Added: 11 months ago
From: MikeLombardoMusic
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  • So... I get why some chords are more pleasant than others but why certain chord progressions?

  • I liked the video, but you didn't really explain why these intervals are pleasing to the human ear. All you did was state that they are particular ratios. It was interesting though :)

  • @radpotterrelatedname I said it's because their waveforms interfere to create a pleasing resultant waveform.

  • I was distracted by the changes in your lava lamp...

  • that was a great explaination of chords...but i'm still perplexed as to why certain progressions sound so appealing. like why does C-D-Db sound minor, and is associated with feelings of fear and distress. how do waves impose emotion on the human brain? I find it amazing that sound can do that.

  • It's physics all over again, only...awesomer. Consonance and dissonance...it's all coming back to me!

  • So cool! I love learning about hows brains work :)

  • Ah HA! (You gave me an ah HA! moment.) I'd be interested in seeing a video where you played perfect fifths vs combinations that are NOT pleasing to the ear. Is the wave form different?

  • Very nice. I'm glad you threw the part in about plainchant and why that was pleasing. Interestingly, those open sounds were considered sacred and other intervals (any type of major or minor second, third, sixth or seventh) were not acceptable to sing in church. Oh how far we've come! ^_^

  • Don't you have a Music Theory Channel on YouTube? Should this video go there as well? Shouldn't there be a LINK to that insightful channel be in your description or maybe even an ANNOTATED LINK? Good info. Rock on!

  • just 45 seconds in i got soooo confused in another video can you dumb it down

  • i just stumbled on your website and what you said in this video makes some music stuff that I do have so much more sense. you are cool and i liked what i learned from ya. keep making videos!

  • Subscribed.

  • @imnotuniqueimmonique Thank you! :) Yes, that was very helpful. It's such a different system from where I live.

  • @MisterMrErik Thank you :) and well done for your 5 in Calculus!

  • You look insanely like my AS level British History teacher. Only about 10 years younger. You're both awesome.

  • Wow, your eyes are really beautiful!

  • This brought back a bunch of stuff I learned in a music classe I took a few years ago that I had forgotten I knew, plus taught me some new information. Very nice video, sir.

  • You have pretty eyes. <3

  • The more you know : p

    You should do more vlogs like this when you have the chance :)

  • Whoa. You're talented, good looking and smart. Are you single?

  • This was actually really interesting. You'd make a great music teacher when you weren't playing awesome music of your own!

  • I have learned so much today... :D

  • i already knew most of this, but the waveform of modern music was cool, great video :)

  • i learned smth new (-: thanks mike

  • Cool story, bro.

    Haha, just kidding. That's actually really freaking awesome. I usually dislike math and science, but when you put it with music it's very interesting.

  • Gosh, I love physics. (:

  • This video makes me miss music theory...I should see if I can fit it into my schedule for next semester considering I found out yesterday I'm completely done with my second major woo!

  • I'm pretty sure I learn more from your videos than I learnt from three years studying music at university.

  • i just finished (like today) learning about how sound waves that are opposite cancel out :P

  • Fascinating!

  • i think my favorite youtubers should be my teachers...i learn so much more from them and they're way more interesting.

  • i think my favorite youtubers should be my teachers...i lean so much more from them and they're way more interesting.

  • music theory = HAWT

  • Everything is better with graphs!

  • Will someone explain what a 5 on the AP is?

    :)

  • @AnnabellaTS In the US students in grades 9-12,usually 11&12,can take a college/university level course in a variety of subjects & possibly get college credit for it.You do so by taking an AP exam at the end of the year.The grading system is based on 0-5.5 is the best you can do on an AP exam.Essentially a lot of students take AP courses to get into good schools & save money by not needing as many credits.There are also IB courses,which I hear are harder.Hope that was helpful!

  • @imnotuniqueimmonique IB courses are for primarily international students. I don't mean to promote stereotypes, but they are generally harder because most students that take IB tests are Asians. Therefore, the tests must be harder in order to maintain a normal curve for scores...

    Man... I feel like a comment-whore.... 3 comments in 5 minutes

  • @MisterMrErik I know a lot of people who have taken IB courses/tests who are from the states.It seems to mainly be a choice of the school system to have either AP or IB, & IB tests are scored differently than AP tests,I believe they're scored on a 10 scale.I have never heard of it being primarily for international students, so I can't argue with that,but I will say that just because you say you don't mean to offend or promote something doesn't make it any more okay for you to do so.

  • @imnotuniqueimmonique It wasn't intended to offend anyone. That is the true reason why the tests are so hard. If the tests were easier then the scores would be strongly skewed with higher scores and it would be harder to curve the test and differentiate between intelligence. I don't want to debate, as that was not my initial intent and it reflects badly upon my character. Also, IB stands for International Baccalaureate

  • @MisterMrErik I was not intending to debate either, I just wanted to point out that what you said was rude and uncalled for.

  • @imnotuniqueimmonique That's an aggressive comment though.... If you didn't want to debate then what was the point of making that comment?

    It was not rude, and was called for as it explains why IB tests are generally harder.

    I will explain again a THIRD time... Perhaps you will understand... The mean scores for most Asians would normally be very high, and very concentrated. Therefore IB tests are harder to notice the difference between very smart and extremely smart.

  • @MisterMrErik You are working off of assumptions,I would like you to point me in the direction of not only statistics,but an official website that states that "...they are generally harder because most students that take IB tests are Asian."I completely understand what you are saying.If you had simply stated to some degree or another that IB tests are mostly taken by international students,whose course work is more rigorous and therefore they tend to do better on them,I wouldn't be upset.

  • @MisterMrErik It just really bothers me when people negate others who may not fall into what is typical.

  • @AnnabellaTS A 5 on an AP means that you got a 5 on an Advanced Placement test. Advanced Placement tests allow you to test your knowledge/skill in certain subjects in order to receive college credit for that particular subject/class. 5 is the highest score

    I for example took AP Calculus BC and scored a 5. This means that I can use this score to "test out" of my Calculus I and II classes at most universities. But all universities have different standards for what score allows you to "test out."

  • music nerdiness = awesome. this video just made my day!

  • stop being so adorable please 

  • Look how fancy you are with your numbers.

  • Mike Lombardo, I learn so much from you. Even when you talk about stuff that I already know. Seriously. Your explanations are so clear, they not only introduce new information, but they help lock in existing information.

  • @mickeleh thank you sir

  • Great video :).

    I've been thinking about music and chords and stuff a bit today and then when I checked my subscriptions this is pretty much the first thing I saw ^_^.

    Learning stuff in a fun way is awesome :).

  • I am so tired while watching this... I cant understand a thing... : (

  • I like Milo videos. And learning. I liked this video.

  • Yeah about 5ths except that in baroque and renaissance harmony paralel 5ths weren't used because the sounds of 5ths an octaves merge slightly so that when a piece moves chord if you have 2 parts moving the same interval when they are 5ths it sounds like just one part (free flowing movement of parts is more important), soz, i am a geek and just jumped on the opportunity to talk about that

  • I love it when you explain music like this. Where does all your knowledge come from?

    I mean seriously, I wanna learn!! =D

  • you are too smart for my head.

  • @tonjesml you are too cool for your mom

  • awesome upload i enjoyed learning about the noise canceling head phones

  • This kind of stuff about waves is a level physics, can you do my exam for me? :P

  • @SuperFrazerS I got a 5 on the AP.

  • @MikeLombardoMusic Argh you serious?!?!? A 5!?!?!?! My exam's in English Literature and World History...do you think you can do it for me?? (A)

  • @MikeLombardoMusic Congrats on the 5.

    Which Physics test? Physics B?

    And did you happen to take any other tests?

    Much respect for your musical talent and knowledge of wave interference.

  • @MikeLombardoMusic holy shit, thats absurd. whats your IQ?

  • Ugh, your absolutely adorable.

  • I'm very interested in the idea of simplexity (how simple things are actually complex, or vice versa) and I love that you call this a simplification. To somebody who has little experience with wave patterns etc. this would look very complex, but I guess it is simpler than trying to explain why mankind universally likes things :P

  • As a college trained musician, I am extremely excited that that you actually know all this stuff and show it!

  • WHY COULDN'T YOU HAVE MADE THIS VIDEO LAST WEEK WHEN I HAD A TEST ON IT!?!?!

  • Gawddd I love nerds, so much.

  • Firstly, Mike, AWESOME SCIENCE!

    Secondly, thanks for using my intro. =D

    You're brilliant and inspiring and I look forward to all your videos.  Keep it up.

  • Intelligent and attractive? Preposterous!

  • @BeautifulAbsurdities Inconceivable!

  • @MikeLombardoMusic Glad to know guys like that exist. ;)

  • @BeautifulAbsurdities And also a great musician! HE'S A WIZARD.

  • I feel smarter because of this video

  • Are the intervals mentioned here enjoyed around the world in the same way, or are other intervals preferred in different, non-european based countries? I am thinking if how strange japanese, chinese, indian and african sounds seem to me.- do they have or use chords? How do theirs compare to ours?

  • @bubblemum Eastern music doesn't use the 12-tone system and so it is made up of different intervals. It is in fact fundamentally different than what we are used to, and I don't have a whole lot of training in Eastern music so I'll just suggest that you turn to the interwebs for info ;)

  • Oh, yes. Two things I love combined: science and music. This makes me happy. :) Thank you, Mike Lombardo. :)

  • hi mom. :)

  • such. dreamy. eyes. MIKE LOMBARDO!!!

  • I watched this after returning from my AP Music Theory review session.

  • I liked this when I saw the 'Hi mom' annotation.

  • I usually enjoy your videos but I'm taking a class called Speech Science and it bores the pants off me, so I just can't enjoy talking about the waveforms you discussed (I was still excited that I understood what you were talking about because I'm a speech path nerd :] )

    I'll come back and watch this on a day when I don't have speech science at 8:30 AM

  • I might pay more attention if my computer wasn't skipping

  • Pretty cool, thank you :)

  • will you teach at my school... please?

  • "Hi Mom" LOL

  • Thanks for explaining! I knew the stuff about the ratios, but didn't understand how the waves interacted with each other. The meeting of math and music always intrigues me, especially when it starts getting into the Pythagorean comma and circle of fifths. It's just amazing how our ears can perceive minute differences in waves!

  • omg. stop being so cool 

  • @HPnerdfighter no wai

  • Haha, *this* is a vast oversimplification.  Wow.

  • and this is why music without emotion is math.

  • this is about to get a ton of views...

  • Hi Mom

  • I was actually wondering how Noise Cancelling worked.

  • @Nerdylation Not to be confused with Noise Isolation, which basically just blocks out external sound by squeezing the shit out of your head.

  • hi mom.

  • Why do I hate the ice cream changes?

  • @colourfulwithaU are you lactose intolerant?

  • @Nerdylation

    Old joke. Heard it already. And no. But I am a music major. -_-

  • I don't think it's just mathematical - it's as you said - earlier traditions placing higher value (value might be a controversial word) on these intervals (which then you might argue is because of the maths.. but I'm not sure). But then that doesn't explain why especially chord I vi IV and V are most common in pop music.. since the remaining chords still have thirds and fifths in them. I'm not arguing - I think it's a really good video, I'm just interested.

  • @annath3awesome Since octaves, fourths, and fifths were traditionally used in religious music, they have come to be known as "perfect" intervals, vs the others which are major/minor. But the reason they were the first intervals used is because they are so acoustically pure. It is a (relatively) recent phenomenon that major thirds sound good to us.

  • Hi Mom.

  • EPIC

  • @pogobat Gotta use my music degree for SOMETHIN, dude.

  • oh! In my music class when we're tuning flutes and brass instruments, one person is pitched correctly, then another person plays the same note. And if that instrument is exactly on the same pitch without being sharp or flat, then you can kind of hear the note in waves...

    And when this happens, you can hear a small buzzing, apparntly from the sound waves hitting our snare drum.

    Is this why that happens? Becuase of the frequencies and stuff? :)

  • @cooliokats Great question! What you're hearing are called "beats" which when the ratios are VERY close to 1:1. Since the waveform is so close to being perfectly smooth, you can hear the places where the peaks and valleys are interfering with each other. Piano tuners listen to the beats and count them when they're tuning pianos.

  • huh, now it makes much more sense. I like understanding things. :)

  • so i guess thelonious monk's sound waves are pretty crazy huh?

  • Too cool. Starting at Smith next semester to become a math teacher...everyone asks me why I love math...THIS is why I love it.

  • I learn more in a 2 minute video of you explaining stuff than I do in a year long music class at school.

  • The fact that this can be mathematically explained blows my mind. And yeah. You're awesome for knowing just how to explain it in a way that I can at least grasp the concept. :) Also, lolol @ "hi mom" moment.

  • You're smart, and stuff. 

  • Oh! So Mike, I was wondering what your story is as to how you got on to Buck Factor originally. Did you know Buck before he featured you (I remember that btw :))? I really want him, or anyone, to see some of the 'stuff' I do, and I thought you'd be the right person to ask for advice. :). Thanks so much!!

  • @redhairedgirl35 send him a tweet!

  • @MikeLombardoMusic

    :)

    Will do.

    I'll even send one to shutupbuck (shhh!!!)

  • books?

    The word book makes me want to watch Hard Days Night.  I love when Paul's grandfather, that clean fellow says books :P

  • WE'RE MAKING A MUSIC VIDEO??? I wanna help!! Why have I not heard of this???!

  • @redhairedgirl35 Because I haven't announced it yet! That's going to be my next video. Oh and there's prizes.

  • @MikeLombardoMusic

    Oh yeah. Excitement.

  • These are the Mike Lombardo videos I love. "Dumbing down" amazing theories and just pouring out musical knowledge and wisdom for those who are ignorant. :)

  • @PlethoraShae I don't like to say "dumbing down." I think of it as introducing my audience to the basic elements of a concept, so they can see if it's something they're interested in or not. If they are curious, then go look stuff up on their own, mission accomplished. There's no way I could ever completely cover a concept like this in a 5 minute video and not leave a bunch of people totally confused :)

  • Another physics video! YAY!

  • music and math?!! Great video. Very accessible even to non-math people like me. :D

  • @merpiper That's good to hear. I'm always worried that I'm moving too fast because I take for granted understanding those concepts. You should check out MusicTheoryChannel here on youtube.

  • I have my soundwave test in Physics on Monday. This was EXCELLENT timing [=

  • My precalculus teacher was the one who originally got me into the math behind music. The Friday before Christmas break every year, he knows he won't be able to lecture, so he brings in a few of his guitars and a bass, then uses LoggerPro to show what the sound waves look like. It's amazing.

  • This is actually really interesting. I wish I was taught this in school.

  • If I see (hear) How Equal temperament perfect harmony and why you should care by ross duffin one more time my head will explode and green stuff will go flying everywhere. I can find that book Nowhere! and I can't order it off amazon cause I have haz stuff already being mailed in for other sites RAHHH!

  • @ThatsKindaGraphic Tell your library you want to read it. They should order it for you.

  • @MikeLombardoMusic I did a very long while ago but it will take forever because they just got like 12 boxes "popular books" and my school library doesn't carry any books on music. So It'll be like...a year and a half.

  • This is super-cool. 

  • This was absolutely fascinating. I will check out those links tomorrow (or... today. Damn you 3AM!!)

  • When I first heard Hank say that my first thought was "I bet Mike Lombardo could explain why" :P

  • @BeBopALula1 damn skippy

  • Great explanation, one small thing though. Many of these intervals don't exist in musical systems outside Western Art music. For people born into areas of the world that use different musical systems, harmonic progressions would just sound "other" (just how if we were to sit and listen to gamelan, it would be difficult to make sense of the construction of the music). Some may find it unpleasant. Therefore, I think it's more accurate to say that these intervals sound pleasing to the Western ear.

  • @smashley008 As I said, it's a huge oversimplification. Even more important than making the Western distinction, I didn't even go into the overtone series, which has a HUGE effect on our perception of sound and is WHY Western music is the way it is. You are right to point that out, though.

  • @MikeLombardoMusic Very true. I'm in first year music at university and therefore don't really know many details about the physics side of music, so I'll definitely be looking out for any more videos you make on the topic (well, all the others too of course but this topic specifically). Especially because I'm being taught how to hear the differences between chords and I've found that having some understanding of the science to be helpful. Thanks for sharing your awesome with us :)

  • Math and physics making ice cream delicious.

    Hoo-ha!

  • Hi mom.

  • Also, my choir did a Gregorian chant last year, I think it was.

  • Yay! :) I learned about the noise canceling things last year. And then we were at this science thing with our class and there was a device with a microphone (I can't remember what it was called) but it took the noise you made and turned it into an image of soundwaves. So my self and some other people in my group that were in choir sang onr of our songs into the mic. The guy was like "you have very nice looking music." So it kind of made us laugh.

  • @otakubabe555 "oscilloscope"

  • @MikeLombardoMusic Yes, that was the one. :P Also, I hope you had a good birthday. :)

  • Thanks for putting this up, Mike!

    As an inspiring musician, it was pretty interesting.

  • great video and You should look up "The Art of Sound" on Youtube if you havn't already its a study where there is sand on a metal slate and when a note is played the sand forms to the sound so you can actually see the sound and it changes as the notes change which i find very interesting. btw i found you through Andy Glover so idk what that suppose to mean except for he doesn't have as many subs as others nvm it doesn't matter.

  • "Hi Mom" lol

  • More more you know~

    This was actually really cool.

    I've learned.

  • ur eyes look AMAZING

  • Ahh, Mike. Funny jokes are funny.

    Your geeky-ness is AWESOME. Also, your freaking lamp is covering my painting. AGAIN.

  • @starrrry311 It's awesome! I look at it every day.

  • Thanks, learned a lot

  • I knew a little about the before, but hearing it this way makes so much more sense.

  • Dammit Mike, why couldn't you do this video when I was writing a Physics paper on THIS VERY SUBJECT.

    Rude.

    But still, excellent. I learned.

  • I felt smart that I actually knew the answer to this before I saw this video. :)

  • I love this. Music nerds are the best. And this is fascinating :)

  • Good Joke :P

  • FIRST!

    lolz, thanks, this is a great video! though a new song wouldnt hurt ;)

  • Today's pre-processing comment joke:

    Yo momma's so fat, she has obesity-related health issues.

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