You started a sentence with "Or"? ;-)
MEK "kent williams" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote on 09/25/2008 10:24:46 AM: > When I defended my Master's Project I promised myself never to go back > to school. After nearly 30 years of schooling I realized that I'm a > terrible student. Ironically my work now is in an Academic department > of the College of Medicine. I work with and for professors and grad > students. But I just write software -- I leave it to them to do the > academics. Suckers! > > But every so often I have an idea that has academic potential, and > when I think of following through on it I break out in a cold sweat. > But no reason not to share it: > Detroit Techno's signature sound is based in part on dramatic string > or string-like chord patterns over a bed of beats not that far from > classic Chicago House. Contrary to the norm in western music, the > chords are likely to be 'parallel' -- i.e. a pattern of 4 chords will > be one chord, transposed from the root 3 times. > > The traditional harmonic rules of Western music, by contrast are more > parsimonious in tonal motion -- i.e. any two chords in sequence will > most likely retain any common notes. The transition between two > dissimilar chords will move from one chord to the inversion of the > second chord with the least interval distance from the notes of the > first. > > If you are not a musician, your eyes are probably rolling up in your > head by now, so more concretely: The Detroit way if played on a piano > would involve moving your whole hand, but using (roughly) the same > spacing of your fingers. The traditional way would keep your hand > mostly in the same place, but change the spacing between your fingers. > > My suspicion is that the 'Detroit' chords came at least in part from a > feature of the Roland Alpha Juno synthesizer, which had a feature > called 'chord memory' -- you could play a chord, push a button, and > thereafter, you could play that same chord with one finger on the > lowest note of the original chord. Or, you could play a transposed > chord by playing a different single note. > > A perfect example of the meshing of these two approaches in one song > is UR's 'Jupiter Jazz' -- there is the signature stacatto chords of > the synthesizer -- with parallel chord transposition, and a denser > female chorus sound that exhiibits the more traditional conservation > of harmonic motion. That contrast and overlay of two different > harmonic strategies is part of what makes that song so compelling. > Well, that, and the bubbling acid line. And Mad Mike's soaring synth > soloing...
