This was super interesting and inspiring! It's hard to think sometimes about modular and music theory at the same time, but those guys make it sound so natural...
very interesting, got me thinking about the creation of tension and release ala Western Classical which drives that sort of music, and how this genre takes those same concepts and applies them to texture....very, very cool
I wonder if anyone does like death metal bands ( or many other styles of music ) Tuning in C for example And the other half step down to get a chunkier sound and no phase cancellation between the two musicians Cheers for all the great Info Ben Your a star 🙏🏻
I was struggling learning scales for a composer. Weird Indian and Egyptian scales. He realised I was struggling and said to me just learn the notes you shouldn't play. Genius, it all clicked into place with a few coloured dots on the fretboard lol.
Why modes? Choose the right key for the modern scale you’re using and they’re unnecessary. They are anachronisms. Why people get taught theory this way baffles me. I mean, whatever works for you, but learning modes in the 21st century (or after the 12th century) is just wasted memorization. We’re just multiplying names to no purpose.
bitegoatie that’s just the way we work - if you do it another way, cool, it’s not the law 😌 We’re just answering the question. I personally don’t know a any other approach, and as a professional composer, this system has served me well over the years 👍🏻
I would have agreed with you up until I started watching Rick Beato and others discussing modal theory and I realised learning modes is just the tip of the iceberg. Such a great tool for chord progressions and key changes, although that's not something typically utilised by many electronic musicians. Hopefully more people will use these techniques in the future, trying to get your head round it does make my brain hurt a bit though.
ea - It doesn't help me at all with chord progressions or anything else. Modes are just more scales, renamed to Greek. Scales that exist in classical and contemporary theory, with fewer names to memorize, lower hurdles to understanding, and more flexibility of implementation. I've learned modes, heard explanations from people of how they help, and I find it's all just a question of how people learn. If you learned theory piecemeal from private teachers who themselves learned this way, you learn modes because that's what you were taught. If you learned theory in an organized, textbook-driven way from composers and conductors, it's hard to see why some musicians put themselves through the pain of absorbing this quasi-Greek relic of musical history. It seems like a person learning about the motion of planets and the moon and the sun by learning Ptolemy's explanations of their cycles rather than just learning modern astronomical explanations of the same thing. There's no wrong way to learn. As I said above (and I say again for Paul) whatever works for you is good, especially in music. It genuinely mystifies me, all the same, that so many people get taught to use modes - not as history but as a thing they supposedly need to know. There is no need to study modes. Better to study harmelodics or Indian classical or any number of other approaches - all of which can be expressed in any form of theory, but which at least bring with them different outlooks on music. The way people use modes, it's just obfuscated standard western theory. Better to keep theory simple, I think. But whatever - I just had a wave of astonishment when the theory video waded straight into modes. Had the title just been about how these guys work, I would not have commented. But I prompted a few replies, which helps Ben with the YT algorithm, so there you go. No harm intended. Certainly not to the guest duo - though maybe teachers who make kids learn modes are due a bit of a flogging.
This was super interesting and inspiring! It's hard to think sometimes about modular and music theory at the same time, but those guys make it sound so natural...
Incredible insights! Thank you so much for this interview.
Thanks for this awesome discussion.
Wish there was a modular music theory series i could binge.
one of the most interesting insights ... thank you very much for showing; so much craftsman
great interview Ben
really enjoyed this one
very interesting, got me thinking about the creation of tension and release ala Western Classical which drives that sort of music, and how this genre takes those same concepts and applies them to texture....very, very cool
Great stuff Ben!
This was amazing. Thanks.
I wonder if anyone does like death metal bands ( or many other styles of music )
Tuning in C for example
And the other half step down to get a chunkier sound and no phase cancellation between the two musicians
Cheers for all the great Info Ben
Your a star 🙏🏻
I was struggling learning scales for a composer. Weird Indian and Egyptian scales. He realised I was struggling and said to me just learn the notes you shouldn't play. Genius, it all clicked into place with a few coloured dots on the fretboard lol.
Why modes? Choose the right key for the modern scale you’re using and they’re unnecessary. They are anachronisms. Why people get taught theory this way baffles me.
I mean, whatever works for you, but learning modes in the 21st century (or after the 12th century) is just wasted memorization. We’re just multiplying names to no purpose.
bitegoatie that’s just the way we work - if you do it another way, cool, it’s not the law 😌 We’re just answering the question. I personally don’t know a any other approach, and as a professional composer, this system has served me well over the years 👍🏻
I would have agreed with you up until I started watching Rick Beato and others discussing modal theory and I realised learning modes is just the tip of the iceberg. Such a great tool for chord progressions and key changes, although that's not something typically utilised by many electronic musicians. Hopefully more people will use these techniques in the future, trying to get your head round it does make my brain hurt a bit though.
evilanorak don’t over think it, just use your ears, sounds like you already do though 👍🏻
ea - It doesn't help me at all with chord progressions or anything else. Modes are just more scales, renamed to Greek. Scales that exist in classical and contemporary theory, with fewer names to memorize, lower hurdles to understanding, and more flexibility of implementation. I've learned modes, heard explanations from people of how they help, and I find it's all just a question of how people learn. If you learned theory piecemeal from private teachers who themselves learned this way, you learn modes because that's what you were taught. If you learned theory in an organized, textbook-driven way from composers and conductors, it's hard to see why some musicians put themselves through the pain of absorbing this quasi-Greek relic of musical history.
It seems like a person learning about the motion of planets and the moon and the sun by learning Ptolemy's explanations of their cycles rather than just learning modern astronomical explanations of the same thing. There's no wrong way to learn. As I said above (and I say again for Paul) whatever works for you is good, especially in music. It genuinely mystifies me, all the same, that so many people get taught to use modes - not as history but as a thing they supposedly need to know.
There is no need to study modes. Better to study harmelodics or Indian classical or any number of other approaches - all of which can be expressed in any form of theory, but which at least bring with them different outlooks on music. The way people use modes, it's just obfuscated standard western theory. Better to keep theory simple, I think.
But whatever - I just had a wave of astonishment when the theory video waded straight into modes. Had the title just been about how these guys work, I would not have commented. But I prompted a few replies, which helps Ben with the YT algorithm, so there you go.
No harm intended. Certainly not to the guest duo - though maybe teachers who make kids learn modes are due a bit of a flogging.
bitegoatie wow!