At last, a new full-song video! Owen Plant is my friend, and an outstanding singer/songwriter. He’s the artist-in-residence at a Georgia resort, a completely engrossing performer, and he has written many beautiful songs. Owen commissioned me to animate the title cut from his new album, “I Was On The Moon,” cowritten by Owen and Christopher…
A chord is a collection of three or more notes sounded at the same time. Arpeggios, in which the notes are sounded one after the other, are considered chords too. Two notes sounded at once are generally called an interval rather than a chord. Chords make patterns on the lattice. A given kind of chord…
In yesterday’s post I mentioned matchstick harmony. This concept is from Mathieu’s book Harmonic Experience, which I’ve discussed a lot on this blog. Matchstick harmony is governed by a rule: It’s easiest for the ear to follow harmonies that move short distances on the lattice. Imagine that the lines of the lattice are matchsticks. The…
The chorus of Be Love is solidly in major territory. The chords are I, V, IV, the classic backbone chords of the major scale. The verse, however, is going to be back in the Northwest — I, bVII-, IV. I have to get back over there somehow, and I want to lead the ear strongly so…
Almost all Western music, including my own, lives in the world of tonal harmony. This means: There can be, and usually are, multiple notes playing at the same time. There is a key center, or tonic, around which the notes are arranged. The tonic doesn’t always sound — it’s an intangible presence, the home from which you leave on your…
The tonic is the center of the lattice. A drone note on the tonic establishes the center of that particular musical universe. Adding a major third and a perfect fifth (5/4 and 3/2) further reinforces the center and starts to carve out some territory on the map. This is the tonic major chord: In my…
When I first learned to play guitar, I would sit on the couch late at night and pluck the low E string, again and again, and just listen to the beauty of the sound as it died away. That low E note is not just a simple vibration. The full length of the string is…