MLT Club Member David Herrick
MLT Club MemberForum Replies Created
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Jung, this is the most useful mode video I’ve come across yet. Thanks for posting! It doesn’t just give examples of different modes, but it explains how you can TELL which mode a song is in, which is something I’ve been struggling with.
I’ve been reading on Wikipedia about the “circle of fifths”, which is a great organizational tool for understanding the relationships among chords. I’ve long known that the interval from C to G is called a fifth, but I didn’t understand why. I was thinking in terms of frequency ratios, and I figured it was called a fifth because it represented 20% of something. Now it makes a lot more sense.
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I think that’s the plan, Jung. Given that it’s completely inspired by MLT, this would be the natural place to share it.
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Okay, Jacki, I think we’re good to go.
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Well, I’m not on anything but this, so we’ll just have to make an adventure of it. Here’s the “formula” for my e-mail address:
1) first initial
2) last name
3) at
4) the opposite of south
5) the singular of states
6) dot
7) the thing that you catch butterflies with
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Jacki, I’ve finally recorded the demo of my song, if you’re still interested in writing lyrics for it. I could give you my e-mail address in “coded” form here so that spam bots and such can’t decipher it, and you could send me a message that I could reply to. Or you could do the same and I could send the file to you that way.
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The first time I listened to Close to You, the general sound reminded me somewhat of the classic doo-wop song Earth Angel. But when it got to the passage you just cited I heard something musically unique that nevertheless flowed well with the rest of the song, at a point where I thought all the structural elements had already been revealed. Verse, verse, refrain, verse, refrain, and… hello, what’s this?
I think that’s one of the underrated properties of a lot of great songs: when they give you that unexpected extra treat toward the end. I felt something similar in Count on Me with “the great escape has only just begun”, which with a chord progression of C , Bb , A sounds like it might be… Mixolydian mode!
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“One man composed music for every instrument and he could pretty much hear it in his head as he created it.”
I’ve heard the same said of Brian Wilson!
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I’m going to have to watch this movie, Jung. That dystopia appears to have more rays of hope than the one we’re currently living through.
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I think I’m starting to see concrete examples of how the brain processes music and language similarly. I’ve just learned about the “resolving” process in music. For example, the Beatles’ “For No One” ends on an unresolved chord: you’re left hanging, expecting a repeat of the previous chord to bring a sense of closure to the song. It seems analogous to hearing someone end a sentence with the word “the”. The WHAT? Finish the thought!
I’m developing the sense that the brain reacts to a composition moving repeatedly toward and away from resolved chords in the same way as it follows the structuring of sentences in speech.
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Amazing! And to think they were doing it all basically by instinct.
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Sorry if I ruined your day, Jung! When I said it was “for you”, I didn’t mean I was trying to depress you; I just meant that you could really appreciate it. I’m so unfamiliar with the original versions that I found these fascinating as songs in their own right. They didn’t disturb me nearly as much as the Locrian “Happy Birthday”, probably because I didn’t have the brighter versions in my head to contrast them with.
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This playlist is definitely for you, Jung. It’s Beethoven and Chopin translated into Locrian mode:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxq2c1XUCtV3CFM5mScfy70aGY3e01S3y
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Yeah, I really lucked out with that Sebastian concert. I read that the concert was going to happen, and a few weeks later while I was in the area I stopped by the theater to ask whether tickets were on sale yet. They told me they had just started a couple of hours ago, and they showed me the seating chart with only five seats marked out. It was a very small venue (a converted movie theater), and all the tickets were the same price, so I pencilled myself in for the VIP vantage point.
It’s great that you got to see the queen in person! She’s a living link to a lot of world history.
My closest encounter with a musical celebrity was about ten years ago, when I attended a solo concert by Micky Dolenz of the Monkees. Again it was a rather small event, and I stood in line afterwards to get his autograph. He didn’t speak to me or even make eye contact, and he was wearing a big hat so I couldn’t get a good look as I stood over him while he sat at the table. But even though I didn’t see his face, I was still a believer.
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I didn’t know that “super” had Beatlic roots, Jung. Yet another of their contributions to American pop culture!
Those interview snippets are great! I’ve heard them say lots of funny things to reporters, but most of these are new to me. “Where do the hairdos come from?” “Our scalp.”
I suspect that their acceptance in the U.S. by the masses (not just kids) was largely due to the clever way they handled the press when they first arrived at JFK Airport on their way to their Ed Sullivan show appearance. There were a lot of confrontational questions about their hairstyles and their musical abilities, and they deflected them with wit and humor, which probably defanged what could have been constantly hostile media coverage.
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That’s cool that you were able to be so close to a Beach Boy, Jung! I once had a front-row seat at a John Sebastian concert, and that sort of proximity makes the experience so much more memorable.
Sloop John B isn’t quite my very favorite Beach Boys song, but it’s certainly in the top ten percent. I just did a little reading up on the history of the song, and it actually dates back to 1916! Here’s Al Jardine on the story of how they ended up recording it:
Brian was at the piano. I asked him if I could sit down and show him something. I laid out the chord pattern for ‘Sloop John B.’ I said, ‘Remember this song?’ I played it. He said, ‘I’m not a big fan of the Kingston Trio.’ He wasn’t into folk music. But I didn’t give up on the idea. So what I did was to sit down and play it for him in the Beach Boys idiom. I figured if I gave it to him in the right light, he might end up believing in it. So I modified the chord changes so it would be a little more interesting. The original song is basically a three-chord song, and I knew that wouldn’t fly.
So I put some minor changes in there, and it stretched out the possibilities from a vocal point of view. Anyway, I played it, walked away from the piano and we went back to work. The very next day, I got a phone call to come down to the studio. Brian played the song for me, and I was blown away. The idea stage to the completed track took less than 24 hours.
