HEY. Hi. This was a brand new level of effort for us and took a TON more planning and executing than we're used to. My team and I worked super hard on this video and we've been incredibly excited to share it with you all so I hope you enjoy it! Be sure to go and get a reminder for the upcoming Spring Sale here! cornellmusicacademy.com/springsale
Hey Charles!! Another *kinda* spacey game is called Sky: Children of the Light and it’s such a beautiful game… I think you should check out the soundtrack!
Hey Charles, I got an idea for a video - since we had the Academy Awards last night could you maybe make a video where you go through all the Original Score nominees and analyze them on what makes them so good?
6:37 That chord in Interstellar is mind numbing. I thought people normally dropped the natural 5th in favor of the #5, but having them clustered together here is awe inspiring. I don't know if it's the instruments or what.
I guess we can say that this is a Cmaj(b6) chord rather than a Cmaj triad with a #5! I find this chord to sound even more spacy than the augmented triad, love it!
Absolutely, mate. Having them clustered together somehow invokes the dreadful feelings of the unforgiving harshness of space, the radiation, the unsettling queerness of it all.
It is tedious to hear so many piano covers (amazing, the popularity it has in the piano sphere) that dismiss this chord altogether, without acknowledging that it is what makes the piece what the piece is, not so much the ostinato and chorale.
The chord is in Mars as well!! Holst was all over it, and Williams clearly used The Planets for inspiration when scoring Star Wars! (I think various movements were temp tracks?)
Your music analysis is untouchable. Your personality is one of a kind and very enjoyable. Your editing has elevated month after month. Your video ideas are rarely disappointing. Keep going guys.
It's perfect as the ending chord of the intro. Makes much more sense than the first one too, the first one is about grabbing attention, the last one is leaving the audience with the right mood to begin the story. It sort of summarizes the entire intro and gives all those feelings Charles talked about, but leaves some mystique.
"We listened to a bunch of John Williams scores to find a chord that he used a lot to create a space-feel and that other people stole from him because he is the origin of all creativity." John Williams is the GOAT
Although you are right and John Williams is the GOAT, he is not the beginning of all creativity as for example this chords was developed in The planets by Holst. John Williams takes a lot from classical music, which is great as he is usually inspired by great composers. I still love John Williams though hahhaha
Bruh Williams literally stole from a lot of classical musicians Holst is probably the last famous listen to Mars from the planets suite and this chord is a big part of it
@@HectorGarcia-ho3xe yeah a lot of Williams' genius is in applying those older ideas into cinema, something that wasn't fashionable before he did it. Now it's just standard practice.
@@ethannorton564 Bruh you can't steal from classical musicians. Unless you like steal their actual sheets of music lol. Classical music has always been borrowing and improving on existing works. Currently and I believe in the past as well (though correct me if I'm wrong), classical music is public domain. You literally can't steal it.
I just wish he used more musical development. Zimmer always finds great chord progressions and then everything he does is Copy/Paste + layering. It gets boring when you're accustomed to Williams, Goldsmith, Horner and their truly symphonic composing with modulations, shortening and prolonging of the motifs, reorchestrations, etc.
Holst's Planet's *is* space. He wrote the book on how to do it and everyone else more or less just tips their hat to his work because he captured it perfectly.
Dude, it's the Wager Chord. "Ride of the Valkeries!" It happens in The Ring Cycle numerous times. That's where Williams and company got it. And that major I to minor ii shift looms large in "Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan."
Yea, the augmented chord is so typical for creating mystery. It's all over Williams and guys who did take it from, like Wagner. And every time you want to do some space thing, just go from a minor chord to sharp 4 or sharp 5 minor and done.
In the beginning I was like “it’s impossible to use just one chord to represent something so huge like the space…” but then… I heard it… mind blowing😍👌🏼
The best thing is, I was searching for the spacechord myself. And I found exactly the same chord!! It this sound that make me feel the excitement of discovering distamt stars but not forgetting the danger we might find. Amazing video!!!
My first thought before clicking the video: "I bet it's an augmented chord." I'd begun to doubt myself, but then you got to it. To me, the use of the augmented chord to indicate the mystery of space goes back to classic 1950s sci-fi.
The soundtrack to Cosmos: Possible Worlds is one of my all-time favorites ever. Alan Silvestri does such an incredible job making it so mysterious and magical.
I've had no formal instruction (not counting piano lessons from age 6 to 15), but I LOVE playing with chords, chords upon chords, chord progression, etc. Your channel makes my spirit soar!!
As someone who is obsessed with space and film scores and music composition - this is my new favorite video of yours and I am forwarding it to my roommates immediately thank you
As soon as i heard that chord the force of a thousand Stargate Themes hit me right in the feels, would you guys consider taking a look at it too? It might be the closest to a whole piece predicated on that concept that i ever heard.
Perfect 5ths stacked on top of each other is always my go-to space sound - reminds me of those science videos we used to watch in elementary school in the 90s 😂
The Blue Devils are the winningest organization in the Drum & Bugle Corps activity. A few decades ago, they came up with a hornline warm up which melded standard brass warm ups, with non-traditional warm ups, with snippets of well known space movie music. It became known as “Space Chords”. There are many different vids of the Blue Devil brass line playing this excercise. They are all a little different as the official version has changed over the decades. But they are all amazing. Here’s a very good example in Hi Def audio. You’ll want to play this really loud on a hi fidelity system. It’s amazing. m.th-cam.com/video/2EDIDCdy5Es/w-d-xo.html
You really need to check out the music from Outer Wilds by Andrew Prahlow. That OST is one of the best videogame soundtracks imo, especially for the mood of space.
Seconding the Outer Wilds shout, the amount that soundtrack reminds me of the Interstellar OST is incredible. Cracking game too, by god do they GET space
omg yes, that ost is one of my all time favorites. to me it feels different from a lot of the other space media that's put out there, but still does an incredible job of encapsulating the wonder and amazement of exploring outer space
I had the same reaction to that chord that you did. Once you pointed it out I was like: “yes! That’s it! That’s space!” Wow. Musics amazing isn’t it? *gasp*, now we need to find a chord for everything!
You’ve nailed something I could only hear but never explain. I wish I were good at music theory so I could. The instant you mentioned the “space chord” I thought of ET and when you mentioned video games I had to listen to the soundtrack from Final Fantasy VII since the “Jenova” theme absolutely has that arpeggio you play later in the video. I believe Radiohead’s “Subterranean Homesick Alien” has the chord, too. I love this.
I think you have a good ear! There is a lot of 7ths going on in that Radiohead song. But mainly I guess it's spacey because of the high echoey bends on the notes and arpeggios. Also a C minor over G. Which isn't a sharp 5th, but is voicing that changes the feeling my moving it to the bottom of the chord instead of the top. Music theory is never ending, but with a basic knowledge of chord construction and learning some vocabulary for describing voicings and progressions, I think you could pick it all up quite quickly.
I know this probably took a lot of effort, but I'm a 18 year old dude and im kinda done with this kind of jumpy editing. Sometimes low energy is just so much better so I can just sit back and relax and learn something about music.
While I enjoyed the video, I totally agree. My attention span is pretty shot at this point, but I don't need the screen to be a flurry of movement to keep me watching - it can be off putting.
Hey Charles, this video came out great and it looked very professional, so I'll commend your team for that. That being said, I really hope this isn't the future of your content. I love the videos where you're sitting alone at your keyboard, listening to something live and reacting to it/analyzing it on the fly. They're personal, passionate, and genuine, and that's what make them great. This style of video was very informative and eye-opening, yes, but it felt... how do I say this? Corporate, maybe? It feels like your passion for music, which was always what made your content so engaging, has been neutered. Again, the production quality is really good, but the quality is being funneled to the wrong areas. The reason you've been able to create such a successful brand that attracts so many passionate musicians it because you are one yourself, and you aren't afraid to show it. This video, however, feels like pandering to the more modern, overly edited and fast paced style that appeals to the low attention span of many internet-goers. I levy these critiques because I care a lot about this channel, and I want to not see it deviate from what I believe makes it great.
I LOVE the structure of this video! I do stuff like this all the time, and I loved coming along on the investigation with you. When you first asked the question, I said “D/Bb” so I’m happy we ended up in the same place
Super nice video! May I suggest that you listen to Holst: The Planets and hear if the chord's in there? It probably is, people are comparing John Williams' Star Wars to it.
As soon as I saw your title I knew the chord. It's all about setting the "normal" environment of a major chord, then that raised 5th says you're going UP to a realm outside of the norm. It's space from a Human perspective. The familiar and the unfamiliar combine.
I've been watching Star Trek Picard S3 and the end-credits theme, which is from the main title of Star Trek First Contact gets me every single time, I just have to stay and listen to it. I would love to see a breakdown of what makes this theme so evocative :)
I thought about this for a while too, and converged onto the Lidian key change thrown into the major/minor melody to create that fresh edgy vast wondrous feeling of awe.
I just heard this exact chord in the track “Your father would be proud” from Rogue One. It’s played as C with the sharp 5 only, and the sharp 5 then drops to E over the C. Play it and you’ll know the exact moment of the film it comes from.
Its a chord that is basically a leading tone and its resolution together. It's suspense in a bottle. Our minds want to resolve its dissonence, but it won't. It just hangs there, and as a consequence, it evokes mystery and suspense. These are the emotions of exploration and discovery. I think it's not just a chord for space, but for great adventure and exploration in general. But of course, space is that next, final frontier.
Signs. The Signs main theme is just one giant set of variations on the Space Chord. And James Newton Howard plays with the orchestration and resolution at the end to make us question if this really is a space-alien battle or a spiritual battle.
Love the passion behind every second of this video! Your videos have a way of tapping into the sheer wonder of experiencing music. It reminds me to be happy with living even when anxieties are present. Thank you to everyone at this channel and keep up the wonderful work
I think its a testament to John Williams's influence over modern film scoring. He has been a major influence on most of the big name composers in the last 40 years or so. Although Williams himself draw inspiration from Holst in forming the language of outer space.
"We listened to a bunch of John Williams scores to find a chord that he used a lot to create a space-feel and that other people stole from him because he is the origin of all creativity." Gustav Holst - the Planet Suite. That man wrote the templates to Scifi Music.
The analogy even works really well because no matter how you orient the chord it’s the same chord, just like how in space no matter how you orient your body there’s no up or down.
Bro, I love that you’re exploring new video formats. I honestly think you could thrive in any format you want to make. It’s your personality, passion, and humor we latched onto. You make what makes you happy and we will support it.
Much as John WIlliams borrowed the epic opening from Korngold and Death Star material from Holst's Planets (Mars), check the Neptune movement of the Planets (by Holst) and you'll see where John truly derived his space-content. The more subtle, less in-your-face stuff comes from Neptune, including some magical augmentations.
Years ago it wanted to know how to make that space sound but didn't know enough theory to find it out myself. Nice to see a video made about it with actual data in it!!
That actually makes so much sense. The defining feature of an augmented chord is it‘s lack of a clear root note which makes it sound like floating in outer space.
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The best use of aug in cinema for me is in the scene in Empire Strikes Back when Yoda lifts the X-Wing from the swamp. The theme is called Yoda and the Force and the chord can be heard briefly around the 2:50 mark.
When I saw the title of the video, before even clicking, I thought for a second… and my brain almost immediately spat out that chord. Not that I knew its name or could dissect it well enough to arpeggiate it, but just, the sound of the chord itself played in my mind like “yup this is the sound in question, dilemma solved, next”
This space chords you're all looking for has a name screaming out of it: Holst (whose The Planets Suit was, by the way, one of the biggest influences for John Williams to compose Star Wars themes).
Not a space chord but the piece with the buildup starting at 4:20 of Imperial Attack always causes me to break down into a whimpering mess. I can't define it but that is the most powerful piece of music I have ever heard.
Who knew the answer was a lot clearer than it appeared! Brahms' 4th symphony in the first movement has the same idea and the last chords of Bruckner's 4th symphony also does this. Cool to see it is also on classical music!
I remember coming across this chord on the piano just fiddling around and I always thought it was cool and reminded me of signs or another show I couldn’t think of at the time but definitely alien like
This fixation on the sound of space, is why i love The planets by holst. It really dives into the endless possibilities that embodies the whatever unknown. The barely observable. The only imaginable.
There's a brass band piece by a fellow named Paul Lovett-Cooper called "Enter the Galaxies" which starts with the cornets doing arpeggios on that exact space chord, too!
You hit the nail right on the head, but an honorable mention could be whatever’s going on in Bowie’s Space Oddity, specifically the “here am I sitting in a tin can” bits
Its why i always remember the lydian scale as the space scale, because of that sharp four that makes it sound like a major combined with a whole tone scale, and thats also basically a scale of aug chords...
I am foaming at the mouth trying to contain my desire to hear what makes Hippo Campus, Majora’s Mask, Jacob Collier, and Dune feel like they’re all related in some way that you never see from the most beloved media from their same genre
I agree with you completely! During your introduction of this video I was thinking to myself E G# B C. Because I remember as a young teen listening to both Star Wars and Star Trek music and figuring out patterns and chordings and playing/experimenting with them using analog synth sounds. For many years I have used that exact structure when setting the appropriate mood during live shows etc. It was so rewarding and fulfilling when at the end of your video you chose not only the same chord structure, but the exact notes I have been using for decades! Very well made video!
Literally the exact chord I thought of when I clicked this video! That's amazing. Btw, this chord also features prominently in Holst's Mars, the OG space music.
Hey Charles! An example of this chord being blatantly abused to sound like space is Maria Schneider's "Sputnik". Literally this chord in every key with a bari solo over the whole thing
I feel very validated that with all of my years of listening to science fiction scores that I correctly guessed what the finalchord would be in this video.
One of the first formative "space sounds" i figured out was noodling around in middle school Ab (root C) to C, which is exactly what you said for E.T. As of late, I've been trying to write a generic Star Wars fanfare and soundtrack for a parody webshow my friend and i have been conceptualizing, so this is timely. Thanks for all you do man!
Frost Waltz by Kevin MacLeod, as featured in Kerbal Space Program, uses many/all of these sounds. Also Star Trek TOS theme opens with that Amaj to Amaj plus F natural for that augmented sound. I am pretty sure it was the Planets suite which established this as the space sound in the collective unconscious. That relationship of four half steps evenly divides the octave into 3rds (mathematically, and also musically), which is why those arpeggios over the whole keyboard sound so ethereal and amazing.
I remember when you covered this chord for a short bit in a previous video. I'm so glad you fleshed it out and included examples. I'm only more convinced of it's power now.
HEY. Hi. This was a brand new level of effort for us and took a TON more planning and executing than we're used to. My team and I worked super hard on this video and we've been incredibly excited to share it with you all so I hope you enjoy it! Be sure to go and get a reminder for the upcoming Spring Sale here! cornellmusicacademy.com/springsale
Hey Charles!! Another *kinda* spacey game is called Sky: Children of the Light and it’s such a beautiful game… I think you should check out the soundtrack!
Obnoxious.
That hard work definitely paid off! Amazing work!
My goodness, it shows! Great work!
Oh my god what the hell happened here? Last time I was there you had 136k subs, not M
Hey Charles, I got an idea for a video - since we had the Academy Awards last night could you maybe make a video where you go through all the Original Score nominees and analyze them on what makes them so good?
I concur with DexterLol’s idea
@@MocahHamel I concur with your concurrent
Yes please!
@@TheDeadOfNight37 I concur with your concurrent of their concurrent
@@spencer7167 To all of the cocurrents above, I concur
6:37 That chord in Interstellar is mind numbing. I thought people normally dropped the natural 5th in favor of the #5, but having them clustered together here is awe inspiring. I don't know if it's the instruments or what.
I guess we can say that this is a Cmaj(b6) chord rather than a Cmaj triad with a #5! I find this chord to sound even more spacy than the augmented triad, love it!
@@clemlvn9598 could also be an Abmaj7#5 in first inversion
Absolutely, mate. Having them clustered together somehow invokes the dreadful feelings of the unforgiving harshness of space, the radiation, the unsettling queerness of it all.
At last someone mentions it!!
It is tedious to hear so many piano covers (amazing, the popularity it has in the piano sphere) that dismiss this chord altogether, without acknowledging that it is what makes the piece what the piece is, not so much the ostinato and chorale.
I feel like the "spacey" sensation that we get out of Williams' music is mostly derived from Holst's Neptune.
The chord is in Mars as well!! Holst was all over it, and Williams clearly used The Planets for inspiration when scoring Star Wars! (I think various movements were temp tracks?)
I'm so glad someone mentioned this.
You're no the only one! IIRC, Lucas originally planned to use Holst's music but commissioned Williams to write something of a substitute.
indeed. bi-tonal. em and g#m. ah yes. (same chord relation as the imperial march, by the way (AND "the end of all things" at the climax of LOTR.)
I don't read or make comments usually, but I commented this time, and scroll down to see a bunch of people said exactly the same thing 😅.
Your music analysis is untouchable.
Your personality is one of a kind and very enjoyable.
Your editing has elevated month after month.
Your video ideas are rarely disappointing.
Keep going guys.
Dave Bennett Piano gives him a run for his money, just quietly..... 😉
(I'm H's son) do you have a crush on all of them?
I still remember the first time I heard that chord in the Star Wars theme, it gave me chills and it still does. It had to be that chord.
It's perfect as the ending chord of the intro. Makes much more sense than the first one too, the first one is about grabbing attention, the last one is leaving the audience with the right mood to begin the story. It sort of summarizes the entire intro and gives all those feelings Charles talked about, but leaves some mystique.
É a dissonância harmônica.
@@ZZubZZeroÉ a dissonância harmônica.
Yup, it's the major with a twist.
The sudden jump to that chord from the preceding mostly major tune makes it even more outstanding.
Amazing how a single chord can evoke such a specific and powerful feeling. Hearing all those space themes back to back like that was intense.
What amazes me is that there isn't any "chord dictionary" to this day, that would document such things.
"We listened to a bunch of John Williams scores to find a chord that he used a lot to create a space-feel and that other people stole from him because he is the origin of all creativity."
John Williams is the GOAT
Although you are right and John Williams is the GOAT, he is not the beginning of all creativity as for example this chords was developed in The planets by Holst. John Williams takes a lot from classical music, which is great as he is usually inspired by great composers. I still love John Williams though hahhaha
Bruh Williams literally stole from a lot of classical musicians Holst is probably the last famous listen to Mars from the planets suite and this chord is a big part of it
th-cam.com/video/tysCiL1-24w/w-d-xo.html
@@HectorGarcia-ho3xe yeah a lot of Williams' genius is in applying those older ideas into cinema, something that wasn't fashionable before he did it. Now it's just standard practice.
@@ethannorton564 Bruh you can't steal from classical musicians. Unless you like steal their actual sheets of music lol. Classical music has always been borrowing and improving on existing works. Currently and I believe in the past as well (though correct me if I'm wrong), classical music is public domain. You literally can't steal it.
The soundtrack of Interstellar really shines, I immediately got goosebumps from only those 4 bars…
Hans Zimmer is a genius when it comes to Epic scores
I just wish he used more musical development. Zimmer always finds great chord progressions and then everything he does is Copy/Paste + layering. It gets boring when you're accustomed to Williams, Goldsmith, Horner and their truly symphonic composing with modulations, shortening and prolonging of the motifs, reorchestrations, etc.
Gustav Holst's The Planets always leads to good space inspiration music
Holst's Planet's *is* space. He wrote the book on how to do it and everyone else more or less just tips their hat to his work because he captured it perfectly.
@@jttech44
WORD...
The "ostenato" at 7:19 sounds exactly like the arpeggio used in the Jenova theme from Final Fantasy VII. Jenova being a monster from space
I call that line of ostenato strings the "Awe-peggio".
A different type of video from your normal reviews! Love to see you exploring space!
Dude, it's the Wager Chord. "Ride of the Valkeries!" It happens in The Ring Cycle numerous times. That's where Williams and company got it. And that major I to minor ii shift looms large in "Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan."
Yep - Wrath of Khan is _riddled_ with these sorts of chords, at times with some obvious nods to Shostakovich 5 as well.
Which is what exactly?
I thought he got it from Holst?
Yea, the augmented chord is so typical for creating mystery. It's all over Williams and guys who did take it from, like Wagner. And every time you want to do some space thing, just go from a minor chord to sharp 4 or sharp 5 minor and done.
Really love this new format Charles! This is an awesome progression for the channel, super excited to see more like it in the future
The first time I heard that little sequence in the Starfield teaser, I think I was sold on the game. They nailed the space sound.
Charles goated
Entirely accurate comment
Mi dica governo italiano, perché ha commentato sotto questo video ?
I love how Charles is just so pumped about finding the chords and the other guys look just so done with the whole thing, it's kinda hilarious.
The brilliant part about this chord is the augmented 5th makes it feel like the chord is constantly expanding, just like space.
For me the spaciest chord is whatever the chord is at the end of Holst’s “Mars.” Leaves me in awe every time I hear it
The quality of the videos is just getting better and better. It’s insane what you’re able to do 👏🏽
In the beginning I was like “it’s impossible to use just one chord to represent something so huge like the space…” but then… I heard it… mind blowing😍👌🏼
The best thing is, I was searching for the spacechord myself. And I found exactly the same chord!! It this sound that make me feel the excitement of discovering distamt stars but not forgetting the danger we might find. Amazing video!!!
I was so happy to see Starfield’s music included in this. I’ve been hooked on the score since the announcement teaser trailer.
My first thought before clicking the video: "I bet it's an augmented chord."
I'd begun to doubt myself, but then you got to it. To me, the use of the augmented chord to indicate the mystery of space goes back to classic 1950s sci-fi.
The soundtrack to Cosmos: Possible Worlds is one of my all-time favorites ever. Alan Silvestri does such an incredible job making it so mysterious and magical.
I've had no formal instruction (not counting piano lessons from age 6 to 15), but I LOVE playing with chords, chords upon chords, chord progression, etc. Your channel makes my spirit soar!!
As someone who is obsessed with space and film scores and music composition - this is my new favorite video of yours and I am forwarding it to my roommates immediately thank you
As soon as i heard that chord the force of a thousand Stargate Themes hit me right in the feels, would you guys consider taking a look at it too? It might be the closest to a whole piece predicated on that concept that i ever heard.
Yes, my first thought was Stargate as well!
Perfect 5ths stacked on top of each other is always my go-to space sound - reminds me of those science videos we used to watch in elementary school in the 90s 😂
I really appreciate that you added startfield to this, it really captures that grandeur and mysteriousness of space
The Blue Devils are the winningest organization in the Drum & Bugle Corps activity. A few decades ago, they came up with a hornline warm up which melded standard brass warm ups, with non-traditional warm ups, with snippets of well known space movie music. It became known as “Space Chords”. There are many different vids of the Blue Devil brass line playing this excercise. They are all a little different as the official version has changed over the decades. But they are all amazing. Here’s a very good example in Hi Def audio. You’ll want to play this really loud on a hi fidelity system. It’s amazing.
m.th-cam.com/video/2EDIDCdy5Es/w-d-xo.html
Was looking for this comment!
The Phantom Regiment FTW!
I hear this chord in almost every Star Trek film soundtrack, so I was already associating it with space before I knew it was The Space Chord!
You really need to check out the music from Outer Wilds by Andrew Prahlow. That OST is one of the best videogame soundtracks imo, especially for the mood of space.
Seconding the Outer Wilds shout, the amount that soundtrack reminds me of the Interstellar OST is incredible. Cracking game too, by god do they GET space
omg yes, that ost is one of my all time favorites. to me it feels different from a lot of the other space media that's put out there, but still does an incredible job of encapsulating the wonder and amazement of exploring outer space
Dangerous, wonderous, uncertainty, chaos, beautiful, magical
You described space and the universe in a nutshell
4:40 We have *WHAT* chords ??
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:|
Two kinds of them: imposter and crewmate
I had the same reaction to that chord that you did. Once you pointed it out I was like: “yes! That’s it! That’s space!”
Wow. Musics amazing isn’t it? *gasp*, now we need to find a chord for everything!
You’ve nailed something I could only hear but never explain. I wish I were good at music theory so I could. The instant you mentioned the “space chord” I thought of ET and when you mentioned video games I had to listen to the soundtrack from Final Fantasy VII since the “Jenova” theme absolutely has that arpeggio you play later in the video. I believe Radiohead’s “Subterranean Homesick Alien” has the chord, too. I love this.
I think you have a good ear!
There is a lot of 7ths going on in that Radiohead song. But mainly I guess it's spacey because of the high echoey bends on the notes and arpeggios. Also a C minor over G. Which isn't a sharp 5th, but is voicing that changes the feeling my moving it to the bottom of the chord instead of the top.
Music theory is never ending, but with a basic knowledge of chord construction and learning some vocabulary for describing voicings and progressions, I think you could pick it all up quite quickly.
I just twiddle on my organ and play these types of chords all the time, they just sound so good when put in the right spot.
Thanks for doing the work for me. I've been getting into film scoring, this is helpful. I hate studying
Who even needs college?
When you started talking about Star Wars, THAT chord immediately clicked in my brain.
I know this probably took a lot of effort, but I'm a 18 year old dude and im kinda done with this kind of jumpy editing. Sometimes low energy is just so much better so I can just sit back and relax and learn something about music.
While I enjoyed the video, I totally agree. My attention span is pretty shot at this point, but I don't need the screen to be a flurry of movement to keep me watching - it can be off putting.
Mass effect has lots of other worldly soundscapes. The main theme is just pure bliss
Hey Charles, this video came out great and it looked very professional, so I'll commend your team for that. That being said, I really hope this isn't the future of your content. I love the videos where you're sitting alone at your keyboard, listening to something live and reacting to it/analyzing it on the fly. They're personal, passionate, and genuine, and that's what make them great. This style of video was very informative and eye-opening, yes, but it felt... how do I say this? Corporate, maybe? It feels like your passion for music, which was always what made your content so engaging, has been neutered. Again, the production quality is really good, but the quality is being funneled to the wrong areas. The reason you've been able to create such a successful brand that attracts so many passionate musicians it because you are one yourself, and you aren't afraid to show it. This video, however, feels like pandering to the more modern, overly edited and fast paced style that appeals to the low attention span of many internet-goers. I levy these critiques because I care a lot about this channel, and I want to not see it deviate from what I believe makes it great.
That chord in isolation immediately makes me think of the theme for Wrath of Khan.
I LOVE the structure of this video! I do stuff like this all the time, and I loved coming along on the investigation with you. When you first asked the question, I said “D/Bb” so I’m happy we ended up in the same place
Super nice video! May I suggest that you listen to Holst: The Planets and hear if the chord's in there? It probably is, people are comparing John Williams' Star Wars to it.
He did borrow a lot of ideas from Holst.
Holst basically invented cinematic movie scores decades before it was a thing.
We had our 2021 marching band show about space and that chord was literally the opening hit
As soon as I saw your title I knew the chord. It's all about setting the "normal" environment of a major chord, then that raised 5th says you're going UP to a realm outside of the norm. It's space from a Human perspective. The familiar and the unfamiliar combine.
I've been watching Star Trek Picard S3 and the end-credits theme, which is from the main title of Star Trek First Contact gets me every single time, I just have to stay and listen to it. I would love to see a breakdown of what makes this theme so evocative :)
I thought about this for a while too, and converged onto the Lidian key change thrown into the major/minor melody to create that fresh edgy vast wondrous feeling of awe.
5:32 That chord is not actually C#5. It's a polychord built of C Major and Db Major at the same time.
I just heard this exact chord in the track “Your father would be proud” from Rogue One. It’s played as C with the sharp 5 only, and the sharp 5 then drops to E over the C. Play it and you’ll know the exact moment of the film it comes from.
Its a chord that is basically a leading tone and its resolution together. It's suspense in a bottle. Our minds want to resolve its dissonence, but it won't. It just hangs there, and as a consequence, it evokes mystery and suspense. These are the emotions of exploration and discovery. I think it's not just a chord for space, but for great adventure and exploration in general.
But of course, space is that next, final frontier.
I remember hearing that chord for the first time as a kid watching star wars it was one of the first times I remembered being fascinated by music
Signs. The Signs main theme is just one giant set of variations on the Space Chord. And James Newton Howard plays with the orchestration and resolution at the end to make us question if this really is a space-alien battle or a spiritual battle.
Love the passion behind every second of this video! Your videos have a way of tapping into the sheer wonder of experiencing music. It reminds me to be happy with living even when anxieties are present. Thank you to everyone at this channel and keep up the wonderful work
I think its a testament to John Williams's influence over modern film scoring. He has been a major influence on most of the big name composers in the last 40 years or so. Although Williams himself draw inspiration from Holst in forming the language of outer space.
"We listened to a bunch of John Williams scores to find a chord that he used a lot to create a space-feel and that other people stole from him because he is the origin of all creativity."
Gustav Holst - the Planet Suite. That man wrote the templates to Scifi Music.
Always comes back that john williams is the goat of film scores. Cannot imagine a time in cinema without his epic scores
The analogy even works really well because no matter how you orient the chord it’s the same chord, just like how in space no matter how you orient your body there’s no up or down.
I love the Interstellar soundtrack even more now. Knowing it shares that same underpinning sound with all other space films is so satisfying.
That moment when the chord dropped in the Star Wars bit was so satisfying
The Lydian Augmented mode I think is the best mode for capturing that mystic otherworldly sound and fits perfectly with the augmented fifth.
Bro, I love that you’re exploring new video formats. I honestly think you could thrive in any format you want to make. It’s your personality, passion, and humor we latched onto. You make what makes you happy and we will support it.
Much as John WIlliams borrowed the epic opening from Korngold and Death Star material from Holst's Planets (Mars), check the Neptune movement of the Planets (by Holst) and you'll see where John truly derived his space-content. The more subtle, less in-your-face stuff comes from Neptune, including some magical augmentations.
Dude the quality of this video is off the fucking charts and I'm all for this!. The intro bit where you 'want to go to space' was hilarious.
Years ago it wanted to know how to make that space sound but didn't know enough theory to find it out myself. Nice to see a video made about it with actual data in it!!
E aug is the chord I used in one of my own space songs, just gives off space vibes.
You should do more of these like what chord makes a western, or makes a thriller, or makes a fantasy world
That actually makes so much sense. The defining feature of an augmented chord is it‘s lack of a clear root note which makes it sound like floating in outer space.
The best use of aug in cinema for me is in the scene in Empire Strikes Back when Yoda lifts the X-Wing from the swamp. The theme is called Yoda and the Force and the chord can be heard briefly around the 2:50 mark.
When I saw the title of the video, before even clicking, I thought for a second… and my brain almost immediately spat out that chord. Not that I knew its name or could dissect it well enough to arpeggiate it, but just, the sound of the chord itself played in my mind like “yup this is the sound in question, dilemma solved, next”
This space chords you're all looking for has a name screaming out of it: Holst (whose The Planets Suit was, by the way, one of the biggest influences for John Williams to compose Star Wars themes).
Not a space chord but the piece with the buildup starting at 4:20 of Imperial Attack always causes me to break down into a whimpering mess. I can't define it but that is the most powerful piece of music I have ever heard.
I love that it can resolve to make any of those notes the root too! Just like in space, you never know where you’ll end up!
Who knew the answer was a lot clearer than it appeared!
Brahms' 4th symphony in the first movement has the same idea and the last chords of Bruckner's 4th symphony also does this.
Cool to see it is also on classical music!
John Cage's "4'33" " captures the actual sound of space the best
This extra-effort style including the extra skits was phenomenal. Thank you as always.
I remember coming across this chord on the piano just fiddling around and I always thought it was cool and reminded me of signs or another show I couldn’t think of at the time but definitely alien like
This fixation on the sound of space, is why i love The planets by holst. It really dives into the endless possibilities that embodies the whatever unknown. The barely observable. The only imaginable.
There's a brass band piece by a fellow named Paul Lovett-Cooper called "Enter the Galaxies" which starts with the cornets doing arpeggios on that exact space chord, too!
A spread voicing of E\C polychord really works for me
I took a break for a couple months and then come back to a video like this! You're upping your game
My favorite space movie scene is when Rivendell is introduced in that classic space odyssey, The Fellowship of the Ring.
This is the best channel on TH-cam for musicians. Rick Beato, is up there, but I always walk away a better musician and human after you videos.
You hit the nail right on the head, but an honorable mention could be whatever’s going on in Bowie’s Space Oddity, specifically the “here am I sitting in a tin can” bits
Its why i always remember the lydian scale as the space scale, because of that sharp four that makes it sound like a major combined with a whole tone scale, and thats also basically a scale of aug chords...
5:32 I cant get the Leonardo Dicaprio meme out of my head here hahaha
I am foaming at the mouth trying to contain my desire to hear what makes Hippo Campus, Majora’s Mask, Jacob Collier, and Dune feel like they’re all related in some way that you never see from the most beloved media from their same genre
I agree with you completely! During your introduction of this video I was thinking to myself E G# B C. Because I remember as a young teen listening to both Star Wars and Star Trek music and figuring out patterns and chordings and playing/experimenting with them using analog synth sounds. For many years I have used that exact structure when setting the appropriate mood during live shows etc. It was so rewarding and fulfilling when at the end of your video you chose not only the same chord structure, but the exact notes I have been using for decades! Very well made video!
I think Zedd captured this very well with his soundtrack for One Strange Rock
The major to augmented triad also works as the sound of wander or vastness. Hear that on soundtracks a bunch.
Nice work. Seems appropriate that the augmented sound is aligned with expanding to the cosmos.
Literally the exact chord I thought of when I clicked this video! That's amazing.
Btw, this chord also features prominently in Holst's Mars, the OG space music.
Star Trek First Contacts score encapsulates everything for me.
Hey Charles! An example of this chord being blatantly abused to sound like space is Maria Schneider's "Sputnik". Literally this chord in every key with a bari solo over the whole thing
I feel very validated that with all of my years of listening to science fiction scores that I correctly guessed what the finalchord would be in this video.
One of the first formative "space sounds" i figured out was noodling around in middle school Ab (root C) to C, which is exactly what you said for E.T.
As of late, I've been trying to write a generic Star Wars fanfare and soundtrack for a parody webshow my friend and i have been conceptualizing, so this is timely. Thanks for all you do man!
Frost Waltz by Kevin MacLeod, as featured in Kerbal Space Program, uses many/all of these sounds.
Also Star Trek TOS theme opens with that Amaj to Amaj plus F natural for that augmented sound.
I am pretty sure it was the Planets suite which established this as the space sound in the collective unconscious.
That relationship of four half steps evenly divides the octave into 3rds (mathematically, and also musically), which is why those arpeggios over the whole keyboard sound so ethereal and amazing.
I remember when you covered this chord for a short bit in a previous video. I'm so glad you fleshed it out and included examples. I'm only more convinced of it's power now.