How to transform a theme (scalar mapping demonstration)
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- čas přidán 18. 06. 2024
- A demonstration of how to transform a musical theme, using scalar mapping, along with reharmonization and orchestration.
This is part of a series on transforming and developing musical ideas.
The changing character of this theme has a lot to do with changes to orchestration and harmony in addition to the melodic transformation that takes place moving between scales. However, just playing all the examples on the same instrument isn't nearly as much fun...
Amazing Grace uses the tune "New Britain." Because the melody only uses notes of a pentatonic scale, it could have been measured in terms of an underlying pentatonic scale. However, for this video, I will only be mapping it based on an underlying major scale.
I also put these exercises together into larger set of variations for solo organ. Sheet music is available in the Patreon shop / galendegraf
Update: by request in the comments, the examples from this video are now available to stream individually through Soundcloud here: / al63bz99qu7xwapua
SUPPORT AND GET EXTRA CONTENT
Get more content such as scores, tutorials, worksheets, Dorico files, and expanded video access / galendegraf
SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE USED
Graphic design/animation: Adobe Photoshop, Final Cut Pro
Music notation: Dorico
Audio examples: Cubase with Native Instruments Noire and Orchestral Tools Berlin Series
Microphone: Shure MV7 amzn.to/3WoVPlm
CHAPTERS
0:00 Intro
1:22 Major
2:04 Minor
2:57 Octatonic
3:48 Chromatic
4:38 Pentatonic
Disclaimer: some links found in the description of videos may be affiliate links, meaning I will make a commission on sales you make through my link at no cost to you.
#musictheory #composer #scales - Hudba
Galen, is amazing grace not already a pentatonic melody?
Great question, and very worth clarifying! "Amazing Grace" uses only notes of a pentatonic scale, and--since the pentatonic scale is a subset of a major scale--the melody can hence be measured at the outset either in terms of a pentatonic scale or in terms of a major scale. Each starting point will produce different musical results when transferring those relationships onto another scale. (As an example the opening interval C-F would be +3 scale steps in major, but only +2 scale steps in pentatonic.) I've chosen to think in terms of major since I found those results more compelling, and also a lot easier to follow in quick a demonstration. However, you absolutely can start by saying it's pentatonic instead of major as I've done in this video.
@@GalenDeGraf Thank you for the clarification.
This question highlights that this is not as much a compositional technique and more a series of aesthetic choices.
There seem to be two fundamental questions within the comments section of this video:
1) "How does the technique work to map from one scale to another?"
2) "Why do these variations sound different?"
There are several comment threads that are about aesthetic choices, which I‘ve enjoyed reading through. Even though the first question in this thread was more about how the technique works, I can follow up on your comment as well (which is more about why they sound different). In the video, I demonstrate how a technique might inspire and interact with other musical choices. Mapping onto another scale was the starting point, but there‘s a lot going on in addition: orchestration, reharmonization, ornamentation, and metric adjustments. When all these combine, that’s when things get really interesting, but scalar mapping also takes on a lesser role in why these transformations all sound so different.
And sidenote just to be clear for anyone reading this thread: if people here don‘t understand how I got from a melody that was already pentatonic to a different melody that was also pentatonic, I don‘t blame you at all, because this was only a *demonstration*, not an *explanation*. I will put out a longer explanation video to youTube later. If you can’t wait for that one, the Patreon site already has a different 15-minute video of exercises with more info than you get in this one.
@@GalenDeGraf Ah, when I said choices, I wasn't referring to orchestration, harmonisation, metre or anything; I was referring to the scalar mapping itself. What you're dancing around in this video is the idea of cyphers: taking some input notes, transforming them using some form of algorithm, and producing some output notes.
You choose the algorithm. But not only that, you also chose how to interpret the input notes. You interpreted the original melody as degrees of the major scale, but as was pointed out, an equally valid interpretation is as degrees of the pentatonic scale. Or the chromatic scale is equally valid. You could interpret it in the octatonic scale and omit notes that don't map. You could interpret each pair of notes as one input. Or each note as a pitch-duration coordinate. Or hell, just take an enigma machine and type the letter names of your note input! There are so many ways of interpreting the input; that's what I meant when I said this is more about aesthetic choices than following an algorithmic scalar mapping.
Now, when we're introducing the idea of melodic transformation, it can be useful to assign terms to basic transformations, e.g., transposition, inversion, augmentation, retrograde... But once you get beyond those basic transformations, it becomes less important to teach specific transformations than the idea of transformation itself.
"i used to make more music theory puns, but i'm trying to scale back." 😅
Oh my god thats crazy 😂😂😂😂
Lol
Should have done scale Bach smh
🤣🤣🤣🤣
You don’t even skip a beat. It’s a minor flaw in your personality. I don’t c major change coming though.
octatonic was way more mysterious than necessary, perfect
so this is how a movie score composer makes a movie music theme for different scenes. thanks for sharing.
Definitely! My next longform video will include how John Powell uses this technique in his score to How to Train Your Dragon.
The minor version is really surprising. I thought exclusively using major chords to harmonize would overshadow the minor/sad sound, but somehow it shines through.
I find a lot of the character on that one comes from the orchestration too. If the chords were in the brass section, it would sound far more triumphant. And that‘s what happens in Howard Shore‘s "fellowship" leitmotif in his score to Lord of the Rings (minor melody, harmonized all major triads, but usually orchestrated with more brass for the chords). Using strings as I did softens the character a lot.
The music really swells, its bitter sweet
I think the major chords function more as rootless minor chords in that context. The first few bars establish a minor/Lydian sound.
Depending on which chords are used as harmonies, that mapping/harmonization combination often ends up leaning lydian to varying degrees. I touch on this some in the longer video of exercises.
it doesn't. it's literally just Db major. more specifically, Db Lydian. that's probably why you're so confused.
I LOVE the octatonic one
Check out this subtle octatonic mapping from Middle Earth! czcams.com/video/j0SpAYg-ZiY/video.htmlsi=fjcCYvgham0kHJ-9&t=1005
Reminds me of Severance theme ;D
I love the pedal tone composition for the octatonic melody! That's such a good way to make such a unique harmonic pallet all stay grounded and well... not bad.
Agreed! Credit to Theodore Shapiro on the pedal tone idea there!
Each version is different from the others, interesting, and musically convincing.
The minor over major and the pentatonic were gorgeous
So this is great. I've been a bassist for decades, using it to write simple pop songs using a lot of tapping....About 5 days ago I started to really try to learn piano and I can attribute my enthusiasm to do so through wanting to play the theme to Severence. Now although on a bass I'm very good at playing left and right hand somewhat independently (although there is a lot of call.response) keyboard is completely different and a real buzz to accomplish. Day 1 left hand, 2 I got the firsy little M7m7 melody thing, day3 trying that decending but on day 4 it was better and today I got it...but man it's really weird learning stuff like that at my age (51).
This explaination of themes really is great for trying out different styles of improvisation I'm sure and helps to define a lot of advanced theory composors obviously use...I'm sure I heard some Marvel cinamatic themes in there!!!
Thanks very educational stuff!
Warning: Octatonic version and chromatic version should be listened to only in daytime. Furthermore, you have to look out for psychopathic killers and evil demons while you listen to those versions. Clearly something very evil is about to happen....
😂😂😂😂
😂😂😂👌🏽
I agree
Pentatonic one made my morning glorious. I mean it - this is really cool
I’d never heard of the octatonic scale before but I love that version!!
i love how much joy this brings you and me
This is so useful! I'll need to check out those exercises soon here.
Can't believe I only just discovered your channel, amazing work !
youTube said I should make a channel trailer, so here it is! It's also a trailer for two longform theory videos on moving a theme between different scales. The second of those videos is a set of exercises demonstrated in this video and you can already access it through Patreon. There are also exercises in that video that weren't in this video, like my Debussy style whole tone mapping and a Harry Potter style chromatic mapping.
Minor version reminds me of Ennio Morricone’s film scores!❤
Awesome vid! I'm learning more about writing, and transformation and variation is my personal obsession.
That was very interesting. In my own music I have mapped a pentatonic melody from one pentatonic scale onto another pentatonic scale (for example: A-C-D-E-G to A-B-C-E-G or A-Bb-D-Eb-G) and from one 7-tone scale to another like major to minor to dorian, etc. I like the effect these changes have; it's recognizable yet also intriguingly different. But I haven't done the kind of mapping you presented here from a major to an octatonic. Even more intriguing. Thanks.
Pentatonic actually gave me an eargasm
Definitely a feeling of release by having the most consonant one right after the most dissonant!
limiting pitches is one of the most power tool.
Thank you very much Galen!
I get a Chrono Trigger feel from these different versions. Love it!
The octatonic is just on another level, each of these prints out different moods and they are all very interesting at least I have learnt something new today
Major - The churchlike experience
Minor - The most sad and depressing thing I ever heard
Octatonic - The sci-fi version
Chromatic - Sounds like something demented
Pentatonic - Incredibly relaxing
The minor version was more like superhero / fantasy game or movie, not that sad.
I did not trust the octatonic
Octotonic does sound like an arcade video game
But the chromatic sounds like something the Phantom would write
If that's the saddeset, you're in for a treat buddy
major can sound very sad too
I enjoyed the Octatonic and Pentatonic. Minor over major chords was interesting as well
THIS IS INCREDIBLE.
Amazing job dude
god i love this so much. i wish this was taught more in schools.
Really interesting and “ear opening” … very enjoyable, thank you!
pentatonic scale is actually crazy
One of the best discoveries I've had this year: you
+1 sub
L-o-v-e-l-y work! The Chromatic is lovely scaring, haha... And the Octatonic with the pedal... No words, it reminds me some Gurdjieff compositions... the color...
Pentatonic sounds gorgeous
The minor one sounded like something straight out of LOTR soundtrack
Very interesting video. I'm sure people will find it useful. :)
That Octotonic was sick!
I’d listen to this pentatonic for 10h straight up
Glad you liked it! I’ve got all these up on Soundcloud now if you want it as a single track.
on.soundcloud.com/6mCC1zc1zexXTqhz9
Intersting idea. Thanks.
So brilliant !
really interesting... I will try it
How to flip a sample tutorial without getting caught,Part 1. 😁 Dude, great job!
I prefer minor. Has a nice touch to it
Muitíssimo bom, incrível... Ganhou mais um inscrito!
Thank you ❤
Nice video Galen! Incidentally I've just been rereading Lerdahl's Tonal Pitch Space, this seems quite closely related.
I was thinking a lot about Dmitri Tymoczko‘s "A Geometry of Music" as I did this. It‘s been at least a decade since I read Lerdahl’s "Tonal Pitch Space“ though. Thanks for the rec to revisit it!
in the chromatic version i hear a bit of the horn part from Rhapsody in Blue's love theme (3 descending notes where the accent changes each time around)
Aw thanks you so much
amazing grace sounding like starwars in octonic and minor👍🏻😎
Octatonic my beloved
I must say that minor amazing grace sounds just like a starbound soundtrack.
Minor sounds straight outa middle earth 💗❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥
75K views in 2 weeks for a channel with 5K subs is wild
Can you make each of these a seperate video? I'd like to just listen to possibly the minor and pentatonic versions because they sound so nice.
So glad to hear you like the music! I've just put up the music in this video (plus the inverted Amazing Grace from another video) into a Soundcloud playlist you can access here: on.soundcloud.com/AL63bZ99qu7xwAPUA
@@GalenDeGraf Thank you so much! Can't wait to listen to it!
La pentatonica è veramente affascinante.
For me Music Theory is like Rocket Science. They're nice, okay, for me y'all are geniuses that are able to understand a bit of what's happening.
😅
Hey! Loved the video. I wanted to ask you how you chose the notes you were gonna use in the chromatic scale. Like what was your criteria to change the notes?
Thanks
This is only a trailer, and I‘ll put out an explanation video later. The quick answer is that you define the intervals of a melody according to scale steps of an underlying scale, and then transfer those intervals onto some other scale. I’ve treated Amazing Grace with a major underlying scale (though you could do it as pentatonic instead). In major, the melody starts with +3, then +2 scale steps for the first two intervals. So for a chromatic scale it begins with +3, then +2 SEMITONES since those are the steps of a chromatic scale. (And then continue for the rest of the intervals.) Check back on my channel later for the longer video with more info and examples!
Can anyone explain why the minor over major worked. Did he use the conplemenary minor scale of the major chords or some other wizardry?
I generally love the octatonic vibes
너무 좋은 인터넷 선생님의 수업. 그래픽이 너무 멋져요. 어떤 프로그램을 사용하시는지 궁금해요!
Glad you enjoyed it! The programs I used can be found in the description.
Great video pal. By any chance going forward could you apply the names of the left hand chords aswell as the notation and sheet music. I'm self thought and I find that helpful.
Thanks. I'll keep that in mind for the future. I was mostly focused on the melodies for this video, but I'm glad to hear people are digging into the harmonies in there as well!
Would the choice of scales to map to be more of an emotional choice than an aesthetic one?
Scary Chormatic
So basically
Major = happy
Minor = sad
Octatonic = mystery thriller
Chromatic = scary
Pentatonic = hopefull
Why are there flats on the scale?
how do you map amazing grace onto a pentatonic scale when the melody of amazing grace is pentatonic in the first place?
See the pinned comment!
In Rings of Power, there's a way to think about Bear McCreary's "Sauron" theme as an octatonic mapping of "Halbrand" which is then played backwards. There are other ways to analyze it (see Bear's blog), but I analyze and animate it that way over here if any of you are interested: czcams.com/video/j0SpAYg-ZiY/video.htmlsi=fjcCYvgham0kHJ-9&t=1005
And another Middle Earth sidenote: the idea of having a minor melody harmonized with only major chords was inspired by Howard Shore's iconic "fellowship" leitmotif.
you mean rings of propaganda? xd
Rings of Power oh no 💀
I have issues with the writing in Rings of Power, but the music is top notch!
@@GalenDeGraf it better be for that budget haha, but seriously poor fucking Tolkien must be rolling in his grave.
The chromatic was surprisingly cringy! It sounded good for a horror type scene.
Thanks for the demo
I naively expected something more trite from the pentatonic version. It was interesting - beyond my understanding what and how.
I first sketched the pentatonic variation at the piano, more or less with the notes you see on screen in the video, and it DID feel boring that way. The harmonies were nice and lush with sevenths and ninths, but there wasn't much feeling of going somewhere. So I compensated by making the growth happen in the orchestration. I put together an ensemble that combines all the instruments from the previous variations. Midway through, the strings swell, and I split the horn into a duet. If you found it interesting, maybe that could be part of why?
The minor sounds like the theme from star wars with the triplet from b6👀
Were the tempos all the same, it seemed like the Minor one was longer, strung out, and the Octatonic one was quick. If they were not the same did you find each worked best in a specific BPM zone.
There were changes to tempo, and also to the rhythm and meter of the melody. When making these sorts of changes, a good rule of thumb is to make sure notes on strong beats stay on strong beats, but all the tempo and rhythm choices I made were based on the stylistic aesthetic I wanted to achieve and not directly related to the scale itself.
I was expecting the chromatic version to be scarier. Guess that’s what I get for listening to extreme sub-genres of metal for years lol
There is minor tonality, there is major tonality, then is there also octatonic, pentatonic, etc?
They exist asa tonallity?
There’s a lot going on in this, from the notes I chose in the melody (which was always strictly within one distinct scale for each example), the types of harmonies used, and the instrumental colors. I like to think about these as different flavors within tonality. The pentatonic example used almost only notes of the pentatonic scale, but I did use an occasional note outside that scale in the harmony for variety. The octatonic example was 100% octatonic scale throughout, but even so had a very specific flavor, because of the types of harmony I chose (consonant triads over pedal tone, rather the many diminished triads available for that pitch collection). Glad you enjoyed it!
@@GalenDeGraf Oh! Thank you!🙂
The octatonic one is very impressive. The pentationic melody makes no sense, because the original is already pentatonic.
See the pinned comment if you want info about the pentatonic mapping.
Ben Johnston also did it!
why does the minor one sound like a fantasy film like LOTR??
Howard Shore‘s "fellowship" theme in Lord of the Rings is a minor melody with all major harmonies. In that regard, they’re similar.
2:57 severance 🤔?
The Major key sounds like what you would hear in a church. What's the music?
The minor over major makes it sound like there are 2 melodies
The string section had some independence.
Wow why did the minor version sound like a Star Wars piece? Same key possibly, I could look this up but I am far to lazy to do that then type my response. Walks like a duck quacks like a duck.
Melody on French horn and opening interval, perhaps?
Never realize that the chromatic scale sounds so tragic 😥.
My guy, Amazing Grace is already pentatonic!
Yes! See the pinned comment.
🙂
You didn't changed only the scale. You also changed the time signatures.
As well as the harmony and orchestration!
my brain broke 😅
Not sure if I like the Chromatic one, lmao.
So, Db Major is minor in fact (ok, I get what you mean)
"Minor" here refers only to the operation applied to the melody, not the key of the example!
в миноре это просто другая мелодия. Октатоник вызывает асоциации с Эриком Сати, но ничего общего с изначальной темой.
Não sei se gostei
Minor sounds dorian.
2:04 man, I love the minor key of Db Major 😭😭😭😭😭😭🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
bro just give up you're incompetent, and to think you're trying to twist this as educational.
I do not claim that that is in a minor KEY. This is a demonstration of scalar mapping, in which a MELODY is mapped from one underlying scale onto another in order to create a transformation of a melody which sounds related to an original. The key depends on the harmonies chosen, so when I say minor mapping, I am referring to the new scale used for the melody, not the new key. Hope this clarifies, but if not, there will be a longer explanation video with more detail.
@@GalenDeGraf wtf does that even mean, either it's minor or it's not. call it major mapping then, because you're using the scale and key of Db major
@@Whatismusic123Db major would have a Gb in the melody, so my example isn‘t that. But you could call the minor example a mapping to Db lydian if you prefer, in which the first note begins on scale degree ^7 instead of ^5, and you’d arrive at the same notes in the melody. Keep in mind, this was just a demonstration video, not the explanation, and the longer explanation videos cover this material in more detail. The video on exercises for how to practice scalar mapping covers exactly this minor vs. lydian question with which you take issue. Take note that the scales I mention in the video refer to the type of compositional operation applied to the original melody, and not to an analysis of the final product.
I meant Db lydian but youtube wouldn't let me see my reply so I couldn't edit it. @@GalenDeGraf
why can't you just map the melody to a different part of a key? you can just say that this is mapped to the third of Db lydian rather than say it's mapped to F minor, I think it would be more intuitive and would expand the horizons for what is possible in scalar mapping.
What
Left out the Obamatonic scale and the circle of Bidenese Bullshit, but other than that.... 😂🎉❤
"minor part" is actually in FULL lidyan mode, to be correct. The function and feeling of each note in the melody changes based on what harmony you are using. F in the "minor" part of the video, is not the root, it's not your "1" just cos you write a number under it. that's why the sense of phrasing is much worse than the "major" section of the video and it doesn't sound good. there is no use of C7 and that's what undermines the concept of minor. i dont hear any of those a-flats sounding as minor 3rd. it's not minor, it's lidyan mode (basically a major scale with #4th) with d-flat as root. Here's a good guy explaining what i am saying, better than me czcams.com/video/OMWszWYX2OQ/video.htmlsi=LK2i8klwGUsd1r_7&t=577
I have a longform explanation video coming, but I think you may have misunderstood what I'm doing in this video. This video is not about what key the examples are in. At no point do I claim that the minor example is in a minor KEY, just as I don't later claim there's an octatonic key, a chromatic key, etc. What I'm demonstrating is a compositional technique for changing a MELODY. Once I mapped the original MELODY from an F major scale to an F minor scale, I specifically wanted to add harmonies that are not the cliche chords associated with the key of F minor. By using only major chords in that example, it definitely has a lot of lydian flavor (although those with those Gb chords I'm not sure I'd go so far as to call it "full lydian"). I discuss this specific issue about minor vs. lydian key areas in the video on how to practice transforming themes.
This technique is all about finding inspiration once a melody is mapped onto a new scale. Hopefully this helps clarify things for you!
Thanks for your response, it's very intresting for me. Maybe i should watch your other videos too.
What i was trying to say is that you transormed the melody in lydian, not minor.
Using a tonal or modal scale means you are also in that key. That's why the first note of every scale is called root/fundamental, whether you are claiming it or not. So the piece is F minor, or Db lydian (the second makes more sense). A melody of course sounds good or not depending on harmony and voice leading. Using that "unprepared" Gbmaj7 is like breaking the whole atmosphere introducing a chord that sounds alien to the piece (because its root is not part of the scale you are using). The Gflat-maj7 eventually is not resolved nor developed in any way and jumps forward to A-flat like nothing has ever happened. There is no way to avoid doing voicing mistakes in that passage. The melody also is forced to not sound at its best in that passage, as the F (which is the maj7 in the chord) should go down and resolve on Eb. In the major version there are no such issues as you had Bb major under those notes, and so there was no risk of mistakes.
I’ve said this in other comment threads, but there are multiple ways to arrive at the same melody with the technique I’m demonstrating. I didn’t want to get bogged down in nuances of analysis here, but the scale degrees correspond to the way the melody was transformed, not the way you’re supposed to hear it. You don’t have to like that variation, but I would caution you not to apply the rules of 18th century Austro-German voice leading as musical universals. I do know how to write that sort of strict independent four-part harmony (I’ve taught it many times in college courses), but there are many contexts you may not need to do so.
If you do like all that Classical voice leading stuff, I’ve got you covered here!
czcams.com/video/7P4gO6_Qa7A/video.htmlsi=tilV9QBSsRlSY466
I’m too drunk for the words. Just play noise
Dude if you're transposing to a minor tone, at least keep harmony consistent in the minor tone that it's suposed to be. The way you did it it was just mayor changing completely the sense of the melody, but it defeats the purpose.
Octatonic was delightful although it could of used more movement.
Chromatic just lacks sense.
Pentatonic, why change the first interval? It's within the pentatonic scales to use and it's the most iconic part of the melody, again, defeating the purpose.
There were no transpositions in this video, and in mapping to minor the goal was to create a transformation, not to make it "sound minor.“ It seems like you don‘t quite understand everything happening here, so stay tuned for the longform explanation video. This was only a demonstration not an explanation.
@@GalenDeGraf what were you trying to do then? It is clear you meant to compose it in F minor, but you just wrote it in Db major, that's not minor in the slightest.
@@Whatismusic123 I was not trying to recompose it in F minor. This video is about creatively transforming a theme. So once I mapped the MELODY from F major to F minor, I wanted to avoid the (rather cliche) sound of simply moving everything to the parallel minor. Using all major chords adds a lot of Db lydian flavor to it in the example here, but when I say the example is minor, I‘m referring to the target scale of the mapped melody, NOT the final key of the example.
modern art composer try not to be incompetent challenge(impossible)
MInor scale sound very melancholic 😢