The Red Chord

going while remaining in the Majors, the use of the A Maj in its first inversion going down to an E Maj Dom 7 in the ninth measure, for a full resolution, but as seen in the final measure the starting note in the treble is a G sharp, with the A Maj chord in the bass, and finalizes in the treble clef with a half note A, accepting the resolution. In the last measure that final tension, although there is resolution, by carrying the G sharp to E Dom 7 and using it as a leading tone, or natural…

Throughout the Adagio movement of Brahms’ Piano Trio No. 1 in B Major, we are presented with several different juxtaposing textures, each offering a new perspective with its experience. The dialectic forces of this movement could also be found within layers of Image A. The antiphony at the onset and again in later references can be heard as soft (in a texture sense), open, and even vague in its harmonic and rhythmic structure. The instructed una corda gives an airy and empty quality to the…

In Bach's D major and a minor fugues from The Well-Tempered Clavier, some of the characteristic that Bach often uses including descending 5th sequences in order to go from on tonal area to another tonal area. As you can see in the D major fugue, at the episode 2 which is from measure nine to measure 10, the sequences allows the music goes from b minor back to G major. The same technique is also used in the a minor fugue from measure 8 where it goes from a minor back to C major at measure 9. Some…

Convention expects the dominant Ab7th chord in bar to resolve into Db major: however, a solo bassoon joins the violins and plays an ascending scalic movement in the parallel minor. This ascending scalic movement in bars 11-12 foreshadows the beginning of the B section beginning at bar 28. The…

“High Society” is a track off of the Free Spirit EP written and recorded by the band Fictionist. The album and corresponding track was written by Stuart Maxfield, Robbie Connolly, Brandon Kitterman, and Aaron Anderson. Free Spirit was released on July 29th, 2016. (Harbour Recordings) This song utilizes a lot of electronic sounds to create an atmosphere of different timbres The introduction to High Society starts with a synthesizer “progression”, of which term I will choose to use loosely,…

tonic chord. Here Debussy has already broken two rules of conventional voice leading; Debussy begins without the tonic note, introducing it later, where the mediant of the chord (F natural) is doubled. This gesture could also be interpreted as opening with chord iii (still with doubled mediant) moving to chord I on the third beat of the bar; however I think this is less likely to be Debussy’s intention because of the use of a Db chord in bar 9 when the phrase is imitated. The choice of chord I…

0124, and 014 as well as their respective inversions and transformations. The piece is set in an ABA’-like form and explores the versatility of the clarinet. In the beginning, the piano introduces the theme of 01346 and following measure presents a chord of 0124 with the melody harking back to tonality by using an unprepared suspension. These set classes form the A part of the piece. Measures 3 and 4 presents 02356 in the treble while its inversion, 01346, plays in the bass. Consolidating it as…

Charles Ives is one of the famous American Modernist composers. He was born in 1874 and he composed many compositions until he died in 1954. He was born in Connecticut as a son of Army bandmaster. He began to compose at 12 and he became an Organist at 14. Although he was not famous during his lifetime, he is very well-known as his unique compositional styles. His compositional style combines American popular and church music tradition. The Church music traditions of his youth with European and…

resolves to the C major chord in bar six, which is weakened by being in the 1st inversion. In bars eight through ten, Beethoven head towards a C major chord. Also in bar eight, on beat one, there is a C major chord, and the chord progression suggests a II7. V7 cadential 6/4 progression in bar nine but with G#s in the bass, which leads to an A minor chord on beat one of bar ten, instead of C major. This is followed by a chord of F major in bar ten on beat three and a chord of C major in bar…

Rhythmic breakdown In this figure, a whole note takes a whole in a measure, a half note takes two in a measure, a quarter note takes up four in a measure, an eighth note takes up eight in a measure and a sixteenth note takes up sixteen in a measure. As mentioned earlier, this rhythmic grouping only applies when the bottom number is 4. In a compound meter these rhythmic groupings are quite different. B. Meter- is the systematic grouping of beats and their division in regularly recurring…