Why do tunes you hear and don’t know yourself yet always sound more interesting and prettier than the ones you know and play?
:roll:
Sure, ruin my Sunday by causing me to ponder an unanswerable question!!! 
~Larry
I don’t know why it is, but it seems to be the norm.
Why do they call it a “pair of pants” when there’s only one article? And why do we drive on a parkway and park in a driveway? And who are “they”?
In answer to your question, I think it’s similar to the WhOA phenomenon, always wanting that which is not owned yet, or conquered yet. Of course, the opposite would be so much simpler - buy one whistle, learn one song and be done with it.
When you learn a tune you become familiar with it, obviously. I used to be interested in the theories of Daniel Berlyne, a psychologist interested in experimental aesthetics. Some of his theory and research had to do with familiarity, novelty and arousal. Here’s a web page which summarizes some of the main ideas in a simple way.
http://classes.yale.edu/fractals/Panorama/Art/Berlyne/Berlyne.html
Steve
because if you’ve played a song 6 billion 1/2 times you get kind of sick of it…
Familiarity breeds contempt.
On 2002-11-10 09:36, Kendahl wrote:
Familiarity breeds contempt.
Really? Always? If you have been married for a long time are you contemptuous of your wife. Are you contemptuous of your old and familiar friends. The original question took for granted that familiar tunes become less interesting and was looking for an explanation.
Steve
On 2002-11-10 08:20, SteveK wrote:
When you learn a tune you become familiar with it, obviously. I used to be interested in the theories of Daniel Berlyne, a psychologist interested in experimental aesthetics. Some of his theory and research had to do with familiarity, novelty and arousal. Here’s a web page which summarizes some of the main ideas in a simple way.http://classes.yale.edu/fractals/Panorama/Art/Berlyne/Berlyne.html
Steve
This is a quite interesting approach and information.
Cheers Steve
On 2002-11-10 07:27, ScottStewart wrote:
Why do they call it a “pair of pants” when there’s only one article? And why do we drive on a parkway and park in a driveway? And who are “they”?
And why do they call it an “apartment” when people live jammed together in the same building?
John
They don’t necessarily sound better,
and when they do, I suppose it’s
because they are. How’s that for
hard headed? I mean, there are a lot
more tunes than the ones I know,
and some of them are bound to
be prettier. But much of what
I hear and don’t know leaves
me cold. Best,
Tunes that you like, that strike some chord within you, that you want to “own”, are in some ways an unattainable ideal. You will never precisely reproduce the original feeling you had, when first you fell in love with them, but you are human, and you will try, because it was such a good feeling.
And in that striving, who knows – you may produce something that will give that same feeling to another.
You may also produce absolute crap. I know how that works, ooooh, so well!
Cheers,
Bill Whedon
On 2002-11-10 06:07, sweetone wrote:
Why do tunes you hear and don’t know yourself yet always sound more interesting and prettier than the ones you know and play?
:roll:
Because the ones you hear are on CDs or at concerts given by professional musicians who are very good at what they do even without the advantages of amplification, effects, mixing and editing.
I agree that professional playing w/ sound engineering adds a lot to the feel of a tune. And when you first learn it, it’s not that smooth. After I learn a new tune and beat it into the ground practicing it, I might lay off awhile and come back to it. When I really know it and can focus more on expressing the feel of the tune rather than the mechanics of getting it correct, it regains a lot of its glamour. If I’m in a particular mood and that tune fits it, and I use the tune to express the mood, then it really sounds nice to me.
Also, coming back to the recording that originally inspired you after you learn it is very interesting. You pick up little details and nuances you didn’t notice before. It speaks to you in a different way.
Tony
I think not knowing where a song is going is a magic that a new song can offer over an old.
Old songs, smells, textures and sounds can bring us back in time. That is why music is so powerful to the elderly, it transports them.
New music is full of new visualizations and mystery like an untravelled path.
There is something wonderful in the unknown as there is magic in revisiting the familiar.
On 2002-11-10 06:07, sweetone wrote:
Why do tunes you hear and don’t know yourself yet always sound more interesting and prettier than the ones you know and play?
:roll:
For me that’s not the case. Some tunes I get sort-of tired of after a while, but other tunes grow on me the more I play them.
Jens