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Secret Clubhous
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Interesting thread.
I studied & played N. Indian classical music for years, & that culture has a huge amt. of in-depth material about this subject--as far as melody is concerned, anyway. It's all incredibly detailed & esoteric. Think the Kama Sutra version of music theory.
They really have it down to a science. There are legends about musicians who were so good they could evoke fire with certain ragas, etc. They definitely respect the power of one note, & all the micro-pitches in between.
They don't use harmony, so chords aren't part of the mix. But there are hundreds of ragas designed to specifically evoke certain moods at certain times of the day, etc. They are all subsets of 10 basic scales that are kind of like modes. Ragas are not only scales but specific ways the notes move in relation to each other. For instance, using a major 7th when ascending & a minor 7th when descending.
Then again, lots of African music uses "happy sounding" progressions but when you find out what the words mean, it's oten depressing. I find this dichotomy fascinating. From what I experienced there, I think maybe it reflects a certain attitude toward life: when life is the shits, keep dancing & smiling 'cause that's all you can do, if that's all that's left.
I studied & played N. Indian classical music for years, & that culture has a huge amt. of in-depth material about this subject--as far as melody is concerned, anyway. It's all incredibly detailed & esoteric. Think the Kama Sutra version of music theory.
They really have it down to a science. There are legends about musicians who were so good they could evoke fire with certain ragas, etc. They definitely respect the power of one note, & all the micro-pitches in between.They don't use harmony, so chords aren't part of the mix. But there are hundreds of ragas designed to specifically evoke certain moods at certain times of the day, etc. They are all subsets of 10 basic scales that are kind of like modes. Ragas are not only scales but specific ways the notes move in relation to each other. For instance, using a major 7th when ascending & a minor 7th when descending.
Then again, lots of African music uses "happy sounding" progressions but when you find out what the words mean, it's oten depressing. I find this dichotomy fascinating. From what I experienced there, I think maybe it reflects a certain attitude toward life: when life is the shits, keep dancing & smiling 'cause that's all you can do, if that's all that's left.
