Pretty robust directions Friday, Jun 27 2008
Uncategorized 8:57 pm
The Imperfection of the Musical Scale (Part 2) Sunday, Jun 8 2008
Uncategorized 9:05 am
We saw from one of my previous posts that we can’t choose the notes of the musical scale such that, from every note, an interval of a perfect octave (ratio of 2:1) and a fifth (ratio of 3:2) is available. In this post, I will explain how this problem is fixed in the modern musical scale.
The Imperfection of the Musical Scale (Part 1) Friday, May 23 2008
Uncategorized 9:24 pm
The most surprising feature of the musical scale is its imperfection – we don’t get everything we could hope for. Allow me to explain.
The pitch of a musical note is related to its frequency, that is, the number of sound waves that pass a given point per second. Frequency is measured in hertz (Hz) – vibrations per second. The human ear can hear sounds with frequency between about 20Hz and 20,000Hz.
Within this range there are an infinite number of possible frequencies that an instrument could sound out. This is clearly impractical for musical purposes – how does one chose between an infinite number of options? The human ear can only distinguish between two frequencies if they differ by about 0.3% or more. But this still leaves over 2000 discernible frequencies within the human ear’s audible range. Imagine a piano with 2000 keys! So how should we go about making music?
Batting 106: How To Build A Routine Friday, Apr 18 2008
Uncategorized 7:55 pm
This is the last post in my series Introduction to Batting in Cricket: Mechanics, Visual Strategy and Psychology.
We saw in my previous post that a major problem for batsmen is internal distractibility – at the critical moment, when the ball is released, unwanted thoughts drift into your head, reducing your reaction time and diverting your attention. We also saw the solution, as Griffiths puts it:
“if you are going to be distracted, the distraction may as we be something which is deliberate and under your control.”
Thus, we develop a routine: a standard set of things to do and things to say to yourself before every ball. It doesn’t have to fill in all the time between one ball and the next – there is time for your thoughts to wander and relax. But there is a specific time where you say “this is the moment when I start to get ready for the next ball”. From that moment, every movement and every thought should be planned, controlled and rehearsed.
