Whenever I hear someone play an instrument, I can always tell when they’ve played the wrong note even if it’s my first time hearing it, why is that?
In: Other
First, you’re only aware of the wrong notes you’re aware of. You’ve almost certainly heard someone play a wrong note and didn’t realize it because the note happened to sound fine with the music around it.
Second, a piece of music is usually written using a subset of notes that are known to “sound good” together. In western music, this is usually 5-7 notes out of the 12 available. This isn’t a purely cultural thing – sounds are waves, and waves with lengths that are multiples of each other have unique properties that we tend to find pleasant. If a musician plays a random note, or even worse, a random sound, it may fall outside of the subset of notes being used in that particular piece of music. Your ear will detect that the waves don’t add up as much as you’re used to.
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