Samuel

@MsMelChen Also, I wouldn’t be surprised if this occurred in other human endeavors, but at least as it pertains to the piano, I think one needs a certain level of mastery to experience this. Id guess that beginners and awkward amateurs would likely just regress given a month break.

@MsMelChen This happens to me all the time! In my view, it’s because your body releases a ton of tension while away from the instrument, coupled with your mind continuing to practice the musical line. Come back, and you’ve got the perfect combination of focused mind and fresh fingers/arms.

I don’t know what this phenomenon is but it is so counter-intuitive. I’ve been working on this Liszt piano piece for months now - it’s a daily grind to get the fingering right, nail the dynamics, memorize the score, etc. Every day you see a little incremental improvement and it’s really very satisfying. Then I stepped away for a whole month because of travel. Didn’t touch a piano the entire time. On returning home, I sat back down at my piano and not only did I NOT regress, I made a… quantum leap?! What is this sorcery?! Why is it that daily practice begets small barely noticeable progress but actually stopping everything - for a while - leads to a giant leap? What’s the reason for this? And does this apply to other human endeavors?

Quote by Alan Turing, featured in Terence Tao’s monograph Nonlinear Dispersive Equations: Local and Global Analysis

@MsMelChen “Bach when performed on a modern piano” perhaps… When performed on a harpsichord, one usually phrases with time rather than with dynamics as the latter is far more limited on historical keyboards.

No one wants to hear this but it is Bach that can really separate the good pianists from the great ones. Because unlike with the Romantic works, you can’t condense and dilate time with rubato. You hardly have any interpretive leeway. Chopin and Liszt sound dazzling with all their musical complexities and range; even average pianists sound mesmerizing playing a Chopin etude. But for a Bach piece to not sound boring and flat, all you’re left with is just.... dynamics. You have to learn how to use dynamics to give shape to sound. The constraints of a Bach piece is what truly allows greatness to show.

Happy New Year! Some MATH for 2025: 1. 2025 itself is a PERFECT square: 45² = 2025 2. It is a product of two squares, namely: 9² × 5² = 2025 3. It is the sum of THREE squares, namely: 40² + 20² + 5² = 2025 4. The last perfect square? 1936 44² = Year 1936 5. It is the sum of the cubes of all the digits from 1 to 9: 1³ + 2³ + 3³ + 4³ + 5³ + 6³ + 7³ + 8³ + 9³ = 2025 6. It is also the squared sum of all the numbers from 1 to 9: (1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9)²=2025 The year 2025 is MATHEMATICALLY remarkable. Let's hope it is also remarkable on the human level! Health, happiness, prosperity and peace for all! 😀🎉

This is true, and perhaps easier to think about using music. A finite musical “alphabet” e.g. twelve tones, which generates compositions of finite length, may produce infinitely many compositions. Pretty cool eh?

What's the difference between applied and pure math, and how does it affect math learning? Here's what @DrPamB has to say @the_rcm @FieldsInstitute #mathiseverywhere #mathchat @mashupmath @MathletePearce @OAMElearns

ceo any% 55:32 — new record???

@ShouldHaveCat @ykim0124

Two types of cats

As a rider for the past 10 years, one who's received zero complaints, and someone with a +4.9 rating, I'm extraordinarily disappointed with the lack of customer support. No reason given. Now no responses to my emails. Shame on you @Uber. Please fix your shit.

Only thing I can remotely fathom which may have triggered this is an email I received noting there was something wrong with the credit card I used for Uber One. Since none of my cards are at limit or expired, I can only assume the issue is on their end.

I'm extremely shocked and disappointed to find out that I've been banned from using @Uber without notice or reason. I haven't used Uber since June 8th, which was a short, uneventful trip to work in Philadelphia.

@ByrdCentral @Baerenreiter @LincsCathedral @ykim0124

Imagine playing Byrd in his former office… @LincsCathedral

Libraries were once magnificent temples of learning - these are the 20 most beautiful examples on Earth 🧵 1. Admont Abbey Library, Admont, Austria 🇦🇹

The new version of Midjourney that released yesterday shows how far AI has come in making commerical-level images from text alone Here is what you get for "modern outfits inspired by Van Gogh/ Basquiat/ Monet/ Rothko, fashion photoshoot" Each one is the first try, no revisions.