If someone had never heard music...

[Michedelic]

I saw her TED-Talk, highly inspiring!

Even more so is her “from home” video series where she displays all her toys and discusses theories and applications of dealing with sound, without sound.

 

[StereoPlayer]

 

[Aaron5]

Edgar Meyer playing Bach.

 

[bassfuser]

"Powerhouse!"

Just have them watch some old Looney Tunes.

 

[rtav]

Maurice Ravel’s “Daybreak”

 

[PWRL]

I don't know if I can answer this. I'm thinking of how strange music would be to someone who has never heard it. Do you want them to like it? What's the first step there? Hard to say but I think it would have to be something simple and melodic. A quiet song. What are the first songs our mothers sing to us? The first songs we ever hear are usually lullabyes.

That's what I was thinking, too. We're talking somebody who's never heard music at all. I think I would start them out on something like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, because it's a simple piece to start them out on as far as interpreting the way notes function together to make a melody. Something like that would be my absolute first choice, followed by the first movement of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. After that I would work into blues, rock, jazz and so forth. But my first choice would be the examples which are open enough to be able to examine the functions of music.

 

[stigbeve]

Hot Potato The Wiggles

 

[bearhart74]

1. I would start here


2 Then go to this


3 Then here


4


5


6


7

 

[g-dude]

People seem to have thought it would be wise to go back to early music, but there really is no real reason why. I was thinking it would be cool to show the history and evolution of music, but I started around Bach. As you say, why not go right back?

That video is very cool btw!

I think that to really appreciate Bach, you have to have a sense of what music was before him - and even after him.

Definitely one of the high points of Western Civilization.

 

[Rabidhamster]

If someone had never heard music before, what's the first thing you would get them to listen to?

Atari Teenage Riot would be an amusing one.


But not really, probably Glenn Miller - In the Mood

 

[pbass2]

Steve Reich "Music for 18 Musicians".

 

[robo_bass]

For small children, classical or high-content music. Parents use to play me big band, and goddamit I still walk around humming badly syncopated melodies snippets from shaw, goodman and beneke.

 

[the harp unstrung]

Seems it would be too overwhelming to hear a multi-instrumental song regardless of genre. The ingredients need to be introduced individually first: strings, drums, vocals, keys, wind instruments, etc.

Then, let them hear a song that turns the ingredients into a meal.

Brilliant!

 

[edencab]

Tupelo Honey album - V Morrison
and specifically this to start with

 

[devilof76]

That's what I was thinking, too. We're talking somebody who's never heard music at all. I think I would start them out on something like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, because it's a simple piece to start them out on as far as interpreting the way notes function together to make a melody. Something like that would be my absolute first choice, followed by the first movement of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. After that I would work into blues, rock, jazz and so forth. But my first choice would be the examples which are open enough to be able to examine the functions of music.

That’s kinda why I went with Mahler. From the statement of those first simple intervals, to the first trill, to the full North Atlantic shipwreck crescendo, you achieve all of that in the first three minutes. And then some.

 

[PWRL]

That’s kinda why I went with Mahler. From the statement of those first simple intervals, to the first trill, to the full North Atlantic shipwreck crescendo, you achieve all of that in the first three minutes. And then some.

I agree.

 

[swink]

We're talking somebody who's never heard music at all.

Never heard music is not the same as never been aware of music, many deaf people feel rhythm and beat, I've heard of deaf dancers and I will not be surprised when I see a deaf drummer or bass player. If the person is a standing next to the sub woofer feeling the beat of the latest Trance-dance-drum-and-bass-terror-band kind of guy... I'm not going for twinkle little star... they are just deaf, all the other brain and body functions still work.
Learn to know the person and advise accordingly.

 

[devilof76]

I had an uncle who lost the majority of his hearing to scarlet fever as a young child. 100% in one ear, 75% in the other. He could play sax, keys, guitar and bass, and do it with other musicians. All by touch.

 

[g-dude]

I had an uncle who lost the majority of his hearing to scarlet fever as a young child. 100% in one ear, 75% in the other. He could play sax, keys, guitar and bass, and do it with other musicians. All by touch.

Sounds like he’d have been able to fire the drummer in four different ways. Good for him!

 

[Vinny_G]

Johann Sebastian Bach
Antonio Vivaldi
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Ludwig van Beethoven
Claude Debussy
Maurice Ravel
Frédéric Chopin
Erik Satie