#16
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Quote:
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Martin HD-28 Eastman E10OM Guild D50 Martin D12X1AE LaPatrie CW Concert |
#17
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I think it is what it is, an old traditional song that doesn't resolve to any key.
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#18
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A very young Paul Shaffer, yes that Paul Shaffer, who had no knowledge of theory met Miles Davis. He asked for advice. Miles said "Never play the root" and walked away
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I only play technologically cutting edge instruments. Parker Flys and National Resonators |
#19
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Firstly, you mean the "tonic", not the "root". "Root" means the name note of a chord. (It can sometimes be used for the tonal centre of a mode, which has a similar role to the "tonic" of a "key".) Secondly, a song can be in a "mode" instead of in a "key". E.g., a song using the notes ABCDEFG (the natural notes in any order) might be in "the key of C major" or "the key of A minor". Or it might be in "D dorian mode" or "G mixolydian mode". These are both very common, and sound (respectively) like the D minor key with a major 6th (B instead of Bb), or the G major key with a b7 (F instead of F#). Somewhat rarer are E phrygian mode (E minor with v2) and F lydian (F major with #4). Thirdly, in all those cases, your ear will be usually be able to detect the keynote or tonic. IOW, one note (and/or chord) will emerge as the overall "home" note or chord, which will almost always be the final note/chord - simply because it will sound most conclusive. That's how we tell the difference those keys and modes which all use the same 7 notes. (An additional difference with the key of A minor is that it will commonly use an E major or E7 instead of Em, to help distingiush it from C major. If A is the keynote and there is no E major chord - no G# note anywhere - then you say it's "in A aeolian mode".) In fact, one big difference with modes compared with keys is that a song in a mode is likely to emphasise its "keynote" (modal tonic) much more than a song in a key will. And it will probably use far fewer chords. That's because modes (other than major/Ionian) are tonally weak. If you use a lot of chords harmonised from the same scale, it's the Ionian tonic that will tend to draw the ear. So to use (say) Dorian mode, you need to focus much more on what is normally the major key ii chord, in order to make it sound like the "i" in a minor key and not the ii in major. Fourthly ... yes, this is complicated! ... in some music it's hard to be sure of the keynote at all. A song might be using all those 7 notes (ABCDEFG), but none of the chords used might have any stronger "home" sound than any of the others. The progression just seems to meander around - usually a 4-chord loop - without settling anywhere. This is actually very common in modern popular music. Now - in any of those cases, a song might not use one specific note. I.e. there might only be six notes (or even less) employed in total - including in all the notes in all the chords, as well as the melody. That might not be unusual, but it would be unusual for none of the remaining notes to have a sense of "keynote" (or modal root note). I.e., the kinds of song that tend to groove along on an inconclusive 4-chord loop tend to employ all 7 notes of the scale in those chords. And if they don't then, it's common for one note or chord to emerge as the keynote (or modal root). So ... bearing all that in mind, does that help clarify the question you're asking?
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"There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in." - Leonard Cohen. |
#20
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Jon,
Excellent, concise review. |
#21
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This is an interesting and tricky for several reasons, some of which have been stated.
But, in the (I think) intended meaning of the OP, I'm having a hard time coming with concrete examples. Julia is close, as the melody only resolves to tonic of on the last syllable of Ju-li-a. Sympathy for the Devil comes close as well. Mick only hits the tonic at the end of each verse, on NAME, as far as I can remember. I will try think of others, but the main problem with question is defining the tonic, as many songs are in the relative minor in the verse, then major in the chorus, or vice versa. I suppose you could say no tonic with respect to the mode of the section.
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James May Audio Sprockets maker of ToneDexter James May Engineering maker of the Ultra Tonic Pickup |
#22
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Quote:
^^^^^ This And This. Last edited by bseej; 05-11-2021 at 09:44 PM. Reason: adding context. |
#23
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If you take a C major scale remove the C note, you no longer have a C major scale, you have a bunch of notes, not a scale or mode, it becomes such only when you make a melody out of it and with the notes ABDEFG a melody can be constructed which resolves to any note except F because there is no 5th interval available for the resulting scale, you can also construct a melody which does not resolve at all . The op's question is logically nonsense because you can just as well describe any non resolving melody as an 'unfinished' tune which might have resolved to any of the notes for which a 5th is present had the player carried on. If it is constructed to resolve to any one of the notes for which a 5th is available
then it is in the key of that note, it cannot be said to be in any key for which the tonic is 'missing'. |