Portal:Music/DYK

The following articles formerly appeared in the Did you know section of Portal:Music

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DYK 1

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...that racist coon songs (sheet music book pictured) paved the way for popular acceptance of ragtime music?
...that Chrisye had second album syndrome on his fifth album?
...that John Douglas conducted more than 50 opera productions at Temple University?
...that The Great White Wonder was named the best album of 1991 that 'You Didn't Hear' by Spin?

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DYK 2

Portal:Music/DYK/2

...that mezzo-soprano Débria Brown (pictured) created the role of Tituba in the world premiere of Robert Ward's Pulitzer-winning opera, The Crucible, at the New York City Opera in 1961?
...that The Decemberists' single off of their new album has been compared to R.E.M., Neil Young, Steely Dan and Bruce Springsteen?
...that imprisoned Burmese singer Zayar Thaw's group Generation Wave distributed anti-government hip-hop and copies of banned movies, including Rambo IV?
...that lyric coloratura soprano Harolyn Blackwell replaced opera diva Kathleen Battle when she famously got fired from the Metropolitan Opera?

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DYK 3

Portal:Music/DYK/3

...that Georgette Leblanc (pictured) portrayed the role of Ariane in the original 1899 play Ariane et Barbe-bleue by Maurice Maeterlinck and in the 1907 opera adaptation by Paul Dukas?
...that 1965 Records was founded by James Endeacott, who also originally discovered The Libertines and The Strokes?
...that John Lennon's "I'm Losing You" and Yoko Ono's "I'm Moving On," both from the 1980 Double Fantasy album, reflect the couple's diverse reactions to their marital tensions?
...that American singer, songwriter and record producer The Mighty Hannibal once sang with members of The Pips, and was later known for the song "Jerkin' the Dog"?

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DYK 4

Portal:Music/DYK/4

...that video game composer, director, and producer Junichi Masuda (pictured) named a character in Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire after his daughter Kiri?
...that musicologist Olav Gurvin co-edited the first Norwegian music encyclopedia in 1949?
...that 40 limited edition sets of The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing's debut album Now That's What I Call Steampunk! Volume 1 came with wax cylinder recordings?
...that Dani Siciliano wanted her cover of Nirvana's "Come as You Are", from her album Likes..., to have the feel of a jazz standard?

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DYK 5

Portal:Music/DYK/5

...that in his recitals baritone David Bispham (pictured) often sang English versions of songs by Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert, and others?
...that three independent studio albums released by progressive rock band Eufonius from Japan have appeared on the Japanese Oricon albums chart?
...that Dope Stars Inc.'s debut album was originally titled New Breed of Digital Fuckers before they changed the title to Neuromance a few months before release?
...that The Amber Witch, an opera by William Vincent Wallace (pictured), was based on a popular Gothic novel of the same name, first published in Britain in 1844?

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DYK 6

Portal:Music/DYK/6

...that according to WAD Magazine, identical twin brothers Larry and Laurent Bourgeois of the French dance duo Les Twins (pictured) started walking at five months old?
...that Coolio's 1995 song "Gangsta's Paradise" was nominated at the Grammy Awards in 1996 for Record of the Year and received the award for Best Rap Solo Performance?
...that Brain Drill's album Quantum Catastrophe is loosely based on the 2012 phenomenon?
...that in 1994, after The Cruel Sea won four ARIA Music Awards for their album, The Honeymoon Is Over, two of the ARIA trophies were stolen that same night?

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DYK 7

Portal:Music/DYK/7

...that after Rosa Ponselle created the role of Carmelita in Joseph Breil's "Lyric Tragedy in One Act" The Legend (libretto pictured) at the Met, she burned her copy of the score?
...that the Pride of Oklahoma Marching Band played a record-setting 10-hour drum roll in 1934?
...that La Voz de un Ángel by Yuridia ranked among the best-selling albums of the year in Mexico for three years in a row?
...that Irish musicians Lisa Hannigan and Damien Rice dueted on "Unplayed Piano", a Burmese protest song that charted in the UK and was praised by The Independent as "a twinkly and beautiful thing"?

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DYK 8

Portal:Music/DYK/8

...that on her first English album, All Your Love, Siti Nurhaliza (pictured) was managed by her stepson, who is 11 years younger than she is?
...that a soundtrack album featured actress Gwyneth Paltrow performing a censored version of Cee Lo Green's "Fuck You!" for an episode of Glee?
...that the title of Dan Castellaneta's album of comedy sketches I Am Not Homer is a parody of Leonard Nimoy's first autobiography I Am Not Spock?
...that Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov referred to his opera Kashchey the Deathless as a "short autumnal fairy tale", as opposed to Snegurochka, a "spring fairy tale"?

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DYK 9

Portal:Music/DYK/9

...that Kathleen Parlow (pictured) was the first foreigner admitted to the St. Petersburg Conservatory?
...that 3 Doors Down's discography includes five singles that topped the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart?
...that The Squirrels, Seattle-based practitioners of the "Frankenstein method of song arrangement", recorded a "Stars on 45"-style medley of songs from The Wizard of Oz, which was among the 142 7-inch records that British DJ John Peel set aside in a box to grab if his house ever caught fire?
...that after eight years singing in Gilbert and Sullivan operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, Thomas Lawlor went on to perform more than 60 roles for other opera companies?

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DYK 10

Portal:Music/DYK/10

...that 1520 Sedgwick Avenue (pictured) in The Bronx has been recognized as the "birthplace of hip hop"?
...that Nathan "Ned" Miller had two hit songs in the 1920s at the age of 22?
...that Penny and the Quarters are a "lost" soul band which came to prominence in 2010 after an unreleased demo of their song "You And Me" was used in the film Blue Valentine?
...that composer Tom Scott also had a career as a folk singer known as "The American Troubador"?

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DYK 11

Portal:Music/DYK/11

...that Têtes Noires (pictured) was the first all-female rock band from Minneapolis?
...that in eighteen years, baritone William Walker performed over 360 times at New York's Metropolitan Opera?
...that a cherry blossom made Fariz RM famous?
...that Michael Schneider conducted an oratorio by Stradella, performed by students and teachers of the Frankfurt University of Music at Eberbach Abbey for the Rheingau Musik Festival?

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DYK 12

Portal:Music/DYK/12

...that Ireland's 2008 Meteor Awards featured a duet between Sinéad O'Connor and Mick Pyro and a performance by Gary Lightbody and Lisa Hannigan (pictured) of the song "Some Surprise", taken from the self-titled album of The Cake Sale which was organised by former Bell X1 member Brian Crosby?
...that the composer Anton Rubinstein conducted his own opera The Merchant Kalashnikov so badly that the performance had to be stopped?
...that Irish country singer Larry Cunningham and his band got their first break when Jim Reeves walked off the stage during a concert?
...that The Golden Age is the ninth studio album by sadcore band American Music Club?

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DYK 13

Portal:Music/DYK/13

...that Annette Nelson's performance (pictured) as The Mountain Sylph in Washington, D.C. in 1837 was highly appreciated by a group of Native American chiefs?
...that Lorin Maazel was 75 years old when his first opera, 1984, had its world premiere in 2005?
...that to maintain a low profile for their appearances at the Hampton Coliseum, the rock band Grateful Dead asked to appear on the billing as Formerly the Warlocks?
...that after John Law Hume, violinist on the RMS Titanic, was lost in the disaster, his family were sent an invoice for his uniform?

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DYK 14

Portal:Music/DYK/14

...that the Musiktheater im Revier (pictured) in Gelsenkirchen staged a new musical for the 100th anniversary of the soccer club FC Schalke 04 in 2004?
...that Harrison Oxley was the youngest cathedral organist in Britain when he became organist of St Edmundsbury Cathedral at age 24?
...that Catalan guitarist Pedro Javier González won both the Premio al Toque por Bulerías and Certamen de Guitarra flamenca flamenco competitions in the 1980s?
...that after losing a job, the Salty Dogs Jazz Band would sometimes find that they had been replaced by another jazz band with the same name?

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DYK 15

Portal:Music/DYK/15

...that Cecilia Bartoli sang the title role of Bellini's Norma for the first time in concert in the Konzerthaus Dortmund (pictured)?
...that the Eurythmics released eight studio albums between 1981 and 1999 and sold over 75 million records?
...that Siobhan Magnus, a contestant on the ninth season of American Idol, started singing in public during a elementary school concert when she sang "Tomorrow" from the musical Annie?
...that the first Klingon language opera, ’u’, premiered at The Hague on 9 September 2010?

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DYK 16

Portal:Music/DYK/16

...that Benjamin Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden (both pictured) made their debut as the band MGMT playing the theme to the movie Ghostbusters over and over for hours?
...that Dani Siciliano wanted her cover of Nirvana's "Come as You Are", from her album Likes..., to have the feel of a jazz standard?
...that Buffy Sainte-Marie's song "Now That the Buffalo's Gone" originally mentioned that the Kinzua Dam broke the Treaty of Canandaigua?
...that the use of noise by Ottoman military bands inspired European composers such as Haydn, Beethoven, and Mozart?

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DYK 17

Portal:Music/DYK/17

...that opera singers Marguerite Bériza (pictured) and Orville Harrold appeared in 1917 at the Ravinia Festival in both Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana and Massenet's Manon?
...that the British pub rock music genre was started by American band Eggs over Easy, who were in England for less than a year?
...that Russian cellist Valentin Berlinsky played for the Borodin Quartet for 60 years, the longest-serving member of what was described as "the longest continuously playing" string quartet in the world?
...that in 1998, Paul McCartney rearranged Wings' 1976 songs "She's My Baby" and "Warm and Beautiful" for string quartet for concerts in memory of his late wife Linda?

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DYK 18

Portal:Music/DYK/18

...that Wilhelm Sauer built the Berlin Cathedral organ (pictured)?
...that Brazilian band A Banda Mais Bonita da Cidade was little known until one of its music videos went viral, attracting international media attention?
...that during a rehearsal of Pagliacci with the Florentine Opera in 1998, tenor David Rendall sent a baritone to hospital when his prop knife failed to collapse?
...that "Heartaches," featuring Elmo Tanner's whistling, became a #1 hit fourteen years after it was recorded?

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DYK 19

Portal:Music/DYK/19

...that soprano Erminia Frezzolini (pictured) created the title role in Verdi's opera Giovanna d'Arco at La Scala in 1843 opposite her husband, Antonio Poggi, as Charles VII of France?
...that Mircea Florian, seen as one of the four leading protest singers in Communist Romania in his folk rock years, pioneered minimal music in his career as a computer scientist?
...that as a blindfolded child, opera singer Pauline Joran (pictured) could identify absolute pitch and the notes of chords?
...that Ayu Ting Ting became popular in 2011 with a song released four years earlier?

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DYK 20

Portal:Music/DYK/20

...that all three albums by Brooke Fraser (pictured) debuted at number one on the New Zealand Albums Chart?
...that the music a person hears in childhood may affect that person's musical cognition as an adult?
...that the solo parts of Joseph Haydn's oratorio Die Schöpfung were performed by Elisabeth Scholl, Daniel Sans and Andreas Pruys in the Basilika of Schloss Johannisberg?
...that Alicia Keys' debut performance of her new single "Girl on Fire" featured a gymnastics display by 2012 Olympics gold medalist Gabby Douglas?

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DYK 21

Portal:Music/DYK/21

... that, on Bad Company's song "Can't Get Enough", the "ringing" guitar uses an open tuning constructed from C's overtones (pictured)?
... that the coon songs of African American vaudevillian Irving Sayles elicited encores in Australia?
... that Ivy Queen's Flashback (2005) "cements her status as the Queen of Reggaetón and Latin hip hop" according to an editor for Newsday?
... that Vajara, founded in 1999, is Tibet's oldest and most famous rock and roll band?

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DYK 22

Portal:Music/DYK/22

... that major thirds guitar tuning is a repetitive tuning in which chords are raised an octave by shifting all notes by three strings on the same frets?
... that although Steve Reich's works have often been referenced by pop and rock musicians, the Radiohead-inspired Radio Rewrite is the first time Reich has returned the compliment?
... that Daddy Yankee's album Barrio Fino was the best-selling Latin album of the 2000s decade in the United States?
... that Gocho described his debut single "Dándole" as a combination of mambo and urban music?

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DYK 23

Portal:Music/DYK/23

... that the atonal harmonies of Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, and Arnold Schoenberg inspired the jazz-guitarist Ralph Patt to invent major-thirds tuning?
... that Soosan Firooz has been described as Afghanistan's first female rapper?
... that the albums Somewhere There's a Someone, Dean Martin Sings Songs from ''The Silencers'', The Dean Martin Christmas Album, The Dean Martin TV Show and The Hit Sound of Dean Martin were all released by Dean Martin in 1966?
... that Kevin Shields was influenced by "a noise generator" while with The Complex?

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DYK 24

Portal:Music/DYK/24

... that the Russian seven-string guitar's open-G tuning D-G-B-D-G-B-D (illustrated) approximates the major-thirds tuning D#-G-B-D#-G-B-D#?
... that two of Lecrae's albums have been called the most important albums in Christian hip hop?
... that environmentalist critics have argued that Woody Guthrie's song "Pittsburgh Town" (1941), recorded by Pete Seeger, was a commentary on the city's pollution problem at the time?
... that Nicole Scherzinger's song "Boomerang" is about "not letting the haters keep you down"?

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DYK 25

Portal:Music/DYK/25

... that Robert Fripp's music company Discipline Global Mobile has the policy that copyrights belong to artists and consequently does not own even its corporate logo (pictured)?
... that "Whatever It Takes" was the first song to be written for Leona Lewis' debut studio album, Spirit?
...that Armenian composer Krikor Kalfayan is the author of over 150 musical compositions?
... that Joseph Merk, principal cellist at the Vienna Court Opera, helped to bring Beethoven's Triple Concerto out of obscurity?

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DYK 26

Portal:Music/DYK/26

... that, while the standard guitar-tuning E-A-D-G-B-E includes one major third amid four perfect fourths (illustrated), the augmented-fourths tuning B-F-B-F-B-F has only tritone intervals?
... that Kate Nash paid for her 2013 album Girl Talk through crowd funding?
... that Kostas Tournas' 1972 progressive-psychedelic rock opera Aperanta Horafia is considered a landmark of Greek rock?
... that in the first version of the chamber opera In the Penal Colony, based on the short story by Franz Kafka, composer Philip Glass included the character of Kafka as narrator?

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DYK 27

Portal:Music/DYK/27

...that Japanese taiko drums (pictured) are played with wooden sticks called bachi?
... that major-thirds guitar tuning is a repetitive tuning in which chords are raised an octave by shifting all notes by three strings on the same frets?
...that Frank Zappa won a Grammy Award for the album Jazz from Hell, which was composed using, and entirely performed by, the Synclavier synthesizer?
...that the Industrial Workers of the World's Little Red Songbook has helped spread that group’s message?
...that Kassav' is the most popular band to ever emerge from the islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe?
...that the Uruguayan Invasion was a musical phenomenon of the 1960s distinctly similar to the British Invasion, with rock bands from Uruguay rapidly gaining popularity in Argentina?
...that the bass player Jaco Pastorius was killed by a night club bouncer, after being refused entry to a Santana concert?
...that Austrian composer Alban Berg encoded names and messages in his works using the Twelve-tone technique, and wrote program music referring to his secret love for novelist Franz Werfel's sister?
...that French singer Alizée's performance of her song J'en ai marre! was the inspiration of the female Night Elf dance in World of Warcraft?

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DYK 28

Portal:Music/DYK/28

...that, in the 1940s, the female fans of the Soviet tenor Sergei Lemeshev often quarrelled with the fans of his rival, Ivan Kozlovsky?
...that an unknown manuscript of opera libretto by writer Mikhail Bulgakov was found in Isaak Dunayevsky's archive after his death in 1955?
...that the symphony said to have been written in 1809 by Ukrainian landowner Mykola Ovsianiko-Kulikovsky was later proven to be a hoax?
... that the Agung, a Philippine set of gongs, was repeatedly hit during earthquakes for it was believed its supernatural powers would halt the earth's reverberations?
...that the first performance of Glinka's opera A Life for the Tsar (1836) was conducted by Catterino Cavos, who composed an opera on the same subject 20 years before Glinka?
...that composer Veniamin Fleishman was killed at the beginning of the Second World War before he could complete his opera Rothschild's Violin, but that his teacher Dmitri Shostakovich rescued his sketches from besieged Leningrad and completed the opera?
...that the music of Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, and Arnold Schoenberg inspired the jazz-guitarist Ralph Patt to invent major-thirds tuning?

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DYK 29

Portal:Music/DYK/29

... that the background that appears on the cover of the Fergie single London Bridge is not a photograph of London Bridge but of Tower Bridge (pictured) with which it is frequently confused?
... that the Nirvana song "Endless, Nameless" was released in three official versions, including a version recorded during sessions with DJ John Peel?
... that the Indie pop genre has origins in genres from pop to punk rock?
... that Japanese pop band BeForU was created through a casting organized by Konami to find talented people for the videogame Dance Dance Revolution?
... that Russian duo t.A.T.u.'s song "All About Us" was written by Australian songwriters Jess and Lisa Origliasso, better known as The Veronicas?
... that the Eagles album Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975) went 29 times platinum, making it the best-selling album in the United States?
... that the song "Lady Marmalade", which was interpreted in 2001 by Christina Aguilera, Mýa, Lil' Kim and Pink, is a cover of the 1975 original by Labelle?
... that, while the standard guitar-tuning E-A-D-G-B-E includes one major third amid four perfect fourths, the augmented-fourths tuning B-F-B-F-B-F has only tritone intervals?

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DYK 30

Portal:Music/DYK/30

... that the bagpipe (pictured) was most likely designed not in Scotland, but in the Middle East?
... that AFI is an acronym for A Fire Inside?
... that "Pop Goes the Weasel" was originally a darkly humorous vignette of the cycle of poverty among workers in the East End of London?
... that Ashlee Simpson's single "Invisible" is a cover of a song by non-commercial rock band Jaded Era, which became famous thanks to Simpson's cover?
... that K-Pop, an abbreviation of Korean Pop, generally refers to the popular music of South Korea, as North Korea has no popular music industry?
... that Godsmack took its name from the song of the same name by Alice in Chains?
... that musician Hank Williams III started his career as a drummer?
... that "Yankee Doodle" was written to ridicule Oliver Cromwell, and used again by the British to ridicule Americans during the American Revolution?

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DYK 31

Portal:Music/DYK/31

... that the background that appears on the cover of the Fergie single London Bridge is not a photograph of London Bridge but of Tower Bridge (pictured) with which it is frequently confused?
... that the Nirvana song "Endless, Nameless" was released in three official versions, including a version recorded during sessions with DJ John Peel?
... that the Indie pop genre has origins in genres from pop to punk rock?
... that Japanese pop band BeForU was created through a casting organized by Konami to find talented people for the videogame Dance Dance Revolution?
... that Russian duo t.A.T.u.'s song "All About Us" was written by Australian songwriters Jess and Lisa Origliasso, better known as The Veronicas?
... that the Eagles album Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975) went 29 times platinum, making it the best-selling album in the United States?
... that the song "Lady Marmalade", which was interpreted in 2001 by Christina Aguilera, Mýa, Lil' Kim and Pink, is a cover of the 1975 original by Labelle?
... that, while the standard guitar-tuning E-A-D-G-B-E includes one major third amid four perfect fourths, the augmented-fourths tuning B-F-B-F-B-F has only tritone intervals?

More...

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DYK 32

Portal:Music/DYK/32

...that the composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart had a son, Franz Xavier Wolfgang Mozart, who was a noted composer himself?
...that the composer Arnold Schoenberg once said of his music: "My music is not modern, it is merely badly played"?
...that according to the Guinness Book of World Records, Queen albums have spent more time on the UK album charts than those of any other musical act?
...that the Beatles were pelted with rotten fruit during their Memphis concert on August 20, 1966?
...that "Lady Marmalade" was a 1975 #1 hit single recorded by LaBelle for the Epic Records label?
...that Jimi Hendrix has a son who is also a musician?
...that Jully Black is a Canadian R&B singer best-known for her Top 40 hit "Rally’n"?
...that Russian composer Boris Sobinov was abducted from the Berlin American Zone by the NKVD and condemned to ten years in prison in the Soviet Union?
...that Austrian composer Alban Berg died from an insect bite that caused blood poisoning?

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DYK 33

Portal:Music/DYK/33

...that Mariah Carey scored a #1 hit in every year of a decade (the 1990s)?
...that Michael Stipe of R.E.M. fame is godfather to Kurt Cobain’s daughter Francis Bean?
...that The Isley Brothers have had at least one hit recording in every decade since the 1950s?
...that Otis Redding’s only hit — (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay — occurred posthumously?
...that Eric Clapton is a three-time inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (as a member of Cream, The Yardbirds, and as a soloist)?
...that Mexican musician Ramón Barrero, famous for playing the world's smallest harmonica, choked to death in 1994 after accidentally inhaling the instrument on stage?
... that during World War II, 150,000 carillon bells were stored in "bell cemeteries" (German: Glockenfriedhöfe) before being melted down to make shell casings and armaments?
... that the Russian guitar's open G tuning D-G-B-D-G-B-D approximates the major thirds tuning D#-G-B-D#-G-B-D#?

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Either the page is no longer relevant or consensus on its purpose has become unclear. To revive discussion, seek broader input via a forum such as the village pump. DYK section has been automated.