John Adams - Modes, Jazz Chords & Slonimsky
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- čas přidán 28. 04. 2019
- John Adams is one of the most performed living composers. From his origins as a minimalist his music has developed incorporating late romantic sounds, and jazz harmonies. Here I look through some of the approaches he has taken to harmony throughout his career.
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David Bruce on John Adams's Harmonielehre:
• David Bruce on John Ad...
#johnadams #composer #harmony
Research
Process vs. Intuition in the Recent Works of Steve Reich and John Adams by K. Robert Schwarz
www.jstor.org/stable/3052096?...
Counterpoint and Polyphony in Recent Instrumental Works of John Adams by Alexander Sanchez-Behar
Musical Aesthetics and Creative Identification in Two Harmonielehren by John Adams and Arnold Schoenberg
Scott M. Strovas
Slonimsky's Thesaurus
www.amazon.com/Thesaurus-Melo...
Process vs. Intuition in the Recent Works of Steve Reich and John Adams by K. Robert Schwarz
www.jstor.org/stable/3052096?...
Interview with John Adams
web.archive.org/web/200702050...
Quincy Jones Interview
www.vulture.com/2018/02/quincy...
Performances:
John Adams - Phrygian Gates
• [1] John Adams - Phryg...
John Adams - Chairman Dances
• Video
John Adams - Shaker Loops
• Video
John Adams - Harmonielehre
• John Adams - Harmoniel...
Steve Reich - Music for Mallets instruments Voices and Organ
• Video
Philip Glass - Music in Fifths
• Video - Hudba
Glad I saved the money on music school and just subscribed to David Bruce.
Saam You are lucky
Yep a very good channel
Astute comment!
And one more thing : EVERY single musician who spent several years diligently and thoroughly studying Slonimsky's GOLD mine of ideas, became a world class improviser/composer/educator. Coltrane, M.Brecker, J.Goldsmith, C.Ogerman, K.Jarrett, Ch.Corea, A.Silvestri, J.Adams, Aydin Esen - and the list goes on and on... Slonimsky's book is ESSENTIAL. Period.
What if I can’t read but I’m desperate to learn these things
@@OGStazzyWell… Can you still make great music without reading music notation ? The answer is : absolutely yes ! All music is based on certain “feel”, and that’s something that can’t be notated on paper or on the screen. On the other hand : ability to read written sheet music notation opens up a completely new world to your imagination; it enriches you as an artist in many different ways. It speeds up the process of creation, it gives you immediate hints to new forms of putting notes together, creating new sonic landscapes that otherwise wouldn’t have been possible. I would strongly recommend learning music notation, even if it is a pretty mundane process and a lot of people just give up because it doesn’t produce immediate results- it may take time to acquire it, not to mention mastering it…
But once you do - the reward is immediate : all of the sudden the masterpieces of music become available to you and you can fully understand them and digest every single detail 😊 So, either find a course online or get a professional music teacher in your vicinity and devote your time and energy to study it. Even after several lessons and few months of practice things like Slonimsky’s theory book will become available for you. It’s NOT that hard… And one more, perhaps the most important thing : after you compose some music on your own : strive to notate it 😅 Even if it is hard at the beginning, it will produce immediate results ! Because you will be notating… yourself ! Your own music. I discovered that all my students learned and mastered music notation that way. Because all of a sudden it becomes personal to you. You understand your own music the best, better than anyone else. And after you notate your own creation suddenly this knowledge applies to everything else…
as a working composer and conductor that tries to learn every single day - THANK you for making this channel!!! You rock.
Greetings from Bulgaria :D
I still remember vividly the first time I heard John Adams... when "The Chairman Dances" played over the opening credits for the film "I Am Love". He's been one of my favorite composers ever since. Thanks as always for the great video!
I always thought that I didn't know shit about music and this video confirms it.
Yay! I love John Adams! I got to see him in person conduct the Seattle Symphony. The program included his violin concerto Scheherazade 2.0, with Leila Josefowicz as the soloist. Fantastic performance. I can't wait for the episode on Harmonielerhe, which is definitely my favorite Adams piece.
Amazing video !!! 7:20 overlayed hands was epic :))
planning to write a whole piece for that format some time!
@@DBruce get Nahre to record it! That'd be so damn wholesome I'd burst.
@@DBruce What is that video editing technique called?
Anyone else fell in love with John Adams thanks to the Civ 4 soundtrack? I had the destiny to have it play over my ears constantly when i was 13-14 years old. First, i understood nothing, then, it was like a revelation! I think this experience has been the best harmonic training i could have ever asked for!
Those John Adams pieces are amazing...
There are 2 kind of people in this world.
1) Those who extrapolate from incomplete data.
...abnod tuhiopste wxhio ijnotuefrspqoplmabtue. :)
2) and Flat Earthers :)
@@thromboid Just what I was going to say.
I had a hard time coming to grips with minimalism when I first encountered it having been ensconced in the world of Mahler, Strauss, and Wagner. However, I got the chance to play Adams' Gran Pianola Music in my college wind ensemble was it was one of the few works I've ever played that embodied pure joy throughout the piece and showed me what those techniques could do.
Bret Newton - Composer
Grand Pianola isn’t really minimalist in any meaningful way though. I love the piece, but it really doesn’t subject itself to many of the characteristics found in minimalist music.
I dig John Adams' music. I saw the Detroit Symphony perform his Naive And Sentimental Music several years ago. Pattern manipulations in music has a long tradition in lots of cultures, and I find the various practices to be pretty fun. A historic example that comes easily to my mind is Bach's famous prelude from his first Cello Suite, where the pattern being manipulated is the particular form of the arpeggio.
Read Slonimsky's autobiography, Perfect Pitch. A perfect accompaniment to his wonderful Thesaurus.
I think naive and sentimental music is one of John Adams finest achievement and especially the first movement which build in 3 waves just to come back to the beginning again. He know how to build music in the most exhilarating. The climax of the movement always give me goosebumps and breathless, sheer genius. A very underrated piece.
Gah, and that chord from Harmonielehre has always been one of my favorite moments in the whole thing.
I did my thesis on John Adams’ Doctor Atomic (Opera and symphony), personally i find the work is quite a departure from his earlier works, and is less static. Adams’ breadth of emotion is staggering, as is his ability to adapt and absorb styles, and is quite apparent in this piece. truly a master!
I once watched a performance of Adams' "Absolute Jest" here in Brazil and I was pretty blown away. It's like Beethoven, Stravinsky and Holst were blended together.
YES! "Like some sea creature trying to break free!" I think we've all waited for a composer to express that universally perceived phenomena!!!!!!
I actually had to analyze Phrygian Gates for a final project during my college years. The piece is essentially made up of different tonal areas first played in Lydian, then in Phrygian. This contrast is highlighted by the fact that between the two modes, only the root and fifth stay the same (i.e. A Lydian and A Phrygian both contain the notes A and E, but all others are different). Additionally, each tonal area moves up by a perfect fifth, outlining a circle of fifths progression: A, E, B, F-sharp, C-sharp/D-flat, G-sharp/A-flat, and finally E-flat/D-sharp. What ties it all together is that this progression outlines all of notes found in the first tonality of the piece: A Lydian.
man your videos are great keep it up Bruce
Thank you very much for your videos, David!
Yeeees ! I love Adam's and his music- thanks for these next videos!
Excellent video.Thank you for upload.
I saw the NY premiere of 'Gospel According to the Other Mary'. It was one of the most powerful artistic experiences I've ever had in the concert hall. Thank you for taking the time to break down John Adams's music!
Love your channel. Thanks a million for your inspiration and information.
Another fantastic video!
What a great video! John Adams is one of my favorite composers of the 20th- and 21st-century classical music!
David, this was so interesting. I've been a huge fan of John Adams and am always seeking to understand more. lately my ear has been drawn to Stravinsky... I'm a Jazz Musician and now (from your other video) understand why it might have caught my ear. To see a 'link' between Adams, Stravinsky and .. the Slonimsky book that EVERY jazz student has is a real eye opener. What a brilliant video. Thanks.
This wars really informative for me. Awesome work putting together this video, it was a real joy to watch! I can’t wait to see more of them if you continue! Thank you 🙏
This video has given me a whole bunch of ideas for a piece that I have been stuck on for awhile now. Thanks!
Thank you for including your research references in the video descriptions. This is a very engaging subject that I look forward to learning more about in the future.
Great video! Thanks again for these kind of analysis. They are great for expanding the mental repertoire of compositional techniques. I appreciate how you bridge jazz with classical music and how they've been influencing each other, kind of tearing down the walls that some people may have built between the two genres as if they were opposing forces. I also really enjoy those small anecdotes in the video. Cheers!
I think the first Adams piece I heard was The Chairman dances.Wonderful piece and a joy to hear.
Amazing video David! I'm truly thanked, now I've like 4 books to check :D
John Adams has some very cool harmonies. These types of videos are great. Keep up the good work.
I just stumbled upon something amazing!!! Thank you. Pitched perfectly for my time and tide.
As a composer who happens to be a great John Adams fan, I must say how grateful I am for this extremely helpful analysis. I look forward to learning more from your other videos. Many thanks.
Adam's violin concerto was a piece that hit me like a ton of bricks. I don't know enough about theory to explain why, but I think it's a good example of the progressions you were referring to. To me it sounds more like a heavy metal violin concerto.
I found this video incredibly inspiring and instantly went away to compose something. THANK YOU!!!
Literally just ordered this book. It's one I had forgotten about for a long time and I'm really grateful I stumbled upon this video. Thanks for mentioning it!! 🙏
Great Video. Brilliant, inspiring. Cheers.
Amazing video!
Thank you David! This is very insightul. Im a painter , but i used to study the piano and sang in choirs early in life, so some of the terms i definitely recognize. I love minimalist composers, so to find out more about Adams' way of composing definitely helps me to understand his process more.
Thank you David. A beautifully explained clip.
It's always fascinating to see how classical musicians and jazz musicians feedback each other through harmony and build new music. Thanks for the video!
Just discovered Adams. Stunned I hadn't earlier. Your videos have been most enlightening. Thank you.
Thank you very much for introducing Slonimsky and the components of Adams' style.
love your channel man
Thanks for the excellent video.
Thanks this is bloody amazing information
Recently I am exploring about minimalism and this video helps me a lot!😁 And yes I enjoy their music a lot!😀
Finally! A not bedroom metal guitarist and an actual musician explaining this. Thank you 🙏🙏
great video!!!
Again - amazing.
Now I'm listening to Harmonielehre while reading that Quincy Jones interview, and loving them both. Thank you!
Slonimsky totally rocked my brain the first time I glanced through it. The whole idea of a basic group of notes then adding more in different ways was extremely new to me. Very different than how I thought about scales and chords beforehand. And I love it. Glad to see it mentioned.
Patterns sometimes get a bit much for me. Not my cup of tea. I still listen, seeking tips and tricks and novelty, gems of technique I can steal. But what moves me deep inside usually leans towards more traditional tonal / voice leading stuff more often than not.
Outstanding content, as always.
Your best video yet!
Such brilliant insights !
Great video, the Slonimsky explanations were fun - great inspiration to get the horn out and do some practicing. I've always wanted to see a break down of how the rhythms work in short ride in a fast machine.
Thank you, Dave. Again, you opened a brand new musical cosmos for me. I appreciate that.....
I was introduced to John Adams through The Death of Klinghoffer, this video is making me want to go deeper.
Wonderful stuff.
I'm shamefully ignorant of Adams's music. This is as good a time as any to change that ... OK, I just listened to Harmonielehre. I'm blown away. What a masterpiece! How have I never heard of this piece before? I've even read Schoenberg's book of the same name. Thank you, David, for nudging me.
This was lovely, thanks for shedding your light on Adams' musical language! I found Adams' music in the computer game civilization 4, where his music plays in the background during the "modern era". I think the atmosphere in his music is so raw and full of gravity. I love harmonilehre, and also grand pianola music, chairman dances, and short ride in a fast machine to mention a few. I was a bit turned off both his earlier and later works, but scheherezade 2 really hit me, I guess it has the atmosphere, and it also sounds exciting with some unusual instruments. Again, thanks for this 🙂.
Btw, his inspiration for harmonilehre is really strange and fun, hope you bring it up in the LSO video ☺️.
Most enjoyable and educational. Love how one can experiment with these ideas in a DAW these days to listen if the idea is any good, versus back in the 1970’s when all you had was a piano and hoped the musicians could play your at times wacky ideas.
fascinating !
Thank you
Thank you so much
Amazing, thank you
Brilliant.
I love most of John Adams' new music. Big fan of the Dharma at Big Sur, Gnarly Buttons and Century Rolls, but I bounced off all three pieces initially. Sometimes it takes a few listens for it to "click".
OutStanding!!!!!!!!!!👏👍👏👍👏
Great compositionsl tool for creating sonic landscapes, especially for ceratin scenes in films (travel, moving from place to place, visiting interiors of certain, sometimes scary looking buldings, and structures etc.). Great idea for all sorts of backgrounds - minimalistic approach to scoring cues...
Hi David! I really liked when you talked about the continuous sensation of (non)stasis (around 3:50)!
It really feels like having both macro and micro universes all-in-one.
And what about that entry of the basses on the 3rd movement (meister eckhardt and quackie)... pure poetry!
Being a composer, your videos and always interesting!
Thank you very much!
I felt inspired when you showed the Reich technique. I always felt drawn into his work. Somewhat hypnotic?!
I've heard of so many composers/performers who used that Slominsky book. I think it's time I get a copy of my own!
thank you very much I will try this in electronic music
That’s quite the revelation regarding Giant Steps! Wow!
What a helpful (too brief) tutorial, thank you !
When I think about venturing myself into composition, I remember all elements shown in theses videos and give up immediately.
I love your channel
Brilliant more like that
Adams along with Reich and Glass are indelibly printed on my mind's ear. I've always been kind of contemplative and it's very easy for me to enter their universes. The miniscule adjustments Adams in particular creates is beyond words. That he has iconic music in so many genres only makes him a larger figure.
thank you for taking time with him.
Every composition teacher: don't make parallel fifths.
Philip Glass: OK.
Ravel: OK.
@@nihilumaeternum6555 lmao
Beethoven made parralell fifths in Beethoven's Piano Concerto no. 3, op. 37, mvt. 1, mm. 32-34.
Thanks for posting this. Adams has been interested in Slonimsky for quite some time, from what I know.
I do think that Quincy Jones may have been exaggerating when he claimed that "Giant Steps" is literally found in the Thesaurus. The major third relations, sure, but he could have gotten that from many sources. I think Coltrane himself said it was from Ravel.
around 8:20 I can smell some Mahler. My childhood-livingroom was filled with these kind of sounds. Thank you so much for making this vid. As far as the chromatic pattern poll, for me, I love it cause it takes me away. Out the headphone on and focus on instrument-sections. On the down-side, this is not the music you play while cooking or driving.
Hi David, thanks for all your interesting deepening! My preferred John Adams's piece is "Common tones in simple time". Maybe that's a topic for one of your future videos. Thanks
Just bought the thesaurus of scales book. It really got me started with some fascinating ideas
Thank you for the good content. It feels nice to have the impression that, although you are a composer and your viewers aren't necessarily, we are both learning.
Always interesting...
Excellent analysis, thanks so much! Slonimsky's Thesaurus was a revelation to me when I first came across it while studying music at university. I should say, though, that I didn't come across it at school, but while studying jazz on my own. Adams is a very fine composer, but I must say that I much prefer his later works over the earlier, more minimalist material, which didn't much move me when I first heard it. Much like the music of Phillip Glass, which I find quite tedious.
Excellent video. I love Adams music and it’s great to see background to it. Thanks for sharing. You didn’t mention Eros piano which I remember reading was influenced by Takemitsu’s riverrun and I’m curious how that fits in since Takemitsu arguably had different influences?
Thanks for introducing me to Phrygian Gates.
9:13 Possible way he influenced video game composers too, this descending line is almost exactly like a a theme present in the "Bell Gargoyle Theme" in the game Dark Souls, compose by Motoi Sakuraba.
DS soundtrack is very orchestral but mostly very tonal and functional, it will occasionally throw atonal and chromatic lines at times of tension to spice things up and I don't doubt he probably read that book at a point in his life.
(seen in this arrangement in Bar 16:
czcams.com/video/I2IbyAC2aKM/video.html )
Good stuff.
Minor chord with 13 is very first chord from Blue in Green (song from Miles Davis ‘Kind of Blue’ album).
Nice video! How about doing some on Gunther Schuller and third stream, or George Russell and The Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization? It's interesting to note that Slonimsky even had influence on Zappa's melodies. They were friends in real life, and Slonimsky even named his cat, "Grody to the max".
Really cool, I have a feeling that those series are very promissing. I hope you can make something about Gil Evans someday, I talk about his arrangements with Miles Davis specifically, someday maybe, It doesn't hurt to dream
You asked our thoughts on later Adams music, I personally love Son of Chamber Symphony
Interesting! Strangely, I recently invented a similar techniques of extending and transformin simple patterns myself I should definitely look more into this!