>> You show me a piece of music, and I can tell you exactly why it works 
>> and why it sounds cool. But you show me a blank piece of paper and I'm 
>> like "hmm, what would sound cool?"
> 
> There's a book called "This is your brain on music" that's actually very 
> interesting. I got half way thru it and then left it in the hotel, and I 
> never bought it again. But it's all about what you might call the 
> technology of music itself (not creating music, but why scales work and 
> stuff). It kind of goes about answering the question "why does everyone 
> use the same scales" and such.  "Why does this form of music sound sad, 
> and what distinguishes it from happy music."  Etc.

Chromatic scales, diatonic scales, pentatonic scales, Pythagorean 
tuning, equal-tempered tuning, harmonic series, the circle of fifths, 
major and minor scales... it's amazing what you can pick up if your 
bored but curious.

And FWIW, not everybody uses the same scales. (Particularly people you 
wouldn't class as "Westerners".)

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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