On Friday, Jan 2, 2004, at 07:08 US/Pacific, David H. Bailey wrote:
I don't think you can make the presumption that the chords would be continuously parallel.
How 'bout "largely" parallel? Chris describes using one hand.
Yes, but I have large hands (a twelfth in my left hand, which is the hand I use for entering MIDI info.) I can extend that by using my nose, a toe, a pencil between my teeth, or one of my children (usually for a bass-register note that is widely separated.)
:->>>
You might get along real well with Simon Kendall--a keyboard player out this way who can do the stretch. 13th on a good day.
However, more than interesting for me to hear how folks describe such relationships as it would seem to reflect on their analytical ear. Kinda wondering if I've done too much Bach at this point.
Aha, now we are off the Explode function, and into counterpoint.
My dear Watson,
I'm not sure I would necessarily group passages together according to how much counterpoint (in the traditional sense of the word) they contain. It's a little greyer than that for me (although admittedly I am not a thoroughly trained contrapuntist, like Hal Owen is. Great book, Hal!)
Well, I'm just talking about the essential parts of a composition, not the orchestration. And BTW, I think Hal must have been born with his special talent: I've never even seen an email by him with an unprepared dissonance!
... if ANY one voice moves in non-parallel (or non-similar) motion, then the contrapuntal relationship of the passage is preserved, otherwise it falls immediately into the domain of parallism, which my teacher hastened to assure me is not so much bad music as bad counterpoint.
I learned anything more than four notes in a row at first species level and three for the limit if one was writing in the style where leaping a sixth is verboten.
Some composers in the jazz domain (Duke Ellington, Thad Jones, notably) adhered more or less to this concept, even in places where other jazz composers might have resorted to all-parallel line thickening-type voicings.
For sure. I have a 1943 Robbins song book, "Duke Ellington at the Piano" which illustrates this to a tee. And interesting too because it observes the principal but is definitely not classical. And not Dixie either (which has a lot of material sticking close to the rules).
I'm not convinced that it makes all that much difference.
Certainly if the thrust of a passage is primarily contrapuntal, then the more one avoids parallelism the more counterpoint one hears, but ONE voice in oblique motion saving the whole passage from the dreaded curse of parallelism? I dunno.
Right, at least for my ears.
... Pure parallism gets boring in large doses, as it creates a "hum" of consistent sound without variation, kind of like musical whitewash.
Painting themselves with the same brush.
... But a lot of musicians (mostly non-classical) rely on this thickening technique way too much. It's the difference between say, the unrelenting wall of parallel harmony one hears in most radio music, and the more intricate, variable, and interesting harmonies one hears in the Beach Boys, or Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, or some of the better R+B groups.
Remarkable how 25+ years increases the lustre of that which deserves to shine.
... Sorry to get off the topic of classical music, ...
Not a digression for me. And a very good comment on what is happening vis a vis "media convergence", "globalization", or whatever the current buzzword is. I see it more and more as being a potentially legally prosecutable area. That's because big money buys big exposure and the goal is to hypnotize the masses into buying more of the same "factory band" drivel. Fela Kuti said: "Music is a weapon". An inspirational rallying call for performers and writers IMO. However we must think also that there are those who would use that concept to an evil purpose (cloaked in the guise of free world capitalism) and that for them, North America is fertile ground because of the amount of disposable income available. Hey, wait a sec, those are _your_ kids being raised as fodder for their bank accounts.
Philip Aker http://www.aker.ca
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