20
votes
Significance of pop songs with progressions that alternate one chord with one that's three semitones below it
In addition to No'am's nice answer, there are two further points I'd like to make:
In most (all?) of your instances, note that the chord in question changes from major to minor. This is thus an easy ...
- 83.3k
19
votes
Accepted
Significance of pop songs with progressions that alternate one chord with one that's three semitones below it
Let's say a song is in the key of C; three semitones below this is the key of Am, which is known as the relative minor key. In the same way, chords which are 'three semitones below' (e.g. F and Dm, G ...
- 1,623
14
votes
How to understand 20th-century pop music as evolution of classical harmony
As topo morto already commented, it doesn't really make sense to consider pop as just an evolution of classical music. It has lots of influences from folk, blues, jazz that don't really make sense ...
- 35k
13
votes
Accepted
Is there a name for the extra measure that they like to put into country songs?
This is an issue of what we call hypermeter; specify, we can call it a hypermetrical extension. By hypermeter, I mean a metrical structure not at the level of the beat, but at the level of the entire ...
- 83.3k
8
votes
Is it helpful to study jazz when I like pop?
Yes, it is helpful
It's not obvious, but there is a lot of jazz influence in pop. Learning jazz will give you a lot more experience with chord progressions, chord shapes, modal mixtures, alternate ...
- 55k
8
votes
What are some common patterns used when playing the piano/keyboard in a pop/rock band setting?
I've been trying to learn to play the keyboard for a few years now and
think it would be cool to eventually get to the point where am able to
play as part of a group. The problem is that I really have ...
- 26.2k
6
votes
Accepted
Are there any popular pieces which periodically modulate down?
Here is a non-comprehensive list of such pieces: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TruckDriversGearChange
Under the "Subversions" sections you can find some pieces that modulate down.
e.g.
...
6
votes
How to understand 20th-century pop music as evolution of classical harmony
One point of view is given by Peter van der Merwe in a couple of interesting books. "Origins of the Popular Style: The Antecedents of Twentieth-Century Popular Music" and "Roots of the Classical: the ...
- 24.4k
6
votes
You are the sunshine of my life: how is this off-beat singing called?
By crikey this is broad. You've basically asked "What's the difference between 'white' music & 'black' music?"
Because you could write entire books on the subject & still not arrive at any ...
- 25.9k
6
votes
Accepted
Would you describe 'Skyfall' by Adele as atonal?
I think it's a beautiful song, but it doesn't seem to stick to a key
signature very well.
I'm not sure where that happens. Here's some sheet music, and the whole thing stays in a single minor key.
...
- 12.3k
6
votes
Is it possible to determine the major/minor key of a song by just looking at the chords?
I'd actually still maintain that yes, it is possible to determine whether a piece is in a major or minor key - or no key at all - just by looking at the chords, but with the major caveat that the ...
- 13.3k
5
votes
Do Most Pop Songs Have An Instrument Play Chords While The Singer Sings The Melody
It's often hard to draw a line between melody and chords.
I know, that sounds ridiculous. But sit back and think about the role a keyboard plays. Sure, they can just play a single note melody, or ...
- 9,549
5
votes
What are the methods used while writing pop music that make it so recognizably pop
What defines pop music is that it is music that is marketed for mass audiences and therefore will have an industrial influence. That means input from theatre professionals where large performances ...
- 411
5
votes
What exactly is a Christmas carol?
Originally, carols - simple songs - were sung and often danced as a celebration of something joyous, often in the open air, by 'the common people'. It's said that the first carol was 'sung by angels ...
- 186k
5
votes
Accepted
The ambiguity of certain chord qualities in Roman numeral Analysis
Short Answer
The two systems are intended to describe different things: Roman numerals are interpretive (and designed to describe common-practice period major/minor tonality); chord notation is ...
- 75.6k
5
votes
Is it possible to determine the major/minor key of a song by just looking at the chords?
Let's see what the music21 Python library thinks about the example chord progressions.
from music21 import stream, harmony
def guess_key(chords_string):
s = stream.Stream()
for d in chords_string....
- 26.2k
4
votes
What are these non-chord tones in the Jackson Five's "Want you Back"?
You may be interested in what pop-music scholars often call the "melodic-harmonic divorce." By "divorce," they mean that the pitches in the melody are often vastly different from from the harmony that ...
- 83.3k
4
votes
Is it helpful to study jazz when I like pop?
Welcome to the site! Studying jazz is better and easier through a course - providing it's a good one! You'll be taken a lot deeper into music than you would studying pop-type music, although it ...
- 186k
4
votes
You are the sunshine of my life: how is this off-beat singing called?
It's syncopated, but really there is so much to this topic. One of the earliest practitioner (that we have recorded) of this was, and the most famous, was Louis Armstrong on his many early recordings. ...
- 3,428
4
votes
Accepted
Why do so many modern pop songs use the trap beat (tu ti ta ti)?
For the same reason every other pop song started using dubstep elements a few years back, why every pop song started sounding like it was being played on a beach in Ibiza in the late '90s/early '00s, ...
- 56
4
votes
Did Agnetha and Anni-Frid always sing in unison?
You are hearing this incorrectly. You should listen more closely, and possibly to a wider range of their songs. ABBA songs have about the same mixture of solo voices, unison lines and multi-part ...
- 17.2k
4
votes
Accepted
What instrument in a drum kit is played on the second and fourth beat of a song during a verse or pre-chorus?
It's called a sidestick.
It's made by resting the rear end of the sick on one edge of the skin & tapping the rim on the far side.
Not to be confused with a rim-shot, which is a full down-stroke, ...
- 25.9k
4
votes
Accepted
Arranging Pop and Jazz Songs into Piano
There is a simple, direct answer to the question as stated initially: "What is the first step in arranging a jazz or pop song into piano?"
Listen.
For me, that means listening to get to know ...
- 2,514
4
votes
Accepted
Is there a name for that unique note in pop music?
a note that stands out from the song
You're 99% of the way there!
In the Mars example, this is an instance of something we call "chromaticism," which ultimately means "using a pitch ...
- 83.3k
3
votes
Significance of pop songs with progressions that alternate one chord with one that's three semitones below it
There are great answers already written, and I'll just add a little more explanation for why this phenomenon exists. In the end, it's a result of the fact that we construct chords from stacked thirds.
...
- 11.2k
3
votes
What are the methods used while writing pop music that make it so recognizably pop
The "pop" in Pop Music is short for "popular". It can be said that this means that the songs are written to appeal to the largest audience, and this is partly true, but one cannot forget the element ...
3
votes
How to put chords (POP-EDM) under a given lead vocal melody (starting from a good knowledge in music theory)
Really, I'd just play around until I found something I like. But for some initial ideas:
given a scale and a note, there are three triads from the scale that contain that note; for example, there ...
- 1,420
3
votes
Accepted
How do I describe the rhythm in these songs?
This is actually called the tresillo.
There's a lot to check out in that link, from explanations of its origin to its use in various genres. But basically, the tresillo approximates a triplet without ...
- 83.3k
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