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How this technique named?


mxsch

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I've read about this somewhere but can't remember where exactly. 

 

What I mean is similar thing in the ending of The Rebels Escape Again and there are other examples

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A cadence is an essential part of the musical grammar. All phrases end with a cadence. But to elaborate on the specifics of the ones used in your examples, I'm not the best person to ask. Perhaps @Falstaft could say something about it.

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We can't help you if you only provide one example.  You need to provide multiple examples so we know what you're talking about

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We'd love to help @mxsch, but like @Jay says it's hard to know exactly what you're thinking of without more examples, or more specificity within the example you're citing. It could be a cadence, like @Jurassic Sharksays, but that's a pretty foundational aspect of musical organization. That said, if you're curious, you might get a kick out of this: https://mtosmt.org/issues/mto.13.19.4/mto.13.19.4.lehman.html... 

 

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It's called an orchestra. It makes pretty sounds! ;)

 

(Sorry for the snark. As others have said, yeah, we need a lot more information. What specific moment are your asking about, and what element of it? Instrumentation? Harmony? Melody?)

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From 2:39 to 2:47

 

Or there is nothing special about it?

 

3 hours ago, Falstaft said:

We'd love to help @mxsch, but like @Jay says it's hard to know exactly what you're thinking of without more examples, or more specificity within the example you're citing. It could be a cadence, like @Jurassic Sharksays, but that's a pretty foundational aspect of musical organization. That said, if you're curious, you might get a kick out of this: https://mtosmt.org/issues/mto.13.19.4/mto.13.19.4.lehman.html... 

 

 

1 hour ago, Datameister said:

It's called an orchestra. It makes pretty sounds! ;)

 

(Sorry for the snark. As others have said, yeah, we need a lot more information. What specific moment are your asking about, and what element of it? Instrumentation? Harmony? Melody?)

 

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23 minutes ago, scoreman36 said:

Do you mean the movement after the chord has been reached? I think you’re talking about the Lydian mode - basically a standard major scale where the 4th is raised (like playing an all-white note scale starting on F). 

 

Second @scoreman36 that the Lydian quality is what might be catching your ear here, D-lydian in this case, after a big cadence off of a bII/^5 dominant. Both very *Star Warsy* sounds, especially in conjunction with one another at a moment of victorious climax.

 

Another example of this exact same harmonic gesture bII/^5 => I(lyd) is the end of Battle of Endor: https://youtu.be/RT1763QZQvI?t=323

 

 

 

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If you want to talk about the descending "melody" in those seconds, it's using the "lydian mode" - essentially a modified major scale with a sharp 4th note. This modality creates a sense of wonder - it's used everywhere in Williams' music for E.T.

 

There's a sustained D5 chord which is held by the orchestra, and the entire ensemble is performing a decrescendo/diminuendo - gradually getting softer. This combination of effects creates a sense of resolution.

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13 minutes ago, Falstaft said:

In case you're really looking to get into the weeds here, this is a nice reference:

 

 

Oh, I've noticed one thing in your guide of themes. 

It seems that Anthem of Evil is missing in the list of concert

arrangements. 

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15 minutes ago, mxsch said:

Oh, I've noticed one thing in your guide of themes. 

It seems that Anthem of Evil is missing in the list of concert

arrangements. 

 

Good catch! -- I'm not quite ready to call the Anthem of Evil a concert arrangement, since the album version really sounds like a fusion (sometimes rather inartful) of several discrete cues. We'll see if the theme ever gets expanded/refined/arranged...

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25 minutes ago, Falstaft said:

I'm not quite ready to call the Anthem of Evil a concert arrangement, since the album version really sounds like a fusion (sometimes rather inartful) of several discrete cues.

 

I agree about that assessment.

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I'll have a go, without knowing if you're talking about orchestration, tonality, melodic style etc.

 

This sounds like a Tierce de Picardie with Coda.

 

A TdP is a specific type of cadence (i.e. movement between two consecutive chords), where changes modality (not key).

 

The music is in a minor key, but when it gets the end, instead of sounding the "home" chord (or tonic chord) in what is meant to be minor, it changes the home chord to a major chord.

 

E.G. Let's say a piece of music is in the key of D minor. When you get to the end of the piece you're expecting to hear a D minor chord - and also because technically that's what's meant to happen. But the piece plays a D Major chord instead.

 

It's common in Medieval and Renaissance music.

 

That's what this piece sounds like to me. Except once Williams hits the TdP instead of ending it there he keeps it going with a "Coda" of extra music based on that chord and, as @Archive Collection correctly stated, uses the lydian mode through the coda, and as @Jurassic Shark said, a decrescendo.

 

(for ease of explaining I left out talk of relative majors and mid-piece modulations).

 

Hope this helps :) 

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2 hours ago, That_Bloke said:

I'll have a go, without knowing if you're talking about orchestration, tonality, melodic style etc.

 

This sounds like a Tierce de Picardie with Coda.

 

A TdP is a specific type of cadence (i.e. movement between two consecutive chords), where changes modality (not key).

 

The music is in a minor key, but when it gets the end, instead of sounding the "home" chord (or tonic chord) in what is meant to be minor, it changes the home chord to a major chord.

 

E.G. Let's say a piece of music is in the key of D minor. When you get to the end of the piece you're expecting to hear a D minor chord - and also because technically that's what's meant to happen. But the piece plays a D Major chord instead.

 

It's common in Medieval and Renaissance music.

 

That's what this piece sounds like to me. Except once Williams hits the TdP instead of ending it there he keeps it going with a "Coda" of extra music based on that chord and, as @Archive Collection correctly stated, uses the lydian mode through the coda, and as @Jurassic Shark said, a decrescendo.

 

(for ease of explaining I left out talk of relative majors and mid-piece modulations).

 

Hope this helps :) 

 

Tierce de Picardie, eh? I hadn't ever heard that term but I love that harmonic technique. Great to know what it's called! Cheers! EDIT: Ah, I've heard the English translation, I'm realizing, but somehow never learned the definition. Love me some Picardy thirds!

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13 hours ago, Datameister said:

Ah, I've heard the English translation, I'm realizing, but somehow never learned the definition. Love me some Picardy thirds!

 

The German term is a direct translation, "Picardsche Terz". Because of that, it was once known as the Pikachu-Terz in our choir practice session.

 

Star of Bethlehem has a nice one in the middle section.

 

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