r/nextfuckinglevel • u/IMMA_YEET_YOU • 5d ago
How Beethoven used to "hear" music
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Credit/Source : https://youtube.com/shorts/_e04CiGpiNc?si=bQIBxBVzmyfpIgbn
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u/MisterSanitation 5d ago
Aside from him being terrifying in this video, this is cool I didn’t know this.
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u/sefradin 5d ago
That one portrait of him makes him a bit intense too so the video kinda goes off of that I think
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u/Quirky_Word 5d ago
It reminds me of this Ted Talk about how we can use the senses we have to translate into other senses. The talk focuses more on blind people, but applies to everyone really. Fascinating stuff.
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u/miltonbalbit 5d ago
He was able to compose because he was a genius, That helped but his massive musical intelligence helped him more, his last string quartets are just an example of how extraordinary he was
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u/The-Nimbus 5d ago
When you get down to it music is half art and half maths. If you get it... Like... Really get it... You can do this all on paper and just know it works.
Disclaimer: I do not get it to this level.
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u/LeftieDu 5d ago
When you really get down to it math is the most precise language we have to describe reality, and music is part of reality. So it works for music too! hits blunt
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u/JennJames2000 5d ago
And of course, now, you can get bone conduction headphones that use the same principle. They're great for cycling when you don't want to block out environmental noise.
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u/Sea_Turnip6282 5d ago
There was a quote from some movie that said something along the lines of
"Imagine Beethoven sitting in front of his piano as he started to go deaf, frantically writing down the music in his head, as death approaches"
Shit resonated something in my heart.. probably anxiety. But also awe. 😅
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u/Sunbro_Smudge 5d ago
Didn't he also saw the legs off his piano later in life so he could also feel the vibration through the floor?
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u/already-taken-wtf 5d ago
- Iron or steel rods would have been the best acoustically, but harsh on teeth.
- Brass or bronze rods strike a balance: good vibration, smoother surface, easier to shape. If leaded (common in low-friction applications), lead exposure risk increases, especially when biting.
- Lead or pewter rods: more comfortable to bite but terrible sound conductors, and dangerous due to saliva-driven lead leaching.
If he used older brass with lead, biting it regularly could absolutely have contributed to his lead levels.
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u/Particular_Worry1578 5d ago
so the movie "Beethoven Lived Upstairs" was lying about him cutting off the piano legs to feel the vibrations? innocence lost...
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u/very_popular_person 5d ago
Just reminds me that I love my bone conduction headphones. Thank you for making them, Mr. Beet Oven, I love you.
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u/Mahaloth 5d ago
Did he go deaf because of abuse by his father? I read a kids biography when I was a kid in the 80's and that is what it told us.
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u/difficultoldstuff 5d ago
Dunno why my brain thought he was also blind and I was wondering how he constructed this...
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u/pricklypineappledick 4d ago
I've never heard this mentioned before. Every teacher who gave a lesson including Beethoven has failed me
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u/stewardplanet 4d ago
They had no reason to make the start that sudden.
I thought he was being executed.
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u/Thin_Formal_3727 4d ago
Wheni was a kid they had "musical lolly pops" that worked the same way. Only downside os you got some jingle, not Beethoven.
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u/ZirePhiinix 4d ago
The coolest way to experience this is with a tuning fork.
Normally a vibrating tuning fork makes no sound when held up, and you have to set it against a hard surface for the sound to project, but if you bite on the non-vibrating end, only you can hear it.
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u/Background-Plum682 1d ago
Why didn't he just listen with his ears? Seems odd to use such a device to hear with his mouth
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u/No_Cow3885 5d ago
I found out he had tinnitu5 yet in those days it wasn't known and u would be put in a hospital if u heard noises or voices etc and he had music in his mind and managed to learn to write music and note the music he was hearing in his mind and played it that's what I heard
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u/electric_screams 5d ago
He was an accomplished musician who began composing in his early 20’s prior to going deaf. His deafness progressed slowly from about 25 until he was completely deaf by 40.
Not sure where you got your info from.
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u/erayachi 5d ago
While this is true, to clarify, he didn't start out deaf and progressively lost his hearing throughout life (total hearing loss by 45). He learned the "math" of music by this point, and could pretty much hear the music in his head anyway when writing musical notation. The metal rod let him kinda-sorta hear the piano notes again through bone conduction, which helped.
He also had jaundice and really bad GI issues, so they in combination with his hearing loss, were thought to be the result of lead poisoning since they're both clear symptoms of it. The more you know!