sense to call the interval between C and G a "perfect fifth", than calling it "3 to 2 ratio"?

Peter Harrison

@watercool5 Well, what the other guys said about this is true. If you're really interested, there are books on the subject of the history of the piano, including what early designers and makers were doing. Bartolomeo Cristofori is credited with its invention, but there were many precursors. Suffice it to say that (as a pianist) the "two black keys, three black keys" arrangement is about as ergonomic a design that people have come up with over several centuries. As a side note, there have been keyboards with an "all white keys" design, but after having spent years playing an orthodox piano, I (or any other pianist) would have to totally change my technique for playing simple scales and arpeggios, let alone playing complex pieces. Also, there have been synthesizers in the last few decades where you can reverse the pitch of the keys so that the high notes are on the left, not the right. But since the actual physical keys themselves don't change their order, the fingerings are really messed up and non-orthodox.

19 More Replies...

David Hodgin

3y↑8

Wow. This is so complex. I often think of the early great composers, like Mozart and Beethoven, wondering though they knew this, could they articulate it? Great learning video, thank you.

Safetytrousers

2y↑1

@Stefan Hensel It was The Well-Tempered Clavier.

Zack C

2y↑1

It dates back to at least the fourth century BC, when Aristoxenus wrote his fairly comprehensive analysis of consonance and harmony. Prior to that, several of the more common intervals and intonations had been discussed and documented; Aristoxenus mainly expanded on those by documenting semitones and the like, as well as offering equal temperament as an alternative to the established “pure” Pythagorean intonation.

So yes, the twelve tone scale, the reasons for it, and discussions of temperament and intonation date back to millennia before Mozart and the like.

Stefan Hensel

You remember Bach writing a great lot of pieces for the "Well-tempered piano"? This.
Iirc, it was a big issue at Bach's times, and I imagine the composer was pretty glad when it was eventually settled, as it freed a lot of creativity in him.

Kimoki

3y↑1

It's been years since I've touched on any music theory. This was very clearly and simply explained. Fantastic job!

Mark Nicholson

2y↑1

Excellent video David, thank you. I look forward to your review of non-Western scales.

Larry Finke

Great informative video. I find it curious and somewhat disappointing that we derive such joy from imperfection. In physics and math, you want everything to fall into perfect alignment. Our twelve tone scale is such a compromise, but as a musician I am grateful that it exists.

Jakub Horodecki

4y↑162

This summary is the best I've seen on yt. And I was searching for information about this physics-music related area for some time now. Awesome video!

Tim Addison

Check out Howard Goodall's musical big bang the episode on equal temperament that is also rather good.

David Bennett Piano

4y↑16

Thank you Jakub! That means a lot!

mikechad

I remember the first time learning about keys(I'm a self taught pianist), I was trying so hard to spot if there's semitones between the "semitones" on the pianos, I was literally hummin on my room for HOURS to see if there is 😂

Eldjen NEMO

Hi David,

Thank you so much for these extremely clear explanations.
I finally understand what temperament means and how it works, although I must admit, I did not perceive any single difference between the intervals or chords you played in the "12 Tone Equal Temperament" system & the same ones you played in the "Just Intonation" system.
Never mind, it just confirms that I've got wax in my ears ;)

Rogério Toth

3y↑1

Awesome. I am not a musician, but I've learned a little saxophone in the past. That was very well explained. One new follower on board.

Tim Gurr

Great video. Thanks. As a life long singer this was really enlightening. I also have played guitar most of my life (simple chords) to accompany my singing. Now I have a better understanding as to why it’s more difficult to get the right “sound” when steel guitar strings age. Recently I noticed the difference in tuning to an electric piano versus a non-electric piano. The chords sounded more pleasing with just a slight tightening of the string (raising the pitch of each string just slightly). Electric piano’s are not impacted by the environmental changes within its habitat. Thanks again. I’ve subscribed and look forward to more of your videos.

snomeister

2y↑1

When I was first learning music theory I struggled so much because I'd have these types of questions like, "but WHY these 12 notes" and it would only leave me confused and hard to wrap my head around what I needed to learn. This video though, does such a good job explaining it that I wish I saw it sooner. Really wrapped up all the things I wondered about while emphasizing what is most important for us to take away from intervals. Thank you

yornavSY

Great! Thank you 🙏 Is there an explanation for why not all of these 12 tones were put in white? How did they came to put 5 in black and only 7 white? Why most scales like church scales are 7 notes? Thank you :)

Mad Hatter

3y↑1

This is such a fascinating, informative and educational video you have put together! Your presentation was excellent, and I found it most enjoyable! Thanks for sharing!

Luciano Drossi

This is a brilliant illustration. I’ve heard a piano teacher having a student asking why there are twelve notes. He couldn’t answer other than it’s just like that. You clear that answer out with your illustrations. Many thanks!

Ron Hutcherson

3y↑195

Thank you, David. I really needed this video.

Long ago I got frustrated with piano and trumpet because nobody could tell me why some key had 3 flats and another had 2 sharps, or why it mattered. Without the Why, it all seemed like rote memorization of arbitrary rules — something I still find painful. Many years later, you are the first one to successfully show me how those rules can be derived from physics and biology. Now, everything I learn has some foundation I can return to when I need help understanding or remembering.

Two months later, I've made more progress than I did in all of my high school years. I like practicing now; even scales are interesting. The music I love makes more sense to me and I am learning to reproduce some of those sounds.

With your help I am little bit happier. Thank you.

Zvonimir Tosic

BigBird Music

You explained it perfectly

For instance: scales. There seemed like so many scales to memorize. I hate the answer "thats just the way it is" because I knew there had to be some underlying logic. I thought it would be easier to understand WHY scales are created and work from the ground up, as opposed to brute force learning and memorizing. Turns out, I was right XD

Andrew E.

@Ron Hutcherson You’re inspiring! I can’t say I know how to play trumpet or piano, but I can speak as a trombonist. Playing concert notes (some instruments play a slightly different set of notes, so the commonly accepted notes displayed in the video and played on piano etc would be called concert notes, for anyone wondering) you can usually figure out a bit of naming convention for the scales and how to figure out which ones which, for example, when talking about flat scales, the previous flat is what the scale is named. Ok a B flat major scale, the B and E notes are flat. And on an E flat major scale, B E and A are flat, etc. Scales also begin and end on the same note, so as long as you know all twelve notes, know which ones are flat, and can play them, then you can figure out how to play a scale in any octave purely from the name. a scale of B flat has B and E flats, and goes B-flat C D E-flat F G A B-flat. It’s not a very music-theory way of explaining it, but it helps break the rote memorization of all the scales for me at-least.

Donald Bryant

@RWBHere Awesome addition. I did not know that and it makes total sense when you explain it that way, I'll make sure to mention that from now on.

Thanks for your kind words and for adding to it.

RWBHere

2y↑1

@Donald Bryant Thank-you, Donald. Very useful information. 🙂👍
One little addition: C Major has all 'white' notes because scales began with A Minor, and it's sensible to have a notation system with names beginning with the first letter of a commonly-accepted alphabet.

16 More Replies...

Christopher Hurkens

This video was surprisingly informative. I actually liked the sound of a 19 note octave, but wasn't a fan of a 24 note octave. Some of the notes sounded unpleasant.

John F

~~Superb~~ explanation of the physics behind our music. I've wondered about this for years and looked for but never found a thorough explanation until yours. Thanks...

Tomáš Beňo

this is great :) thank you! I was wandering about this a long time and no one has explained this to me in such a clear and demonstrative way :) the tuning software helped a lot !

Samuel Robinson

I would add that we also rarely hold cords for super long outside of the end of songs or in classical music, so you don't hear the beating unless it is isolated or you are REALLY listening for it

KipIngram

3y↑28

3:15 - provided the strings are the same mechanically and under the same tension. On a guitar, all of the strings are almost exactly the same length, but have very different frequencies; this is accomplished by making the "higher" strings thinner and stretching them more tightly (in some appropriate combination).

GurgMaster

2y↑1

Weird but as a mathematician and an average guitarist, this has made a lot of music make a lot more sense to me! Thank you

MMJ Centeral

3y↑34

It is however worth noting that eastern music uses half-sharp, half-flat, quater-sharp, and quarter-flat. Rather, In eastern music, there are 26 pitches in an enharmonic scale.

Zvonimir Tosic

Let me be blunt: and what is used as a TUNER in music with 26 pitches? Human ear? No chance. It maybe be the case they have 26 pitches because there is no consistent TUNING system (or device) there, and no standardised tuning, so in order to play "everything", or at least that it "sounds" as if it is played as "the original intended", there is such a wide array of pitches. Same would be if we wanted to play renaissance, baroque AND modern music on the same instrument, using ORIGINAL tunings of the instrument in each period — we'd need at least 24 notes in the octave. And I think that's the case with Eastern music; they play all the pitches, to encompass all (period) pieces, while in the West, the instruments are re-tuned for a specific period piece to keep the music notation simpler.

John Leake

2y↑1

Muddke Eastern music, do you mean? I agree, of course – tho' other traditions have different microtones (tones not recognised in traditional Western music.

John Sampson

2y↑1

@Grazikon I think he's trying to say foreigner music.

Grazikon

2y↑1

You are right to mention other kinds of music; I was going to do so myself. But what do you mean exactly by Eastern music? Chinese? Indian? Indonesian?

DJ

I think you have explained this complicated topic really well. Thank you :)

Gideon01

3y↑1

I've been playing the piano for over half a century now. I've never had this topic explained to me in such a clear, straightforward way. You've done an excellent job of it!

Pierre Paré-Blais

4y↑111

scales, tuning and temperament are my thing, I’ve studied them quite extensively. Also as a Balinese gamelan specialist who also studied gamelan tuning, I was very pleased to see that excerpt at the end of Wayan Tembres’ piece. On the subject of the origin of our 12tet system, most academics today agree that the explanation that 12-TET Music interval are chosen because they are the most consonant and pleasing to the ear is very eurocentrist explanation... in fact new research propose that most tuning system simply find their origins in the types of instruments that were instrumental (see what I did there) in that musical culture’s development. While the physics explanation of waveform you gave is correct, these fraction relationship (octave, third and fifth) only exist in wind and string instruments. That is, when you make a sustained musical sound on a string the spectral analysis of the sound will reveal that almost all the intervals of the 12tet system are present in just that single note. That is what we call partials of a sound. The first is of course the fundamental, 2 is the octave, 3 is the fifth, 4 is another octave, 5 is third, 6 is the fifth again, 7 is actually the minor 7th, 8 is octave again, 9 is a neutral 2nd, etc. as you keep goings up the more inharmonic the partial becomes in the case of a string, but the main "loudest" (if I can use that term) partials, the first 5-6, are strongly harmonic. These partials at their resptective amplitudes are what creates the distinctive sound of a string (which is how additive sythesis manages to emulate string sound by adding the partials to the fundemental at correct amplitude). The same is true for wind instruments but the exact order and amplitude of the partial are different, in fact with a wind instrument the partials are all completely harmonic. Since most of European musical culture evolved from those two instruments the 12 note system does indeed make the most sense and is likely the reason we developed it over the century into what it is today. Arguably some of the most diametrically opposed but equally sophisticated scale system found elsewhere in the world often derive their scale from pitched percussion instruments instead of strings and wind instruments. In Indonesia for example, the pelog system divides the scale in seven non equally distant tone, one theory for the origin is to look at the sound spectrum of a tuned metal bar, it is quite different from a string, after the fundamental, the next audible and strongest partial is not even an octave but somewhere closer to the triton, the next one is closer to the fourth, and the one after that is basically a 2nd, and so on. tuned metal bar are thus considered inharmonic, at the complete opposite from a tubular wind instrument. These specific partial are very close to how the pelog system is divided, not exact but close enough to suggest a strong correlation in the evolution of the scale and the instruments it evolved from, metal xylophone type instruments. Alright I’ve said enough about all this... I’ll finish with this little annecdote: Bach of all people was vehemently against equal temperament, arguing it made music boring, which temperament he preferred however is still subject of much debate in the musicology world ;)

soaringvulture

@Pierre Paré-Blais I'm not surprised that Bach regularly tuned his own keyboards. You have to constantly tune harpsichords and play them with a wrench nearby. The iron frame of the modern piano is a great time-saver since they now stay in tune for reasonable amounts of time.

Pteromandias

3y↑1

@lmnop1022 Maybe I’ll give it a listen. But my experience is that such microtonal stuff is just tedious, like reading an academic paper loaded with jargon but saying little.

lmnop1022

3y↑1

@Pteromandias O.K., but 'sounds nice' is a subjective evaluation. . Like most people, I was conditioned to 12-tone music, yet when I first heard Partch I instantly became an avid listener. It was more than just the micro-tonal system being used, it was the composition, orchestration, timbres, libretto, and energy.

Pteromandias

@lmnop1022 The music. I have rarely heard anything that sounded nice when more notes were added to the octave.

lmnop1022

@Pteromandias The music, or my comment?

22 More Replies...

Jose Acosta

Amazing explanation - thank you. I learned so much.
One additional tidbit that might enhance this even more… I heard on an NPR show that an Octave is based on the difference between an average male voice and an average female voice. If you get a large group of people singing together, the women will tend to sing exactly 1 octave higher than the men. Interesting!

toomanypockets

bravo sir. best explanation on music theory i've heard in 30 years.

psiga

Brilliantly explained; thank you so much, David. This was Eureka! levels of mind-expanding for me.

Jeroen Schuurhuis

Great video, thanks! One question: why is it that the major scale comprising whole and half steps is our ‘basis’ and not the whole tone scale?

Paul Cutcliffe

Woah! I studied music theory as a kid and so I love your videos which remind me of much I've long forgotten. But then your intonation section blew my mind! I was just thinking how convenient it was that our twelve-note system worked out so perfectly with all its intervals, for you to then point out that they simply don't, and all our music is kinda broken! 🤯

TULAKAR JHA

Thank You David for this beautiful explanation! I was not able to understand why we would be fixated on 12 notes cycle in music even though some great musicians use the micro-notes setup in guitar. This explanation is a good start for me to study more deeply into the concept.

Gary Travers

Incredible video, thanks!

I'm still looking for the answers as to why we have no B or E sharps..?

After deciding the splits as explained in the video to give us the 12 tones system, how comes we 'label' them as we do.. and not in a sequence of letters...? So why have we ended up with labelled tones as sharps or flats etc..? ....and why no sharp for B and E...?

What have I missed? 🤔

Ron Michel

this is great! i have been looking for this kind of info. baught a flute, never played one before, and depend on knowing this kind of stuff. i hope that you make a video on musical phrases. (the story telling of music)

Ron Meldon

3y↑63

David, I've been appreciating and enjoying your videos, they are all so thoughtful and absorbing as well as being well-researched and produced. But in this one, you have surely exceeded even your high standards. This is simply one of the best music educational videos that I have ever seen - a complex subject clearly explained and articulated, placed in a carefully thought-out structure, all enhanced by first-rate graphics. And the whole work is presented with enthusiasm and an obvious love for your subject. Keep up the fine work!

Rich Crandall

2y↑2

I agree wholeheartedly. This is one of the finest educational videos of which I'm aware. Thanks, David.

liquidbraino

3y↑1

Your channel is great (and so far I've only seen this one video). I'm getting free music theory classes! Thank you for uploading this! Your (roughly) 489,000 subscribers just increased by one interval! :P

Gio Giochka

Dave Eifert

Fantastic information, very well arranged and delivered! Thank you!!

Anders Juel Jensen

THANK YOU! I've been trying to wrap my head around this for so long. You delivered the key insights in the perfectly logical order to make it instantly click for me. Ten thumbs up! :D

Kent Hawley

4y↑15

That was really well done. As a non-musician I don't always understand the theory and mechanics behind the notes and their arrangement. You made this very understandable.

Phil O'Donoghue

Excellent exposition of exactly what I wanted and need to know - and much more! I’ll be rewinding this video for ages. And grabbing more screenshots to print out, and taking notes, and using my whiteboard on its stand. Now I get what the basis of jazz is - dissonance. Which I can explain to fellow Classical music fans and players. THIS is why I paid out for a quality 88 key electronic with enhanced weighted keys. I’m glad you also employed brass ie trombone in your masterful class and hope maybe you’ll include saxophone in a future class. Also pleased, and relieved, to see electric guitars hanging on your wall in the background. I will be following, and have subscribed with notifications, from now on. Many many thanks. You are an excellent teacher. (I’m and English as a Second Language teacher and one conduit for me into music theory and application is approaching them as a language).

Mark Carey

Nice one. The only addition I could have made would be to the explanation of why simple intervals sound consonant to us - i.e. because of how our ears resolve pitches using groups of cillia - if the vibrated bands are cleanly separated across the harmonics of multiple tones then our brain has to do little work to resolve the sound and we perceive this easiness as pleasant.

Gruntol5

Incredible information for us amateurs. Thanks so much. At the other end of the scale (no pun intended) we had great jazz musicians like Errol Garner who couldn't read a note of music, yet became one of the great innovators in jazz with his own unique style. There are many other "naturals" like him.

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