HEY. Hi. This was a brand new level of effort for us and took a TON more planning and executing than we're used to. My team and I worked super hard on this video and we've been incredibly excited to share it with you all so I hope you enjoy it! Be sure to go and get a reminder for the upcoming Spring Sale here! cornellmusicacademy.com/springsale
Hey Charles!! Another *kinda* spacey game is called Sky: Children of the Light and it’s such a beautiful game… I think you should check out the soundtrack!
The chord is in Mars as well!! Holst was all over it, and Williams clearly used The Planets for inspiration when scoring Star Wars! (I think various movements were temp tracks?)
Hey Charles, I got an idea for a video - since we had the Academy Awards last night could you maybe make a video where you go through all the Original Score nominees and analyze them on what makes them so good?
6:37 That chord in Interstellar is mind numbing. I thought people normally dropped the natural 5th in favor of the #5, but having them clustered together here is awe inspiring. I don't know if it's the instruments or what.
I guess we can say that this is a Cmaj(b6) chord rather than a Cmaj triad with a #5! I find this chord to sound even more spacy than the augmented triad, love it!
Absolutely, mate. Having them clustered together somehow invokes the dreadful feelings of the unforgiving harshness of space, the radiation, the unsettling queerness of it all.
It is tedious to hear so many piano covers (amazing, the popularity it has in the piano sphere) that dismiss this chord altogether, without acknowledging that it is what makes the piece what the piece is, not so much the ostinato and chorale.
"We listened to a bunch of John Williams scores to find a chord that he used a lot to create a space-feel and that other people stole from him because he is the origin of all creativity." John Williams is the GOAT
Although you are right and John Williams is the GOAT, he is not the beginning of all creativity as for example this chords was developed in The planets by Holst. John Williams takes a lot from classical music, which is great as he is usually inspired by great composers. I still love John Williams though hahhaha
Bruh Williams literally stole from a lot of classical musicians Holst is probably the last famous listen to Mars from the planets suite and this chord is a big part of it
@@HectorGarcia-ho3xe yeah a lot of Williams' genius is in applying those older ideas into cinema, something that wasn't fashionable before he did it. Now it's just standard practice.
@@ethannorton564 Bruh you can't steal from classical musicians. Unless you like steal their actual sheets of music lol. Classical music has always been borrowing and improving on existing works. Currently and I believe in the past as well (though correct me if I'm wrong), classical music is public domain. You literally can't steal it.
It's perfect as the ending chord of the intro. Makes much more sense than the first one too, the first one is about grabbing attention, the last one is leaving the audience with the right mood to begin the story. It sort of summarizes the entire intro and gives all those feelings Charles talked about, but leaves some mystique.
I love that the space chord is also the Rivendell chord. Shows how otherworldly the elves are in Middle Earth! I also think of this as the Spy chord, being at the end of the Pink Panther theme (or very similar, at least).
Your music analysis is untouchable. Your personality is one of a kind and very enjoyable. Your editing has elevated month after month. Your video ideas are rarely disappointing. Keep going guys.
Holst's Planet's *is* space. He wrote the book on how to do it and everyone else more or less just tips their hat to his work because he captured it perfectly.
Dude, it's the Wager Chord. "Ride of the Valkeries!" It happens in The Ring Cycle numerous times. That's where Williams and company got it. And that major I to minor ii shift looms large in "Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan."
Hey Charles, absolutely love these new types of videos. My ADHD would kick in on some of your "sitting in the studio and explaining music" types of videos but on this one I was 100% there the whole way so please keep it up. Since they take so much more effort tho be careful not to get overworked or burnt out.
In the beginning I was like “it’s impossible to use just one chord to represent something so huge like the space…” but then… I heard it… mind blowing😍👌🏼
The best thing is, I was searching for the spacechord myself. And I found exactly the same chord!! It this sound that make me feel the excitement of discovering distamt stars but not forgetting the danger we might find. Amazing video!!!
Love the passion behind every second of this video! Your videos have a way of tapping into the sheer wonder of experiencing music. It reminds me to be happy with living even when anxieties are present. Thank you to everyone at this channel and keep up the wonderful work
The soundtrack to Cosmos: Possible Worlds is one of my all-time favorites ever. Alan Silvestri does such an incredible job making it so mysterious and magical.
As someone who is obsessed with space and film scores and music composition - this is my new favorite video of yours and I am forwarding it to my roommates immediately thank you
I've had no formal instruction (not counting piano lessons from age 6 to 15), but I LOVE playing with chords, chords upon chords, chord progression, etc. Your channel makes my spirit soar!!
The Blue Devils are the winningest organization in the Drum & Bugle Corps activity. A few decades ago, they came up with a hornline warm up which melded standard brass warm ups, with non-traditional warm ups, with snippets of well known space movie music. It became known as “Space Chords”. There are many different vids of the Blue Devil brass line playing this excercise. They are all a little different as the official version has changed over the decades. But they are all amazing. Here’s a very good example in Hi Def audio. You’ll want to play this really loud on a hi fidelity system. It’s amazing. m.ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-2EDIDCdy5Es.html
As soon as i heard that chord the force of a thousand Stargate Themes hit me right in the feels, would you guys consider taking a look at it too? It might be the closest to a whole piece predicated on that concept that i ever heard.
Hey Charles, great video btw, as a huge star wars, interstellar and overall film music fan, really appreciated this video and the time and effort that you put into it. Would you consider analysing/ going through war film scores, of the likes of Dunkirk, 1917, All quiet on the Western front and others of this genre?
I love this new style of video! It combines your awesome teaching ability with the creativity/skit like feel that first brought me to your channel in the first place!
You really need to check out the music from Outer Wilds by Andrew Prahlow. That OST is one of the best videogame soundtracks imo, especially for the mood of space.
Seconding the Outer Wilds shout, the amount that soundtrack reminds me of the Interstellar OST is incredible. Cracking game too, by god do they GET space
omg yes, that ost is one of my all time favorites. to me it feels different from a lot of the other space media that's put out there, but still does an incredible job of encapsulating the wonder and amazement of exploring outer space
I think you’ve definitely got it! All through this video I kept hearing James Horner’s theme for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Literally built on the chords you just identified. Edit: spelling.
You’ve nailed something I could only hear but never explain. I wish I were good at music theory so I could. The instant you mentioned the “space chord” I thought of ET and when you mentioned video games I had to listen to the soundtrack from Final Fantasy VII since the “Jenova” theme absolutely has that arpeggio you play later in the video. I believe Radiohead’s “Subterranean Homesick Alien” has the chord, too. I love this.
I think you have a good ear! There is a lot of 7ths going on in that Radiohead song. But mainly I guess it's spacey because of the high echoey bends on the notes and arpeggios. Also a C minor over G. Which isn't a sharp 5th, but is voicing that changes the feeling my moving it to the bottom of the chord instead of the top. Music theory is never ending, but with a basic knowledge of chord construction and learning some vocabulary for describing voicings and progressions, I think you could pick it all up quite quickly.
Super nice video! May I suggest that you listen to Holst: The Planets and hear if the chord's in there? It probably is, people are comparing John Williams' Star Wars to it.
I LOVE the structure of this video! I do stuff like this all the time, and I loved coming along on the investigation with you. When you first asked the question, I said “D/Bb” so I’m happy we ended up in the same place
Hey Charles, this video came out great and it looked very professional, so I'll commend your team for that. That being said, I really hope this isn't the future of your content. I love the videos where you're sitting alone at your keyboard, listening to something live and reacting to it/analyzing it on the fly. They're personal, passionate, and genuine, and that's what make them great. This style of video was very informative and eye-opening, yes, but it felt... how do I say this? Corporate, maybe? It feels like your passion for music, which was always what made your content so engaging, has been neutered. Again, the production quality is really good, but the quality is being funneled to the wrong areas. The reason you've been able to create such a successful brand that attracts so many passionate musicians it because you are one yourself, and you aren't afraid to show it. This video, however, feels like pandering to the more modern, overly edited and fast paced style that appeals to the low attention span of many internet-goers. I levy these critiques because I care a lot about this channel, and I want to not see it deviate from what I believe makes it great.
I know this probably took a lot of effort, but I'm a 18 year old dude and im kinda done with this kind of jumpy editing. Sometimes low energy is just so much better so I can just sit back and relax and learn something about music.
While I enjoyed the video, I totally agree. My attention span is pretty shot at this point, but I don't need the screen to be a flurry of movement to keep me watching - it can be off putting.
Perfect 5ths stacked on top of each other is always my go-to space sound - reminds me of those science videos we used to watch in elementary school in the 90s 😂
Bro, I love that you’re exploring new video formats. I honestly think you could thrive in any format you want to make. It’s your personality, passion, and humor we latched onto. You make what makes you happy and we will support it.
oh mate, what a great video, really really enjoyed this one, huge thanks and congratulations you folks who worked on it, would love to see more like this!
YEEEES!!!! This video is exactly what I neeeed in music... This is such a perfect video. Thanks for the hard work guys. It feels so good to enjoy this.
I remember when you covered this chord for a short bit in a previous video. I'm so glad you fleshed it out and included examples. I'm only more convinced of it's power now.
My first thought before clicking the video: "I bet it's an augmented chord." I'd begun to doubt myself, but then you got to it. To me, the use of the augmented chord to indicate the mystery of space goes back to classic 1950s sci-fi.
I had the same reaction to that chord that you did. Once you pointed it out I was like: “yes! That’s it! That’s space!” Wow. Musics amazing isn’t it? *gasp*, now we need to find a chord for everything!
As soon as I saw the title of this video, I immediately thought of the chord you ended up going with. Having obviously watched star wars and also played it a few times, this chord coming right at the end of the main theme is just perfect space-ness. Love it, and nice video!
really like the video, the production quality certainly took a huge step. great effort! i really enjoy your more unedited content reacting to music and really being in the moment more to be completely honest, but im certain that will stay, so geat to see you exploring and trying out newe things.
I thought about this for a while too, and converged onto the Lidian key change thrown into the major/minor melody to create that fresh edgy vast wondrous feeling of awe.
