Aaron Lee, PhD @MusicOfLee Twitter profile

Pinned Tweet

Aaron Lee, PhD

16 days

The daily VGM listening list is over! Starting in 1978, we listened to one video game per year until we reached the current year! In this thread, I've compiled this listening list as concisely as possible. Prepare for a long list with a lot of links! 🧵1/11

1

9

Last Seen Profiles

@BareSamira

@stw46

@shiromelonda

@cote_sc

@ArielBand_Noah

@wereba13

@Thepasseng

@NEWS_takahisa4

@stw_pdg

@drahmedataya

@sotwecom

@bioblastgeek

@tayxbrina

@__helel

@bokeplokalmalam

@kelly_hart29045

@asa69360

@SukaIbuIbuTua2

@JJgodly2

@gumrrs

@ArabianMancs

@bokeplokalmalam

@roikamiskiya

@OCathletics1819

@n_ii_k_a

@21_7moood

@alex_christo_

@AMARIEBL

@ElXanati

@StalkingVi96051

@bokeplokalmalam

@LOPTBA

@SHAREEF_GIRL

@JDBonabike

@coryklippsteh7

@bokeplokalmalam

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

22 days

This is insanely petty and inappropriate. Don’t be this kind of professor. Treat your students with respect.

1K

9K

192K

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

22 days

Even aside from the wildly inappropriate “teaching” technique here, a students personal time is their personal time. If they’d rather spend it without you or your colleagues, you need to be an adult and respect that without being petty.

28

713

52K

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

2 years

*Student submits their piano part.* Me: Have you tried playing through this to see whether it's performer-friendly? Student: No, I can't play piano. Me (in my head): Have you seen hands before?

249

1K

18K

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

22 days

@AmyThinx Taking a picture without permission, and then lying about it so you can shame them for their choice of hobby. I wonder how you spin that into a teaching philosophy statement?

11

113

17K

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

22 days

@nfriedmanmusic I’m not convinced, but honestly even if it is, it’s still not a good thing to be posting without context.

31

34

12K

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

2 years

Max Reger explaining how to modulate from C major to B# major. Because apparently, he deemed this a worthwhile and perfectly reasonable thing to spend time studying/teaching.

85

279

3K

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

10 months

Upon hearing a four-chord pop song: "This is so boring and simple!" Upon hearing Beethoven write V-I 80 times: "Such complex and interesting harmonies!"

25

89

1K

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

2 months

Apparently this is a hot take: There’s no good reason for a SINGLE-player game not to let you pause.

12

33

974

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

10 months

I'm not going to stand here and proselytize that Western notation is necessary for all musicians (it's not), but learning it is definitely NOT the onerous task that some people want to portray it as.

Robert Komaniecki

@Komaniecki_R

10 months

I can teach you the basics of reading music over a long lunch

33

29

1K

35

31

876

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

4 months

Variations on this conversation have happened numerous times: Me: In your fast, atonal flourish, it sounds like you have a single major 3rd and it doesn’t feel like it belongs. Student: Okay… but who would ever notice that? Me: …. Didn’t I just tell you I did?

5

8

742

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

2 years

The first atonal pieces were composed in 1908. Penicillin was discovered in 1928. Atonal music literally pre-dates antibiotics by 20 years and yet we still call it "modern music".

18

41

726

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

3 months

My most toxic/elitist songwriting opinion is that 90% of the time, a fade-out at the end of a song is just because of a skill issue.

54

42

736

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

1 year

Pro tip for graphic designers: Before signing off on a design that features music notation, check with someone who can actually read music.

41

35

671

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

5 months

Can we please normalize analog synths as an orchestral instrument? Orchestra + synth is such an amazing texture, and it sucks that it tends to be such a hard sell for orchestras.

61

40

657

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

2 months

Experimenting a bit with some minimalist music references. I feel like this is recognizable even without further context.

44

18

660

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

2 years

@MatLeeKnowles Oh it was just an example. I wouldn’t post a student’s work! But that is a very good and sensible fix to the problems with this example!!

2

0

646

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

7 months

Music theory is the shared language we use to describe music, and NOT a set of rules. It will only help you to communicate with others and to better organize your own thoughts on music.

Robert Komaniecki

@Komaniecki_R

7 months

“Learning music theory will make you less creative” Fact check: TRUE. Just like how I was a great writer until I made the mistake of learning the alphabet

31

95

1K

21

47

654

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

1 year

“They’re an awful person, but a great musician.” I’ve heard this multiple times, and I just don’t believe it’s possible. Empathy is the single most important aspect of being a great artist. If someone regularly displays a lack of empathy, that causes me to doubt their artistry.

110

79

637

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

10 months

It’s ridiculous how the word “spicy” on a menu can mean anything from “The chef might look at a chilli pepper while preparing this” to “This food is legally classified as a weapon”.

7

62

576

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

2 years

@ThreatNotation That extra white note is where the jazz comes from.

4

3

548

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

4 months

Friendly reminder: Don’t be a jerk. (Also, this stuff gets performed because people actually like it.)

Stephen Limbaugh

@StephenLimbaugh

4 months

The woman here has just been named the new conductor for the Iceland Symphony. Here she is performing "music" by Ligeti... ...this nonsense goes on for 11mins 🥴

394

61

374

34

13

550

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

4 months

Saying B# isn’t a real note is like me saying “Erin” isn’t a real name.

25

13

515

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

1 year

Maybe someone should spend some less time mocking atonality and more time reviewing key signatures.

23

19

481

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

1 year

You never feel more betrayed and deceived than when V goes to vi.

28

32

457

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

7 months

Orchestration IS composition. A composer with a separate orchestrator is really just a two-composer team, and they deserve equal credit.

31

24

433

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

2 years

Take that, all you folk who say that music theory/notation is useless! 😂

Threatening Music Notation

@ThreatNotation

2 years

A story in two parts

13

215

6K

0

21

398

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

5 months

My most curmudgeonly music opinion is that you don't actually need to be listening to music at all times of the day. It's okay to do your grocery shopping, driving, or other mundane tasks in relative silence sometimes.

47

20

390

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

3 months

If you think you can change the metre of a canon without altering the counterpoint, you’re just telling on yourself that you don’t understand counterpoint.

Robert Komaniecki

@Komaniecki_R

3 months

And then everybody clapped and the mean TA ran away, tears streaming down his face

31

10

437

12

8

386

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

9 months

As a composer, my confidence in my music theory knowledge is very high until I start talking to *actual* music theorists.

14

10

377

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

1 year

Is there a more persistent and perennial falsehood in music than the whole “music is a universal language” nonsense?

48

16

367

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

2 years

@ThreatNotation George Crumb's graphic scores are great! His "Makrokosmos" has a few more great ones, such as this:

5

38

346

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

2 years

@ThreatNotation The most surprising part about this is that the notation is actually completely fine. It's just entirely the wrong melody for that text!

5

0

324

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

3 months

I just discovered a previously unknown piece by Mozart!

13

29

336

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

1 year

This just in: Google discovers "composers".

Resident Advisor

@residentadvisor

1 year

. @Google 's working on a way to turn thoughts into music

6

8

49

2

25

327

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

1 year

A certain someone on here keeps re-posting this image with zero explanation. So... since it seems like it'll keep showing up on people's timelines, here's a short thread explaining what this actually is.

14

20

329

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

2 years

@ThreatNotation It's written there because the composer doesn't want you to half-ass it.

4

2

321

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

11 months

A very basic visual metaphor for reverb vs. delay. I think it somewhat intuitively shows at least one reason why you might choose one over the other for various tasks.

6

24

321

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

1 year

Is it just me or do a lot of people say "leitmotif" when they really just mean "motif" or "theme"?

24

15

313

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

1 year

Can I at least go a week at some point without seeing someone try to use power chords as an example of parallel 5ths? Yes, they're 5ths. Yes, they're parallel. But that's not what we're referring to when we talk about parallel 5ths in voice-leading.

29

11

314

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

1 year

I don’t think I know a single musician who is a morning person. Do they exist?

128

24

303

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

1 year

Happy August 6th to all my music nerds out there!

10

35

310

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

8 months

@Komaniecki_R A clarification that it’s a cafe macchiato and not a latte macchiato is sometimes enough. (I.e., it’s an espresso “marked” with milk, as opposed to milk marked with espresso).

2

3

309

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

1 year

This joke was probably far more effort to write than it was worth...

14

20

302

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

1 year

More music students should study poetry. They're such closely related topics that one almost seems incomplete without at least a very basic understanding of the other.

27

295

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

1 year

Hand a classical musician a group of 5 and they’ll immediately ask you, “is this 3+2 or 2+3?” because “Just 5” isn’t an option. This has been a source of frustration for me on multiple occasions.

23

6

299

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

5 months

PSA for my fellow media composers: Please remove the word “ethnic” from your vocabulary. Just pull it up in your musical dictionary and hit delete.

14

20

300

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

2 years

For anyone considering writing an opera, I’ll provide this bit of anecdotal advice: About 20 pages of libretto resulted in a bit over 600 pages of musical score.

24

20

299

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

2 years

Only in music school will you hear people casually say things like "Shosty 5" or "Rach 2" while expecting everyone to know exactly what they mean.

18

15

291

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

1 year

It's bizarre to me that "classical" musicians often talk derisively of soundtrack music, but then so highly praise opera. To me, they're very related concepts! Having worked with both, they're both about having music support and augment other narrative/dramatic elements.

13

24

292

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

1 year

How many musicians actually use/own a physical metronome these days? Does everyone just use their phone?

169

5

290

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

2 months

If you haven't tried aleatoric music yet, you should really give it a chance.

29

22

283

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

2 years

Confession time: I've spent over a decade studying music theory and composition and I couldn't tell you what the difference is between a chaconne and a passacaglia.

46

7

278

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

2 years

@amcil It's an understandable hurdle (it's a steep learning curve to learn the idioms/capabilities of every single orchestral instrument!), but it can definitely be frustrating when someone says, "I don't know if they can do this or not," and yet they never chose to just ask the person.

5

6

278

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

8 months

What was the first video game where you felt the music was so good that you needed to just pause for a bit and appreciate the music?

277

5

275

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

1 year

I’m surprised how often I’ll hear someone say something along the lines of “Even my noise-canceling headphones didn’t cover up X”, and it really makes me suspect that most people don’t know what that feature actually does.

7

6

271

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

1 year

I know we're chuckling at that tempo marking, but seriously don't write your accidentals like that please.

Threatening Music Notation

@ThreatNotation

1 year

28

122

2K

16

7

272

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

1 year

I’m not sure who needs to hear this, but the classical repertoire that we teach students how to analyze in first-year music theory probably shouldn’t be held up as pinnacles of “musical complexity”. If they were, we’d probably save those classes for advanced students, no?

6

11

275

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

2 years

@Komaniecki_R I admit, I fall into the trap of thinking that "popular" music is always representative of "music today", but the last thing The Beatles recorded was just over 53 years ago, making it 20 years older than Copland's last work, and just 20 years younger than Schoenberg's.

0

10

267

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

4 months

Sometimes, too much is really too little, right?

10

37

271

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

2 years

Music theory is NOT: -a set of rules -only about pitch/harmony -all roman numerals and counterpoint -restricted to “classical” music -restricted to Western music -the search for a singular "truth" -what makes music "good" or "bad" and feel free to add in the ones I missed.

15

32

268

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

4 months

Yet another example of this nonsense coming from people who really should know better.

score follower

@incipitsify

4 months

Shots fired from @TwoSetViolin , who appears to have gone through our catalog of works to “prove” contemporary music is a joke 😅

33

20

305

8

6

258

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

1 year

If you're afraid that your "classical musical culture" is being erased, feel free to check out your local orchestra and see what they're playing this season. If you're STILL worried after that, book an appointment with your optometrist.

2

15

254

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

1 year

The single question that haunts every composer: "What kind of music do you write?"

47

22

259

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

2 months

A representation of a classic by Steve Reich.

8

25

259

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

4 months

It’s a shame that whenever some anti-modernist points at something and says “it’s just incomprehensible noise!”, they’re never actually pointing at a crazy and wild example. Because I really wish I saw more of the truly bonkers stuff that’s out there.

20

6

254

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

1 year

Is there a worse grift in music "theory" than the whole nonsense surround 432Hz?

23

11

244

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

5 months

Agreed. “World music” is a bad label and we should stop using it. We don’t need a generic, catch-all term for anything that sounds “non-Western”. If you’re referring to a specific musical tradition, then name it specifically!

Nathan Howe

@natehowe

5 months

@MusicOfLee Hot take: The term "world music" is just as bad, but is somehow still considered appropriate for academic circles and NPR.

3

1

80

17

18

249

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

1 year

I feel like maybe this pun was too subtle.

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

1 year

I really didn’t like the left hand part of this piano piece, so I just removed it entirely. It’s alright now.

10

5

214

17

1

248

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

2 years

What's your go-to "gateway" listening piece for students to get them excited about 20th/21st century music?

71

13

245

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

2 years

The DAW vs standard notation debate is the biggest debate that really isn't a debate. Bottom line: Learn both.

17

12

237

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

6 months

I once had an instructor who commented on a piece of mine by saying “your process is showing”, and that always stuck with me for some reason. The idea being that a listener should be more occupied with the music itself than HOW you wrote it.

29

4

244

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

5 months

People like to imagine that composing is all about spontaneous inspiration, but the truth of it is that many decisions as a composer have very banal explanations.

19

6

241

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

5 months

So… if scary modernism is the cause of the “decline of classical music” why are noise genres actually GAINING more traction in popular music? People can handle dissonance. Stop treating dissonance like it’s some dangerous thing. It’s just a sound (A cool sound).

26

16

235

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

3 months

Just because you and I can only imagine experiencing things a certain way does not mean we should assume the same of others. Let's not be so eager to call things universal.

15

19

238

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

4 months

"Harmonic Minor" is a collection, or a scale, but not a key. A piece is never in the "key of F harmonic minor". It might use the F harmonic minor scale/collection, but it is in the KEY of F minor.

19

5

232

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

3 months

One of the (many) problems with billionaires is that, unlike traditional aristocracy, they just don’t seem to be good art patrons. Why aren’t they hiring a whole team of full-time artists?? It seems like a great use of that idle money.

12

10

233

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

4 months

“Unpitched” doesn’t mean “has no pitch”. It means we don’t care about/notice the pitch. Unless we’re talking about literal noise, everything has “pitch”, since pitch is just a label for frequency, and all sound has frequency.

8

4

229

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

3 months

Them: "We need an orchestral solo piano song. Can you write something chill but exciting? It needs to be loud but feel quiet. A very purple track." Me: "...I have a few questions about what you have in mind."

22

5

226

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

1 year

One of my pet-peeves for orchestration is when people use the string section of the orchestra as just a giant chordal pad with no rhythmic texturing. You can get so much more interest and texture out of your string section!

11

8

225

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

9 months

One of the things that is simultaneously fun and frustrating about music is that much of the “basic” terminology is surprisingly vague and unstandardized. Eg., what exactly is a “melody”?

40

4

224

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

11 months

How much does the colour inversion mess with your brain?

66

5

220

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

8 months

Pro tip for promoting "modern" music: When you don't tell people it's dense, intimidating, and impenetrable, they tend not to find it dense, intimidating, or impenetrable.

15

7

222

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

1 year

Creativity is a learnable and teachable skill.

Croy 🫠🦖

@StefanskiSzn

2 years

What is a music opinion that would have you like this?

121

7

113

5

19

218

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

11 months

Minor scales with a raised 6th always should feel open-ended. This is called the “open dor-ian” policy.

14

216

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

2 years

@MalachiTheDrake @ThreatNotation Key signatures just tell you the "default" option for that note. Any other accidental you see in the music will completely overwrite that when they show up.

1

0

211

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

1 year

I really didn’t like the left hand part of this piano piece, so I just removed it entirely. It’s alright now.

10

5

214

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

1 year

Instead of Zodiac signs, why don't we all define our personalities based on musical modes?

35

22

207

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

1 month

Favourite piece composed in the 19th century? I'm definitely a 20th/21st century music guy, but I still really like Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition". I have very fond memories of learning it on piano years ago.

79

3

217

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

5 months

This is advice that keeps coming up in my lessons, so I thought it might have some more widespread use: If you sit down to write music and can’t come up with anything you like, then write something you don’t like!

12

10

216

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

1 year

Can we stop calling music "ethnic" just because it has an augmented 2nd in it? Please?

11

5

211

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

10 months

Just heard someone “correct” someone else by saying, “that’s not a chord!” However, my dear reader, it WAS a chord (It just wasn’t a triad).

8

1

209

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

2 years

Have I just been really sheltered and most music schools are super elitist and anti-popular music? That has not been my personal experience with university music at all.

47

3

212

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

1 year

I find it weird how often I hear someone say something along the lines of “only the genius of Bach could write something so beautiful!” You mean the composer who we constantly miss-attributed his peers’ work to? Those peers who apparently wrote music just as well?

15

11

208

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

2 years

It genuinely hurt my brain to write this (bad) example when talking to a student about properly notating syncopations.

31

2

201

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

3 months

Twitter art “critics” summarized: “This pop song with a clear plot can’t compare to the artistry of abstract classical music.” and “This abstract painting isn’t representational of anything and therefore sucks.”

4

24

202

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

4 months

I hereby want to nominate May 3rd as John Cage day, since it could also be considered to be April 33rd.

5

25

201

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

1 year

Professional/academic musician: *says something about the music they’ve studied/performed for years* Non-Musician: “No, you’re wrong!”

8

9

201

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

6 months

Because some corners of Twitter are apparently ragging on a great jazz song for being too “basic”, let’s talk about what our own “introductory” jazz songs were! What song/album is your earliest memory of liking jazz?

118

4

199

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

1 year

Seeing “D.S al coda” while sight-reading a new piece is ALWAYS followed by “I don’t remember seeing a segno!” and a panicked flipping through pages to find it.

11

15

199

Aaron Lee, PhD

@MusicOfLee

10 months

I'm assuming that most of this was spent doing score study, and learning how to effectively manage rehearsal time, right? I can't see how it'd take anyone to more than 6 days to learn how to do the hand-waving that makes up a tiny fraction of what a conductor actually does.

Classic FM

@ClassicFM

10 months

Bradley Cooper spent six years learning to conduct ‘six minutes of music’ for epic ‘Maestro’ scene!

6

14

90

11

5

199