The Reason Why All The Songs On The Radio Sound The Same Might Make You Blush

[Glassunion]

53. Quite interesting indeed.

I have been ear training for quite some time, however have yet to achieve perfect pitch.

My area of study is simply in music theory itself without much of the science behind it. That has become more of a hobby on the very basic level.

Most of my understanding comes from simply reading a few books centered around the cognitive neuroscience of music. I found two that were very well suited for the layman, who does not have a higher level of understanding of neuroscience. My education is on the theory behind music with a little bit of the science of acoustics. I can't tell you why one small part of the brain will process a C# and another a B, but I can tell you that the drums will sound way better if you can open the room up to allow it to share airspace with another room of equal size, yet not sound as good in a room that is simply twice as big.

The beauty of music and sound in general to me is that it is all relative. No two people hear it in the same way. That said, we do process it similarly unless there is an abnormality in the brain. I enjoy using dissonance, as it adds a layer to the complexity of the piece. Dissonance to our ears always wants to resolve, and a good composer will always make it interesting. Harold Arlen (Somewhere Somewhere Over the Rainbow) and the Police (Roxanne) are two examples of using the exact same dissonance, but in two completely unique ways. Judy' Garland's first two notes contained in the word "Somewhere" in the start of the song, is a rather difficult to sing full octave jump from C4 up to C5. Without going into crazy details, the size of the interval bothers our brain a bit, so Arlen brilliantly brings in a dissonant note only a half step down from the C4 (the Maj 7th), for the "O" sound in over, which is just begging to be resolved to that 5th (the G) when she sings "ver" part of the word. Then it gently glides up the scale. Then for the remainder of the verse the intervals are no longer that large, leaving you with a comfortable feeling and simple yet brilliant resolutions.

Now Sting on the other hand, takes the exact same leap of interval (Key of B flat), and the same dissonant note (Maj 7th) yet he is stretching the limits of his range, and after belting out that jump in the word "Roxanne", he falls back to that 7th, but instead of bringing it down he continues to bounce around it at the very high end of his range, only to finally bring it to resolution on that F when he sings the word "light".

Same interval, same dissonant note, same resolution note. Completely different application.