My friend is a good player and unfortunately I've lost track of him. The last time I spoke to him he had moved to England and was playing in some sort of theatre production that included Jack Bruce in the band!! Life is strange and sometimes in a good way.
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Originally Posted by JayFreddy
About pitch recognition being hardwired, it is, but it can also be learned and/or acquired. Just like the ability to see color is hardwired, children can recognize pitch too, but if you don't teach them and reinforce it, they lose it over time. I think the same is true for rhythms too. Think about Latin music...
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Just to clarify I had said 'pitch detection' not 'pitch recognition'. By detection I mean to actually be able to physiologically hear a pitch. From your original post you said....
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Just as each person has their own their own personal pitch range, that being the highest and lowest notes you can audibly hear,..........
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....and it's that that I was refering to as pitch detecion.
Pitch recognition is something different and presupposes pitch detection. You have to hear it first before you can identify it. So it's pitch detection that I said seemed hardwired not pitch recognition. And I agree that pitch recognition is absolutely a learnable skill.
I don't see DiMeola's comment as racist in any way. His comment was not about race but about culture. Growing up in certain cultures tends to expose a person to melodic, harmonic and rhythmic preferences within that culture. I think that's all that Al was saying. He didn't say every single Asian wouldn't be able to get that rhythmic thing he was talking about but that most probably wouldn't given the musical environment they had likely grown up in. And there would be of course many examples of these musical quirks within all cultures in the world I believe.
For example if we view specific musical styles as unique cultures I would have to say I've never heard a classically trained musician play jazz well. Or at least never as well as a devoted and accomplished jazz musician. The classical musician can never seem to leave behind the classical time feel to really get the swing thing. It always sounds somehow 'syncopated
on the beat' or some weird thing to me.
So even though there may initially be cultural limitations on an indivduals musical abilities as a result of growing up in that culture I believe that there is alot of musical flexibility within the individual to learn new ways. I get what your flamenco teacher was saying but I don't like to think what he said is true. But to be honest I'm not completely sure that what he said isn't true. At least it may be true for most people but not everyone.
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Originally Posted by JayFreddy
Thanks again for sharing your time and insight. I have a feeling you must be a pretty good player. If you're ever in Dallas, look me up!
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It just shows how easy it is to create an internet persona.
Well thanks for the vote of confidence. I"ve been at it a long time and I should be alot better than I am but I can hold my own in a few musical settings.
I'm really enjoying this conversation with you. Thanks. And if you're ever in Victoria you'll have to drop by as well.