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Dillon Broadus
@kingdarkeyes
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University of South Alabama
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S3C
Well an Em9 chord is technically a Gmaj7add13 or you could just say Gmaj7/E but all the same I try not to get overly technical with chord nomenclature with extended harmonies. When it comes to wider chords I personally perceive the root note opposed to slight differences in chordal qualities as more important in the overall texture as most of the notes are going to be blending in with the texture anyway. The A13 resolves to a D chord, so the enharmonically precise note here would be C# (resolving to D) not Db. I would have to listen to the song but the 7th in the A13 chord probably is within the inner voices and resolves to F# (the 3rd in the D) triad as well. So technically it's a diluted V-I progression with A-G (or E) in the bass.
Yeah, I agree with the bit on dynamics...after all, you need volume to hear the sound...differences in timbre, melody, and rhythm are always easy to focus on while dynamics are oft overlooked, but dynamics is truly what gives life and humanization to a piece. When using actual instruments or layered sample banks, or volume sensitive synthesizers, changes in dynamics coincide with a change in timbre, which on a harmonic level is a change in pitch. Good percussionists incorporate fine changes in dynamics and make an instrument that produces subharmonic overtones sound melodic.
Not sure what modulation has to do with song dynamics, unless you just meant dynamics in a general sense (not referring to volume control). I would have to disagree with modulation being more "important" than melodic, I think they are about equally important, but modal, melodic countour changes and patterns standout more than modulations IMO. It's hard for me to explain, but it's the difference between humming the melody from TV Show #1 and #2 that were composed in the same key and humming the difference between an A major scale and B major scale that have the same pattern, just a different key. The former examples are therefore more rememberable to the ear and temporal lobe.
There's secondary modulation (using borrowed chords between keys) or simply just direct modulations- no voice leading involved, just copy and paste the same sequence of notes to a different starting pitch. The latter is more of a 'pop' composing technique, jazz falls somewhere in between, but usually key changes in this genre are still logical and creative like its classical roots (albeit sustaining some of the tones that cause dissonance). Diminished and whole tone scales are good ways to introduce outside tones into the piece, they are also symmetrical, making them a great musical device. Bebop doesn't have much to do with modulation or the pitch side of music- the added in 8th tone is mainly for rhythmic reasons (it makes more sense to have an 8 note scale in a duple or triple multiple system, instead of the asymmetrical 7 notes of a major scale. On that note, it's interesting to see how how the most popular scale systems throughout the world are commonly prime numbers 5 (pentatonic) or 7). Oops so you already know what secondary dominants are. I type as I read. oh well
I agree that rhythm comes before melody, without rhythm there is no way to cleverly structure the notes in time to string together a coherent message, the same way changes in volume/dynamics are used to make the rhythm apparent
Not sure how much this helps and/or information you knew already, but it's an interesting discussion to me nonetheless
kingdarkeyes (Updated )
On the Em9 I was simply stating the way it sounds when played on guitar. The Gmaj7 seems to fit better than an Em9 when played but the A13 is irreplaceable. I said Em9 because most of what I've seen detailing the chords for the song says Em9, but it sounds more accurate to me playing a Gmaj7.
And on the note about dynamics, yes I mean dynamics in a general sense. Modulation and musical dynamics could be switched around I suppose, but overall what I'm including into modulation is anything involving tension and resolution as well as key changes. I could have also went more in-depth about this and included different cadences and whatnot, but this was more stream of consciousness than anything.
I also agree that the melodic dynamics and modulation are equally important. Unless I'm mistaken as to what you're saying, I say the same thing above, but I put melodic change a little bit ahead because the listener will hopefully take home some of these melodies and come back to the song because of them, so introducing more interesting melodies (as a result of varying them or changing them completely in response to a rhythm change or modulation) might make the song more interesting.
Also, this may reflect a lack of understanding on my part, but bebop scales, while built to fit into eighth and sixteenth note passages for the purposes of landing on a chord tone, do introduce outside elements. If you're playing the major, dominant, and minor (Dorian) bebop scale, you're adding notes that are not necessarily apart of the key and only really fit over those chord tones, usually being some form of maj7, dominant 7, and min7 respectively. You can also do a bunch of other things with them in practice that I haven't quite learned about yet. All I know is what I've practiced and read in some improvisation books I've bought. So please do correct me if I'm wrong as I would like to know more about this myself.
Again, this was stream of consciousness so feel free to pick it apart. I still have much to learn and discussions like these could definitely help! And it definitely is an interesting one for sure! haha.
Also, thank you for actually reading this drivel I've posted! :P