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Author Topic: choice for a tune set.  (Read 9632 times)

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Owen Woods

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Re: choice for a tune set.
« Reply #40 on: January 07, 2010, 01:11:31 AM »

Heh, I agree with you entirely, but the fact remains that shifting up the sharps, for me at least, gives a massive lift to the tune ;D Although it is a bit lazier than doing something interesting with it, unless you're shifting from A to B, which on a D/G melodeon becomes a tad tricky...

OK I play a 3-row. But the interesting thing is that flattening notes has the same effect! I think in both cases it is about putting tension into the music. My take is that moving into more sharps (or flats) and changing our tune at the same time to some extent nullifies the tension we've tried to inject.

Hence stick with one theme. Any note that isn't in the present left end chord can be sharped or flatted. Some sound better than others. Mysteriously so can some notes that are present in the chord!  

But that's only half the story. Create some tension .. then relax/resolve it. The link between music and human emotion is fascinating.  Apparently even new born babies can responds to discord and cadence, the same as adults.

That's interesting. I wouldn't describe adding a sharp as creating or releasing tension, it is more a buildup of energy.
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Chris Ryall

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Re: choice for a tune set.
« Reply #41 on: January 07, 2010, 08:12:44 AM »

That's interesting. I wouldn't describe adding a sharp as creating or releasing tension, it is more a buildup of energy.

It is 'tension' while we remain in the same key. For example playing a C# when in G suggests to the ear that you should move to the D row (you probably have, to get it!) Basically you are hinting a dominant A7 chord rather than the modal Am chord in the G scale. Now where?

  • Keep our tune in G and have that C# as a tense note (you've gone 'Lydian') - back to our tune - relax = "improvisation"
  • Move temporarily to the D row and then relax back - commonly via a D C# C (B) chromatic run  A favourite Shand trick - deeply melodeonic too!
  • Switch tunes altogether but move to the new key.

While there is a sense of energy in playing in D - I'd say the 'tension' exists as the C# clashes within the G key centre (these notes being 3 tones apart) and is dissipated when you actually switch key.  Thereafter you are 'simply in D' and must look for different sources of tension - dare I suggest a C natural note  >:E

Interestingly we folkies tend to move G to D to A.  Country and Westerners do the same thing but move 2 sharps at a time - you'll hear a lot of G straight to A in Nashville. To some extent both are part of the idiom. Arguably cliche - but then so is  II V I in jazz?
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