A young computer animator who has been studying with me for 17 years has perhaps the most accurate ear of anyone I have ever taught. That means that he feels, internalizes, every sound he hears and has reactions to each sound.
Today his constant error on a particular chord in the famous Minuet of Beethoven's D major Sonata, Op. 10, No. 3, exposed exactly how the clash of overtones in a specific first inversion triad totally confuses the ear, therefore, in his case, the fingers.
He simply cannot willy-nilly put his fingers on the "right" notes knowing in advance that they will sound terrible. When I look at the offending combination I say to myself, "Oh! It's a first-inversion major chord," play the notes correctly and move on.
As I pointed out to him, this was not always the case. Such sounds completely threw me when I was a child, to such an extent as to produce nightmares. This sensitivity was never brought up in all my music study until, in my early 20s, I resumed serious piano lessons having studied organ during college and on a Fulbright.
The very first lesson I had with the great teacher, Hans Neumann, was on the subject of overtones, as he demonstrated how out of tune a first inversion major triad can be.
I am eternally grateful to him. It explained and explains a great deal about how composition works, especially how the element of humor/irony enters into the work of a master who knows wherein the source of power lies.
