Rationality Quotes April 2012

Oscar_Cunningham

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Here's the new thread for posting quotes, with the usual rules:

Please post all quotes separately, so that they can be voted up/down separately. (If they are strongly related, reply to your own comments. If strongly ordered, then go ahead and post them together.)
Do not quote yourself
Do not quote comments/posts on LW/OB
No more than 5 quotes per person per monthly thread, please.

Aren't there people who can hear sounds but not music?

FWIW I've read a study that says about 50% of people can't tell the difference between a major and a minor chord even when you label them happy/sad. [ETA: Happy/sad isn't the relevant dimension, see the replies to this comment.] I have no idea how probable that is, but if true it would imply that half of the American population basically can't hear music.

At first, I found it unbelievable. Then, I remembered that I have imperfect perfect pitch: I learned both piano and french horn; the latter of which is transposed up a perfect fourth. Especially when I'm practicing regularly, I can usually name a note or simple chord when I hear it; but I'm often off by a perfect fourth.

Introspecting on the difference between being right about a note and wrong about a note makes me believe people can confuse major and minor, but still enjoy music.

0Bluehawk14y

Might have something to do with the fact that happy/sad is neither an accurate nor an encompassing description of the uses of major/minor chords, unless you place a C major and a C or A minor directly next to each other. I for one find that when I try to tell the difference solely on that basis, I might as well flip a coin and my success rate would go down only slightly. When I come at it from other directions and ignore the emotive impact, my success rate is much higher. In short: Your conclusion doesn't follow from the evidence.

25A1987dM14y

http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2074 It shocked the hell out of me, too.