To get in touch with me for Zoom composition or piano lessons, commissions, collaborations, or just a friendly chat, you can use the email jjayberthume@gmail.com
I LOVE this series. It is exactly how the principles of art regarding drawing and painting apply to music. I was a musician for many years before I learned about the fundamentals of art while I started learning drawing and painting(without classical training though, but I wrote a lot of songs and also sung my own lyrics) It immediately occured to me that the fundamentals of art apply to music in the same way as they apply to painting or anything else art related really. I always made the connections in my mind myself and also started to put it into my songwriting, which I currently do for my Video Game Projects. Seeing this though is the perfectly structured sum up of how these principles and elements exactly apply to music, instead of the arrangement of line, value, color, direction, texture, shape and size organized by the principles of design: Balance, Repetition, Contrast, Unity, Harmony, Alternation, Dominance, Gradation, which could be even used synonymously in the context of composing scores. A wonderful series, can't believe I found it. It really verifies all the connections I made and is super educational now for me jus starting diving into creating Video Game Music. Thanks from all the heart!
Thanks for the useful tips with great content and great examples! Appreciate your generous sharing and excellent presentation of the awesome information!
This was AWESOME. I'm not even kidding, your 'Please Subscribe' song is the best demonstration of the power of the harmony to change the feel of a melody I've ever heard/ seen, and with great humour too. Thank you!
This may be the best Video I have ever seen. Memes, VGM (especially Nintendo) Music references, and a really strong educational value with good explanation (plus visualisation). Keep up the truly great work!
Also I would like to recommend rhythm's effect on the listener, and it's importance, like something related to rhythmic studies, even harmonic rhythm would be really appreciated, thnx for these videos JJay!
I really appriciate these videos Im really new to creating music and found creating melodies an exhausting process of raw trail and error. Or making a good melody and not knowing how to complete it. Knowing what different methods and tools do helps in giving direction plus the fun of going through old melodies to see when I did get things right
Good video - the part on function change really made me thinking. Still I would like a video on harmonizing a melody. I know you think that melody and harmony should be written together (as did Schoenberg). My problem is that I whistle a melody that comes from nowhere. I don't have any idea about the pictches, strong/weak beats or the harmony. I only have a melody that have a certain rhythm. Just transcribing it is very difficult for me. I must record it before trying out notes on the keyboard or else it "morphes" into something else. But the biggest hurdle is the harmony - I just can't connect with it. I assume there is some "implied harmony" as modern people are exposed to music all the time and have a subconcious feeling for harmony. Theoretically i should know how to harmonize the melody (I have read about tonic, predominant, dominant and all the other stuff). The problem is how to approach it.
yep, that was to be my question at the end)) thanks so much, I love your interpretations (especially about hope and imprisonment in my beloved schindler, I've been obsessed with for more than 3 months already), they are spot on!
Evan Fear not, in the fourth episode I'm going to talk about some examples of really weird 20th century melodies. I also have lots of advanced harmonic concepts planned for my harmonic relativity series! :)
Hey, can't thank you enough for your videos... It's great that you started your first video with the Harry Potter theme. I'm really trying to copy that particular style of John Williams. You're a lot of help!! I would like to mention, that I believe the first embellishing tone on the How to Train Your Dragon Melody is actually the A flat which would be an appoggiatura which resolves to the B flat or tonic in the key of B minor. I'm not sure if you can then call the tonic, in a presumed Bb minor chord an anticipation.
Chuck Wieser Glad you’ve enjoyed them! Since this video is focused on melody, I’m using melodic definitions of embellishing tones as being notes that add surface structure detail beyond simple motivic structures. You are absolutely correct that given a harmonic analysis it would be a harmonic tone. We could still call it a consonant anticipation by virtue of its placement on the weak beat and its contour.
Excelente material de estudo!! Por favor, habilite as legendas automáticas de seus videos para que possam ser traduzidos automaticamente para português. Obrigado!!! Pretendo ser um colaborador do Patron, é possível para brasileiros?
Very osom videos! I would actually love to see you add how melodic interval creates different emotional impact. For example I used to read from a book that "the major sixth leap gives a sense of joy, and a descending minor 2nd has a taste of sadness". Although the interval function might count as harmony, as they are so closely related :) Also I think it'll be geart if u can summarize the key points of each video at its end, that would be a good way to close out since they contain so much info.
This is great work! Very thought provoking. I would love to hear your thoughts on Iz Kamakawiwo'ole's version of Somewhere Over The Rainbow- Even before that clip from PBS on the yearning accompaniment, I was thinking about why it's become such a universally resonant cover- Seems to me the way he has such a simple (but deeply felt groove) underneath it adds a layer of unexpected peace mixed with its hope/longing. Wonder if that has to do with our cultural expectation once the song is filed away in memory or if it's inherent musically or both, as music has so much to do with expectation. But I imagine you hear things in that I never could... Any thoughts? Always wondered why that recording has such universal impact on people. Even more so, Bob Marley's acoustic medley, nothing appears special or impressive in his voice or guitar, but it just feels amazing. What's going on there?
JJ, this video was fantastic! I donated a while ago when you were asking for some monetary help to create better quality videos. I must say I'm extremely happy with my decision :) Random question: I teach middle school music and I'm teaching my students about some melodic composition techniques (theme, variation, augmentation, diminution, passing notes). Could you suggest a good simple melody I could set as a framework for them to employ these techniques? Thanks for the great videos.
Thank you so much for your donation, went a long way to help make this video possible! My Favorite Things is always a...favorite of mine, because it's so simple, works well augmented or diminuted, and since it's so leapy and rhythmically straightforward there is a lot of room to add embellishment tones.
I subscribed right after the Function Changes fantasia haha Thanks for making these JJay! Are the 3rd and 4th parts still on their way?! No pressure just excited haha
Why would you include Ferneyhough's music as "doesn't have reptition" then include an example that has two repitions within the span of a single measure(albeit a really long one).
You took me too literally - even the most mathematically random piece of music has repetition of pitch class if it uses equal temperament. I merely meant to illustrate that Ferneyhough’s music contained far less repetition than EDM.
@@JJBerthume I wouldn't call Ferneyhough's music random, there is lots of development of ideas in there and I cannot name a piece of his where I cannot see a repitition of anything within 10 measures absolute maximum. I do agree with the statement that it has less repetition than EDM, just not that his music is lacking in repitition as that is absolutely not what makes his music hard to listen to.(If you put the form of one of his pieces in a tonal setting it would clearly use development and repetition.)
KorewaKrusader -Kun I never said Ferneyhough’s music was random, I said that even a mathematically random piece of music still contains repetition of some level at abstraction.
whats up broski... just wonderin how come where you have chords indicated in your sheet music, only one note letter shows/corresonds under/to IT ..? I tried making sense of it and playing along on my keyboard but couldn't get the chord indicated to sound right even when I tried it's inversion that included the letter actually shown by the note symbol... It ONLY sounds correct when I ignore the chord name above the staff and just play the notes shown on the staff.... also at 15.50 in that tune made by the Japanese fella for the video game, you wrote Bflat maj7, but there's only 2 notes from that chord, F & A, no Bflat or D ... so I couldn't connect the sequence of notes with that particular chord as only 2 notes were shared in that sequence with the chord listed
All of them... for ex. at 17.50, on the notes on the staff are A, D, A, D, then 2nd bar is Bflat, A, F, A below that . I guess you're describing a the notes in a Dm chord that are played in some arranged order with the addition of a Bflat in there as well... Is that correct? Also, when there's a capital letter, does that represent a single note or a major chord? So, if you were indicating a Cmajor triad, would you use only the letter C or CMAJ or other such abbreviation/representation? Thx
But im kind of confused when you explained what modal mixture was. Isnt "mode" the same as "key"? in ohter words, If you borrow another key isnt it borrowing another mode? Please explain someone... i would very much appreciate it
Marcello Whittembury Sorry I didn’t go into super detail - I didn’t want to derail the discussion from melody writing too much. A mode doesn’t refer just to a pitch collection, but to a particular pitch collection with a certain note defined as tonic. All of the white keys on the piano exist on 12 o clock on the circle of fifths, but there are seven different modes that can be inferred depending upon which of those notes the composer implies as tonic. Often a given piece or section of a piece can ambiguously infer multiple modes simultaneously. Pitch centricity and metric placement/bar structure are usually what most effectively imply a given tonic. There are two kinds of modal mixture. One involves utilizing a parallel mode (has the same tonic, but you make chromatic alterations to the scale to change the mode, i.e. C Ionian to C Dorian), and the other is relative modal mixture, which doesn’t change the pitch collection, but rather changes the inferred tonic (i.e. C Ionian to D Dorian). Hope that helps!
@@JJBerthume Thank you Jay, I really appreciate that you took the time to explain it to me, very kind. Your videos are awesome btw, good job! Keep it up man.
Also would love to see you analyse the beginning of Hedwig's Theme, particularly how JW craft the 2ndary melody to support the main melody. Or even better, the flute trio "Dream Jars" from BFG, how they interact with each other, contrast, mimic, balance with silence, take turns, synchronize...
Haha it's probably just the neapolitan Ra-Do-Ti motion that sounds similar, and that has been done far before I or Giacchino was born, so we both ripped off the classical period. Wagner does this thing very often, especially in Tristan and Isolde.
actually I'm now thinking about could it be possible that some lovely people email the video to me just for watching...I'll definitely be more than grateful
Why are you using archaic modes instead of the major/minor? He's not borrowing from the dorian, but borrowing from the tonic major (the most common form of borrowing).
i sexually identify as a nut button Patience, coming this June during summer break! Finishing this series and adding more to Let’s Write John William’s are at the top of my list. Didn’t have time with college and work unfortunately, these videos take a lot of work and preparation! :)
Regarding John Williams' "E.T.": too many leaps! A very simple "walking" theme at the beginning followed by a strategically well-placed leap would've sufficed, as in "Somewhere over the rainbow..." Using more than one leap in thematic material destroys that anticipation of what is to follow since what follows is sooo anticlimactic. Is it just me but I always feel like John Williams is his own worst "composition" enemy in that it feels like he is trying to "outcompose" either himself or someone else. Just like in the classical era, everyone was trying to outcompose Beethoven. Just be yourself and compose something pleasurable for yourself without overdoing it. Also, to clarify what I wrote above, the leaps I'm referring to in JW's "E.T." are superfluously placed WITHIN the standard first two bars of the main theme, which means now they have to be repeated in this fashion throughout the eight bar exposition of this main theme. To me, it's just fatiguing to listen to. Contrast this to the leaps in "Somewhere over the rainbow." It appears once in the first two bar exposition of the main theme. Then it is heard again transposed to lower pitches in the mandatory repitition of this main theme in bars 3 and 4. This is very easy to listen to because the first iteration of the leap in bars 1 and 2 was easy to listen to. See my point: first try to make things pleasurable and easy to listen to. From there, any repitition of such will be exactly that: easy to listen to. With regards to J.W. apparent need for compositional competition, I call your attention to his bombastically terrible attempt at composing an entirely new fanfare for the Olympics. Why we needed another one is beyond me, but to me Williams felt he had to outdo the one already in place with its iconic opening timpani riff followed by brass choir. What Williams wrote is, to me anyway, not pleasant to listen to, if for no other reason that it ends in a weird seemingly unresolved cadence. But I don't mean to exclusively pick on J. Williams in this fashion. There were many composers in Beethoven's and Mozart's era that tried to outdo these masters compositionally. There was one chamber piece for winds and strings by some 19th century forgettable compiser that my music-making buddies and I tried to perform. The exposition of the first movement had no fewer than five...count 'em, FIVE... "second" themes...and it dragged on and on and on. But, let's not forget that also Beethoven had his very rare moments of composition "hell". Look no further than the ending of his fifth symphony where his cadences go on and on and on...for the first time giving the appearance of not knowing the correct way to end this monumental masterpiece.
@JJBerthume ...and I respect yours. However, right off the top of my head, I can easily think of 10 or more composition masterpieces that have easily withstood the test of time that out do John Williams and other contemporary composers regarding immortalized musical themes. Let's see, there are the Beethoven Symphonies...that's nine right there. Bach's "Jesu, joy of man's desiring" and "Sheep may safely graze". Mozart's "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik", Symphonies 39 and 40, PC 20. Oh, and let's not forget Brahms' Symphony #3. Etc. Etc. What you're forgetting about listing people's all time favorite thematic melodies at time zero (meaning now) is that you are experiencing sampling bias. It is sad but true that most humans in the world today have not been exposed to the incredible works of the classical geniuses that I've listed. So naturally in a survey talley the winners are going to be quite recent, contemporary composers. Also, don't forget that most humans have musical anhedonia to some extent or another and they will tend to favor more contemporary themes, like J. Williams output, that have been played over and over and over again and become immortalized now by way of repitition. In fact, one of the true tests of thematic pleasurablity is the ease with which these themes are remembered, sung, or whistled. In fact, in Beethoven's day it would've been quite common for concert-goers listening to the premiere of a Beethoven symphony to exit the concert hall singing the themes. I really don't think that happened with Williams and the like contemporary composers. Even the musical themes in Bernstein's "West Side Story" took a while to catch on. In the grand theme of things, my suspicion is that if you exposed the current human population to all of the classical masterpieces I've listed above, which you realize is just a sliver of what is obviously out there, to the SAME repetitive degree that contemporary compositions have going for them, the musical output of Williams, Bernstein (both), Elfman, etc. etc. would fall off the map! But again, that's JMHO. The long a short of it is music composition, especially memorable thematic material is quite the bitch. Hats off to Beethoven, etc. above: they really mastered their craft to a superhuman degree!
Also, to clarify what I wrote above, the leaps I'm referring to in JW's "E.T." are superfluously placed WITHIN the standard first two bars of the main theme, which means now they have to be repeated in this fashion throughout the eight bar exposition of this main theme. To me, it's just fatiguing to listen to. Contrast this to the leaps in "Somewhere over the rainbow." It appears once in the first two bar exposition of the main theme. Then it is heard again transposed to lower pitches in the mandatory repitition of this main theme in bars 3 and 4. This is very easy to listen to because the first iteration of the leap in bars 1 and 2 was easy to listen to. See my point: first try to make things pleasurable and easy to listen to. From there, any repitition of such will be exactly that: easy to listen to. With regards to J.W. apparent need for compositional competition, I call your attention to his bombastically terrible attempt at composing an entirely new fanfare for the Olympics. Why we needed another one is beyond me, but to me Williams felt he had to outdo the one already in place with its iconic opening timpani riff followed by brass choir. What Williams wrote is, to me anyway, not pleasant to listen to, if for no other reason that it ends in a weird seemingly unresolved cadence. But I don't mean to exclusively pick on J. Williams in this fashion. There were many composers in Beethoven's and Mozart's era that tried to outdo these masters compositionally. There was one chamber piece for winds and strings by some 19th century forgettable compiser that my music-making buddies and I tried to perform. The exposition of the first movement had no fewer than five...count 'em, FIVE... "second" themes...and it dragged on and on and on. But, let's not forget that also Beethoven had his very rare moments of composition "hell". Look no further than the ending of his fifth symphony where his cadences go on and on and on...for the first time giving the appearance of not knowing the correct way to end this monumental masterpiece.
