giving away secrets
Here’s the real secret–when I give a musical “secret” away, I don’t lose it. In fact I’m pretty convinced that you don’t really know something until you teach it to someone else. Then it’s really yours.
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Thanks for the encouragement re: ear training, it’s tedious but its affirming to have it’s importance confirmed by someone who’s been there. On that note, I’ve a question regarding the transcribing/listening experience: You mentioned that it might not be such a good idea right now for me to be listening to a note’s relationship to the key center b/c key centers change throughout the song. What do you mean by this? Are you referring simply to the bassline movement, meaning that the bass note that is being played on the one of that measure sets up the tonality for the next four beats?
What I’ve been doing recently is listening to a lot of different songs that are played in the same key, (in this case, F). Usually blues songs, songs with simpler chord changes. I will try to identify the notes in the solos based on how they sound relative to the key center (F). The thing is, when the root movement changes ie: from I to IV or I to V, I get worried that the same note in one measure might ’sound’ different in the next. What do you think about this? Sound like a waste of time? Thanks!
Comment by whitecraneboxing — October 24, 2006 @ 9:29 pm
I think it’s more productive as a listening technique to try to identify the relationships between subsequent roots instead. Two reasons why: It can be hard to hold on to the “real” tonic if the tune modulates (and a whole lot of them will), and it’s most important to find the areas where the motion follows the circle of fifths (V-I or ii-V or I-IV etc.)
The dominant-tonic relationship is the most important one in harmony. (Watch for an upcoming post all about this). Dominant chords set a strong expectation of what follows. A lot of the cool stuff that happens in music occurs when those expectations are violated. But most of the time, they allow you to “see forward” into the tune.
I’ll bet you can hear melodic intervals reliably. Listen for the intervals between bass notes, and know that the most common motion is along the circle of fifths. The next most common occurrences are substitutions for motion by fifths.
Comment by Rob — October 24, 2006 @ 10:16 pm
Okay, cool. But what about when you’re transcribing ? Or for that matter, performing. Take for example when you perform a transcribed solo ‘by ear’. The moment before you play the very first note of the phrase, what context do you ‘hear’ that note in?
ie: lets say you’re playing a 12-bar blues in the Key of F. The lick starts on an “F” of the second measure.
(I)(IV)(I)(I)
(IV)(IV)(I)(I)
(V)(IV)(I)(V)
Do you hear the “F” as the 1 of the tonic? Or do you hear it as the 5 of the new root of that measure(Bb)? And once you’ve hit that first note, do you continue to hear the following notes in the context of a key, as just described? Or do you hear them in terms of their intervalic distance between each other? Thanks!
Comment by whitecraneboxing — October 24, 2006 @ 11:23 pm
No, I’m specifically addressing the roots of chords above.
For solos, I tend to relate to the chord tones of that chord, or block of related chords.
http://music.linear1.org/2006/08/28/video-i-love-you/
For one phrase, he moves from F to A. The C#s and G#s that belong to the Bmi7-E7-Amaj phrase, they don’t relate to F at all. they don’t occur in that key. So I’m playing an E bebop scale in that phhrase, and aiming for a chord tone of Amaj for the resolution.
Comment by Rob — October 24, 2006 @ 11:30 pm
Answer me this one–in the blues, where are all the V-I opportunities?
Comment by Rob — October 24, 2006 @ 11:32 pm
For that resolution you were talking about, will any chord tone of Amaj (1,3,5 or 7) do? Or does each one have its own relative ‘resolving’ strength?
Blues V-I opportunities:
(I)(IV)(I)(I)
(IV)(IV)(I)(I)
(V)(IV)(I)(V)
every time you see a I-IV or a V-I in succession? What about the (IV-I)’s ?
Comment by whitecraneboxing — October 25, 2006 @ 4:24 pm
Yes, every I-IV or V-I. You will find that there are numerous alterations to 12-bar blues that increase the opportunities though.
The most convincing resolutions come when your line places a chord tone on a down beat. When the chord tone is not a member of the prior chord, those are the strongest resolutions of all. So out of 1,3,5,7 can you tell me which ones would create the strongest feeling of resolution as a landing point playing over E7->Amaj7?
Comment by Rob — October 25, 2006 @ 4:32 pm
When you say ‘downbeat’, are you referring only to the first beat of the measure? Or any of the strong beats (ie: in 4/4 time: 1, 2, 3 or 4) For a E7->Amaj, the strongest resolution would be to land on either the A or the C# ? So for all V-I progressions, the strongest resolution would be found landing on the 1 or the 3 of that major I chord. Very cool .
Can you resolve a phrase in the middle of a ii-chord? or V chord? Or, for that matter, any chord that isn’t a I-chord ?
Comment by whitecraneboxing — October 26, 2006 @ 2:37 am
Downbeats are the 1, 2, 3, 4 rather than 1&, 2&, 3&, 4&. making your resolution coincide with the chord change is the strongest. But only doing that can get to sound formulaic after a bit. I tend to delay or anticipate the resolutions occasionally.
Your question about resolving in the middle of a phrase gets right to the heart of what is a cadence, and what does “resolve” mean exactly. I’ll say no in general (although I think there’s probably some case where it may make sense). It’s also handy to refer to the second audio example in this page (http://music.linear1.org/2006/10/20/playing-idiomatic-bebop/) for an example of what I’m talking about exactly. There are two V-I licks, but I’m playing them without any underlying chords. You’ll hear the cadence in there, and imply a chord change yourself because the line adheres to the guidelines for strong resolutions. Here’s a case where hearing it beats any amount of explanation.
Comment by Rob — October 26, 2006 @ 6:47 am