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Mozart – Balance and Perfection – Harmony – Beach Boys – Beatles –MonaLisa Twins
In one of the early Beatles interviews, a smart Alec interviewer, perhaps just to be humorous, tells the Beatles they had “….a plain diatonic.”, to which the response was a blank grin. Including myself.
Well I did a little online research on youtube and learned what a “Diatonic” is.
So just for fun, what might a diatonic have to do with the Beatles and MLT?It begins with the question, why is Mozart a genius? He was the master of turning something simple into the sublime. Taking something pure and molding it into something that expresses unfulfillable longing. In his best music there is a sense that Mozart is reaching out towards the infinite.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYHJRhRym1UMozart wrote a lot of piano concertos. The challenge was providing balance.
How to provide enough balance between the soloist (piano) playing alone, the orchestra playing alone, and the piano and orchestra playing together in balance, so that it never feels too one sided.Mozart solved this problem by creating balance and perfection in his music by blending a simple baseline voice (purity) with melody (tonal color).
This perfect balance of form can happen on a smaller scale
In music theory it is referred to as Diatonicism (purity) and Chromaticsm (color).
A diatonic scale is a series of notes that form a single voice that is simple and plain. It consists of 5 whole tones and two half steps or semitones. It is thought of as having to do with purity.
A chromatic scale is a more complex series of notes with twelve pitches, each a semitone above or below its adjacent pitches. It is thought of as having to do with color.
Mozart’s genius was being able to beautifully blend diatoniism (purty) and chromaticism (color) to create the absolute sublime.This is evident in his music where a single instrument is accompanied by an orchestra like the Piano Concerto No 23, 2nd movement.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHVwXy4J4WQ
Here the piano is singing alone, solitary and in pain (purity). Then in an extraordinary moment in music the Orchestra responds with color to produce a sublime effect. Mozart blends Diatonicism (purity) with Chromatacism (color/melody). This method would shape and transform concertos and music for hundreds of years after Mozart.Did any of that make sense? Sort of? Maybe?
Perhaps John, Paul, George and Ringo may not have realized it, but maybe diatoncism and chromatcism played out wonderfully and effortlessly in some of their most beautiful music without them consciously knowing that’s what they created. It can be the vocals (diatonicism/purity), and guitars or instruments (chromaticism/tonal color) forming that perfect balance, or lead guitar (diatoncism) and vocals/bass instruments/rhythm (chromaticism), or any other combination.
Perhaps Mona and Lisa’s vocal harmony is diatonicism and chromaticism forming naturally, creating that perfect sublime balance, that Mozart tried to achieve hundreds of years ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2h9udS8mxkE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsiKXfFkRoA -
3 Replies
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Jung…
Wow! I think, you think, more than I think, I think!
You know, it strikes me that hundreds of years ago music must have been taught in this fashion. As in, music was viewed as movement in space, time, patterns, and relationships…as in relationships between notes. Music was taught to be experienced more holistically. To feel, move, and be moved. Sadly, I feel nothing is taught in such fashion these days. I do not think this is lost on the Wagner family. They seem to capture this in their approach to music with the results turning into something captivating which invites multiple listening experiences. Hopefully, their approach will never be reduced to something more mechanical and routine…more common. Roger
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Hi Roger
Music is in essence about space, time, pattern, and relationship between the notes isn’t it as you point out. There is a whole topic I uncovered about how mathematics is a big part of music. Notes are basically frequencies, and if you combine frequencies that mathematically form basic whole fraction relationships, it sounds really nice to the human brain, and so that is why certain note patterns like chords exist etc. If you combine notes that do not have a simple whole fraction relationship it sounds off and not nice. Bach’s music has tons of examples of mathematics in it’s patterns and relationships, and why Einstein is so attracted to music and said if he wasn’t a mathematician he would be a musician instead or something to that effect.
And as you said the MLT are all about the experience of the music and understand how it can move and touch people, and make a difference in people’s lives. That is what is important to them over popularity and chasing every get famous quick schemes out there. The Wagner family are musical artists first and foremost like the Beatles, Dylan, Stones, and all the great bands from the 60’s were, and so that is why they won’t participate in music competitions, talent shows, or sign up with a major label at the expense of their artistic integrity. There was a big debate at the forum a few months ago about this on a thread that had to be locked down.
It seems music in Mozart days in essences is no different from music today. A beautiful piece of music today that can move and evoke passion and feelings of unfulfilled longing would have the same form and relationships between notes as music from 300 years ago would. If we built a time machine and transported Beatles music back in time and played it for Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Haydn, Salieri, I wonder what would they think. How would they relate to it? I don’t think it would be too foreign to them honestly. Probably a different story if they heard Rap or some of the stuff the major labels are trying to push, but something truly artistic like a Beatles song, I think they would find beautiful and intriguing. Maybe a good idea for a new Hollywood movie. The Beatles, after a long night of drinking and partying in 1969, wake up in Vienna in 1769 and meet Salieri. 🙂
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Lol… Well this topic kinda just flew over my non-musician tech minded ears and mind and eyes…. As I don’t listen to much classical nor do I read music hardly at all, and Math and I never got along but I do understand your explanation where MLT comes into the equation, and find your thoughts interesting though I don’t fully understand the musicianship tech aspect of it… Lol
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