A Language Made Of Music

[@feanenatreides]

"A series of properly tuned cannons" This is one of the greatest, context-reliant word combinations I have ever encountered.

[@AlexKnauth]

Yes!

[@iLikeTheUDK]

Alex Knauth It sounds like a suggested answer to a question Tom asks in Citation Needed.

[@iLikeTheUDK]

feanenatreides ...WAIT They should make an episode of Citation Needed about this!

[@Walpurgys]

*Tchaikovsky wants to know your location.*

[@MadScientist267]

Probably should step away from the internet and get out and play with the real world then...

[@atomicmelodies]

If anyone is curious the message at the end is a rick roll. It very roughly translates to "Never gonna give you up" "Never gonna let you down"

[@TheAlps36]

AtomicMelodies interesting - do you know the literal translation?

[@mattshnoop]

Not doubting it, but how did you figure this out? Do you know Solresol?

[@KurosakiYukigo]

What is it with Tom and very surreptitiously rickrolling us?

[@atomicmelodies]

so the actual translation would be something like never (future) (well-being) you never (future) (disillusion) you future is this case is referring to something you are going to do, like a future tense verb for "do" (gonna) well being is more like a translation for just being in a positive state of being, but this could also mean uplifting, or lift up disillusion is much of the same, and is more like a translation for a negative state of being, or being "let down" add all this together and you just got pranked

[@Culmaerija]

"lasolresol" literally means to disappoint. there's no need for a metaphorical extension of "disillusion" (though, I guess, it amounts to the same thing)

[@CathodeRayKobold]

Imagine learning this language fluently, then every time you listen to actual music you hear not only the lyrics, but the word salad being spouted by every instrument behind it.

[@KurosakiYukigo]

Listening to Beck would be extra weird

[@hpengwyn]

There was something about someone learning it who said exactly that, I think he said that Beethoven's fifth symphony's main dum dum dum dum is 'blue'

[@deamon6681]

Wouldn't you need a perfect pitch for that? Because if you play a note in front of me, I have no f'ing clue what note that is.

[@hpengwyn]

I have always wondered that. A brief Googling fails to find a sensible answer, surprisingly.

[@hpengwyn]

N Lin ah, so people pronounce the notes as well as singing them?

[@TomScottGo]

I should make it clear that the little bit at the end is entirely my doing, and 12tone is not responsible for it. I'd say I'm sorry, but I'm really not...!

[@Ludix147]

I hope everyone is too lazy to actually translate that and you just sit there, hoping forever that someone deciphers your message in which you put so much work.

[@Rhysssssss]

can confirm, thought about translating it but couldn't be bothered

[@bob_._.]

That's ok, I have no way of knowing what those notes are anyway.

[@MisterAppleEsq]

From what I can tell: A G E E D E F C E A G E E A G D G D E In the key of C, that's: La So Mi Mi Re Mi Fa Do Mi La So Mi Mi La So Re So Re Mi If someone can translate that, that'd be great!

[@adriansrealm]

Did it say "And that's something you might not have known"

[@MrTrickBrick]

I want to curse at people in jazz.

[@Tesana]

Doesn't anyone?

[@just_a_rock]

Finally, I now understand why Barry B. Benson likes Jazz so much.

[@frechjo]

Listen to Giant Steps while thinking that it's actually saying something. It's a new experience

[@SKyrim190]

Say "Do you like jazz?" In jazz

[@johnnyflamevlogz8203]

I want to like but the current amount of likes is 251

[@_mels_]

Thanks for rickrolling us in Solresol, Tom. (The first two distinct notes are separated from others and translate to NEVER, so I guess the rest of it needs no translation. Jumping to a conclusion, I know, but based on what Tom did previously this is a fair guess.)

[@SleepSoul]

I like the thought of everyone carrying tiny flutes everywhere so they can talk in music.

[@DiThi]

People can just whistle. In fact there are whistling languages already, although they're not based on 7 notes like this one.

[@Triumvirate888]

Why do you like that thought? Have you ever tried carrying around a tiny flute everywhere you go? You can't put it in your pocket, because people will stare at you and think you are a pervert who is constantly aroused. Honestly, it's far more trouble than it's worth.

[@spoonikle]

... or just say - Doe rei mei fa so la si. No need for an instrument, its completely speakable. If your tone deaf you can tell the difference when somebody sings like that... but you will be completely lost if an instrument was used instead.

[@thefatheroflies7921]

Tiny whistles or maybe tiny Mbiras or something! That would be so cool.

[@macronencer]

Reminds me of Gene Wilder in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

[@hmmyesinteresting]

mmm yes, words to my ears

[@soosetch]

i'm beginning to suspect you might be some kind of robot here to monitor a very specific niche of youtube which i'm a part of and commenting on videos to find out how people react to your comment

[@kristalic]

Well yes, you hear words anyway

[@johnlittle6415]

Username checks out

[@gerbilpmc]

I think it might be a few people working on the same account...

[@JohnDoe-bs4we]

the bot's trying to convince us it has ears we know better

[@ariebirb]

Imagine if Esperanto and this became the two primary languages in an alternate universe

[@angelodc1652]

Don't forget Toki Pona

[@Periwinkleaccount]

@@angelodc1652 although, toki pona is so simple it’s not very good for all of humanity to use.

[@hpsmash77]

no pls no

[@matthewe3813]

@@Periwinkleaccount maybe one could create an extended version of toki pona with ~1000 words rather than only 137 so that more things can be expressed easily, while still being a small language with simple grammar

[@nicemelbs]

I'm a lefty myself but I never realized how frustrating it is for others to see what another lefty is writing in real time.

[@sirBrouwer]

I was more frustrated in the way he was holding the pen.

[@YuukiGunn]

He's gripping it so hard it looks like it hurts.

[@XPimKossibleX]

I was subscribed for ages and didn't notice either.. thanks you guys

[@glennac]

nicemelbs, Yes, the way he holds his pen has been bothering me for awhile now and can’t be good for sustained writing. It’s excruciating to watch. Being a lefty is fine, but properly holding a writing instrument can be done by both righties and lefties. Get the right kind of pens and smudging won’t be an issue.

[@AlexKnauth]

glennac: Btw I've a lefty too, and I try to avoid writing with pens as much as possible because I've found they don't always work well when I'm writing in a direction opposite to the way it's tilted. So I twist my hand upward to make the pen more vertical, and also to help me see what I've just written. Smudging isn't usually the main reason, except on a white board. Some pens are better than others, and felt-tipped pens in particular are much easier.

[@kwmen]

As a left handed person I am impressed that this guy writes from right to left to avoid hiding with his hand things that he has wrote.

[@AlexKnauth]

same

[@frmcf]

12tone is amazing! Well done Tom for picking up on it and I hope 12tons gets a zillion new subscribers.

[@AxeLea3]

Awesome that this channel got the promotion through you Tom. I love their stuff

[@KleizRicafort]

I've never realized this shower thought was real.

[@GTCrais]

Communicating with deaf people using a music language. Troll level: 9001

[@AlRoderick]

It's actually even cleverer when you take into account that not everyone who is hard of hearing is 100% deaf, I'd wager a lot of people could discern seven notes even if they'd struggle to decode words, and if they have problems with a given frequency range you'd just move the notes up or down the scale until you found one they could manage.

[@golammorshed9082]

Try communicating with a blind person using sign language. Troll level:Undefined

[@YuliaLinderoth]

labobo, I know you're making a joke but you actually still use sign language with deafblind people. They feel the signs with their hands.

[@eiriansaikou1158]

does it mean that troll level is over 9000!!!!

[@YuliaLinderoth]

+labobo; Yeah if you for example would get deafblindness later in life and need a interpreter before you've learned sign language they can use haptic signals on your back such as drawing large letters with their finger. But it's highly ineffective. You can also sign letters in the hand using the sign language alphabet (Tactile fingerspelling). Also when communicating with deafblind you use something called Pro-tactile communication which involves other haptic signals. For example you can use the back of the person to detail the surroundings of a room, or tap on the person's knee or arm to show feedback, that you understand what they're talking about (the same way hearing and seeing people say "mhm" and nods). Sorry if I wrote more than you wanted haha edit: "Tracing or 'print-on-palm': Tracing letters (or shapes) onto the palm or body of receiver. Capital letters produced in consistent ways are referred to as the 'block alphabet' or the 'spartan alphabet'."

[@ehlannaherron9097]

Damn, my choir teacher has been making us translate every song into solfege to learn it(to become note perfect). He didn't tell us it could be used to make a language.

[@MisterAppleEsq]

Hey, a KZbinr I know! Sol re sol would be great for putting subliminal messages in music. (Edit: no it wouldn't. I didn't know what subliminal messages were, apparently.)

[@MisterAppleEsq]

Nice.

[@namewarvergeben]

Was there a message at the end of this video?

[@MisterAppleEsq]

Yes. Based on my transcription and someone else's translation, I think it was a rickroll.

[@Erinnmnn]

Mister Apple I just saw your comment on an Adam Neely video. That's neat.

[@MisterAppleEsq]

+Blink to the Future Oh, that is neat!

[@VCGConstruction]

Very cool!! Thanks for this Tom and 12 tone!

[@evanc.1591]

Hey, a KZbinr I know! Glad to see 12tone here, good match of channels. Side note, there’s a Canadian guy called AvE that focuses on shopwork and electronics; I’d love to see him in a guest video

[@RyanDB]

Probably bit... swear-y for Tom's channel :P

[@dannypeck96]

could you imagine bigclive doing a guest video?

[@mavisp]

Already subscribe to 12tone, a muchly appreciate the style and accessibility. It's like Vihart for music; that's a very good thing. The you tube algorithm came up trumps putting one of the videos in my recommendations; the Imperial march one if I recall correctly.

[@AlexKnauth]

Hm. I never saw it in recommendations until I saw it in the "creator on the rise" bit on the trending tab, at which point it became my literal second-favorite channel. I'm glad it worked for you! (btw, it's second to Vihart)

[@wen_drid]

I now want to compose an hour-long piece in Solresol with hidden lyrics just for fun

[@bmxjoel828]

12tone is one of my favourite channels! Makes music theory really accessible

[@qui9797]

Saw this, immediately thought of Solresol. I didn't actually think it would be actually be about it... Thanks, jan Misali.

[@kijeenki]

Same

[@epislog178]

Ahh yes my favourite superficial commentator on con-languages since the idiotic B.Gilson

[@paw101]

He did the drawing for "up to 3000 words" as >3000 but doesn't that imply it had greater than 3000?

[@CosmicHippopotamus]

Up to 3000 means less than or equal to.

[@geniewiley4217]

@@CosmicHippopotamus >3000 means greater than 3000, non-inclusive

[@justastranger6564]

4 and a half minutes in i realized he was left handed and that's why it looked weird to watch him write

[@Steroumel]

This was amazing! 12tone is one of my favorites!!

[@pielord33321]

"He even built a series of properly-tuned cannons" is my favorite thing I've heard all week.

[@Ezullof]

I remember having fun with SolRéSol 5 years ago. What I found very interesting, is that the "philosophical" or "logical" languages, that were generally invented later and were supposed to get rid of the "biased" nature of natural languages to replace them with categories (much like the syllable in SolRéSol), are based on the same structure, but for apparently different reasons. SolRéSol works that way because of the limited number of possible syllables - a weakness that is changed into a strength. I feels logical and it's often not too hard to find the word you want. So-called logical languages, on the other hand, are practically unintelligible if you don't already have a similarity of thought with an other speaker... except for the most basic words. Does this mean that music is more universal than philosophy?

[@yakobsoulstorm5187]

I suppose, though this language also has the problem of being based on Western music.

[@cycklist]

Being left handed doesn't lend itself well to the Vi Hart technique :(

[@Socratica]

Loved learning about this!

[@nintendork64]

I never thought I'd see the day when Tom Scott and 12tone did something together! This is like a dream come true!

[@tomw.4440]

Nice video, Tom! I fell just yesterday on into a wikipedia black hole about constructed languages and i would really love to have such a concept implemented around the globe. The only problem is choosing which language to use. Languages like Esperanto or Ido can be comprehended by a lot of people without to much of a effort, whereas logical languages like Loglan or Solresol take much of the ambiguity out of speaking and might even enable us to talk to computers without much need for interpreting.

[@Seltyk]

I knew it wouldn't be long before this channel had Solresol on it

[@iamjimgroth]

Yay, an extra 12 tone video. :)

[@jan-pi-ala-suli]

ah solresol, the language where you can swear at someone in a melody

[@erictaylor5462]

How do you always find such cool guest presenters? On top of fonding so many cool things to talk about when you do your own videos.

[@sihplak]

Oh this is awesome! I've been subscribed to 12tone for a few months; this is an incredibly pleasant surprise to see!

[@tibees]

Before paper was available, ancient indian civilisations passed on mathematical theorems by singing them in code, where numbers corresponded to certain animals and objects.

[@loganfeecemusic]

YESSSSS i've been waiting for 12tone to get a boost from a shoutout or something

[@IndiBrony]

How did I only just find this video? Been subscribed to both channels for years and had no idea they collaborated!

[@dionc6]

At 3:03 he says "less than 3000 words", but draws the greater than symbol (< means less than, > means greater than).

[@pocketdialmusic]

12 Tone has been one of my favourite channels for a while! Love it

[@wanderingrandomer]

What a coincidence. I've been on a conlang kick recently and this is about the third time I've heard about Solresol in the last week.

[@IvanSN]

WanderingRandomer I absolutely love conlangs and linguistics, yet I've only heard of SolReSol recently as well. Multiple times. :)

[@briandiehl9257]

Maybe it is getting a sodden rise in popularity.

[@XPimKossibleX]

I went through that and there are about 5 languages that you won't stop eating about, it's just one of them.

[@darrenslatta]

Oh please let Ave be next week's special guest

[@scootscoot2k]

can you imagine him trying to record a whole video without swearing?

[@darrenslatta]

scott harwood I don't think he swore in his video with the little apprentice a few months ago

[@evanc.1591]

Yes! That’d be incredible

[@rrrosecarbinela]

Love 12 Tone. Thanks for featuring him!

[@ryanyoung2421]

It's always so nice to see two spheres of KZbin educators colliding. Glad to see 12 Tone likes Tom too!

[@lawrencecalablaster568]

This is the greatest things of which I have ever heard before. I want to carry a harmonica with me everywhere and speak in Solresol. Thank you, TwelveTones.

[@CharlieQuartz]

I read about this in "Atlas Obscura" last week! It's nice to see a more comprehensive explanation of its structure.

[@hdoddema]

"properly tuned cannons" is a hell of a thing to gloss over. 😎

[@JC-xq7or]

12 Tone and Tom Scott colabb? WHAT! MY LIFE IS COMPLETE NOW

[@RST_Omega]

This is two of my favourite channels combined, how did I miss this

[@genericide8231]

a collab of some of my favorite channels? hell yes!

[@scottwatrous]

Next week: AvE crashes Tom Scott

[@Macman12233]

Scott Watrous YES PLEASE

[@williamwakely1398]

That would be amazing! :D

[@slikrx]

Release the schmoo! (well, I would)

[@recklessroges]

Not certain of the brand synergy. (I might love them both, but I would be surprised to see those rude moose-hands on this channel any time soon.)

[@TreetopCanopy]

So cool to hear more about solresol!!

[@Sorc47]

It's great to see 12tone featured here, that channel really needs more subscribers!

[@JoelCarli]

"La Langue Musicale Universelle" _uses a diatonic scale in equal temperament_

[@keepXonXrockin]

Joel Carli please explain for someone who knows absolutely nothing about music theory 🙏

[@12tone]

Yeah, that bothered me too. I decided not to go into the politics of it for the video, but even if it's not based on any specific country's language, it's pretty deeply European.

[@kinderbeno56]

keeponrockin despite being called a universal language the musical notes used follow a western/European scale

[@miksuko]

English?

[@JoelCarli]

12tone No problem, I get why you wouldn't talk about something more controversial like that, haha. I just thought it was funny.

[@randomcommentor]

I've seriously thought about this.. I've always thought language is really interesting, and as I've dabbled in language creation before, I've really been contemplating attempting to make a music-based language.. Never thought someone actually did already!

[@TailsDollIncorporeider]

This is one of my favourites languages-things and I had always wanted someone to make a good vid on it

[@NonTwinBrothers]

I love 12tone, glad to see him as a guest here!

[@sammy3212321]

A 12 Tone collab! I'm so happy c':

[@lawrencecalablaster568]

Yessssss :) I love TwelveTone so much, and I'm so excited that he's getting even more awesome coverage from Tom.

[@_iphoenix_6164]

You wrote ">3000", i.e. "Greater than 3000", and said "Less than 3000", i.e. "

[@DanielJohnNicholson]

The Legend of _iPhoenix_ Yes! I’m not alone! There are others that are as pedantic as I am!

[@AlexKnauth]

The Legend of _iPhoenix_ I like how the underscore iPhoenix underscore got interpreted as _italics_ when copy-pasted. That isn't the worst > vs. < typo I've seen. I've seen people accidentally write the uncertainty principle as ∆x∆p ≤ ħ / 2, where it should be ≥.

[@funkeypigeon]

Was just about to comment on that

[@LiquidFracture]

Make that >= 7 people.

[@Paidraig]

But think of how interesting the universe would be if that sign were actually flipped!

[@stack_overflow]

This is surreal, I found out about this channel literally yesterday, and now it shows up here.

[@xxxxxx-p5q]

oh, I love conlang videos! keep up making them, you're great!

[@jurrich]

The fascinating thing is that verb conjugation was deemed "not worth doing", but for some reason the definite article was considered absolutely critical to keep, even though with a bit of linguistic investigation, not having one is... perfectly fine, and gives you that single tone to assign to some other language feature that might actually really be critical. The very fact that "the" was considered important shows that even as a new language, it could not escape the French roots.

[@samygiy1]

So happy to see twelve tone on here.

[@TheGurumash]

This is amazing! I want to use Solresol in a story now.

[@TheKirbyT]

AY!!! 12tone on Tom Scott!

[@anthonyitaliano7316]

Awesome, glad to see 12tone getting recognition!

[@xaros1466]

oh my god a canadian? wild guess : Chris Hadfield

[@louadria]

Yeah the guy from Rare Earth

[@PerMortensen]

Interesting guess. Fairly likely too, given that they've met.

[@louadria]

+Per Mortensen Really, when did they? Haven't heard of that yet.

[@louadria]

+Nillie Thanks! Now I remember it again, completely forgot about that.

[@burgers1]

Twelve tone is an awesome channel if you're into music. It goes so in depth about literally everything music theory.

[@Stephen_Lafferty]

I love it when two of my favourite channels collaborate!

[@bitodd]

I'm thrilled to see 12tone over here, and hope the lack of an ending means he enjoyed the Haribo himself.

[@rootabeta9015]

At 1:19, the weird block thing at middle-right is a pigpen cipher, and it translates to "elephant"

[@ChaosPootato]

Them elephants though

[@jessiebullock]

Thank you! I have found my new favorite channel.

[@George-George-George]

Ayy my boy 12tone

[@JamesHood118]

12tone is amazing Tom, been watching his videos for a few months now

[@brickevious]

i LOVE 12tone! nice video!

[@erikgrundy]

I was confused, because I was fairly sure 12tone didn't post on Mondays (Tuesday for me), then I saw who the video was actually by. 12tone is one of my favourite channels.

[@billygarvey633]

Two of my favorite KZbinrs have come together!

[@dakat5131]

the weird thing is I had just looked up a few things related to languages and found this on a list, and now this video popped up.

[@fozzzyyy]

">3000 words"

[@peppybocan]

yeah, "less than" :D

[@silvertayuun]

Glad I’m not the only one to pickup on that haha

[@MrSaphareas]

Just wanted to comment that.

[@c4ownage1]

How about just say "And that's it! Sudre's language went only up to four syllables with n total words, where n is less than 3000." and write down n

[@macronencer]

12tone just got a new subscriber. Thanks, Tom!

[@factsverse9957]

Heyy 12tone! Yesterday or 2 days ago IFAIR I binged some of your videos.

[@YourAverageLink]

This is the crossover I didn't know I needed.

[@frankharr9466]

My favorite part is that he's a lefty. I once went looking for a grammar-level discription of Solresol but couldn't easily find one. I'm glad to know more. A-Canadian, huh? If that's one's busy, will you use B-Canadian instead?

[@jaapsch2]

Is the 5-note sequence in Close Encounters based on this idea?

[@bardfinn]

That's an exercise left to the listener.

[@philronan6929]

There was some sign language in there too: watch?v=AphKxQ2NsQo

[@galvinn]

When I saw this video was about a conlang, I was a bit excited

[@saltedjules_]

vötgil vötgil

[@spiritedrenee9895]

That sounds awesome. So all the prettiest sounds and sentences will be like songs?

[@607]

That's very interesting. I hope I can find out more about it!

[@alden5931]

We already have a language made of music: music (bar lyrics). Anybody who has seriously played it knows that it can convey emotion and feeling like ordinary language, just not words.

[@halfcircle8574]

I really like the idea, but it kind of screws everyone that doesn't have perfect pitch and/or can't reliably produce specific notes.

[@konanhuet623]

i'd like to introduce you to the concept of instruments

[@SioxerNikita]

I'd like to introduce you to the concept of representative replacements. Like So si re or what ever.

[@PaddedShaman]

People make lots of spoken errors all the time with current languages, yet our minds gloss over them just fine. You wouldn't need perfect pitch to communicate this way, just get close enough.

[@dkosmari]

Or we could use the colors version. It's not like people would have trouble recognizing the color of a dress or anything, right?

[@SioxerNikita]

+Shaman Crinitus A little harder with a language with few to no redundancies. Notice another thing in most languages is that there is not that many words that sound amazingly similar. If you get a single syllable wrong (with notes) in this universal language you will quickly say something completely wrong, so this language is honestly less redundant safe if you go by speaking it in pitches.

[@niklaspilot]

It’s 12tone!!!! Awesome to see him here... :)

[@simon-pierrelarochelle4403]

I could never look at that guy holding the pen the way he does again.

[@officialbfi01]

I knew from the thumbnail it was 12tone and ahhh I love it so much :D

[@DomyTheMad420]

#20 on trending :O congratulations mate!

[@Edward256]

Well, this reminded me of a Star Trek Voyager episode where they were going through The Void and made contact with an alien that did not speak, but were taught to use musical notes for communication.

[@kennethh3790]

Yeeeeeee twelve tone!

[@kerenk]

how did i never know 12tone did a video with tom scott!!! this is so cool