Sithoid

Hmmm... Unfortunately, I know little about musical tradition (which cadences are traditional and which ones are obscure) - that's why I came here in the first place. I'll try to figure it out though... I can't help but hear b-c-a-f# in the bass line in 11-13. If we're still in E minor by that point, that's V-VI-IV-II. The only substitute I can think of without violating the TSDT rule is VII instead of II (D major) - and that really does sound better! Now the 18th is trickier... The bass line gives us D-Bb, which is V-III, but I can't put D or Bbm there because of the E flat in the leading voice. Maybe I'm wrong about the bass line (it might be C-A), that can give me that F7.

Thank you! That's what I was hoping to learn - harmonic patterns of certain periods and composers. Now I see why the middle part of the March sounds so dynamic, and also why I couldn't hear a third (C/C#) in the first chords of the March. It's all there in the 9th! Maybe Beethoven (and his era) is the influence I was looking for I tried to harmonize the first bars a bit, using the bass line (tubas?) and your explanations as a reference. The Iv-V-I cadence fits perfectly, though I believe there might be a substitute (VI-V-I). You're right, the beginning sounds so traditional that after harmonizing bars 12-14 I thought I was listening to "The Pianists" by Saint-Saens Now I'm beginning to understand why... That's the part I didn't quite understand. How does a d-c#-d move (or even с#-c-c# in further variations) imply F7 (f-a-c-e)? I'd expect something to support the first eighth (probably a tonic in the first case and maybe A major in the second case which would be a nice transition to B flat). B flat is there in the bass line, but what I hear is a straight transition from Gm to Bbm. Attached is some further progress on transcribing the March (got to ~1:24 and tried to make sense of the harmony a bit). Can you show us your version so that we could check and combine our results? Resistance_March.mscz

Hi everyone! I'm new here, but I'm a lifelong Star Wars fan who loves to research behind-the-scenes stuff The more I listen to the TFA soundrack, the more it seems different from the previous Star Wars pieces. It sounds fresh, but also closer to the "real" classical music than to the film scores. I feel like there's more to this score than Holst or Stravinsky or Newman influences; 'The Resistance March' sounds like it's from the XIX century, not XX, but I can't quite tell why. Sadly, I lack conservatory education to analyse classical composers' orchestration and harmony. Maybe you can give me some tips where to look for the possible sources of inspiration? To have something to start with, I tried to write the March down, basing off your photo, and found some curiosities - like an augmented 4th (I actually had no idea it was legal in classical music), phrases ending with sharp 7th, LOTS of key changes and that pseudo-Phrygian motion in bars 20-21. I only did the beginning before starting to lose rhythm, but I hope this will be helpful - or maybe some of you will have some ideas which composers to research. I tried to google the use of augmented 4th, but it seems like it's a part of some larger harmonic patterns, and that's an area where I'd appreciate some tips... Thanks in advance! Resistance_March.mscz