Harmonic Space
Now to relate all this to the lattice in the video.
Listening to music is like going on a journey. Most tonal music starts by establishing a center, or basic note, and a basic harmonic framework for the song, such as a major or minor mode. A few melody notes, and a beginning chord, and you have some idea of the space in which the journey will be occurring. Strauss’ Also Sprach Zarathustra (of 2001 fame) is a great example. The famous opening section, called “Sunrise,” gives an extremely clear sense of home. You know exactly where you are, sonically.
By the way, it’s fun to hum this while using an electric toothbrush.
The piece goes on to travel away from this home, and back again, many times. The journey takes place in a space of some sort, an auditory environment.
But what might this space look like? One way to visualize music is staff notation:
It’s beautiful, and if I know how to read it, it will tell me what the music sounds like. It doesn’t do such a good job of showing me why music sounds the way it does. Neither staff notation, nor the 12-tone scale, gives me a particularly clear idea of how music works. Why would this be restful and sonorous:
While this, though beautiful in a different way, has tremendous tension? Sounds like the villain (or the cat) is about to pop out and scare you.
Okay, okay, here’s the resolution:major
Aaahh.
If I know a lot about music theory, I can interpret the notation and come up with explanations. The second example is an augmented chord, and yes it sounds like that. But why, Mom, wh-wh-why?
Next: The Lattice