Brave choice to dedicate so much time to something so specific, but you really nailed it. Commentary on these types of topics is very rewarding to us as viewers and listeners. Your video production is top notch and much of everything you're doing is informative and entertaining. Keep it up, man!
I started tearing up at the end of your video. I knew this song well already from my teen years, and I had seen Jacob's performance, but now it's hitting me in a fresh way again.
Thanks! I just tried modulating with a common note between keys like C (common E) > A (common C#) > F# > D# > C and it's a lot of fun + you can do them endlessly!
Great video and a great read of what Jacob perhaps intends by the Db modulation. It's change, it opens everything out, but there is also a sense of arrival and conclusion, set up as you detailed. He uses these common tones regularly in performance and perhaps explicitly points to what he's doing.. Listen to the start of Best Part on TH-cam. Chords become crunchier beneath an upper octave common tone, resulting in an agreeable chuckle in the knowledgeable crowd as he hits the gnarliest one, yet it remains sweet despite the dissonance. Having seen him recently, it kind of felt like he guides you, through such pointers, to not only more complex and diverse musical territory, but also to more complex (but precise) emotional territory too. Great to see a video that looks at the narrative and meaning the applied theory constructs: what the music does and how. Liked and subbed and am looking forward to working through your other content. Thank you.
Beautifully executed deep dive into both the theoretical and emotional content of this performance! If this is one of the kind of videos you're making, you definitely have a new subscriber here!
Thanks so much! I’m working to make each video better than the last. I’m new to doing this full time this year, and really aspire to do it well. Glad to have you onboard.
I think it would make more sense to call the chord he is going to C# major and not Db. Pedantic, but it is easier to follow since g# remains g# in this case.
Thx for the nice video and discussion. Three other interesting ideas are the B to Db (or C# for the purpose of my thought) from a strictly relational chord standpoint, the relative positioning of final melody note in the expected and new chord, and the tone of the final key on the piano. I don't pretend to know what choices he made when arranging, although it does seem clear based on his delicate touch and slight hesitation that he was leaning into the surprise of the new chord but in a gentle way, as if to enhance the final landing. However, whether by accident or choice he used a Maj 1 to Maj 2 (not in the key, just thinking sonically here) when he went B to Db (C#), which is used in scoring as a way to portray stepping forward and making progress, or experiencing something new and mysterious but hopeful...perhaps inspiring for the patients involved. Also the melody should have ended on a 3rd, which in western music dictates the general quality of feeling associated with it. But it ends on the fifth which is often associated with a more solid, weightier landing. This is enhanced by the Bsus E note stepping a half step into the major 3rd of the new key. Adam Neely reviewed Celine Dion's All By Myself and discussed the feeling impact of changing the melody note's position in the harmonic series with a common note modulation, perhaps some of that is at play here, from 3rd to 5th. Finally, the acoustic piano (with common tuning) often has a different sound quality by key, with some keys having a rounder and gentler tone, and some having a brighter and sharper tone. Definitely a tone quality difference between Db and E. At any rate, the modulation and discussion were both wonderful.
@@JoshWalshMusic Beautiful Piano playing, but characteristically with the times, takes on the lazy, dunk/stoned mellow vibe. Developing a character for song performance, I dont prefer this vibe. It is same reason I love Billie Eilish music, I hate its' persona.
Brave choice to dedicate so much time to something so specific, but you really nailed it. Commentary on these types of topics is very rewarding to us as viewers and listeners. Your video production is top notch and much of everything you're doing is informative and entertaining. Keep it up, man!
Tyler, thank you! This is exactly my goal, to find some interesting nuance of a song and explore it. I appreciate you.
Very interesting Josh, I enjoyed your analysis and the common modualation you mentioned and the end was also fab! 🎹
I love your way of explaining common tone modulation.
I started tearing up at the end of your video. I knew this song well already from my teen years, and I had seen Jacob's performance, but now it's hitting me in a fresh way again.
Thanks! I just tried modulating with a common note between keys like C (common E) > A (common C#) > F# > D# > C and it's a lot of fun + you can do them endlessly!
This is beyond my knowledge of music theory but you explain it so well that I understand it.
Great video and a great read of what Jacob perhaps intends by the Db modulation. It's change, it opens everything out, but there is also a sense of arrival and conclusion, set up as you detailed.
He uses these common tones regularly in performance and perhaps explicitly points to what he's doing.. Listen to the start of Best Part on TH-cam. Chords become crunchier beneath an upper octave common tone, resulting in an agreeable chuckle in the knowledgeable crowd as he hits the gnarliest one, yet it remains sweet despite the dissonance.
Having seen him recently, it kind of felt like he guides you, through such pointers, to not only more complex and diverse musical territory, but also to more complex (but precise) emotional territory too.
Great to see a video that looks at the narrative and meaning the applied theory constructs: what the music does and how. Liked and subbed and am looking forward to working through your other content.
Thank you.
Paul thank you so much for the kind comment. I’m glad to have you here.
Beautifully executed deep dive into both the theoretical and emotional content of this performance! If this is one of the kind of videos you're making, you definitely have a new subscriber here!
Thanks so much! I’m working to make each video better than the last. I’m new to doing this full time this year, and really aspire to do it well. Glad to have you onboard.
wow, truly mind-blowing moment to now understand why it has such an impact. Thanks! Keep up the awesome work!
Thx for the vídeo and explanation. This channel is underrated
Masterfully done Josh. I really am enjoying your channel so much...
Thank you!
You make it sound so easy.
So nice, I learn so much from you. Since finishing college you are my main theory teacher 👏👏👏
Dude, thanks for the video 🔥 it was really interesting
I think it would make more sense to call the chord he is going to C# major and not Db. Pedantic, but it is easier to follow since g# remains g# in this case.
Thx for the nice video and discussion. Three other interesting ideas are the B to Db (or C# for the purpose of my thought) from a strictly relational chord standpoint, the relative positioning of final melody note in the expected and new chord, and the tone of the final key on the piano. I don't pretend to know what choices he made when arranging, although it does seem clear based on his delicate touch and slight hesitation that he was leaning into the surprise of the new chord but in a gentle way, as if to enhance the final landing. However, whether by accident or choice he used a Maj 1 to Maj 2 (not in the key, just thinking sonically here) when he went B to Db (C#), which is used in scoring as a way to portray stepping forward and making progress, or experiencing something new and mysterious but hopeful...perhaps inspiring for the patients involved. Also the melody should have ended on a 3rd, which in western music dictates the general quality of feeling associated with it. But it ends on the fifth which is often associated with a more solid, weightier landing. This is enhanced by the Bsus E note stepping a half step into the major 3rd of the new key. Adam Neely reviewed Celine Dion's All By Myself and discussed the feeling impact of changing the melody note's position in the harmonic series with a common note modulation, perhaps some of that is at play here, from 3rd to 5th. Finally, the acoustic piano (with common tuning) often has a different sound quality by key, with some keys having a rounder and gentler tone, and some having a brighter and sharper tone. Definitely a tone quality difference between Db and E. At any rate, the modulation and discussion were both wonderful.
Epic comment! And great point about ending on the fifth instead of the 3rd. Cheer my friend, glad to have you here.
But why is it not C sharp which is a related key?
holy crap
I think i've heard stuff like this in Ravel also, seems like a deceptive cadence, but made in major instead of minor. What do you think?
I hear this same idea all over classical music. I don’t know the specific Ravel reference, but I wouldn’t doubt it at all. Thanks!
JC is clearly not from Earth 🌍
This is the worst Fix You rendition ever.
I disliked it too, way oversung
wow you are very refined and tasteful and your opinion on this matter means a lot, thank you for leaving this comment and enlightening us all
@@lunafoxfire that is the funniest response
No.
I dont enjoy Jacob Collier. At all.
It has been really surprising to me how polarizing his music can be. What is it that you don’t like?
@@JoshWalshMusic Beautiful Piano playing, but characteristically with the times, takes on the lazy, dunk/stoned mellow vibe. Developing a character for song performance, I dont prefer this vibe. It is same reason I love Billie Eilish music, I hate its' persona.