What is the Neapolitan Chord? | Music Theory Q+A
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- Answering your music theory questions!
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Hey! I screwed up a bit by not mentioning the West-African as well as Middle Eastern origin of the Dembow rhythm here in this video, so I apologize! The answer I game was more my thoughts on why Spanish was suited for it, as opposed to other colonizing languages, and why it's so popular in Spanish specifically!
When it comes to the latin music and the tumpa/Tumpa or dembow, I wish you could look some videos made by "El chombo".
He is a famous Latin urban producer and he explain that very openly.
Spoiler alert... it's in Spanish.
Oh... and Greetings from Costa Rica 🇨🇷
I didn’t know that you gamed Adam!
Also, Mozart didn't finish his requiem.
I came to the comment section to make a note about the African references for latin beats and rythms and just saw this. Well, onto the rest of the video. :)
I think you are wrong. Dembow has the same base rhythm that many other latinamerican rhythms. The first part of the clave has kind of the same division based on 3+3+2. So does the milonga from argentina. That, plus a common kick on every down beat is basically the dembow. It also became extremely popular with reggaeton, which originally used resources from other latinamerican rhythms of various countries, plus a strong downbeat from reggae (excluding the obvious chord rhythm on every "and")
4-5-1 Cadence: *Evil*
Neopolitan 4-5-1: *Evil but Italian*
Underated
I never felt those to be evil, but ominous, strong and just generally badass hahaha
So basically wario
😈
🍝😈🤌
@@diedie865 thats romanian
Surely the Neopolitan Chord is made of Strawberry, Vanilla, and Chocolate
How did you know!! All the basic yummy tastiness
That's what first came to my mind! LOL
the knee appalling tan chord ???
No way, it's mozzarella, tomatoes and basil, obviously ;^)
*pushes up glasses* akshewaly the three flavors are German, French, and Italian
"It's been unused for 100's of years."
Danny Elfman would like a word.
And Blonde Redhead
So true
Don't forget about Lady Gaga!
The Elf Man uses chromatic mediants out the ass
“Unused for 100 years.”
Grant Kirkope would like to know your location
I used a half-assed Neapolitan bit in the In Virtue song "Purgatory" at the end of the chorus
I tried using the "Napolean Chord" and I ended up destroying half of Europe, Thanks Adam!
C'est la vie
ABBA used the Napoleon chord in their hit Waterloo.
Did you mean Neapolitan? Did I miss Napolean as a different chord somewhere (It's not in the transcript)?
@@Pacvalham it's just a joke 😁 Napoleon and Neapolitan are semi-frequently mistaken for each other in America.
LastI I heard, the Napoleon chord had fallen out of use during a severe Russian winter
*10 years from now*
“Why does every neoclassical pop dance song use the Neapolitan Chord progression?”
Well, Adam can make that true
its just a link to this video
@@dasheroo1229 lmao
A few modern examples that use the Neapolitan chord:
“Do You Want to Know a Secret” by the Beatles (in the intro)
“Overprotected” by Britney Spears (Db chord in C minor in the 2nd Chorus)
“Small Bill$” by Regina Spektor (whole song is i and bII)
“Sally’s Song” (from Nightmare Before Christmas) by Danny Elfman (F->B7->Em in E minor)
“Hello” by Lionel Richie (in the Chorus)
Quite a few more too. Really cool sound!
"A wolf at the door" - Radiohead
@@GezbianGaming Damn right
Atom Heart Mother by Pink Floyd sounds like it might be in there somewhere!
Of course the Beatles have done this. I wanna see something the Beatles haven’t done
Gangsta's Paradise by Coolio or am I off track?
The 'octave' term makes a lot of sense because it refers to an interval, it is just another way of saying an '8th' (think 5th, 6th, 7th, etc.). It's seemingly off by one because we always count the bottom note as 1 when measuring intervals, which is actually useful because it gives us the language to express what a unison is.
it's called inclusive counting, and was the commin way to count up to the midiaval time... same reason why Easter Sunday is the Third day after Good Friday for instant. Also it goes hand in hand with the missing Zero.
As a spanish speaker, this gets easier to understand when octave=8th
"Off by one"... General Kenobi!
But seriously, that is exactly what indexing issues are usually in computer science (though with comp sci, you traditionally start counting at 0), and they are so common that the joke of "Off by one"/"Obi-wan" is worn out a bit.
I belive Octave is a borrowing and in English really should be the Eighth, and Seventh, I've been taught that. It's: secunda, tertia, quarta, quinta, sexta, septa and octava. This is in Russian, but comes from Latin I believe.
this mfer doesn't know about the number zero
"Definitely don't quote me on that." -- Adam Neely.
"That" -- Adam Neely
"Adam Neely" -Roel Bakker
I like what you did there because you DID quote him on that!
@@giocosovelasco ""Adam Neely" -Roel Bakker" - SushiBushi
Adam " Joe Rogan " Neely
It’s so fascinating that the Neapolitan sixth doesn’t really have an equivalent in jazz harmony / contemporary harmony. Augmented sixth chords are essentially just another way of looking at subV/V’s, but there’s not really an equivalent for a major bII chord used as a predominant. Definitely a very strong sound. It kinda makes sense why it’s not used much in pop music (since the leading tone isn’t used that much, and that b2 scale degree has a similar function in this situation), but I am surprised it’s not used in more jazz tunes... cool stuff, thanks for mentioning it! :D
You guys kinda have something similar with the tritone sub, but it doesn’t resolve to the V but instead replaces it.
The Neapolitan also points to iv along with i, because you get the dim3 (aug6) usually in the soprano (Db, B, C). Since the aug6 goes to V, it makes C act as sol, pointing to f.
I think it’s less popular in Jazz because we often have the D flat chord in root position in the VI-V-i progression, and the idea of pointing to both i and iv simultaneously isn’t really considered.
The only functional difference between tonal jazz and tonal W European Music (WEM) was the Neopolitan chord. Specifically the inversion and that in WEM it had the inversion (weird spelling of the 7th) and then the "requirement" to go to the V chord before resolution.
Are there any other examples I might have missed?
In wave by tom jobim the b section ends with a ii V to the napolitan followed by the V of the original key
@@pedrogheventer2566 cool! But that is still not the same as the bII7 going directly to the "real" V7 then resolving like in the classical progression which is (I believe) what Adam was saying doesn't happen (especially with the inversions) in Jazz.
Octave as 8 makes perfect sense, when you hit the 8th note after going through the 7 major tones, you land on the 8th, which is the OCTAve.
yes, in italian "ottava" means litteraly 8th
its weird how they act as if non diatonic notes dont exist by calling it that though
Sounds like we need a 5 Composers video with the Neopolitan chord!!
Jhon Williams and his Harry Potter score, it's basically the most famous use of it in these times.
@@javiermedina5313Is that a Welsh John Williams?
When I had dance class as a child in a small Greek village, we would learn the moves to odd-metered local songs without counting the beat. The rhythm came naturally as a result of the routine!
And I'd like to add, the so-called odd or mixed meters ... the way to rationalize them that I learned was: Cuba, Panama and occasionally Honolulu. Cu-ba stands for the short beat, divided by 2, Pa-na-ma stands for the long beat the a ratio of 3/2. Ho-no-lu-lu sometimes can be used for a 2x2 double beat, instead of Cuba-Cuba. All syllables are spoken rhythmically with the same length, ta-ta-ta-ta ... those are the 8ths or 16th. This way it became quite easy for me to play, clap, and dance those rhythms.
@@Zawiedek We do the same thing in music education. Instead of counting 1-2-3 1-2 etc., we use common words for kids to get the feel of it. E.g. names Δήμητρα-Τάκης, or places Τρίκαλα-Ξάνθη and so on and so forth.
@@thatotherted3555 I think so ... I listened to it andi hear a quite slow stomping rhythm of 2 and 3, not absolutely sure how it starts, I guess it's boom-chack, boom-umpf-chack ... or cu-ba, pa-na-ma ... the subdivisions on each beat often seem to be triads, very fast 1-2-3s on each beat. That's how I hear it, don't know if it helps you.
Holy moly that's a Greek name you've got there
@@charliecampbell6851 Well, me and OP are Greek. Why shouldn't we have?
Hey Adam, the "dembow" rythym you mention actually comes from the african roots of many forms of south/latin american music. You can see the same pattern in the first part of the cuban son clave (3/2), which is also used in the Río de la Plata region in candombe, murga, tango and milonga. I think it's also seen in afro-peruvian rythyms. The influence of this in the Rio de la Plata area probably comes from the cuban "habanera", which was very popular in the early 20th century. The best part of all this is that it's a proof of the deep connection between the different communities of african people and african descendants through the continent, in the most important ports (Habana, Buenos Aires, Lima, etc.) were enslaved africans were brought. Of course, you can even trace this to native african music but here the thread is a bit lost at least for me. It would be very cool if you did a video on this! Love you stuff, greetings from La Boca, Buenos Aires.
🙌🙌🙌
Ta ta ta ta tá
Great part of the world.
Thanks for the contribution, hermano. Greetings from Brazil!
Bruh it's literally from Shabba Ranks "dem bow" riddim.
This sort of beat has existed worldwide but the particular form popular in Reggaeton/modern Latin pop is directly taken from Jamaican dancehall.
14:19
Hearing that Mozart used a power chord made my whole weekend!
Subscribed.
🤘😎
Didn't Mozart's requiem been writen by someone else (the final parts of it, actually)?
It's not true. I think he used major chord at the end or even plagal cadence.
@@tfossgh no I’m pretty sure it’s just lacrimosa which wasn’t finished by him but the rest of the requiem was
@@doormantdarner7815everything after lacrimosa is not by him
“Tu vuo fà l’americano” uses a neapolitan cadence on the lyric “OK napolitan”, which I think is a really brilliant musical joke
Oh that's where i heard it already. But i think i've heard it in other italian songs too
This is one of my favorite puns!!
Yep - indexing error, or 'off-by-one' error or, my favourite: fence-posting error - are you counting the fence posts or the fence panels?
off by one error- OBOE :)
Moving from compsci to construction was... interesting for me.
"There are 2 hard problems in computer science: cache invalidation, naming things, and off-by-1 errors."
Bingo. Specifically: do you start counting at zero (0-indexed) or at one (1-indexed)? In European classical theory, we're 1-indexed, which feels a little strange since all notes are relative to others - the idea that you're at note "1" relative to where you started, but you're still on the same note? That causes a conflict when you say that two notes are "a fourth apart" or "a difference of a fourth" even though you're finding the difference between the 1 and the 4. Only in this system does four minus one equal four. :-D
If we were designing a musical system from scratch, we could solve that by 0-indexing instead of 1-indexing - so C-F would be a third, and the distance between those notes would reasonably be "a difference of a third" because 3 - 0 = 3.
Ah yes, the Obiwan error.
That B6 with the open string down low sounds like brutalist architecture.
I will not ellaborate, it just does.
i mean you are kinda right lol
It does carry some philosophical similarities, especially in looking at brutalism not in a semi-pop consciousness as "just a big concrete block" but more as "look at this extremely sturdy architecture contextualized by the serene environment around it" in the idealized form from its creators.
"Picardy thirds are the Disney surprise villains of music." - Adam Neely
We were taught the most useful thing about the Neapolitan chord, besides its beautiful colouring was how it allowed you to instantly modulate out of any situation, like instead of Db/F - G7 - Cm you could use Db/F - Eb7 and suddenly you're in Abm. Or directly from Db/F to Gbm. Do this early in a fugue and then leisurely find your way back to c minor, pro tip.
Adam singing "el mundo" to a dembow rhythm gave me reasons to live this week
Let’s make this the next “repetition legitimises”
@@CarlosERamos-ey1lj Adam singing "el mundo" to a dembow rhythm gave me reasons to live this week
Let’s make this the next “repetition legitimises”
"Indexing problem" is also known as a fencepost or off-by-one error. Consider you have a 20 foot gap that you want to fence with 10 foot pieces, how many posts do you need? 3. One at each end and one in the middle. It is easy to think that you are dividing a space so 20/10 = 2. This is probably the most common bug in all of computer programming. The general rule is that you count things starting with 1, but gaps (or intervals, hmmm) starting with 0. Consider birthdays, we call the day one year after you are born the first birthday, but then what is the day of birth itself? Zeroth.
A third + third = fifth. three thirds is a seventh. The 9th and the 2nd are an octave(8) apart. What nonsense is this? But it you were to start with the unison as 0, then 2+2=4, 2+2+2=6 and 8-1=7. Much simpler, right? Of course, centuries of musicians have learned the other way so we're sort of stuck now.
Agreed 100%
beautiful comment
This is amazingly profound and gets you thinking. We consider 0 as 1 in many cases even through out basic life. When really its 1st degree to the 8th degree counting from the 1 at the start instead of the 0. In the beginning with no sound you could say its 0 through as a way to represent the absence of sound but iy gets complicated. However we see it practiced where in any countries/cultures will count the starting age of birth, the Zeroth years, as the First year for newborns. When you think about where zero comes from with math maybe you can consider zero by itself as a mute or maybe as we consider rests. With popular stringed instruments though where you'd see more tablature/numbered notation the first note of a set of strings on that instrument would be the open notes or zeros on that instrument. In a musical sense using clefs and musical notation we should really see it as 1 through 7 or the 7-set as many interpret it and consider every set of 7 bellow or above it apart of a set of octaves. Where the first note is the last note of a set like a fencepost. The fenceposts can be fixed upon where you put them too either within the set or maybe outside it when talking about key changes that land on notes not within that set. The fencing would be really the 2-7 or 6 notes used in that traditional sense and interchangeable as being set up as the fencepost too. Also really you can see it as a 2(1 repeat) system and 6(single contained))system set of notes if you really wanted to use it in a contained way. When all of the notes just belong to sets of the same notes but higher or lower it can look like that at second glance even. Same argument can be made for Pentatonic Scales with 1 and 4 but there is an issue because its really 6 notes being use 2(1 repeat) system to 4(single) system notes. The fence analogy you used was really thought provoking thank you for commenting. Maybe I am being too speculative by going that far. Even if math and music are somewhat linked is not like music will follow directly after math and all the equations that pertain to math because its hard to factor human error like having your instrument out of tune or relying on different systems which math can't easily explain in integer numbers.
wait i'm confused by the 20 foot gap part, i legitimately don't get how a 20 foot gap needs 3 10 foot fences
@@djadj_ two pieces but three posts. It's like how one interval involves two notes, one at either end of it
“Stacking fifths” sounds like a euphemism ...
Or a great band name!
The Neapolitan sixth, as we classical guys call it, is not restricted to the minor mode. The effect is even more magical in the major mode. There are tons of examples to be found in Mozart and Beethoven.
"The people of Bulgaria aren't prog-heads"
No, but the people of the Czech Republic are.
/pun
We Czechs certainly are! My last name may be German, but I'm Lostak through & through.
In fact, we Czechs are SUCH Prague-heads that we equate Dvořák with RUSH.
They aren't totally prog, though. I mean, they Czech themselves before they wrech themselves.
Well only people from Prague. Rest of the country lowkey hates the capital 😂
Hahahaha that’s some next level punnage
“Not really used since 1850”
Yngwie Malmsteen: “am I a joke to you?”
Williams Harry Potter: excuse me?
The Db/F at 1:05 sounds A LOT like a chord from a passage in Beethoven's moonlight sonata.
Edit: Wow, Adam confirmed literally that 40 seconds later
gg
That's hilarious that even musicians aren't safe from off-by-one errors.
A list of numbers from 0 to 7 contains 8 numbers
There are three big errors in programming: use-after-free and off-by-one.
@@EduRenesto very nice
Yeah, my favourite chord progression is the venerable I-IV-0.
@@zethkarrade lol
Sure. Is zero positive?
There has to be a MUSE song somewhere that uses the Neapolitan chord...
Take A Bow - briefly.
Starlight, in the bridge: A(bII) -> D#(V) -> G#(I)
Also in the verses of Stockholm Syndrome (Eb -> Asus)
Probably somewhere else too but that's all that comes to mind.
My thoughts exactly!
@@mysterioussquid906 If the bII is in root position it's not a Neapolitan. The eighteenth-century Neapolitan chord is always in first inversion, and has very specific voice-leading. If it doesn't work like the eighteenth-century chord, why use the eighteenth-century name? Just call it a bII or Phrygian II.
Don't know for sure, but Space Dementia sounds like it might.
First time I've come back to your channel in a few months. You're much more animated and you seem like you're enjoying yourself a lot more. Good on you man, happy for ya!
i think octave makes the most sense, since it falls between a seventh and a ninth, and is the eighth note of the scale (hence OCTave)
Adam Neely: talks about Neapolitan chord
All Italian/Neapolitan fans of Adam Neely: is for me? 🥺👉🏻👈🏻
no mannacc a maronn
Yep
Sì
4:22 I would call it an "off by one error." Very common mistake, especially among new coders, but it never goes away.
Maybe it's somewhat like the difference between a circular linked list and a linear linked list? In the circular one the 7th node points back to the first, but in the linear one the 7th node points to a unique 8th node. The circular version views the octave in isolation, as a standalone grouping of notes, while the linear version views the octave as a part of an ordering of all notes. I think both are equally valid interpretations, but as a pianist, I'm more apt to go with the 8 note octave instead of the 7 note version. I think that a note can be the start of one octave and the end of another.
@@gabrieldoon Love that interpretation.
The two hardest things about programming:
0: Data validation
1: Naming things
2: Oboes (Off-by-one-errors; did this just circularly link back to music?)
Can also be called a fencepost error (as in: if you have a fence that's 10 units long, it actually has 11 posts).
@@Pacvalham It's because the oboes always seem to be off by one note... Oh how I miss being in a wind ensemble
In-depth musical theory about the rarely used Neapolitan chord and how it fits beautifully in context, then a mention of his favourite bass chord which sounds rather interesting, and then 3:21
“C/F”
“Good chord”
On the "indexing problem"
When studying music, I was wondering why inversions added to 9. So, an inverted 5th is a 4th. 5 and 4 is 9. Same with 6ths and 3rds, etc.
Why 9?! Why not 7 or 8?!
But yeah. It's because of this indexing problem. To get from C to C, you move 0 times, but it is a "1st", so to speak... that's where we get 8 instead of 7.
And then when you invert and compare, you counted that 0 move a second time. So it adds to 9.
Yay math.
so the classical off-by-one error is so ingrained in our music system that we even have an off-by-two when talking about inversions of intervals? amazing.
I play chess, and the 8th line of the board from white's point of view is the 1st from black's, white's seventh is black's second, 6th and 3rd, 5th and 4th
_8va_
But if you count the repeated final note you actually do get 15 and 22, 8 + 7 =15
For example, from C3 to C4(included) you get 8, then add seven notes (D E F G A B C) and land on C5: 15 notes
@@francescobelluzzi9890 you’re right, i was probably drunk
@@DemiDemiGlace ahahah sadly I wasn’t!
Sounds like butterflies and hurricanes by muse!
That's the Sergei Rachmaninoff influence in Matt's playing!
I was thinking that, or the verse of Stockholm Syndrome, but would need to check.
Also Space Oddity by Bowie?
Literally learning that song rn! It’s such a challenge for someone like me who isn’t really a pianist omgggg
As soon as Adam said "It's not really used in modern pop" I immediately thought of Muse. They seem like the only contemporary pop rock band that would fuck with a Neapolitan chord.
@@unic0de-yvr their style sometimes feels like really heavely inspired by classical composers
Im pretty sure I am in love with Adam. Awesome video as usual!!
11:05 He genuinely did not recognize that he played _Zelda: Breath of The Wild_
12:45 I knew what you meant, but it's funny to interpret it as "The people of Bulgaria aren't Prague heads." Like, no, of course they aren't, because Prague is in the Czech Republic. 😜
“Wolf by the door” by Radiohead kinda has the neapolitan chord in the verse’s chord progression
You can also find it in "La Cathedral de Strasbourg" by Focus. But classical music was a heavy influence on them
They used it in exit music too, with sawtooth bass, what a moment
@@alexanderbayramov2626 you sure?
@@enkita8234 when bass drops it goes like
Bm - C# - F# - G - G - C - F# - F#
(that's a sketch of progression ofc)
And that C - F# is kinda neapolitan IIb -> V in b minor, ofc it isn't C/E -> F#, but in my opinion that neapolitan vibe is here
@@alexanderbayramov2626 good to know, I think I always used a C# diminuished instead of that C 😂
I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THE ALBUM TO BE RELEASED YESSSS
The way you explained the Neapolitan Chord...! It was super clear and so helpful!!! Thank you so much:)
As far as I know, Mozart did not finish his Requiem. He died before that, I think he only did until the Lacrimosa. After that, one of his pupils finished it, Franz Xaver Sussmayr. Great video though.
True! He died after the first 8 bars of the Lacrimosa.
The famous completion of the Requiem was done by Süßmayr, who had been a student of Salieri's and later Mozart's (in the last year or two of his life). He orchestrated most of the Requiem and wrote many of the movements himself (supposedly with some reference to Mozart's notes and discussions they'd had before his death, though it's unclear to what extent), but for the last two movements, he just reused the first two movements written by Mozart with a different text, and Mozart did finish the second movement with a power chord. So in that sense, the Requiem (or at least the commonly played version of it) does end on a power chord, which was written by Mozart himself but not originally intended to end the whole work.
Of possible prurient interest is that Wolfgang and Constanze Mozart's last son was also named Franz Xaver, and there have been rumours that Süßmayr may have fathered him, but of course there's no real evidence for that.
Every time I have to play Mozart's Requiem it's really frustrating. The beginning/middle is so good (especially as a trombonist, I sometimes get to play the fantastic duet in the Tuba Mirum with the bass), but then the piece just gets more tediously difficult and not as satisfying to play. Amazing until the Lacrimosa, though. :-(
I came here to look for this comment.
I am from Greece and can confirm, everything Adam played as Balcan rythms sounded and felt "logical" to me. Granted, 4/4 is even more of a standard rythm because of the western influences, but still gotta love some balcan music from time to time.
Neapolitan chord progression in “Jane Seymour” from Rick Wakeman’s The Six Wives of Henry VIII.
Ya was thinking it may appear in some prog works. Correct: it appears most noticeably at about the 1:55 point in the tune.
Cool, I was wondering which track it was in 😎
“What is the Neopolitan Chord?”
The vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate chord of course!
Neapolitan chords are kind of a staple of mid century tango music (one of Argentina's main popular musics). One classic example is the end of the chorus of "Naranjo en Flor". It very much depends on the arranger's choice, but off the top of my head "N.P.", "Qué Falta que me Hacés" and "Esclavo" are often harmonized in this very way.
Tango is very much influenced by Italian folk songs and classical music, and of course the tasty, powerful sound of those cadences goes along perfectly with the drama present in tango.
@@julianrodriguezf Indeed!
3:06 ah yes, the “Laura Palmer’s Theme” Chord, very fresh
It's also like the first chords in Debussy's "La Mer"
Those bass chords starting at 9:59 are just incredibly beautiful, damn Adam!
That B6 on the bass reminded me of Disasterpeace’s work on Hyper Light Drifter. So beautiful and ominous.
I think the "Neapolitan Chord, but Modern" needs to be a side-quest to your Modes challenge videos.
Ooh, that'd be neat.
I have a feeling Muse use a Neopolitan 6th at the end of their song "Take A Bow". Mostly just as an unsettling final chord
If you listen closely they keep the tonic in the bass. So it's not really a Neapolitan.
It's simply a bII chord in that case. The Neapolitan chord behaves in a very specific way. In this case, it's kind of a "deceptive resolution" (I'm using that term very liberally here). You are kind of expecting it to end on the tonic, but it ends a half step above the tonic instead. I would guess Muse got this idea from Ravel's Bolero that ends in a pretty similar way, though in Bolero it goes back to the tonic, whereas in Take a Bow, it just ends on the bII.
This kind of a "deceptive resolution" is also pretty common in blues. In that case, the rhythm is pretty much always "one, two and". The chords in the key of C would be C6/9 Db6/9 C6/9.
But I'm pretty sure Muse uses the Neapolitan chord in at least one of their songs. I guess Starlight might count. The chords in the bridge are C#m F#7 D#7 G#m A E A D#7. This is a half-cadence in G#m, and the A major chord would be the Neapolitan chord in root position. But I'm pretty sure I have heard them use the Neapolitan chord in some other song too.
@@MaggaraMarine Stockholm Syndrome's got it in the verses, Eb(bII) -> Asus -> A(V)
@@MaggaraMarine "the Neapolitan chord in root position." No such thing. In the eighteenth century, this chord is always in first inversion, and with very specific voice-leading. If it doesn't work like the eighteenth-century chord, why use the eighteenth-century name? Just call it a bII or a Phrygian II.
Great video ... Saw you in a video of legal eagle and landed here .. big fan of mr Blake Neely's music, has helped me a lot over the years .. keep up the great content.
Greetings from Bulgaria, great content!
I can actually think of a neapolitan chord in a modern(ish) jazz tune: Elm, by Richie Beirach. It's sort of a chamber jazz/classical thing tho.
That's an Ab/C in Gm, so it looks like a Neapolitan, but doesn't resolve like one. So a better way to explain it would probably be a tritone substitution for the predominant.
Great tune though! My piano teacher showed it to me last week :)
@@stephen6691 It in fact does resolve like a Neapolitan chord. The progression is Ab/C D7/C Gm/Bb. It also uses the Ab major at another point of the progression where it isn't really a Neapolitan chord. But the first time it is used, it is an actual Neapolitan chord.
@@MaggaraMarine Neapolitan would never resolve to D7/C, at least not in classical music. It would usually resolve to a G/D, maybe directly to a D7, but never D7/C. The voiceleading in this example is all different from a classical Neapolitan resolution; the Ab and Eb are tendency tones that should move downwards by step to G and D, which they don't do here.
I had never seen Adam talk so passionately about European classical music before hahahahaha
"You say European music theory is oppressive and racist yet made your entire life and career around it... curious." -TPUSA
I'm pretty sure the Neapolitan chord is used in the godfather theme somewhere.
Anything where someone throws a note in between where a whole-step once was is amazing
I come from bulgaria and i confirm that such rythms are quite natural to us as it is in our culture.
My quick thoughts on the absence of the neapolitan chord in modern music are, that imo it is very dramatic, which is maybe a bit too much for pop music, but also very straight forward, which may be boring for jazz compositions, i don't know. ^^
I like that idea, definitely sounds about right. A pop song with neopolitan chords would sound cheesy, and a jazz song with them wouldn't be "sophisticated" enough.
you can put extensions on it
As an acoustic classical musician, holy shit that Ableton live stuff is black magic
What a great forgotten musical gesture! I look forward to a Neapolitan challenge on your channel, definitely worth some thought on how it can be reintegrated into modern diction.
I've heard the neoplolitan chord in a few video game pieces: Gruntilda's Lair from Banjo Kazooie, Raise Thy Sword from Soul Calibur 2
Nice thing is "Gruntilda's Lair" is based on the piece "Teddy Bear's Picnic" by composer John Walter Bratton. Video Game Music from the 90s were usually made by composers with a deep foot in Classical knowledge :P
I think its used in the shia LaBeouf song
FFVI - Figaro Castle
Zelda Theme
Wow, the ether + walk alone mini remix sounded incredible
Great stuff
12:14 that's Itamar Doari on the drums. He played with Avishai Cohen
It's high time for a Neapolitan comeback! And augmented 6th chords too, some great voice leadings
Imagine contrapuntal rock/metal
I believe the intro to Elton John’s “Funeral for a Friend” uses the Neapolitan chord.
I getting a love lies bleeding vibe.
It's a great song, but I feel like it leans heavy on some classical influences. Like calling out Muse, when they're just fanboying Rachmaninoff.
I agree :)
I was thinking maybe Hello by Lionel Ritchie too, but I am not sure if it strictly counts.
I thought so too. I never appreciated that song fully until I heard it live. I was blown away.
i keep coming back to this video to see your Ableton Live set up. i've learned a lot from that brief little segment already!
i'd be very interested in a video that goes further into depth about your Ableton set up, especially in the context of live performing!
It’s used in movies and background tracking we don’t even think but influences our emotions while we watch films!!
This chord is made of strawberry vanilla and chocolate
Regarding Bulgarian music, one of the biggest musical surprises I had in my life was how well António Zambujo and Bulgarian Voices managed to marry two folk tunes, one from Bulgaria, the other from Portugal. It's as if they are singing the same song, despite coming from two totally different musical traditions. And it's absolutely beautiful. Search for "Antonio Zambujo & Bulgarian Voices Angelite - Chamatea" (should have been "chamateia", but that's how the video is titled) if you're interested.
i’ve been using it for a while.., neapolitan that is, and precisely because it’s not used much - it was novel to my ear. i first used it in the late 90s in an intro..but never consciously. i actively avoided learning theory for my first ten years of making music.. it was purely guided by what felt and sounded good on my instruments and in my voice. many years later, after teaching myself theory the old fashioned way - going to a pre-youtube-brick-and-mortar-music-library - i analyzed my stuff and was very happy i had written so much intuitively
In math and computer science, that saptak/octave counting issue (is it seven or eight?) is called a "fencepost error", because it's the kind of error you make when you want to put up sixty feet of fencing with posts every five feet, so you divide 60 by 5 and buy 12 posts (but you should've bought 13, because the last five feet of fencing needs a second post at the end). In the case of music, there are seven intervals in an octave (for example, in C major the intervals are C->D, D->E, E->F, F->G, G->A, A->B, B->C), and yes, seven distinct named notes, but if you want to play all seven intervals, you have to play an eighth note. That eighth note you have to play (which is just the first one raised by an octave) is the extra fence post you have to buy so your last five feet of fencing (i.e., the last interval) has something to connect to at the trailing end. It's really part of the next octave, and you can prove this to yourself by playing a two-octave scale (count the notes: you get 15 = 7 * 2 + 1) and a three-octave scale (22 notes = 7 * 3 + 1). You're playing the first note of the next octave as a fence post to attach the last interval to, but each octave does only have seven notes of its own, and seven intervals.
Lighting makes it look like he's dyed his hair purple and he suits it.
I think the Picardy Third is also due to acoustics. Having a long minor chord held in a big space like a church would sound clashing due to the natural major thirds occurring in the overtone series. Therefore sustaining a minor chord would sound like major and minor at the same time, which might not be pleasing for some :)
I'm so intrigued by the Ableton Live band setup! WOW!!
Epic!
And no mention (that I can find) of Barry Manilow's "Could It Be Magic"
Yes, I know, asterisk.
Still.
Bonus: "Mary Poppins" 's "Stay Awake" has a thrilling *German* 6th in 3rd inversion.
Looked through the comments for this - for me this is very much a "Could It Be Magic"-flavor. Yes, of course Manilow got it from Chopin, but Still.
Also, Donna Summers redid Could It Be Magic, disco style with the chord.
@@YvonRatte Whatt?!??! Gotta check THAT out!
checked it out. Terrific as expected
As far as the octave thing goes. It’s inclusive counting as opposed to exclusive counting. It seems weird because we usually use exclusive counting for other things in English
lol spot on with the "indexing problem" 4:22
OMG adam neely speacking spanish hahaha muy buen video me encanta tu canal y tu musica. Hope you get that!
11:35 as a drummer I’ve thought about this a lot, 4/4 and 3/4 are pleasing IMO because they mimic the rhythms of the human body, namely footsteps for 4/4 and heartbeats for 3/4, hence why 4/4 is so driving and 3/4 is so dramatic. The best syncopations of time signatures are combinations of twos and threes. 5/4 sounds pretty natural because it’s a two and a three. The 11/16 example is felt as a combination of twos and threes, and the 3 beat tag in the middle makes it exciting and dramatic. Just my drum geek pet theory.
Huh? Human footsteps are in 4/4? Heartbeats in 3/4? What are you talking about? It says more about HOW you abstract and assimilate such things rather than their essence.
@@dang5874 @thebeattrustee ok, i think of foot steps as 3/3 and heartbeat as a dotted 4/4 rhythm? When you walk its L, R, L then R, L, R. And the heart beats go bum-bum *rest* bum-bum.
I'm here a minute after it dropped, niice, can't wait to get that quick brain expansion, then hit the laptop to make some fire🔥
Cannot wait for the chaos breakdown!
The Neapolitan 6th is music to my ears! Watched/listened more than once.
This is actually fascinating to me. Octave (octava in Spanish) is super straight forward for us in Spanish music theory (and probably other romance languages) because it's literally the eighth note ('octava nota') above the root, but I can see how in terms of space ('how many notes are there in an octave?') it can get really confusing if that word is not part of your everyday vocabulary. So other terms might be more intuitive in that case.
Fun stuff :)
"Why is X often used/pleasing/popular/in every song?"
Because repetition legitimizes of course!
Because repetition legitimizes of course!
Because repetition legitimizes of course!
Because repetition legitimizes of course!
my mom loves dembow, i don't entirely understand her but she has made me appreciate it. dembow is awesome!
As a Bulgarian I'm really happy that u share our folklore with the world 😄
10:00 this sequence gives me an idea. If ever, Adam, you get to do a giveaway competition, maybe upload these stems and then challenge your viewers to make a remix track, maybe with a basic rule of "use at least x stems and feel free to add new parts". Best track/s wins the prizes. Just a cool thought.
big Bon Iver vibes
I really would love to know what Adam’s electronic music influences are. Sungazer obviously has such a heavy electronic music influence, but of all the genres I’ve heard Adam discuss, I’m not sure I remember ever discuss the various “EDM” varieties and the music theory concepts behind them.
You often talk about poly rhythms and "odd" time signatures, but I haven't heard you discuss Don Ellis. He had a version of Take Five in 4/4. That's a trip. Keep up the good work!
good stuff
Interestingly, the opening sequence of Chopin’s Ballade 1 contains the neopolitan sixth
Popular during the Romantic period. It sure seems he was referencing the Rachmaninoff Prelude in C minor in his example.
3:37 it's octave because it is an interval of "ottava giusta" in Italian. Just a bit more than a "settima maggiore" 😉
that Dmaj7/F# sound gave me some knytt stories vibes. really cool
I too like the chord you're playing at 2:48. Incidentally, it's the first chord in "Calling You" from the movie "Bagdad Café". (d-a-b flat-f). I fell in love with that voicing when I first heard it in that song.