I wanted to include a discussion of the amazing pedal points in Bach’s Toccata in F BWV 540, but couldn’t fit it in. Anyone else have a favorite pedal point example?
In the end of the first movement of Bruckner´s symphony 7. There is another, the first choral (or movement 1 ou overture) of J S Bach´s St Matthew Passion. Bach used a tonic pedal (in E) across some measures in the beggining until the bass goes into the harmony. In the middle of the same movement we findo other pedal points. And in the beggining of the last choral of this Passion there is one too, it´s just 3 measures but it´s also a pedal.
That was brutal. I just finished this voice-leading course and my brain hurts. Also, I am exhilarated. Who knew consonance and dissonance could dance together in so many different ways? Here's my feedback. Caveat: I am not your normal subscriber. I'm old (55) and writing pop/folk/rock songs for kicks. I picked up a guitar a few years ago and watched a lot of music theory videos, then swapped my guitar for Dorico when I realized how hard it would be to apply this new music theory knowledge to guitar. I took your course because I thought it would help me compose in Dorico. * I love the cantus firmus exercises. Incredibly empowering. * I could do without the emphasis on notation and the historical background unless it is useful in a problem-solving context. * I have no love for classical music but that coldness could help here, I can listen carefully and I can suss out what is happening better in the classical snippets then if the snippets were pop/rock/folk, which I am pretty sure also uses counterpoint and suspensions and anticipations and auxiliary chords etc. * At the half-way point the content got denser and the exercises more do-it-yourself. I missed the cantus firmus and in fact ended up creating my own pretty simple exercises to absorb the material. * You have a real gift lucid exposition and exposition, both on the macro/playlist level and the video level. Thank you! Suggestions: * A course like this concentrating on classical music primarily but with less historical context. * Create your own exercises instead of just using Fux et al. Each video should have exercises at the midway point and end. * Don't get lost in the analysis. Those snippets are great for inspiration but should be quick examples. These parts are good, but they don't go to your strengths and we can get that can kind of video elsewhere. * Maybe two videos before the first counterpoint one: one on melodic dissonance and one on beats and dissonance. My brain exploded when I realized how good the consonant downbeat and dissonant upbeat sounded together. Obvious, right? Well...not to me. Why listen to me? My background might seem odd, but it does seem like I am like a lot of young people today--interested less in an instrument, and more in applications and production tools. As odd as that demographic is, it's gotta be bigger than the audience of music majors re-living their glory days. Anyway, just opinions. Main point: you blew my mind. I'll send you $50, gladly.
@@bigpicturehero one possibility is to subscribe on patreon for exactly one month, setting the "payment per month" to $50 instead of this channel's default of $5. Cancellation (unlike for some predatory subscription things) seems to be easy on patreon's app. One can cancel right after the first payment goes thru instead having to wait a whole month.
May I ask is this course 16 century counterpoint or 18 century counterpoint and this course prefers modal counterpoint or tonal counterpoint? Thank you very much
Thank you so much for this video. Great to see the example of the c-sharp minor fugue (although the recording of it was a bit 'dry' we can't hear the beauty of these suspensions etc - but I guess that is a question of taste). One question though, the PP is interrupted by a fx in the bass; I would just feel a need to continue it to get the full effect of the change from g-sharp (V) to c-sharp. That might be a problem if we stayed with this chord (looks like vii dim of V). Would be interesting to hear your views - would this be a logical move? Bach seems to allow discontinuity in the bass line when he uses vii dims of Vs. Is there some rule about this?
That fully diminished seventh chord is really nice; I think of it as having a neighboring function to the pedal harmony, so it delays and unbalances things, but it does not distract from the overall dominant prolongation. If the neighboring chord had been a simple diatonic triad, it would be less effective because the sudden consonance would confuse the ear into thinking that the pedal effect had been abandoned. Instead Bach uses this moment to increase the dissonance and tension without losing any goal direction.
@@JacobGran Thanks for your take on that. In the WTC1 Prelude in C something similar seems to happen with a viidim of V before the arrival of the long dominant long PP (which itself precedes a tonic one).
I found this quite confusing, but then again all that figured bass stuff is still a mystery for me... ...well it just takes a lot of time for my brain to process these things, because music theory is a confusing mess for historical reasons starting from every country using their own terminology for things!
