How did the crowd guess the pentatonic scale in Bobby McFerrin's presentation? The 2019 Stack Overflow Developer Survey Results Are In Unicorn Meta Zoo #1: Why another podcast? Announcing the arrival of Valued Associate #679: Cesar ManaraWhy does the minor pentatonic scale sounds “oriental” to me?Pentatonic scale chordsHow major pentatonic scale is built?Different modes of pentatonic scaleHow to use power chords with pentatonic scale?The notes outside the major scale form a pentatonic scaleCan a pentatonic piece have notes outside the scale?Half-diminished pentatonic scale?Keyboard fingering for pentatonic scaleChords going well with pentatonic scale and blues scale?
What force causes entropy to increase?
Sub-subscripts in strings cause different spacings than subscripts
Circular reasoning in L'Hopital's rule
Can I visit the Trinity College (Cambridge) library and see some of their rare books
Single author papers against my advisor's will?
Solving overdetermined system by QR decomposition
How do I design a circuit to convert a 100 mV and 50 Hz sine wave to a square wave?
Define a list range inside a list
Homework question about an engine pulling a train
What aspect of planet Earth must be changed to prevent the industrial revolution?
number sequence puzzle deep six
Drawing vertical/oblique lines in Metrical tree (tikz-qtree, tipa)
Why doesn't a hydraulic lever violate conservation of energy?
Is 'stolen' appropriate word?
how can a perfect fourth interval be considered either consonant or dissonant?
How to support a colleague who finds meetings extremely tiring?
What does Linus Torvalds mean when he says that Git "never ever" tracks a file?
Keeping a retro style to sci-fi spaceships?
"is" operation returns false even though two objects have same id
What's the point in a preamp?
Did the UK government pay "millions and millions of dollars" to try to snag Julian Assange?
Didn't get enough time to take a Coding Test - what to do now?
Why not take a picture of a closer black hole?
Does Parliament hold absolute power in the UK?
How did the crowd guess the pentatonic scale in Bobby McFerrin's presentation?
The 2019 Stack Overflow Developer Survey Results Are In
Unicorn Meta Zoo #1: Why another podcast?
Announcing the arrival of Valued Associate #679: Cesar ManaraWhy does the minor pentatonic scale sounds “oriental” to me?Pentatonic scale chordsHow major pentatonic scale is built?Different modes of pentatonic scaleHow to use power chords with pentatonic scale?The notes outside the major scale form a pentatonic scaleCan a pentatonic piece have notes outside the scale?Half-diminished pentatonic scale?Keyboard fingering for pentatonic scaleChords going well with pentatonic scale and blues scale?
The video below is entitled "The Power of the Pentatonic Scale". And from the video you'd think that people are inherently tuned to the pentatonic scale. But I was wondering if they're really inherently tuned or did Bobby tune them? Could they have just been easily tuned to the major scale (or even minor scale)?
In the video the C# pentatonic consists of the notes C# D# F (aka E#) G# A#
at 0:19 he jumps on the note of C# a few times to establish the root
at 0:33 he jumps on the note of D#
at 0:42 the crowd correctly guesses the F. which is kind of cool but it makes sense since it could be the major scale.
at 1:06 he jumps on the pitch of A#
he then plays on A#, C#, D#, F for awhile
at 1:56 the crowd correctly guesses G# (which is amazing)
at 2:02 the crowd correctly guesses F (which is super amazing bc they figured out it was pentatonic)
at 2:05 the crowd correctly guesses D#
at 2:07 the crowd correctly guesses the tonic of C#
So my question is if at 1:06 had he jumped to the seventh of the scale (C) instead of A#, would that have made the crowd guess the major scale instead of pentatonic? It's not like humans are just about pentatonic right?
scales
add a comment |
The video below is entitled "The Power of the Pentatonic Scale". And from the video you'd think that people are inherently tuned to the pentatonic scale. But I was wondering if they're really inherently tuned or did Bobby tune them? Could they have just been easily tuned to the major scale (or even minor scale)?
In the video the C# pentatonic consists of the notes C# D# F (aka E#) G# A#
at 0:19 he jumps on the note of C# a few times to establish the root
at 0:33 he jumps on the note of D#
at 0:42 the crowd correctly guesses the F. which is kind of cool but it makes sense since it could be the major scale.
at 1:06 he jumps on the pitch of A#
he then plays on A#, C#, D#, F for awhile
at 1:56 the crowd correctly guesses G# (which is amazing)
at 2:02 the crowd correctly guesses F (which is super amazing bc they figured out it was pentatonic)
at 2:05 the crowd correctly guesses D#
at 2:07 the crowd correctly guesses the tonic of C#
So my question is if at 1:06 had he jumped to the seventh of the scale (C) instead of A#, would that have made the crowd guess the major scale instead of pentatonic? It's not like humans are just about pentatonic right?
scales
sorry for all these questions lately, but this question is something I've had on my mind for months and I need to know.
– foreyez
1 hour ago
My take on this is that his whole point was that everyone knows the pentatonic scale because they’ve heard it so many times. It’s a universal thing that spans cultures.
– Todd Wilcox
1 hour ago
add a comment |
The video below is entitled "The Power of the Pentatonic Scale". And from the video you'd think that people are inherently tuned to the pentatonic scale. But I was wondering if they're really inherently tuned or did Bobby tune them? Could they have just been easily tuned to the major scale (or even minor scale)?
In the video the C# pentatonic consists of the notes C# D# F (aka E#) G# A#
at 0:19 he jumps on the note of C# a few times to establish the root
at 0:33 he jumps on the note of D#
at 0:42 the crowd correctly guesses the F. which is kind of cool but it makes sense since it could be the major scale.
at 1:06 he jumps on the pitch of A#
he then plays on A#, C#, D#, F for awhile
at 1:56 the crowd correctly guesses G# (which is amazing)
at 2:02 the crowd correctly guesses F (which is super amazing bc they figured out it was pentatonic)
at 2:05 the crowd correctly guesses D#
at 2:07 the crowd correctly guesses the tonic of C#
So my question is if at 1:06 had he jumped to the seventh of the scale (C) instead of A#, would that have made the crowd guess the major scale instead of pentatonic? It's not like humans are just about pentatonic right?
scales
The video below is entitled "The Power of the Pentatonic Scale". And from the video you'd think that people are inherently tuned to the pentatonic scale. But I was wondering if they're really inherently tuned or did Bobby tune them? Could they have just been easily tuned to the major scale (or even minor scale)?
In the video the C# pentatonic consists of the notes C# D# F (aka E#) G# A#
at 0:19 he jumps on the note of C# a few times to establish the root
at 0:33 he jumps on the note of D#
at 0:42 the crowd correctly guesses the F. which is kind of cool but it makes sense since it could be the major scale.
at 1:06 he jumps on the pitch of A#
he then plays on A#, C#, D#, F for awhile
at 1:56 the crowd correctly guesses G# (which is amazing)
at 2:02 the crowd correctly guesses F (which is super amazing bc they figured out it was pentatonic)
at 2:05 the crowd correctly guesses D#
at 2:07 the crowd correctly guesses the tonic of C#
So my question is if at 1:06 had he jumped to the seventh of the scale (C) instead of A#, would that have made the crowd guess the major scale instead of pentatonic? It's not like humans are just about pentatonic right?
scales
scales
edited 1 hour ago
foreyez
asked 1 hour ago
foreyezforeyez
5,50932687
5,50932687
sorry for all these questions lately, but this question is something I've had on my mind for months and I need to know.
– foreyez
1 hour ago
My take on this is that his whole point was that everyone knows the pentatonic scale because they’ve heard it so many times. It’s a universal thing that spans cultures.
– Todd Wilcox
1 hour ago
add a comment |
sorry for all these questions lately, but this question is something I've had on my mind for months and I need to know.
– foreyez
1 hour ago
My take on this is that his whole point was that everyone knows the pentatonic scale because they’ve heard it so many times. It’s a universal thing that spans cultures.
– Todd Wilcox
1 hour ago
sorry for all these questions lately, but this question is something I've had on my mind for months and I need to know.
– foreyez
1 hour ago
sorry for all these questions lately, but this question is something I've had on my mind for months and I need to know.
– foreyez
1 hour ago
My take on this is that his whole point was that everyone knows the pentatonic scale because they’ve heard it so many times. It’s a universal thing that spans cultures.
– Todd Wilcox
1 hour ago
My take on this is that his whole point was that everyone knows the pentatonic scale because they’ve heard it so many times. It’s a universal thing that spans cultures.
– Todd Wilcox
1 hour ago
add a comment |
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
Humans are pattern-seeking primates. And within Western culture, we have all internalized, consciously or not, the patterns of the major scale and pentatonic scale, because they're commonly used in folk songs and children's tunes.
Once Bobby jumps to that A♯ at 1:06, the audience recognizes the pitches not as the entire major scale, but as the specific subset of it known as the pentatonic collection. (Again, this recognition can be conscious or subconscious.) From there, the audience is able to guess G♯ as the next lowest note, followed by E♯ below that.
Had he jumped to a B♯ at 1:06 instead, their brains would have recognized it as the major scale, and they would have almost certainly sung down that scale, instead.
It is cool that the crowd "guesses" G♯ at 1:56, but it's to be expected. With what we know of our brains' key-finding algorithms, it's one of the few choices available to us. We want to sing something that "fits" with the pitches already presented, and we tend to favor smaller steps instead of larger leaps. And since the audience has been primed to accept C♯ as tonic, they wouldn't have sung a G♮ or A♮, because those don't fit into any common scale patterns built on C♯.
Keep in mind too that there may be some strength in numbers here. Audience members with more musical education probably sang more confidently than those that view themselves as "tone deaf." So when a new pitch came, I would bet some members suddenly went very quiet until they heard what their neighbors were singing. But that's just speculation.
One thing missed here is that he sings some of the “guessed” pitches first when he is singing along above the crowd.
– Todd Wilcox
1 hour ago
add a comment |
The crowd catch on quickly. But he cues them pretty strongly by singing the notes while setting up the pentatonic scale, and at 1'06" he definitely teaches the crowd what he wants. There's a similar demonstration online where he has to insist pretty strongly that he wants a ♭7 rather than a leading note.
He's got a point. He's got a lot of charisma. But yes, I think he could have done a similar demonstration (to a Western audience, at any rate) with a major scale.
add a comment |
Your Answer
StackExchange.ready(function()
var channelOptions =
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "240"
;
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);
StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function()
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled)
StackExchange.using("snippets", function()
createEditor();
);
else
createEditor();
);
function createEditor()
StackExchange.prepareEditor(
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader:
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
,
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
);
);
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function ()
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fmusic.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f82703%2fhow-did-the-crowd-guess-the-pentatonic-scale-in-bobby-mcferrins-presentation%23new-answer', 'question_page');
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
Humans are pattern-seeking primates. And within Western culture, we have all internalized, consciously or not, the patterns of the major scale and pentatonic scale, because they're commonly used in folk songs and children's tunes.
Once Bobby jumps to that A♯ at 1:06, the audience recognizes the pitches not as the entire major scale, but as the specific subset of it known as the pentatonic collection. (Again, this recognition can be conscious or subconscious.) From there, the audience is able to guess G♯ as the next lowest note, followed by E♯ below that.
Had he jumped to a B♯ at 1:06 instead, their brains would have recognized it as the major scale, and they would have almost certainly sung down that scale, instead.
It is cool that the crowd "guesses" G♯ at 1:56, but it's to be expected. With what we know of our brains' key-finding algorithms, it's one of the few choices available to us. We want to sing something that "fits" with the pitches already presented, and we tend to favor smaller steps instead of larger leaps. And since the audience has been primed to accept C♯ as tonic, they wouldn't have sung a G♮ or A♮, because those don't fit into any common scale patterns built on C♯.
Keep in mind too that there may be some strength in numbers here. Audience members with more musical education probably sang more confidently than those that view themselves as "tone deaf." So when a new pitch came, I would bet some members suddenly went very quiet until they heard what their neighbors were singing. But that's just speculation.
One thing missed here is that he sings some of the “guessed” pitches first when he is singing along above the crowd.
– Todd Wilcox
1 hour ago
add a comment |
Humans are pattern-seeking primates. And within Western culture, we have all internalized, consciously or not, the patterns of the major scale and pentatonic scale, because they're commonly used in folk songs and children's tunes.
Once Bobby jumps to that A♯ at 1:06, the audience recognizes the pitches not as the entire major scale, but as the specific subset of it known as the pentatonic collection. (Again, this recognition can be conscious or subconscious.) From there, the audience is able to guess G♯ as the next lowest note, followed by E♯ below that.
Had he jumped to a B♯ at 1:06 instead, their brains would have recognized it as the major scale, and they would have almost certainly sung down that scale, instead.
It is cool that the crowd "guesses" G♯ at 1:56, but it's to be expected. With what we know of our brains' key-finding algorithms, it's one of the few choices available to us. We want to sing something that "fits" with the pitches already presented, and we tend to favor smaller steps instead of larger leaps. And since the audience has been primed to accept C♯ as tonic, they wouldn't have sung a G♮ or A♮, because those don't fit into any common scale patterns built on C♯.
Keep in mind too that there may be some strength in numbers here. Audience members with more musical education probably sang more confidently than those that view themselves as "tone deaf." So when a new pitch came, I would bet some members suddenly went very quiet until they heard what their neighbors were singing. But that's just speculation.
One thing missed here is that he sings some of the “guessed” pitches first when he is singing along above the crowd.
– Todd Wilcox
1 hour ago
add a comment |
Humans are pattern-seeking primates. And within Western culture, we have all internalized, consciously or not, the patterns of the major scale and pentatonic scale, because they're commonly used in folk songs and children's tunes.
Once Bobby jumps to that A♯ at 1:06, the audience recognizes the pitches not as the entire major scale, but as the specific subset of it known as the pentatonic collection. (Again, this recognition can be conscious or subconscious.) From there, the audience is able to guess G♯ as the next lowest note, followed by E♯ below that.
Had he jumped to a B♯ at 1:06 instead, their brains would have recognized it as the major scale, and they would have almost certainly sung down that scale, instead.
It is cool that the crowd "guesses" G♯ at 1:56, but it's to be expected. With what we know of our brains' key-finding algorithms, it's one of the few choices available to us. We want to sing something that "fits" with the pitches already presented, and we tend to favor smaller steps instead of larger leaps. And since the audience has been primed to accept C♯ as tonic, they wouldn't have sung a G♮ or A♮, because those don't fit into any common scale patterns built on C♯.
Keep in mind too that there may be some strength in numbers here. Audience members with more musical education probably sang more confidently than those that view themselves as "tone deaf." So when a new pitch came, I would bet some members suddenly went very quiet until they heard what their neighbors were singing. But that's just speculation.
Humans are pattern-seeking primates. And within Western culture, we have all internalized, consciously or not, the patterns of the major scale and pentatonic scale, because they're commonly used in folk songs and children's tunes.
Once Bobby jumps to that A♯ at 1:06, the audience recognizes the pitches not as the entire major scale, but as the specific subset of it known as the pentatonic collection. (Again, this recognition can be conscious or subconscious.) From there, the audience is able to guess G♯ as the next lowest note, followed by E♯ below that.
Had he jumped to a B♯ at 1:06 instead, their brains would have recognized it as the major scale, and they would have almost certainly sung down that scale, instead.
It is cool that the crowd "guesses" G♯ at 1:56, but it's to be expected. With what we know of our brains' key-finding algorithms, it's one of the few choices available to us. We want to sing something that "fits" with the pitches already presented, and we tend to favor smaller steps instead of larger leaps. And since the audience has been primed to accept C♯ as tonic, they wouldn't have sung a G♮ or A♮, because those don't fit into any common scale patterns built on C♯.
Keep in mind too that there may be some strength in numbers here. Audience members with more musical education probably sang more confidently than those that view themselves as "tone deaf." So when a new pitch came, I would bet some members suddenly went very quiet until they heard what their neighbors were singing. But that's just speculation.
answered 1 hour ago
RichardRichard
45.4k7108195
45.4k7108195
One thing missed here is that he sings some of the “guessed” pitches first when he is singing along above the crowd.
– Todd Wilcox
1 hour ago
add a comment |
One thing missed here is that he sings some of the “guessed” pitches first when he is singing along above the crowd.
– Todd Wilcox
1 hour ago
One thing missed here is that he sings some of the “guessed” pitches first when he is singing along above the crowd.
– Todd Wilcox
1 hour ago
One thing missed here is that he sings some of the “guessed” pitches first when he is singing along above the crowd.
– Todd Wilcox
1 hour ago
add a comment |
The crowd catch on quickly. But he cues them pretty strongly by singing the notes while setting up the pentatonic scale, and at 1'06" he definitely teaches the crowd what he wants. There's a similar demonstration online where he has to insist pretty strongly that he wants a ♭7 rather than a leading note.
He's got a point. He's got a lot of charisma. But yes, I think he could have done a similar demonstration (to a Western audience, at any rate) with a major scale.
add a comment |
The crowd catch on quickly. But he cues them pretty strongly by singing the notes while setting up the pentatonic scale, and at 1'06" he definitely teaches the crowd what he wants. There's a similar demonstration online where he has to insist pretty strongly that he wants a ♭7 rather than a leading note.
He's got a point. He's got a lot of charisma. But yes, I think he could have done a similar demonstration (to a Western audience, at any rate) with a major scale.
add a comment |
The crowd catch on quickly. But he cues them pretty strongly by singing the notes while setting up the pentatonic scale, and at 1'06" he definitely teaches the crowd what he wants. There's a similar demonstration online where he has to insist pretty strongly that he wants a ♭7 rather than a leading note.
He's got a point. He's got a lot of charisma. But yes, I think he could have done a similar demonstration (to a Western audience, at any rate) with a major scale.
The crowd catch on quickly. But he cues them pretty strongly by singing the notes while setting up the pentatonic scale, and at 1'06" he definitely teaches the crowd what he wants. There's a similar demonstration online where he has to insist pretty strongly that he wants a ♭7 rather than a leading note.
He's got a point. He's got a lot of charisma. But yes, I think he could have done a similar demonstration (to a Western audience, at any rate) with a major scale.
edited 53 mins ago
answered 1 hour ago
Laurence PayneLaurence Payne
37.5k1871
37.5k1871
add a comment |
add a comment |
Thanks for contributing an answer to Music: Practice & Theory Stack Exchange!
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function ()
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fmusic.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f82703%2fhow-did-the-crowd-guess-the-pentatonic-scale-in-bobby-mcferrins-presentation%23new-answer', 'question_page');
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
sorry for all these questions lately, but this question is something I've had on my mind for months and I need to know.
– foreyez
1 hour ago
My take on this is that his whole point was that everyone knows the pentatonic scale because they’ve heard it so many times. It’s a universal thing that spans cultures.
– Todd Wilcox
1 hour ago