Music Theory - Ask anything to receive answers

venjacques · 03-20-2012, 02:53 PM

Burning Down - excellent rendition. I wanted to point out that the Neapolitan chord can be written as N6.

Further, "pleasing to the ear" is so subjective, it's almost an unfair question.

In a composition, you are the master and you get to call the shots. Your whole thing can be basically a chord progression of:

||: i II iii IV v VI :||

Part of what makes a composition nice to listen to is its predictability. If you repeat a phrase a bunch (not too much where it's totally minimalistic, but some), then the listener can predict what's coming and they get a sense of they know what to expect. So you can establish a section like this ('A'). Then you have contrasting music - varied by the chord progression, rhythm, melody, dynamics, or a combination of these and others. If you then bring back the A section, it'll sound familiar and pleasing to the listener because it's something they recognize.

The only reason some things may sound better to your ears than others is because in common practice, certain progressions are done so frequently. I vi IV V and I IV V I are very common examples (rock n' roll and doo-wop are good examples of utilizing common chord progressions like this).

If you want to sound like everyone else, use these progressions. They work, and they're familiar to the populous of the world. If you want to have your own voice, do something different and make it work your own way. Then you'll be a distinguished artist that carves their own path through the artistic realm of music.

Salami · 03-20-2012, 03:39 PM

I'm going to say that I'm absolutely delighted to take back my previous words in the suggestion thread - you've really put incredible effort into this and I'm genuinely pleased about this. You've contributed more to the site in these last few days than some people do in 6,000 posts.
I'm happy to eat my words - this is working incredibly well and is clearly a good resource.

Burning Down · 03-20-2012, 04:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by venjacques

Burning Down - excellent rendition. I wanted to point out that the Neapolitan chord can be written as N6.

Thanks! N6 is also right, but I don't write it that way when doing a Roman numeral analysis of my work. I prefer writing bII6 or natural II6 (depending on the key).

Quote:

Originally Posted by KJones

Oh so THAT is what he meant. Hmmm.

Btw. Thanks, these progressions will work just nicely. See, I got the theory down pat, but sometimes finding a nice cadence or two is difficult, at least for this budding musician.

You're welcome!

03-20-2012, 02:53 PM	#1 (permalink)
venjacques Groupie Join Date: Mar 2012 Posts: 48	Burning Down - excellent rendition. I wanted to point out that the Neapolitan chord can be written as N6. Further, "pleasing to the ear" is so subjective, it's almost an unfair question. In a composition, you are the master and you get to call the shots. Your whole thing can be basically a chord progression of: \|\|: i II iii IV v VI :\|\| Part of what makes a composition nice to listen to is its predictability. If you repeat a phrase a bunch (not too much where it's totally minimalistic, but some), then the listener can predict what's coming and they get a sense of they know what to expect. So you can establish a section like this ('A'). Then you have contrasting music - varied by the chord progression, rhythm, melody, dynamics, or a combination of these and others. If you then bring back the A section, it'll sound familiar and pleasing to the listener because it's something they recognize. The only reason some things may sound better to your ears than others is because in common practice, certain progressions are done so frequently. I vi IV V and I IV V I are very common examples (rock n' roll and doo-wop are good examples of utilizing common chord progressions like this). If you want to sound like everyone else, use these progressions. They work, and they're familiar to the populous of the world. If you want to have your own voice, do something different and make it work your own way. Then you'll be a distinguished artist that carves their own path through the artistic realm of music. __________________ It's just another day.

03-20-2012, 03:39 PM	#2 (permalink)
Salami Music Addict Join Date: Oct 2011 Posts: 1,386	I'm going to say that I'm absolutely delighted to take back my previous words in the suggestion thread - you've really put incredible effort into this and I'm genuinely pleased about this. You've contributed more to the site in these last few days than some people do in 6,000 posts. I'm happy to eat my words - this is working incredibly well and is clearly a good resource.