jhudeathanddying | emiferguson

links, discussions,

and more...

from our chat on November 5th

lament bass / intro to harmony

compose your own lament bass

sound and perception (articles)

loss and musical rhetoric

Prof. Hersch's music

other fun stuff...

what do these songs have in common?

let's dig deeper into the tracks you've been listening to ------->

I wish we could have had more time to discuss all of the songs you listened to for the class.

I have loved reading all of your responses - below is a word cloud made from the thoughts you all shared from listening in the chat.

You were all right on the money - hearing the connective tissue of the "lament bass" that unites all of these pieces of music!

so what's on the playlist ?

a little more info about who wrote these pieces of music and when (listen above on YouTube) --->

Feeling Good

Written by: Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse (1964)

Performed by: Nina Simone (1965)

Key: G minor (bass line = G, F, Eb, D)

Ciaccona

Written by: Tomaso Vitali (1745)

Performed by: Ensemble Clematis (2011)

Key: G minor (bass line = G, F, Eb, D)

View the manuscript HERE.

Bye Bye Bye

Written by: Kristian Lundin and Jake Schulze (2000)

Performed by: *N'SYNC (2000)

Key: G# minor (bass line = G#, F# E D#)

Passacaille

Written by: Jean-Baptiste Lully (1685)

Performed by: La Petite Bande (2000)

Key: G minor (bass line = G, F, Eb, D)

***but...it sounds like it is in F minor with a bass line of F, Eb, Db, C because it is being played at A=392, French baroque pitch, a whole step lower than what we use today, A=440

View the manuscript HERE (see page 147)

Hit The Road Jack

Written by: Percy Mayfield (1960)

Performed by: Ray Charles (1962)

Key: G# minor (bass line = G#, F# E D#)

Lamento della ninfa

Written by: Claudio Monteverdi (~1614-1638)

Performed by: Montserrat Figueras and Jordi Savall

Key: A minor (bass line = A, G, F, E)

View the manuscript HERE

La Blanche Biche

Written by: Emi Ferguson (2017)

**based on an anonymous folk melody

Performed by: Emi Ferguson (2017)

Key: B minor (bass line = B, A, G, F#)

***but...it sounds like it is in Bb minor with a bass line of Bb, Ab, Gb, F because it is being played at A=392, French baroque pitch, a whole step lower than what we use today, A=440

View the manuscript HERE (see page 147)

Music to Watch Boys to

Written by: Lana Del Rey and Rick Nowels (2015)

Performed by: Lana Del Rey (2015)

Key: C# minor (bass line = C#, B, A, G#)

Midnight Train to Georgia

Written by: Jim Weatherly (1970)

Performed by: Gladys Knight and the Pips (1973)

Key: Db Major (bass line = Db, C, Bb, Ab)

Just Give Me A Reason

Written by:P!nk, Jeff Bhasker, and Nate Ruess (2011)

Performed by: P!nk and Nate Ruess (2011)

Key: G Major (bass line = G, F#, E, D)

...we could keep going, adding many more songs to this playlist including...

Bach: Chaconne, from Partita no.5 for solo violin

Biber: Passacaglia for solo violin

the lament bass

a repeating, cyclical, bass line from

one (tonic) descending to five (dominant) ---->

Screen Shot 2020-11-04 at 11.43.30 PM.pn

Musicians took these four descending notes and built (and still build!) harmonies and melodies on top of it.

All of the songs in the playlist use this fundamental structure in someway - thus connecting all of them, from 17th century composer Monteverdi, to 'NSYNC.

the lament bass is usually found in a minor key, but one can also create the same concept in a Major key ---->

Screen Shot 2020-11-04 at 11.43.38 PM.pn

click on the slides below to learn a little more about how all of these songs are connected and why the lament bass has it's power ------->

For example, when I play a Major scale and end on the 7th note – what do your ears tell you should happen next?

You sense this whether or not you have formally studied music before, feeling the pull back to 1 in your bones.

We also feel the strongest harmonic relationship in the scale - between the first and fifth notes. This relationship has been developed throughout the history of Western music and now serves as the backbone of harmony. Wanting to explain the strength of this relationship in other ways, musical theorists and mathematicians turned to physics and the harmonic overtone series.

Within every note are traces of many more notes. Now, you might think that in order to change notes on the flute, I have to move my fingers, but watch.

I will play a low C and and my fingers will not move - by increasing the speed of the air, I first create a note that is an octave above the first one, then a fifth then another octave, all without changing my fingers.

All of these notes exist as part of the harmonic overtone series of our original low C.

The harmonic overtone series exists for all notes, and always unfolds in the same way, first with an octave, then with a fifth. As the series continues and more notes unfold, the strength of the relationship to the fundamental weakens, therefore physics tells us what our ears sense – that like Romeo and Juliet, 1 and 5 have a magnetic connection, one that is strengthened even more when we add harmony, or chords above.

See how we have our 7th scale degree that so desperately wanted to go back to 1 is present in our 5 chord.

Musicians have exploited this relationship for centuries – perhaps you know the following I-V hook.

These are just two examples - you can find this everywhere from Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, to the Star Wars theme song.

Sometimes, musicians would fill in the gap between 1 and 5, using the ensuing sequence it as both bass line, melody, and also as the foundation of the harmony for a piece. The effect is cyclical – one of rebirth – we fall from 1 to 5, only to be pulled back to 1 where we start the whole process again.

I’m going to play the beginning of a piece that does just this.

Notice how the ending feels unresolved because we ended on 5.

Musicians are attracted to the simplicity of this sequence, on top of which they could build masterpieces, each time putting their own stamp and emotional twist on the sequence. It can come in many guises, and under certain conditions can be called a Chaconne, Ground Bass, Passacaglia, or Ostinato.

A well known example is Bach’s Chaconne for solo violin where the pattern repeats itself 64 times in various permutations for a 15 minute tour de force of virtuosity. Each time the pattern repeats, it is a little different, and sometimes is in a minor mode, sometimes in a major mode, and sometimes chromatically. No matter how it is altered, we always feel the pull of V back to I.

I want you to feel it though, so if you join me first in a Major key - singing DO SI LA SOL - keep singing. These four notes form the bass line and create the harmony for our first song. Keep that bass line going.

Pourquoy, doux Rossignol. Dans ce sombre sejour, m’eveillez vous. M’eveillez vous avant, l’aurore.

If we change the time signature to 4/4, we can sing some other songs over it that you might find a little more familiar.

Just give me a reason just a little bits enough.
Just to second we’re not broken just bent,
And we can learn to love again.
It’s in the stars
It’s been written on the scars in our hearts,
That we’re not broken just bent,
And we can learn

Because he’s leaving
On the midnight train to Georgia
Said he’s going back to find
A simpler place in time

That place is the 1600’s, Venice, where Claudio Monteverdi told of tragic love with those same four notes – now, in minor.

Amor
Amor
Amor
Amor do’ve do’ve la fe’
Ch’el tra-di-tor
Ch’el tra-di-tor, giuro

In the next song made famous by Nina Simone, we hear the sequence twice, but on the third repetition, we continue all the way down to 2, only to come back to our V to strengthen the end of the verse before it starts the sequence again. See how it changes it.

Birds flying high you know how I feel
Sun in the sky you know how I feel
Breeze, drifting on by you know how I feel
It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, it’s a new life for me
And I’m feeling good.

Perhaps you know these other songs in minor

And now for some more minor songs you might know

You had plenty money nineteen twenty two
You let all the women make a fool of you
Why don’t you do right
Like some other men do.

Cause I like you a lot
Putting on my music while I’m watching the boys
So I do what you want
Playing soft grunge just to soak up the noise
Blue Ribbons on ice
Playing my guitar you’re like one of my toys
Cause I like you a lot
No holds barred I’ve been sent to destroy, yeah

Bye bye bye
I don’t wanna be a fool for you
Just another player in your game for two
You might hate me but it ain’t no lie
Baby bye bye bye
I don’t really wanna make it tough
I just wanna tell you that I’ve had enough
Might sound crazy but it ain’t no lie, bye bye bye

Ray Charles made hit the road jack famous, a song that uses the bass line throughout the song.

Hit the road jack,
And don’t you come back
No more no more no more no more
Hit the road jack
And don’t you come back no more.

These are just a few of the songs that use this sequence – and it’s not the only one out there that composers have recycled – each time creating something that no one has said in quite that way before. These sequences have traversed time and space – illuminating the threads that tie us together and showing us, that things might not be so different after all.

In fact, the lines we draw between classical and pop music are entirely of our own creation, as we’ve seen today that classical and pop music use the same language, and like a story in the hands of Shakespeare, that language is fluid and powerful when used well. Next time you hear someone complaining about a 4 chord song, remind them that it’s not what you have or what you start with, but how you use it that counts.

Musicians often alter the lament bass from the original four notes. One famous version is descending from 1 to 5 chromatically like in Henry Purcell's famous "Dido's Lament" ------->

pourquoi doux rossignol

Jean-Baptiste de Bousset

(1662-1725)

played on a Rod Cameron copy of a c. 1700 Hotteterre flute

boxwood and ivory with a silver key

pitch = 392 hz

This is the song we all sang together. It's one of my favourite examples of the "major" version of this bass line. It was written in the court of Louis XIV and would have either been sung or fluted with the accompaniment of a lute (very large guitar). Check out this recording that is a beautiful recreation of what it might have sounded like back then...

view the sheet music HERE

notice how the bass line is notated all the way down in the bottom right corner - this is all the information a keyboard player or guitar player would be given to play with the flute player or singer whose melody is fully written out above.

links, discussions,

and more...

from our chat on November 5th

what do these songs have in common?

let's dig deeper into the tracks you've been listening to ------->

so what's on the playlist ?

a little more info about who wrote these pieces of music and when (listen above on YouTube) --->

the lament bass

a repeating, cyclical, bass line from

one (tonic) descending to five (dominant) ---->

Musicians often alter the lament bass from the original four notes. One famous version is descending from 1 to 5 chromatically like in Henry Purcell's famous "Dido's Lament" ------->

pourquoi doux rossignol

Jean-Baptiste de Bousset

(1662-1725)

played on a Rod Cameron copy of a c. 1700 Hotteterre flute

​

boxwood and ivory with a silver key

pitch = 392 hz

view the sheet music HERE

notice how the bass line is notated all the way down in the bottom right corner - this is all the information a keyboard player or guitar player would be given to play with the flute player or singer whose melody is fully written out above.