MonaLisa Twins Homepage › Forums › MLT Club Forum › General Discussion › Music as a language 2
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I think Mozart’s Piano Sonata in C Major K545 2nd movement is one of the most beautiful and melodic solo piano pieces in music. If you know about key changes and modes and how that creates different moods, this is a brilliant example you can just feel.
It starts in bright happy key of G major, then modulates up to an even brighter dominant key of D major, and then back to G major, but then at 1:45 it begins a progression down into the darker minor keys. From G major, the music modulates to G minor, then B♭ major, then C minor, then G minor and finally back to of G major, the dominant key of C major, at which point the recapitulation occurs followed by a short coda.
The effect is beautiful and moving. Just listen and follow the beautiful melodic line throughout in your head, and you can feel the mood changes as the music modulates between the keys. The graphics also show you visually as the modulation happens.
Just wanted to share a moment of musical beauty here.
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I’m enjoying being entertained in reading stuff here, that I’m somewhat clueless about and can’t quite grasp concept of…lol…Thankyou, the tech aspect of music, in terms of notes, theory, etc…. goes right on over my head…I just know when someon sings high or low… I have no idea what key is sung or instrument it’s being played in, etc… I just know to like what I hear and can sing along and pick up the sense of rhythm….lol
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I was just listening to this Mozart CD the other day and when this piano Sonata came on, for the first time I noticed how it’s just one long melody line, that more or less repeats itself several times throughout the piece, but each time it shifts into a different mood, like a rainbow of feelings across the same tune basically. Knowing a little about major keys being bright or happier and minor keys being darker or sadder, and modes, I just typed in the name of this piano sonata and “modes”, and Wikipedia presents this sonata explaining the modulations (key changes) exactly as I imagined it. I can’t tell what key something is in either or what note is being played etc, but it’s nice to understand just a little the mechanics behind a song and how/why it brings out the feelings like it does. Thanks to the MLT Club and this forum which got me to explore all these things about music.
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Jung, I just listened to this, and it is beautiful! Mozart changes keys as smoothly and seamlessly as a professional driver shifting gears in a manual-transmission high-performance car! Wow, this is honey to the ears, much like MonaLisa Twins’ singing and music! We are so blessed to have all of this great music, and we can listen to it over and over again! I know each of us have our own stories, but I haven’t counted how many times MonaLisa Twins’ music has been my companion in my car, while commuting, etc. I like to think that they are singing to me any time I want, and in a very real way, they are, as to each of you as well. 🙂 This is the beauty of good music and song, and bonus if the band bringing it to you are also beautiful themselves (thank you, Mona and Lisa!!). I could listen to their CDs on non-stop loop; they are world-class good!
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Hi David. I’m glad you listened to that Mozart piece and liked it, it is beautiful indeed. When it gets into the minor keys, I don’t know it evokes some longing emotions that just sends shivers. That’s what makes music so much more beautiful sometimes.
I like your analogy of shifting gears in a high performance manual transmission. I drove 5 speed stick V8 HO Mustangs for 26 years across two different cars, and I know the feel of a smooth shift and hitting all the gears just right, and getting the rear wheels to chirp at full acceleration as you shift from 1st to 2nd. I always thought of that as a victory chirp.
MLT’s music is the perfect companion for those long drives. The first year I discovered MLT, I went on an Alaska cruise and remember sitting on the deck for hours along the west coast through some of the inland channels coming down from Alaska listening to their 2007 concert CD. It was musical bliss and made me forget all my troubles. Aufstehn! I also remember a cruise port of call in San Francisco a couple of years ago, and walking around San Francisco Fisherman’s wharf area with headphones on listening to California Dreaming too. Their music can lift your spirits so joyfully high making you feel like you are “Walking In the Air”! Thanks for your reply, enjoyed reading it. 🙂
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With Penny Lane, Paul McCartney does a very similar progression into the minor key chords as Mozart does in the piano Sonata in C Major K545 I mentioned above. It goes from a bright major key chord, through a series of progressions through minor darker key chords, and then back to the bright major key. This progression into the darker minor keys is what makes Penny Lane remarkable and a masterpiece. Other sources mention similar downward key changes can be found in other Beatles songs like Lady Madonna, Fool On The Hill, and Girl etc.. Just as with the Mozart Sonata, it evokes incredible beauty, and makes the emotions feel so much sweeter. In the video below, the analyst illustrates in more detail. This kind of sophistication beneath the surface is what set the Beatles apart. Paul McCartney is another Mozart!
Youtube music theorists Rick Beato and David Bennet both have videos talking about the brilliant downward key changes the Beatles used so effectively.
Beach Boys, and the Who are other artists cited as having used downward key progressions in their music.
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That’s so cool, Jung! I really really wish I could hear, and think in terms of, chord progressions. That’s the key to understanding what makes a song musically intriguing.
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David, yeah it’s quite fascinating when they explain how music does what it does. Key changes, especially to minor keys, or mode changes make the song more intriguing.
When I play a simple tune like twinkle twinkle little star on the piano and if I hit a wrong note, it immediately stands out, and sends a repulsive feel, like finger nails on chalk board. When I’m listening to a melody, and the key changes to a minor, it has a similar effect pulling on my emotions, but much more subtly, in a pleasant melancholic way, injects a kind of a longing feel. Makes you feel more. Hard to explain, but those key changes, change the mood and enhance the feelings for me. Quite something. Very intriguing indeed.
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Yeah, I forgot about the effect of key changes in the middle of the song. When it just goes up half a step near the end it’s pretty predictable, but I had never even noticed that the refrain of Penny Lane is in a different key from the verses.
I think I’m getting better with practice, though. A few weeks ago I looked up the chords for a song that I wanted to learn, and immediately recognized that the C major that was listed at one point was not right when I played it. Then a part of my brain that had never introduced itself to me said, “That should probably be an F7.” I tried it, and it was right! So apparently I’m starting to intuit something about chords.
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David, I’m sure that intuition plays a big part in a good musician’s journey.
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Despite the music theory and the fun of trying to understand the mechanics of music and how emotions are created in music, it’s all about inspiration that comes from a mysterious place that can’t be analyzed into a formula, and I have to say no albums in my collection or that I have ever heard has moved me as much as MLT’s albums Orange and When We’re Together, and that’s no hyperbole!
Song’s like “The Wide, Wide, Land”, “Nothing Is In Vain”, “Close To You”, “Sweet Lorraine”, “Count on Me”, “Still A Friend of Mine”, “All I Want Christmas To Be” to name just a few of many MLT originals, come from a magic well of inspiration that very few geniuses have access to. MLT is one of them. I really look forward to the new album of originals.
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Jung,
I look forward to it, too! There really is something intangible, beyond the technical ability and excellence of the MonaLisa Twins. I, too, am moved by their songs. I love how they can be so playful, and then so serious. For example, you get “No Worries Company” and then Lisa chewing her hair in “That’s Life” video, then “Still A Friend of Mine.” They’re really special, and fantastic!
I really appreciate your input and comments, Jung. I think you and I are on the same wavelength, as they say. 🙂
Stay Groovy,
David
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Jung, I’ve been exploring the music of the Shangri Las, and I found a recording they did called “Past, Present and Future” which is a dramatic speech read over an orchestration of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata. I thought you might like to check it out.
On a related note, were you aware of this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toyLQzd8HrY
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Hi David, regarding that David Bennet video on Yesterday, that is interesting. That naturally piqued my curiosity on how MLT sang Yesterday so I played their video while sitting next to the piano while I kept hitting the F# and G keys while I ran the video, and I think Lisa sings “Yesterday” and “Suddenly” in F# to my ears. Now I have no facility to tell a note from just hearing it, but by constantly going back and forth between F# and G on the piano while listening to Yesterday, it sounds closer to an F# than a G to me. Lisa sings it lower than a G for sure. Maybe others can try that and see what they think. Of course Mona and Lisa will have the definitive answer. 🙂
I had a listen to Shangri La “Past, Present, and Future”, and I like it! What a great song based around Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata. Great lyrics too! That Schroeder video is brilliant for me, thoroughly enjoyed it and I saved it to my faves. Thanks for that David! 🙂
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