Songs without Words

The circle of fifths progression is popularly taught in music theory classes and appears in music from the Baroque to the present.  But, this post isn’t about the vanilla circle of fifths, which is I IV, viio iii, vi ii, V I in major and i iv, VII III, VI iio, V i, or in the key of C: C F, Bdim Emin, Amin Dmin, G C, and in C minor: Cmin Fmin, Bb Eb, Ab Ddim (or Neapolitan Db), G Cmin.  You can read more about it here or listen to it demonstrated by the great Igudesman and Joo here.

What I want to discuss here is instead the result when you offset this classic sequence by one chord in order to yield a very similar, yet very different chord progression: in major, this would be IV viio (or V), iii vi, ii V, I -, or F G, Emin Amin, Dmin G, C -.  At first glance, this looks exactly the same as before, but the commas are there for a reason: the “parsing” of the dominant-to-tonic motions is completely opposite now.  Instead of IV, iii, ii, and I receiving emphasis, you now have viio, vi, V, and I.  This distorts the emotional perception of the same chords.  And, furthermore, what arises when you substitute the dominant V for the half-diminished viio is my personal favorite “IV V iii vi” progression followed by a normal ii V I cadence.

Just like the more common circle of fifths progression, this displaced circle of fifths is extremely versatile.  Just two examples should suffice to illustrate this:

Rachmaninoff, Symphony No. 2 in e minor, Adagio, very opening.  D E, C#min F#min, Bmin E, A – over ~19 seconds.  Note the beautiful tug of the 11th above each of the first chords in each pair – the G# above the D; the F# above the C#; the E above the B.  These quasi-suspensions resolve downward each time.  The displacement allows these moments of tension to land on the downbeat, creating Rachmaninoff’s exquisite emotional intensity.  This theme was used as the refrain in Eric Carmen’s 1975 pop hit, “Never Gonna Fall in Love Again.”

Atelier Iris Eternal Mana, Final Boss theme.  C D, Bmin Emin, Amin D, G G7 over ~16 seconds.  This progression appears as the bridge material between the A theme and the return of the introductory “chant”-style melody as the refrain.  As such, Ken Nakagawa lightens the mood with the light, syncopated pitched perc in the background and halves the drum kit’s rhythmic tempo.  Note the similar lead-up to the progression as compared to Rachmaninoff,  with an ascending arpeggio.  This is generally a practical matter because this is a downward progression.  Interestingly enough, the harmonic speed of the chord progression is virtually identical to Rachmaninoff’s, but for obvious reasons, this sounds “faster.”

Brown is a fascinating color, but its different shades and characters are subtle and often overlooked.  I decided to explore the potential of a brown-themed color scheme.  Every color here aside from the skin, lips, and jewelry has some “brown flavor.”  The understated elegance of brown is rather fitting for a bookish chic character like this one.

Brown!

Hair: greenish brown

Irises: grayish brown

Sweater: reddish brown

T-shirt: golden brown

Jeans: green/brown-tinted indigo (very slightly)

Nylons: purplish brown

Heels: tan brown

Very Good

1. Hourou Musuko (9/10): endearing characters, exquisite art style, difficult subject matter.

2. Puella Magi Madoka Magica (8.5/10): few shows make me as excited to pore through reams of online speculation as this one.  A very intense up-ending of the Magical Girl genre.  Psychedelic abstract art abounds.

3. Yumekui Merry (7/10): shares a lot in common with Madoka – the whole alternate-world entering to fight certain enemies or whatnot.  But it has its charms, great characters, and gorgeous animation quality.  The quirky orchestral score is fascinating enough to merit watching this show, alone.

Average

4. Dragon Crisis! (5/10): it has potential, but so far just seems like the average girl-with-magical-powers-arrives-on-boy’s-lap story, and Yumekui Merry does this trope better.

5. Gosick (5/10): great set-up and characters, gorgeous settings and costumes.  But for a mystery show, the mysteries are rather .. boring and straightforward.

6. Kore wa Zombie desu ka (5/10): pretty ordinary undead protagonist show.  Harem members are amusing to watch, but not expecting much out of this one.

Not Good

7. Infinite Stratos (4/10): as derivative and generic as it can get.  Just watch for pretty graphics and a great excuse to have the entire class be made up of girls ..

8. Freezing (3/10): fanservice ..

9. Rio – Rainbow Gate (2/10): what is this even supposed to be?

Not yet watched enough to rate: Level E, Beezlebub, Onii-chan no koto, Wolverine, Kimi ni Todoke 2, Mitsudomoe 2, Starry Sky

There have been many junctures in my life when I have entertained the thought of becoming a composer.  Creating music is to me like speaking, so much so that I consider it my first language.  There is always difficulty in selecting words to speak, but rarely difficulty in understanding the next note to place on the page.  But the judgment of music is, and has always been, harsh and fickle, and infuriating even.  It is difficult to resist taking criticism of one’s own music very personally, because there is nothing more personal an expression to the composer than his or her music.  It’s easy to forget that the “classics” of today were the “pop” of yesteryear, and composers faced equally critical opposition, especially to more unorthodox ventures during early careers.

Below, I have compiled several quotations and anecdotes about works of classical music.  I challenge you to match them to the pieces of music to which they pertain.  None of these pertain to works of contemporary/atonal music – one needs only look to Youtube to see endless criticism of modern music.

1. “I played the first movement. Not a single word, not a single remark! If you knew how stupid and intolerable is the situation of a man who cooks and sets before a friend a meal, which he proceeds to eat in silence! Oh, for one word, for friendly attack, but for God’s sake one word of sympathy, even if not of praise. [R] was amassing his storm, and [H] was waiting to see what would happen, and that there would be a reason for joining one side or the other. Above all I did not want sentence on the artistic aspect. My need was for remarks about the virtuoso piano techinque. [R]’s eloquent silence was of the greatest significance. He seemed to be saying: “My friend, how can I speak of detail when the whole thing is antipathetic? I fortified myself with patience and played through to the end. Still silence. I stood up and asked, “Well?” Then a torrent poured from [NG]’s mouth, gentle at first, then more and more growing into the sound of a Jupiter Tonana. It turned out that my [piece] was worthless and unplayable; passages were so fragmented, so clumsy, so badly written that they were beyond rescue; the work itself was bad, vulgar; in places I had stolen from other composers; only two or three pages were worth preserving; the rest must be thrown away or completely rewritten.” -Composer 1

2. “I am only experimenting and finding my way.  All the same, the hissing was a bit much.” – Composer 2.  Review of the same piece: “perfectly unorthodox, banal and horrid”

3. “While it is [I]’s complete right not to accept a work he finds unsuitable, I ask myself if the composer who has given four months’ time entirely to this work, and who has done his best in submitting a work for which he makes absolutely no apology – should not be paid something.  I believe this is generally the case when a commissioned work is not accepted by the commissioner.” – Composer 3.

4. “If there were a Conservatory in Hell, [Composer 4] would certainly gain first prize for [this piece], so devilish are the discords he has dished up before us.” – [C]

5. “The judgement of the critics is unanimous; certain beauty is conceded, but they find that the construction is weak, and that unending repetition of certain uninteresting places might easily cause fatigue.” – [WT]

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