Monday, January 28, 2019
Take this test to figure out how tone-deaf you are
The Verge: Over at Harvard University, the department of psychology has opened a new lab to study the science of music. While this is sure to lead to plenty of interesting research in the future, the important takeaway from this news is that the Music Lab has created a citizen science platform where the general public can take various music quizzes and contribute to research.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I spent a good part of my morning going through these different types of tests, and taking them. The most difficult one for me was the test which would play you an unfamiliar song in an unfamiliar language, and ask you to identify what the song's use would be. I would guess one with the utmost confidence, only for the actual answer to be the opposite. I think this one, while being the most difficult, was also the most interesting. When listening and trying to discern the meaning, I would rely on my own knowledge, so if it was a dance song, what do Western English speaking countries dance songs sound like, and so on. If I thought a song sounded sad, it may have been for a happier meaning. While some of my reasoning may have actually led me to the correct answer, I also got to hear how other cultures convey meaning through song. While I am not entirely sure what is has to do with telling me if I'm tone deaf or not (I'm sure there's an educated reason somewhere), I still think the test itself is an interesting way to test yourself on deduction using only aural skills.
Taking these tests that Harvard Music Lab provided were very interesting because it allowed me to think about how I hear sound in a different way. I love listening to music, and it is interesting to see how my brain perceives different sounds and music based on what I have been influenced by in the sounds I hear on a regular basis. It also gave me the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of some of the things we have talked about in Production Audio class with Joe- like how pitch and frequency affects how you are able to perceive sound. I always enjoy taking tests like these because they give me insight into my own perception of things while also allowing me to dig deeper into things that I am learning about on a day to day basis. It would be interesting to see a chart of comparisons that went deeper than just saying “you scored 44% better than the average person”, and see how you line up in comparison to other people who are from similar age ranges, backgrounds, etc compare.
Post a Comment