Audiences everywhere are clapping on the One. They’ll clap on every beat, regardless of a downbeat feel. This practice must be stopped. A hand-clap is a snare drum, and snare drums belong on the Two and Four. The need for clapping on the One is born out of fear and distrust of Rests—those unplayed spaces […]
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Olly Olly Oxen Free!!!!!!!!
Click the score. This melody from Hide ‘n’ Go Seek is a Minor Third interval. There are three musical steps between the notes C (Olly Olly Ox) and the A (-en Free). It is the third smallest interval, behind the semitone and the wholetone. Nobody knows what the phrase originates from, but the melody is […]
Westminster Quarters
The clock tower song “Westminster Quarters” was composed by William Crotch in 1793. The last C that strikes the hour sounds more like a C minor, because of the audible Eb overtone. This type of modulation, from a Major key to the same key in Minor, is known as a Reverse Picardy. The “Westminster Quarters” […]
Melodic Development at the Playground (y’know?!)
In my previous post, I conceived of “Relay” and “Challenge” as Minor Thirds, but now that I think about it, and really try to recall the pitches of twenty years past, I believe they were actually Whole Tones. Like this: The Minor Third sounds like this: Out there on the playground, melodies have a little […]
Suicide Songs
Here’s a few more Playground melodies from the handball game “Suicide”, or “Butts Up”. When a ball lands out of bounds, the player who fetches it can sing a “Relay” to beseech her fellow players to cut off her throw to the wall. A “Challenge” is sung by the other players to deny her “Relay” […]
Playground Melodies
English is atonal. Adults are monotonal. But the kids are all singsong This here mocking melody has many variations—neeners, nahs, and ners. It is sung to the tune of Ring around the Rosie. The dominant interval is a Minor Third, between the G (poo) and the E (poo). The following 2 note melody is delivered […]
Close Encounters of the Major Third Kind
“Up a Whole Tone, down a Major Third, down an Octave, up a Perfect Fifth.” In “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”, grey aliens play these 5 Tones on their mothership’s synthesizer. Hollywood composer John Williams wrote the lick, and fashioned it after the 5 letter word “Hello”. Two of the tones are the same, […]
