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Comment by tmm | Hacker News Reader

I guess I'm not very good with music. These all sound basically the same as the originals to me.

You'd probably hear the differences played side-by-side. There are few truly 'tone-deaf' people. Music is much like anything else -- capabilities (including memory for a song's tonality & chords) are increased by interest, exposure to a wider range, close study, etc.

The one that really did make a dramatic difference is notable because it didn't have the human voice involved. I'm talking about the Star Wars theme. In that one, the difference between major and minor was dramatic. But for vocal music, the emotional cues seem to override the major/minor distinction.

To me all of them sounded dramatically different. Then again I'm a musician of sorts. I'm sure there are all sorts of variables, including what sort of music(s) a person typically listens to.

Given the nature of the work here, you could even put the original in one browser tab and the transposition in another tab and play them both at the same time. That will definitely highlight the differences.

Wikipedia says about 4% of people have it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tone_deaf

I don't know why anyone would accuse you of trolling, but you are certainly tone deaf if you can't hear the difference. I could be wrong, but I'm guessing that music isn't a big part of your life and wasn't really a part of your childhood.

As a musician, the difference is glaring, but my ear (or brain, to be more accurate) has been trained by 2 decades of playing and composing music.

I don't think he is tone deaf. I have a good ear for pitch, but I'm not a trained musician. I could hear minor differences in most of those songs, but the difference was minor, not dramatic.

When I'm listening to music, and it shifts between minor and major modes, I can tell right away.

I suspect the cause is that there are emotional cues in the human voice, and even changing from minor to major doesn't alter those emotional cues. Also, prior expectations can dull the perception of difference.

TBH, I was surprised at how similar the major mode versions of those pieces sounded to the originals.

In any given (Western) key, the major and minor scales have most of their notes in common. So, transposition between major and minor does not result in a 'night and day' difference - depending on the melody, there may be only a few points at which different notes are used. These changes, however, are enough to alter the overall mood of the music for a typical listener - e.g. in the case of the Imperial March, from menacing to upbeat.

Are you very familiar with the originals? I can't tell the difference between versions on songs where I have only heard the original once either, but if you're familiar it should be easier.

Yes, you are either tone-deaf or a troll. Or just didn't know what minor vs major keys sound like, I suppose.

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