Thank you so much! I was so happy to see the N6 - I fell in love with Klezmer and I am more than happy to have learned the basics now 😀😀 N6 has so many functions - it seems it’s the glue of everything 😀
I agree with Craig and Polina. I feel that the music needs to be approached in its own terms rather than using a classical template, with its own conventional expectations of what is normal. You may come to different conclusions. For example, if you listen to almost all chorded Klezmer music in Freygish, and experience it in its own terms you will hear that the minor chord on the 7th degree functions, in fact, as this mode's primary dominant, not as the "weaker dominant effect" you described using a classical framework. And in the actual music the minor chord on the fourth degree has the primary subdominant function and seems very natural rather than being "funky" simply because the chord on the tonic has a major third. It would also be helpful to describe what are the stable and unstable melodic notes in the mode. Best of luck.
I am a new student of Klezmer(flute). Thank you for your videos. They are helping me to attain a better understanding of this beautiful art form. I do understand your concept of traditional western harmony to explain Klezmer. It works for me!
Awesome that you explained this so clearly in a way that's familiar to classical musicians. This immediately put into context stuff that I've heard in klezmer music but couldn't put my finger on what it was. In a jazz or classical piece it would be so easy to recognize a half diminished followed by a major chord, only with the functions being subdominant and dominant ii°7 - V. Somehow it has been much harder to figure out the half dim by ear when it has this dominant to tonic function, though it's easy to hear that is D - T
I think it needs to be made very clear that this is a modern approach from a classical perspective and with a need to work with the mode in a non traditional way. For people comparing Freygish to Hijaz, there is also a whole question of the relationship between the notes and their functions in Ahava Raba, I am not sure that Hijaz behaves in the same way.
Yes, that is totally fair. The whole point of the video was to make the scale accessible via a more traditional lens. There is obviously quite a bit more that goes into klezmer (or any style) than what I could fit into 7 minutes
Great video! What I find so interesting about this scale is that it has other triads hidden within the scale beyond what you mention. Like, the II chord is a Bb major, but can be made into a Bb minor or Bb diminished triad. And when sevenths are added even more interesting chords are possible, like the dark Bb minor +Maj7 chord. With such a range of chords, from diminished to augmented, such a variety of purely diatonic melodies can be created, allowing for such a great range of emotional expression. At least, in theory.
I really appreciate this! As a suggestion: the "flavor" of the chords would be observable if they always had the I before them, as a reference. As they were presented, none of them sounded in the least way klezmery.
Very theoretical and practical teaching. Thank you. I love playing Mayn Shtetele Belz, I will probably play this song better now. I see a great affinity with Spanish music (La Fiesta). Greetings from Chopin's homeland 🙂
Hey Alek! Isaac here, we were on taglit together in 2018. Looking to pickup a mandolin soon to learn some bluegrass, klezmer, and pop. The algorithm gave me this video in my pre-research so thank you!
Hmmm. A couple thoughts. The 5 chord in Freygish is rarely used in traditional Klezmer if at all, tho you might sometimes hear a bass instrument play the note while whatever chordal instruments/sections play the 7, which functions as the dominant in freygish. The 2 is very rarely heard in old recordings, even the ‘newer’ old recordings of the 30’s, tho I guess by the 50’s you hear it in some late American recordings (Tarras, Muziker, Epstein Bro’s. etc). Of course one can do whatever they want and music should always evolve but if the purpose of the video is to explain Klezmer harmony as opposed to how one can use this specific scale to harmonize something in the western classical/jazz sense it might be helpful to make it a bit clearer to folks what’s ‘typical’. Klezmer modes also don’t generally function exactly as scales, or Arabic/Turkish maqam, Tho was definitely a connection to the Ottoman Empire, where many Jews lived, travelled, did business and played music (beside going to modern day turkey, don’t forget that a lotnof Moldova, Romania and part of Ukraine WERE the Ottoman Empire for quite a while (18-early 20th century, I believe?) and also there was a decent sized Greek population there. But a lot of these modal functions/typical moves are very much present in cantorial and para-liturgical music. One important thing to remember is that these aren’t scales exactly. Klezmer tunes tend to have different micro-modulations or cadences that go out of mode (or just full on modulations but that’s another thing) which works a bit differently than maqam or western music, tho shares something with both (as Zev Feldman likes to say, Klezmer is both more Eastern and Western than the music of its neighbors- see his book klezmer: music, history and memory or some of Beregovski’s very important book, Jewish Instrumental Folk Music for more info on this stuff and general context). For example, in Freygish, when going below the tonic the melody tends to go to a # or natural 6, not the flat 6 which is in the mode above the tonic. So we tend to teach it like this, if we keep your key of A: A Bb C# D E F G A G F E D #C Bb A G #F G A Ok I think this is enough for one comment... glad you’re enjoying the music and appreciate you sharing some insights into how it functions, I just think it can be easy to simplify the music especially when translating it into purely western models and what makes this music great isn’t super fast tempos or odd meters (don’t have much of either) but some beautiful subtleties that allow for rich and nuanced expression! Hope this is helpful...
Thank you for the thoughts! I responded in more depth on Facebook but I will say part of what's going on here is me trying to keep it brief with the video and another part of what's going on is my specific perspective as a pianist. As you know, a lot of idiomatic klezmer ornamentations involve pitch bending, which I can't do on my instrument
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That was quite educational and it improves one's connection to one's Jewish roots. Do you by any chance could share note sheet to your composition (Without)
My eighth grade band teacher played some thing on his saxophone he called the gypsy scale. It was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard and I’m trying to figure out what it is this scale sounds a lot like it when you play it note by note advancing
Love it, ive been analyzing south indian ragas the same way, to try and juxtapose harmony. Also a thought while examining so many scales this way, is that there are many other scales that have the diminished 3 chord and aug 6. Altho not traditional i could see either of these being used as a point for modal interchange
@@alekwasserman I am familiar with the prayers but not so familiar with the musical background from an academic standpoint, so connections don't click right away. I lead prayers during the weekdays, Sabbath, and high holidays, so I consider myself resourceful but not very useful. I took some classes at the Belz School of Jewish Music on some of those prayers. Photos for classical musical scales but it was hard to really understand them and remember them.
@@alekwasserman By the way thank you for your film ;-) I know this Shteiger as Ahava Rabbah named from the prayer, and from turkish and arabic musik (maqam) where it is exactly the same as Freygish: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrygian_dominant_scale
![Demonstrating The Modes of Harmonic Minor [MUSIC THEORY / SCALES]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/qk8uobP4uJE/mqdefault.jpg)
![Demonstrating The Modes of Harmonic Minor [MUSIC THEORY / SCALES]](/img/tr.png)
Thank you so much! I was so happy to see the N6 - I fell in love with Klezmer and I am more than happy to have learned the basics now 😀😀 N6 has so many functions - it seems it’s the glue of everything 😀
I agree with Craig and Polina. I feel that the music needs to be approached in its own terms rather than using a classical template, with its own conventional expectations of what is normal. You may come to different conclusions. For example, if you listen to almost all chorded Klezmer music in Freygish, and experience it in its own terms you will hear that the minor chord on the 7th degree functions, in fact, as this mode's primary dominant, not as the "weaker dominant effect" you described using a classical framework. And in the actual music the minor chord on the fourth degree has the primary subdominant function and seems very natural rather than being "funky" simply because the chord on the tonic has a major third. It would also be helpful to describe what are the stable and unstable melodic notes in the mode. Best of luck.
I am a new student of Klezmer(flute). Thank you for your videos. They are helping me to attain a better understanding of this beautiful art form. I do understand your concept of traditional western harmony to explain Klezmer. It works for me!
Awesome that you explained this so clearly in a way that's familiar to classical musicians. This immediately put into context stuff that I've heard in klezmer music but couldn't put my finger on what it was. In a jazz or classical piece it would be so easy to recognize a half diminished followed by a major chord, only with the functions being subdominant and dominant ii°7 - V. Somehow it has been much harder to figure out the half dim by ear when it has this dominant to tonic function, though it's easy to hear that is D - T
Thank you for the kind words! Glad you found the video to be helpful!
Thank you Sir!
I think it needs to be made very clear that this is a modern approach from a classical perspective and with a need to work with the mode in a non traditional way. For people comparing Freygish to Hijaz, there is also a whole question of the relationship between the notes and their functions in Ahava Raba, I am not sure that Hijaz behaves in the same way.
Yes, that is totally fair. The whole point of the video was to make the scale accessible via a more traditional lens. There is obviously quite a bit more that goes into klezmer (or any style) than what I could fit into 7 minutes
Great video! What I find so interesting about this scale is that it has other triads hidden within the scale beyond what you mention. Like, the II chord is a Bb major, but can be made into a Bb minor or Bb diminished triad. And when sevenths are added even more interesting chords are possible, like the dark Bb minor +Maj7 chord. With such a range of chords, from diminished to augmented, such a variety of purely diatonic melodies can be created, allowing for such a great range of emotional expression. At least, in theory.
Yes, I too find that very interesting. Thank you for watching!
I really appreciate this! As a suggestion: the "flavor" of the chords would be observable if they always had the I before them, as a reference. As they were presented, none of them sounded in the least way klezmery.
Very theoretical and practical teaching. Thank you. I love playing Mayn Shtetele Belz, I will probably play this song better now. I see a great affinity with Spanish music (La Fiesta). Greetings from Chopin's homeland 🙂
Hey Alek! Isaac here, we were on taglit together in 2018. Looking to pickup a mandolin soon to learn some bluegrass, klezmer, and pop. The algorithm gave me this video in my pre-research so thank you!
Hey Isaac! Hope you're enjoying life and thank you for the view!
Hmmm. A couple thoughts. The 5 chord in Freygish is rarely used in traditional Klezmer if at all, tho you might sometimes hear a bass instrument play the note while whatever chordal instruments/sections play the 7, which functions as the dominant in freygish. The 2 is very rarely heard in old recordings, even the ‘newer’ old recordings of the 30’s, tho I guess by the 50’s you hear it in some late American recordings (Tarras, Muziker, Epstein Bro’s. etc). Of course one can do whatever they want and music should always evolve but if the purpose of the video is to explain Klezmer harmony as opposed to how one can use this specific scale to harmonize something in the western classical/jazz sense it might be helpful to make it a bit clearer to folks what’s ‘typical’. Klezmer modes also don’t generally function exactly as scales, or Arabic/Turkish maqam, Tho was definitely a connection to the Ottoman Empire, where many Jews lived, travelled, did business and played music (beside going to modern day turkey, don’t forget that a lotnof Moldova, Romania and part of Ukraine WERE the Ottoman Empire for quite a while (18-early 20th century, I believe?) and also there was a decent sized Greek population there. But a lot of these modal functions/typical moves are very much present in cantorial and para-liturgical music.
One important thing to remember is that these aren’t scales exactly. Klezmer tunes tend to have different micro-modulations or cadences that go out of mode (or just full on modulations but that’s another thing) which works a bit differently than maqam or western music, tho shares something with both (as Zev Feldman likes to say, Klezmer is both more Eastern and Western than the music of its neighbors- see his book klezmer: music, history and memory or some of Beregovski’s very important book, Jewish Instrumental Folk Music for more info on this stuff and general context).
For example, in Freygish, when going below the tonic the melody tends to go to a # or natural 6, not the flat 6 which is in the mode above the tonic. So we tend to teach it like this, if we keep your key of A:
A Bb C# D E F G A G F E D #C Bb A G #F G A
Ok I think this is enough for one comment... glad you’re enjoying the music and appreciate you sharing some insights into how it functions, I just think it can be easy to simplify the music especially when translating it into purely western models and what makes this music great isn’t super fast tempos or odd meters (don’t have much of either) but some beautiful subtleties that allow for rich and nuanced expression! Hope this is helpful...
Thank you for the thoughts! I responded in more depth on Facebook but I will say part of what's going on here is me trying to keep it brief with the video and another part of what's going on is my specific perspective as a pianist. As you know, a lot of idiomatic klezmer ornamentations involve pitch bending, which I can't do on my instrument
Right on, Craig!
thank you!! this was super helpful and exactly what i was looking for
Glad I could be of help! Feel free to message me on Instagram if you have any other questions @alekwassermanmusic
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This was so helpful to get me started. I play ukulele.
Thanks the best video on yt explaing it please come back to youtube
Thank you so much! Maybe one day when I have more time. For now, my project is my music school. You can check it out at triadmusicacademy.com
Please come back to yt
That was quite educational and it improves one's connection to one's Jewish roots. Do you by any chance could share note sheet to your composition (Without)
Thank you! I do not have the sheet music available at this time, but I plan to in the future
très interessant une vidéo sur le mode Mishebera bientôt?
My eighth grade band teacher played some thing on his saxophone he called the gypsy scale. It was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard and I’m trying to figure out what it is this scale sounds a lot like it when you play it note by note advancing
schallom. Thanks for this video
Love it, ive been analyzing south indian ragas the same way, to try and juxtapose harmony.
Also a thought while examining so many scales this way, is that there are many other scales that have the diminished 3 chord and aug 6. Altho not traditional i could see either of these being used as a point for modal interchange
Right, lots of great stuff when you find ways to incorporate multiple modes!
I would love if you added the parts from the prayers demonstrating these.
Now that's a good idea!
@@alekwasserman I am familiar with the prayers but not so familiar with the musical background from an academic standpoint, so connections don't click right away. I lead prayers during the weekdays, Sabbath, and high holidays, so I consider myself resourceful but not very useful. I took some classes at the Belz School of Jewish Music on some of those prayers. Photos for classical musical scales but it was hard to really understand them and remember them.
@@alekwassermanI'm pretty sure this scale is what's used in the repetition of the silent prayer on Shabbos
I'm interested in the Uhrovska Manuscript. Is it Jewish?
Any chance the first part 'Without' to be isolated and extended? I quite like it.
Thank you! That's actually only the A Section; I need to get around to recording the whole piece
Thank you ... This is why i carry so much conservatory debt to make a living busking. Hava Nagila baby.
The sound is not synched with the video.
Sorry about that. I made this one before I had any good equipment or filmmaking knowledge. Check out my new videos for a more finished product!
It is hijaz
The freygish scale does have some similarities with the Arabic maqam, if that's what you mean!
@@alekwasserman By the way thank you for your film ;-) I know this Shteiger as Ahava Rabbah named from the prayer, and from turkish and arabic musik (maqam) where it is exactly the same as Freygish: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrygian_dominant_scale
Without kinda sounds like 'sBrent
Would be even better if the piano was in tune 😊