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**Dauphin** · January 4, 2011, 19:16

L-Space!

**Dauphin** · January 4, 2011, 19:19

Originally posted by DaShi View Post

Not in the Library of Babylon.

Babel?

**DaShi** · January 4, 2011, 19:40

Or that one.

**Barnabas** · January 4, 2011, 19:55

Originally posted by Cort Haus View Post

I think there's plenty of scope for recycling, especially considering that in reality we're often dealing beyond melody - not only with harmonic layers but different tempos, rhythms, and combination of timbres when it comes to most recorded music. Of course many genres have been criticised and will be criticised by people who don't like them as sounding all the same anyway, and this criticism may or may not be true. The fact is that people listen to music for many reasons, and originality of melody is usually well down the list.

Also consider that most people have only ever listened to a tiny, tiny subset of all the music that is out there.

Perhaps many songs use very similar chords progressions, but at least the vocal melody has to be rather innovative, otherwise you get accusations of ripping off someone, or even plagiarims related judicial problems.

**Cort Haus** · January 4, 2011, 20:27

The less complex and more non-existent the melody, the the harder it is to claim it as yours. See, for example, rap. There. I said it.

**Cort Haus** · January 4, 2011, 20:29

Originally posted by Dauphin View Post

L-Space!

**Cort Haus** · January 4, 2011, 20:36

Originally posted by Hauldren Collider View Post

It's kind of like writing. Theoretically it could be any order of letters and punctuation which sets the limit at virtually unreachable, but the set of words and sentences that make writing pleasing to people is far more limited...and yet that limit is also almost unreachable.

12 notes in the chromatic scale. ~Quarter of a million words in the English language (excluding technical & regional).

Different order of magnitude, to put it mildly.

**Cort Haus** · January 4, 2011, 20:40

In fact, the amount of music we have managed to come up with out of just 12 notes is pretty awe-inspiring really, and a reason why music, broadly speaking, is a strong candidate for humanity's greatest cultural achievement.

**Kuciwalker** · January 4, 2011, 21:15

Originally posted by Cort Haus View Post

12 notes in the chromatic scale. ~Quarter of a million words in the English language (excluding technical & regional).

Different order of magnitude, to put it mildly.

Irrelevant.

**Kuciwalker** · January 4, 2011, 21:15

In fact, the amount of music we have managed to come up with out of just 12 notes is pretty awe-inspiring really

No.

**-Jrabbit** · January 5, 2011, 10:03

Originally posted by Asher View Post

If you're interested in this kind of stuff, you should read "This is your Brain on Music" by Daniel Levitin. It's a great book.

Got this for Christmas. Haven't gotten to it yet...

**MikeH** · January 5, 2011, 10:08

don't forget music is also about rhythms

A lot of modern music is pushed forwards by the use of different rhythms or the combining of melodies with unusual rhythms.

**self biased** · January 5, 2011, 10:12

Originally posted by Cort Haus View Post

12 notes in the chromatic scale.

technically false. there are several octaves that are audible to the human ear. granted, those twelve notes do cycle, but saying A110 sounds the same as A220 or A440, they are three distinct pitches.

**MikeH** · January 5, 2011, 10:37