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I don't really listen to jazz but the musical theories you presented here piqued my interest. Thank you Estele Caswell for presenting this so clearly and concisely. As an anime fan, I'd love to watch your take on Yoko Kanno's "Tank" next.
But here's the thing, not only was Tommy Flanagan asked to improvise over Giant Steps - he was being asked to do so while sight reading it for the first time! Utterly amazing that he put down what he did on that recording. Absolutely amazing! 👏
absolutely...I dont know who get the credit the witer writing it for the first time and then playing or the piano player just playing it for the first time
Personally I feel like people don't give Paul Chambers enough credit. The guy absolutely destroys the walking bass song and he's so perfect you hardly even notice it. Spectacular rhythm work
The thing is, John Coltrane wrote Giant Steps and practiced before the session and so knew the changes while Tommy Flanagan was seeing it for the first time and had to learn the changes within the session's allotted time. I have the suspicion that given a few days practice, Flanagan's solo would have kept up with Coltrane.
Well, to be completely frank, I don't think Flanagan is particularly struggling in the recording. His improvisation is perfectly paced as an intro to John's section and even if you can hear some notes being cut short there is absolutely nothing that doesn't sound good. IMO, this is just rumors. Flanagan was an absolute genius at the piano, one of the best, if not the best at his peak and complex music theory doesn't seem like something someone of his caliber would have an issue with. I could be wrong though, he might just have been really caught off guard.
Actually the second take of flanagan is awesome but coltrane "messed up" and the thing is flanagan said to coltrane that he didnt needed to pratice the piece when he saw it but he doesnt know that the tune gonna go sooooo fast :')
Whenever I listen to this song I think of a man who has overslept, is late for work, rushing to get ready, rushing to eat his breakfast, rushing to catch the bus but then misses it so he tries to run for it but he is far behind, then he steals a bike then tries to bike to work but many obstacles such as construction work, slow trucks are taking a lot of his time, he keeps looking at his watch as obstacle after obstacle comes, by the end of the song, as it relaxes, he gets to work on time, cleans himself up, sits down, takes a deep breath and takes a sip of cold water after a long morning.
In Disney's Fantasia 2000 there is a part dedicated to Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue that has this plot! I liked it so much as a kid I still remember that video
I upset to make like it and make it 556 (555 such a good number!) but I can not skip this comment because it is TRUE! good video and addition of original animation by Vox! RESPECT!
This is the best Earworm episode yet. Everything was explained so well and the visuals are top notch as well. Thanks for spreading Coltrane's innovations!
As a pianist, I think Flanagan's solo is a masterpiece of restraint. Fast isn't always better, guys. And think contrast: the pauses for thought in the piano solo, also serve to make Coltrane's speed feel even faster. One of the smartest and most neglected, zen-est activities in this 'mine-is-bigger-than-yours jazz world, is leaving a bit of empty space. Sure, maybe Flanagan was also pausing to collect this thoughts. But that's cool. PS. I can play Giant Steps. Sort of. But not really. Well... Thanks for choosing great topic! Wishing you a good 2021.
Haha, the story I got is, Flanagan was lost following the chart. Keep in mind Coltrane took a year to write Giant Steps and it was given to the band at the session with no rehearsals.
Going from Spanish, to Arabic, then to Japanese very quickly is probably the best explanation you can give for this composition. Imagine using those 3 languages to create a sentence that makes sense. Utterly insane.
Since there’s Arabic in Spanish due to the Moor conquest of Spain, and Japanese has similar pronunciation as well sentence structure as Spanish, It’s more doable than one may think.
I know like absolutely nothing about music theory so hearing that analogy was actually amazing. Like hearing/watching the V-I changes at 9:05 was mindblowing.
@@1monkey1typewriter Very astute observation. I currently live in Japan and have found the similarities between Spanish and Japanese fascinating. I mean, if you want to get technical, there's a theory that nearly half of all languages and dialects originate from Proto-Indo-European. However, these current languages are more developed than their roots; hence, the difficulty in forming a logical sentence using all 3 at once (my point).
Yeah, never mind the fact that Tommy Flanagan and Paul Chambers were hired as session musicians, having never seen or heard the music before, with no time to rehearse it, and were simply handed a lead sheet and expected to keep up. Meanwhile Coltrane had been working out ideas to play over the changes for months. Flanagan's ability to take a solo AT ALL is astonishing.
Interestingly when I acquired the Giant Steps CD as an intermediate level sax player nearly 30 yrs ago, I thought it was flawless. Now much further along in my playing, I listened to the song just before seeing this tutorial where thanks to youtube mapping it lead me and I thought to myself for the first time, "The pianists sounds like he's having a little trouble". Now I understand my suspicion is correct. None the less it all came together well and is one of my favorites although I listen to it with "different" ears now. It's also a testament to the talent of the musicians who despite the demands of the music, still came out blazing.
For some reason I really like it. If it were a fluent piano solo it wouldn't have the same feeling, now it's chopped up - which is a much better contrast to the fluent saxophone than if it were just the same. I never knew it wasn't on purpose though but so was the three step high hat in Reggae and it set the standard for the entire genre.
Coltrane never wanted Flanagan to keep up with him or any other pianist. If he had he would have never laid that lead sheet on Tommy and would have gotten Oscar Peterson or Art Tatum. What Coltrane wanted was someone to play a piano fugue completely different than what the music called for and different from what he was going to play. Had Flanagan been anything other than what Trane wanted Tommy would have been off the session and this would have never been released - at least not in Trane's lifetime.
7:48: It's important to know that in one her interviews, Alice Coltrane (John Coltrane's wife) said that Coltrane had a very involved process of writing music and it included - among other things - trying to find inspiration in the patterns that exist in nature, astrology and maps - for instance you have the mysterious Fibonacci sequence that repeatedly appears in fruits, plants, stars etc. as if it's some God code or sequence governing life. These patterns fascinated Coltrane, from my recollection. She said - if I recall correctly - that other times he'd be scribbling what looked like nonsensical numbers on his notes or newspapers but was in fact the constant study of patterns in everything. I do wonder if he ever elaborated on his writing process because I know Miles Davis did in his autobiography.
@@katatat2030 It does. It's the reason why almost all religions exist side by side with some form of numerology. Numbers have spiritual and divine significance.I do know that my own name translates to an eleven in Hebrew numerology and there's an involved method in translating the numerical value of one's name and the spiritual significance of that number, how it foretells one character qualities and interests - will they be artistic, will they be a restless spirit etc. I had great interest in this a while back so i know what I'm talking about.
I've enjoyed music for many decades. I knew that jazz was complex and advanced, but I never knew why. It was a language I didn't understand. This video did a lot as an introduction and an appreciation.
I learned in highschool jazz band that jazz was a language I didn't understand. Scared me away from playing any other type of music, but I sure love listening.
Fito Paez (argentinian musician) said in an interview once (about people saying they don't dig jazz or classical music): "it's not that you don't like it, but that you don't have the resources to understand it"
I think it happened more because of the national anthem videos. Vox released one that was pretty similar to Adams and the comment section filled with people accusing Vox of ripping Adam off. Vox responded that they weren't aware of Adams video and added a link to their description. And Adam said that while he believed they weren't aware of his video he thought they should have checked youtube and the realized that not only was there a video making similar points, but also that the originator of that video was living in the same city and could have popped in. So hopefully not the last time vox invite Adam over if he has relevant expertise.
Well, he got asked about the video in a live stream on the day the vox video came out. On the other hand, he would have been a logical choice as an interview partner for the vox piece and if you typed music theory us anthem into a youtube search at the time, Adams video was the top one.
@@Lycaon1765 The fact that he said it in a live stream kinda makes it better. Lots of things are said during a live stream that wouldn't make it into a video in that raw form.
I happen to think Tommy Flanagan's solo is very elegant and stately, and yet, even though he disjointedly misses a few pieces of the bars here and there, he still captures the whimsical nature of the piece itself. It's actually a brilliantly benign juxtaposition against Coltrane's frenetic explosion of notes.
Being an educated musician, I must say your explanation of the coltrane changes and giant steps is great and as simple as possible for someone who doesn't have any idea about music theory. Well done.
As someone with no musical talent or skills, this even made (some) sense to me. I really enjoyed it. My teenage daughter plays saxophone and I'm trying to introduce her to jazz that she can find relatable. I'm hoping this warms her to Coltrane.
One of the members of my undergrad jazz combo wanted to play Giant Steps as the 1st set-piece. The pianist just went to the bathroom and didn't come back until the next class with that group.
the meme was to literally throw a speaker into another room as it blasted that song, as though the speaker was a grenade, I can see why it would strike fear into the hearts of so many
I find flanagan's solo to be perfect for the song as it gives me some room to catch my breath. It gives a dynamic break as it stands in such a stark contrast with the all the other intensity
That piece is definitely a rite of passage for Jazz musicians. I’m a pianist. When I first began learning the piece, I had a transcription of Mr. Coltrane’s. I practiced that solo painstakingly slowly. Learning that solo at ballad tempo, taught me the game of the song. His solo should also be considered a part of the melody. It is so iconic and only considering just those first 16 bars to be the melody, does a tremendous disservice to one of the greatest masterpieces of all time. That solo is an absolute treasure of musical and mathematical genius.
Excellent explanation of Giant Steps and the theory behind it. I think it's also important for new jazz listeners to know that Tommy Flanagan was not just "any jazz pianist"...but was one of _the_ most highly respected jazz pianists on the jazz scene at the time (and for many years thereafter) , who had not only recorded with Coltrane before, but with many of the biggest names in jazz. No Slouch! (as jazz musicians used to say). He was, of course, "blind-sided", when Coltrane brought in Giant Steps, with it's challenging chord progression, and then counted it off at a rapid tempo The story goes that the pianist thought it was going to be a ballad...and prepared for it as such! Years later, Flanagan recorded Giant Steps with his own trio and produced a couple of highly respectable bop-ish versions. Another interesting thing: Coltrane's initial recording of the composition (later released in the Atlantic box set) featured the young, highly talented Cedar Walton on piano (who went on to have a long and stellar career), and on _that_ recording, Cedar opted _not to solo_ at all... so daunted was he by the changes and tempo!
Judging by ear without knowledge of theory I would say that Tommy Flanagan didn't miss a note here. I always liked how he made the piano sound like a rhodes here.
Of course Flanagan would be caught off guard when Coltrane just came and shoved that arrangement to his face and played it right away. Flanagan would be like, "HOLD OOOOOOOON!!!"
You're not too dumb! The concepts presented in the video can take many years to master, anything you gleaned or learned from the video is super valuable!
@@nofood1 Actually, his explanation is real easy. Most people know what an hertz is or the word resonate with them. Also, it's a solid scientific concept, not something so abstract as a note of music. Using frequencies to explain theory to beginners makes perfect sense to me. In fact, music theory in general would gain SO much to rely more on the basic scientific concepts underlying it, because it's *theory*, as the name implies... it's theory therefore it explains natural phenomenon, and all music theory is based on scientific studies. Most of the time music "theory" books sounds really like music *rule* books and that gets a LOT of people confused as hell who think that theory = rules. The theory of music explains the phenomenons of music like any other scientific theory. Musicology explore the phenomenon of music from the perspective of sociology... etc I believe you're wrong and remembering the octave-frequency relation really doesn't take any skills in math nor in music yet is SO useful to understand everything later on.
I just want to say that Flanigans Solo is refreshing Because It isn't a nonstop flurry of notes like Colrane's solo. It's like hearing a relaxed James Earl Jones announce what's coming next, which happens to be a tobacco auctioneer. And yes, I'm a piano player. 😉
Exactly! Just because it’s complex doesn’t mean it lacks structure. Jazz is just mathematics for the ear. Even the most complex math, incomprehensible as it may be for most, has a beautiful underlying structure. Hell, compositions from someone like Conlon Nancarow have structure. I think most people who want to argue stuff like this just don’t understand the concept and can’t appreciate what they’re hearing, so they put it down. It’s just an unfortunate part of the human condition...
@Technews Within the context of jazz, sure. But the OP said people say "Jazz has no structure." which is completely false. I just meant to explain that the issue isn't a lack of structure but a subversion of your expectations if you're not accustomed to it.
Coltrane: Give me all of the key changes you have. *Tommy begins setting up to play* Coltrane: “Wait, Wait. I’m worried what you just heard was, ‘give me a lot of key changes.’ What I said was ‘give me all the key changes you have.’ Do you understand? Tommy Flanagan: O_o
The story behind this is that Coltrane invited Tommy on the recording a couple of weeks earlier. Tommy asked him if he could look at the charts ahead of time. Coltrane told him not to bother-- it was all easy stuff he could sightread. Later on, Tommy went to work and mastered those changes.The presentation here is unfair.
Music in general is fascinating. Not only jazz, but many other genres, and even in genres that seem simple there are fine examples of creativity in one song or album. Have you ever wonder how a musician that later became deaf could keep writing music? This is why
This video plagarized sideways, I'd encourage looking into it. The content made was origianlly made by a guy called sideways, you cand find information about it on the community page of his youtube channel.
jazz didnt go away ... when all the young kids came into the room it went into the kitchen to finish the sourdough bread , it`ll be back out when the kids have finished trying to sell rap as poetry
My girlfriend wanted to start a family. I subtly changed the subject to "How the circle of fifths works". It worked. No more baby talk. No girlfriend either.
I met Tommy Flanagan after an Ella Fitzgerald concert in 1974. He's an excellent pianist. To hear him struggle on Giant Steps is eye opening. Coltrane really is everything they say about him.
I beg to differ about the Tommy Flannigan solo. Maybe you all should listen to it 100 more times. It's very displaced rhythmically and beautifully creative. Perhaps you wanted him to play the solo you wanted to hear. There are NO mistakes in that solo.
Right, no mistakes. But it does sound like he has to (Very Briefly) pause and then play again. I'm not downing him, he did an amazing job considering he (reportedly) only got the song the day before.
@@Will-Max Definitely not a mistake, maybe more of a happy accident. I think it really adds a nice moment of downtime in the middle of the song, without slowing the pace, & makes the way Coltrane flys off with the sax all the more impactful by comparison. It’s like the song is taking a moment to catch up with itself before sprinting off again & that feels right considering how quick it starts. Weather or not Flannigan meant it to be that way I have no clue, but it worked out really well.
You did a really great job on summarizing that. I for one can confirm that a drunk that knows nothing of Music completely understood what was explained... kudos
I felt that they were a bit over dramatic..talking about how the chord changes were in 3 different keys...when a lot of keys shares the voices....its really nothing supernatural or unusual about it at all.. you gota do what you gotta do is what coltrane was thinking probably..or he wasnt thinking at all just getting the song done the way he felt it should sound..the means how he got there didn't matter..just get there.. ....but millennials study it and get blown away lol. But maybe its because gospel music is a big part of my life and childhood that maybe to me..its not a bigdeal...but to yall its..WOW
@@b3at2 when somebody does it first, they get The Prestige of doing it first... And that a Pianist could not keep up with a saxophonist... I submit that is a bit more impressive. They might have clickbait the video with their title... But it was a slight click-baiting in my opinion. You're talking about keystrokes versus human-powered wind. And the human-powered wind won over the keystrokes. Just slightly... Not superhumanly... But slightly more impressive. And that Coltrane did it first? He deserves the rights of being a pioneer
Now that I understood the giant steps stuff I'll go explain it to a friend. He's not gonna understand anything and I'm gonna confuse myself and I won't know anything anymore
The quality of this video is next level. You explained something that should be really difficult to understand if you’re not musically inclined and made it totally relatable with great analogies, explanations, diagrams... I mean, wow. I didn’t just learn something, I now have a much better understanding of how complex music really is. Love it. Great job.
Incredible! Googled the circle of fifths and then got two other people with a great understanding to make the content for them leaving them to explain extremely basic music theory.
This video plagarized sideways, I'd encourage looking into it. The content made was origianlly made by a guy called sideways, you cand find information about it on the community page of his youtube channel.
David DiMuzio goes to show how well a proper presentation will take you. Best way to start is to break it up into chunks and do it VERY slowly, it’s muscle memory and establishing familiarity, the original tune moves so fast and effortlessly that it can only really be handled by a deep familiarity and anticipation of changes. I strongly recommend checking out Rick Beato’s channel and vid on this. Cheers man!
corhydron111 Eh, not really. That chord functions basically as a iv6 chord in a IV-iv-I progression. Fm6 is jazzy, but it's not *the* chord that makes music sound christmassy. It's soft jazz music in general.
Suggestion: after all that learning, maybe you can bring the song back and let us hear it and appreciate a idk 20sec snippet with our new knowledge - I know we got a good chunk in the first chapter - and i did just click back to hear the tommy flaningan part, but it would be nice if the payoff was built into the end of the actual video. great lesson regardless.
At 6:13 …why are y’all using a word for word explanation from Sideways? I don’t see any citation to his work? Did I miss it? I would find nothing before his video that used the language analogy-what’s your source? Also…Sideways has a video on this topic that is incredibly similar but came before your’s. Was he an inspiration?
Welcome to music theory! Jazz is about the most difficult part to start with, that's like trying calculus in third grade. But if you like what you saw, we have plenty that we can teach ya! Either of the two music theory people featured in this video would be a great start point.
I felt the same way when I started studing music theory last year. I have played a variety of instruments in my life, but I didn't get into the theory until last year.
The song sounds like a theatrical performance about how a person gets lost, runs all over the place and cannot figure out where to go, but at the same time, the actor playing this character has complete control over the performance.
I’ve tried to improvise on Giant Steps but fail miserably after four measures. Huge respect to anyone out there who can tackle this monster/masterpiece! I just love this tune.
I actually like the piano solo a lot, don't know why people always say it's bad, or he 'failed'. Bullshit. With that bass pumping relentlessly during the silences it makes Giant Steps even more fearsome :)
Me too, I always thought broken solos were a stylistic thing, jazz musicians are always yapping about space and phrasing, well, there's some space for them.
I don’t think anyone said it was bad, it’s just pretty evident that he was a little overwhelmed by the changes. I don’t think that’s a failure on his part, this was a really demanding thing he was given.
I teach music theory. I always begin by saying, "A famous economist once said that to understand economics, all you have to understand is Supply and Demand. To understand music theory, all you have to understand is Cycle of Fifths".
That was a good video. Some additional points: 1) The modulations are especially difficult in the first 7 bars bc they change keys in mid bar. 2) Have You Met Miss Jones (1937) used Maj 3rd modulations in the bridge and isn't nearly as hard to play. 3) To me, Giant Steps sounds a lot like an exercise, especially bc Trane repeats himself so much, playing "1 2 3 5" and "1 3 5 7" over and over. Obviously he had practiced this a lot before the session. And after this record, influenced by Kind of Blue in the same year, Trane went in the opposite direction, playing modal jazz on just ONE chord for a long time. I look at Giant Steps as his "last hoorah" with frantic chord changes and his 1950s "sheets of sound". After this, when he formed his quartet, he got much more spiritual and, to me, much more musical. Give me A Love Supreme, Crescent, or Live at Village Vanguard over any Trane from the '50s.
Great comment! Really nice observations. I appreciate how you voiced your third point as opinion rather than fact. A Love Supreme will always be one of the most meaningful albums ever recorded to me. That said the "sheets of sound" are why I fell in love with Coltrane to begin with
I know a lot of players who CAN play Giant Steps but view it as an exercise. I've had people come up to me at gigs and they request it, I often wonder if they request it every time, and if they do, if band play it every time. I also wonder if they mentally allocate marks out of 10 for each respective performance. I totally agree with you that his later work was more musical. I do find the circle of fifths and all the diagrams drawn by Coltrane to be fascinating in a mathematical way.
Nice comment. Coltrane is probably my favourite musician ever, and while I definitely enjoy the fifties albums, especially the way he played the fast blues, his classic recordings with the quartet was just, and still is, hauntingly beautiful.
MrThang Well interesting enough, my son told me that Coltrane’s wife said he regretted recording that song. It was meant more for his own developing his ideas ... sorta like practice. The later artists in our era, actually create a more melodic solo of that song, which of course is because the time they had to listen to him and develop their own ideas.
@@Begmann0306 They really took the things he said in stride and listened when he said it'd be cool if they could just reach out to him for a better perspective. He killed it in this vid and expressed what's interesting about the track so well.
Trym Bergmann i’m surprised that they can handle criticism really well and ask the guy who criticized them to make a new content together, and their content is instantly getting better 😂
@@Begmann0306 yeah me too. I think it's great how he have honest and pretty even-handed feedback and they respected it enough to actually bring him on for a future video anyway
Coltrane is easily one of the best musicians of all time so it's great to see his work being recognized and shared on a modern popular platform. You guys are awesome! Can't wait to see more!
This video plagarized sideways, I'd encourage looking into it. The content made was origianlly made by a guy called sideways, you cand find information about it on the community page of his youtube channel.
This was really well done--I'm saying that as someone who understands music theory pretty well but has always found jazz intimidating. Thanks for putting this together.
Actually, there is quite a bit more to Giant Steps. The chord progression of three-tonics indeed are related by a major third interval. These three related chords/keys are related via the Hexatonic Scale, or the Augmented Scale. G Bb B D Eb F#. Coltrane had been studying this scale and ‘Third Relations’ with his teacher Dennis Sandole in Philadelphia. The music of Scriabin, Stravinsky, Bartok, Holst and others exploited third relations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Scriabin especially composed entire sections of large works using this scale. In the scale (for example in G - there are major third related chords each with three qualities. - Major, minor, augmented triads on G, B, Eb. They each also extend with M7ths. (These are Group One Chords).Between these ‘three tonics of three qualities’ there are Augmented triads (Groups Two Chords) on the leading tones of Group One notes - Bb,D,F#. Furthermore, the melody of Giant Steps is firmly in the Augmented Scale with its variances of M7 and mM7 chord arpeggios in lines 1 and 2 - when the B becomes Bb, (GM7)and in line 2 when the G becomes Gb ((F#)(EbM7). All the other guide tones of the motives in the second half of the tune outline the varying M,m, Aug chords of this Hexatonic Scale/key.. They are numerously overlapping - There are two notes, A and F (used to accommodate the inserted ii-V progressions) in bars 4 and 8 (the A reappears in bar 10 under the same harmony) which do not come from the scale. That is, the ii-V progressions are ‘jazzifications’ of the use of this iconic scale. He connects these three Major-Quality tonics with their related ii-V progressions - which do not really come from the mother scale. This becomes a ‘jazz way’ of connecting these Hexatonic-derived chord ‘key’ relations. Coltrane chose to compose this exercise using the Major Key orientation of this scale, but one could also do the same for the possible minor, and augmented possibilities of RN I, IIII, V. (Group One Chords). Remember that (Group Two Chords) RNs II,IV,VI are augmented triads. They don’t even have the possibility of extensions because of the symmetry of the scale. This scale was further used by the advanced players of the 1970’s and 80’s, such as Michael Brecker and the iconic Jan Garbarek, and Ralph Towner. Indeed, this scale also introduces to jazz musicians some new chord types, such as the Maj 7 #9 chord (also found in Lydian #2 mode, VI in harmonic minor; as well, for the first time for jazz musicians, the Major 7 #5,#9, as well as numerous combinations of M, m, Aug chords and M7, M7#5, mM7 (Group One chords) and using the singular ‘Aug triad of three names’ of Group II chords. As well, Olivier Messiaen in the 1940’s was a pioneer of symmetrical harmony and an influence on jazz musicians. Giant Steps is actually very simple, and logical as a system, an exercise in symmetrical harmonic relations eventually abandoned by Coltrane for its closed-ness and predictability. Charlie Parker was studying the Hindemith sonata for alto saxophone in his last years and expressed his desire for jazz to move closer to this direction. Also, of course virtuosi such as Chick Corea have been profoundly influenced by these ideas from Bartok and others. If anyone is interested in the full story of the structure Giant Steps, I am happy to send my short treatise (undergrad assignment at Washington University in STL).
I've become obsessed with the Augmented Scale and am studying the Javier Arau paper. If you can share your paper with me or at least just recommend some additional source material please let me know!
This is actually the perfect analogy :D 'Cause you'd have to blend the different city road maps in your head and come up with a route that somehow works in all those cities while they're changing into each other. In real time, as you're driving.
Nah. Just a slide to the right, the PATTERNS stay the same, only the key changes. It's more like driving in New York through the numbered streets, and every three blocks you transport to a different cross-street - but the relationships are identical. Really, it's only hard if you usually play in just a few keys.
Imagine the gps callouts for that. - In 300 meters, enter the station through platform 1 - In 200 meters, turn right onto the general aviation ramp - In 10000 kilometers, land in narita international airport - 200メートル先、右に曲がって空港から出ていてください
My ex gf said that music theory was comparable to my final algebra that I had to take for civil engineering and economics majors. I think she might have been right.
sicboi It gets worse memorizing minor keys, their key signatures, which half steps to raise, double sharps and flats, overtone series, understanding partials, some complex key signatures, modes of limited transportation, memorizing perfects majors and minors, etc.
I went to school for music, didn't get a degree, just wanted to learn what I knew I'd need to know for my career. I can say, with complete honesty, music theory 1-4 were the hardest classes I've ever had in my whole life.
@@BRUXXUS Another way to think of music theory is that its just a language used by people who need to explain a series of tonal events after actual artists get done with their creations.
You don't have to learn a whole dictionnary to fluently speak a language, you just use it when you encounter a word you don't know. It's kinda the same with music theory. I feel like people think they have to study *everything* about it to make good music, you just have to pick some bits theory that are interesting for YOU and your own music imo.
@@supernightslash nope, he's not humble-bragging because the drum part is super easy in comparison. He's remarking about the difficulty gap in the different instrumental roles.
Leeloo Minai It’s deleted! I have no idea what it said, but kudos for everyone being supportive. I’ve been jumped up and down on a few times and it sucks. So, kudos!!
This video plagarized sideways, I'd encourage looking into it. The content made was origianlly made by a guy called sideways, you cand find information about it on the community page of his youtube channel.
@@VivekPatel-ze6jy Or if you watch music theory vids on the good ole Interwebs. Never took any music related class in my life and just about all of this made sense to me from learning via Internet.
@@enflamedhuevos I mean, no one at Vox in this video knows anything about music theory. For example, that's not even where the fingers go while playing the saxophone.
Please more videos explaining music theory, you explain it in such an easy way! Thanks for the videos, I would love to see more of this, I was trying to understand how jazz worked without success until I saw this. To me my ultimate goal is to: understand music history by explaining it with music theory and how it was actually made, so you could actually mimic a composer or musician of a certain time. Maybe you could help everyone understand music this way and make it more creative by having a look to its past. Thanks anyway, you're one of the best music teachers and you're note even a musician, respect for that!
One of the quintessential LP’s of all-time!!!! I love many pianist and Tommy Flanagan is one of my favorite.All I can say is that he nailed it like I would expect him to do.They don’t make them like these guys anymore!!God bless both of them and may they both RIP!!!!
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I don't really listen to jazz but the musical theories you presented here piqued my interest. Thank you Estele Caswell for presenting this so clearly and concisely. As an anime fan, I'd love to watch your take on Yoko Kanno's "Tank" next.
J
This vid is absolutely badass...thanks so much for posting
Same principles, different style: ua-cam.com/video/CgAehaB62Tw/v-deo.html
Check the chord progressions before flaming me.
How about an earworm episode about Charles mingus?
But here's the thing, not only was Tommy Flanagan asked to improvise over Giant Steps - he was being asked to do so while sight reading it for the first time! Utterly amazing that he put down what he did on that recording. Absolutely amazing! 👏
absolutely...I dont know who get the credit the witer writing it for the first time and then playing or the piano player just playing it for the first time
Personally I feel like people don't give Paul Chambers enough credit. The guy absolutely destroys the walking bass song and he's so perfect you hardly even notice it. Spectacular rhythm work
@@Goliath5100 Such is the fate of bassists across all genres!
That’s what I heard- Trane had practiced it beforehand. TF was doing a cold read.
@@Goliath5100 Hence why Trane went as far as to write a song in his name🙃
Thanks for having me!
You got your wish!
Thanks for being such a great creator. I love your Ableton talk on pitch, rhythm, and color being similar. Super groovy.
Thanks for being had!
The man. The myth. The licc. Adam Neely. I would've been really disappointed If I didn't see you in this video!
I didn't expect to see you here lol.
The thing is, John Coltrane wrote Giant Steps and practiced before the session and so knew the changes while Tommy Flanagan was seeing it for the first time and had to learn the changes within the session's allotted time. I have the suspicion that given a few days practice, Flanagan's solo would have kept up with Coltrane.
Well, to be completely frank, I don't think Flanagan is particularly struggling in the recording. His improvisation is perfectly paced as an intro to John's section and even if you can hear some notes being cut short there is absolutely nothing that doesn't sound good. IMO, this is just rumors. Flanagan was an absolute genius at the piano, one of the best, if not the best at his peak and complex music theory doesn't seem like something someone of his caliber would have an issue with. I could be wrong though, he might just have been really caught off guard.
@@agarrigue002 You might be right, it just sounds like Flanagan is a little confused.
Actually, Flanagan did record a “rematch” version of Giant Steps and ut is absolutely killer. So yes... although giant steps is extremely hard
He WAS caught off guard.
Actually the second take of flanagan is awesome but coltrane "messed up" and the thing is flanagan said to coltrane that he didnt needed to pratice the piece when he saw it but he doesnt know that the tune gonna go sooooo fast :')
Tommy was no slouch either. He’s only one of the greatest jazz pianists that ever lived.
Anyone else would melted to the floor in tears.
Exactly
I see your point but is that Including Monk, McCoy Tyner, Red Garland etc?
I think that Flanagan was perfect for the task at the time.
Except Hiromi Uehara. She would've ACED it
@@GeneralKenobi69420except she was 20 years away from being born at the time giant steps was recorded
I love love Tommy. However I think Tyner would have handled this better
Whenever I listen to this song I think of a man who has overslept, is late for work, rushing to get ready, rushing to eat his breakfast, rushing to catch the bus but then misses it so he tries to run for it but he is far behind, then he steals a bike then tries to bike to work but many obstacles such as construction work, slow trucks are taking a lot of his time, he keeps looking at his watch as obstacle after obstacle comes, by the end of the song, as it relaxes, he gets to work on time, cleans himself up, sits down, takes a deep breath and takes a sip of cold water after a long morning.
He was taking giant steps towards work then 😂
I can visualize this :)
Excellent description.
In Disney's Fantasia 2000 there is a part dedicated to Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue that has this plot! I liked it so much as a kid I still remember that video
L🤭L
Can we take a minute to appreciate how well this video was animated, explained, and composed. Good work Vox!
it was neither of those things
I upset to make like it and make it 556 (555 such a good number!) but I can not skip this comment because it is TRUE! good video and addition of original animation by Vox! RESPECT!
It’s vox
Except maybe don't play background music over an educational demonstration of harmonic tension 4:50
Lol
This is the best Earworm episode yet. Everything was explained so well and the visuals are top notch as well. Thanks for spreading Coltrane's innovations!
Yo it's frikkin Carlos
Now I can finally understand what goes on in your mind!
…Kinda
my love
not the best. some others were much better.
Are you going to MAGFest again?!
As a pianist, I think Flanagan's solo is a masterpiece of restraint. Fast isn't always better, guys. And think contrast: the pauses for thought in the piano solo, also serve to make Coltrane's speed feel even faster. One of the smartest and most neglected, zen-est activities in this 'mine-is-bigger-than-yours jazz world, is leaving a bit of empty space. Sure, maybe Flanagan was also pausing to collect this thoughts. But that's cool. PS. I can play Giant Steps. Sort of. But not really. Well... Thanks for choosing great topic! Wishing you a good 2021.
PS. another thing a pause indicates is thinking, vs. relying on muscle memory to impress. The choice of notes trumps the speed of their dispensation.
Haha, the story I got is, Flanagan was lost following the chart. Keep in mind Coltrane took a year to write Giant Steps and it was given to the band at the session with no rehearsals.
Very well said👍👍
@@tommymandel Can you Boogie Woogie on the Piano?
@@awesomebeast7509 I would say so.
Going from Spanish, to Arabic, then to Japanese very quickly is probably the best explanation you can give for this composition. Imagine using those 3 languages to create a sentence that makes sense. Utterly insane.
All Of Me was such a funny movie
Since there’s Arabic in Spanish due to the Moor conquest of Spain, and Japanese has similar pronunciation as well sentence structure as Spanish, It’s more doable than one may think.
I know like absolutely nothing about music theory so hearing that analogy was actually amazing. Like hearing/watching the V-I changes at 9:05 was mindblowing.
@@1monkey1typewriter Very astute observation. I currently live in Japan and have found the similarities between Spanish and Japanese fascinating. I mean, if you want to get technical, there's a theory that nearly half of all languages and dialects originate from Proto-Indo-European. However, these current languages are more developed than their roots; hence, the difficulty in forming a logical sentence using all 3 at once (my point).
Tengo mi Nissan en el aljibe :-)
Yeah, never mind the fact that Tommy Flanagan and Paul Chambers were hired as session musicians, having never seen or heard the music before, with no time to rehearse it, and were simply handed a lead sheet and expected to keep up. Meanwhile Coltrane had been working out ideas to play over the changes for months. Flanagan's ability to take a solo AT ALL is astonishing.
Interestingly when I acquired the Giant Steps CD as an intermediate level sax player nearly 30 yrs ago, I thought it was flawless. Now much further along in my playing, I listened to the song just before seeing this tutorial where thanks to youtube mapping it lead me and I thought to myself for the first time, "The pianists sounds like he's having a little trouble". Now I understand my suspicion is correct. None the less it all came together well and is one of my favorites although I listen to it with "different" ears now. It's also a testament to the talent of the musicians who despite the demands of the music, still came out blazing.
This comment
For some reason I really like it. If it were a fluent piano solo it wouldn't have the same feeling, now it's chopped up - which is a much better contrast to the fluent saxophone than if it were just the same. I never knew it wasn't on purpose though but so was the three step high hat in Reggae and it set the standard for the entire genre.
Coltrane never wanted Flanagan to keep up with him or any other pianist. If he had he would have never laid that lead sheet on Tommy and would have gotten Oscar Peterson or Art Tatum. What Coltrane wanted was someone to play a piano fugue completely different than what the music called for and different from what he was going to play. Had Flanagan been anything other than what Trane wanted Tommy would have been off the session and this would have never been released - at least not in Trane's lifetime.
So he pranked him, even better lol
One of the best videos I've seen on UA-cam.
yeah, shame their political stuff is wack
[screams in Russian] no
@@sabrit0n35 yea
@@screamsinrussian5773 they dont do a lot of politics imo maybe a couple videos but mainly just history stuff
It won an Emmy!
7:48: It's important to know that in one her interviews, Alice Coltrane (John Coltrane's wife) said that Coltrane had a very involved process of writing music and it included - among other things - trying to find inspiration in the patterns that exist in nature, astrology and maps - for instance you have the mysterious Fibonacci sequence that repeatedly appears in fruits, plants, stars etc. as if it's some God code or sequence governing life. These patterns fascinated Coltrane, from my recollection. She said - if I recall correctly - that other times he'd be scribbling what looked like nonsensical numbers on his notes or newspapers but was in fact the constant study of patterns in everything. I do wonder if he ever elaborated on his writing process because I know Miles Davis did in his autobiography.
That’s so fascinating and beautiful! Thanks for sharing
Sounds like he might very well have had OCD or some form of it. Wonder if thats the case and if it helped him compose music.
That's true except that complicated math doesn't have spiritual qualities, like it's not really myterious and god-like so much as just hard math stuff
@@katatat2030 It does. It's the reason why almost all religions exist side by side with some form of numerology. Numbers have spiritual and divine significance.I do know that my own name translates to an eleven in Hebrew numerology and there's an involved method in translating the numerical value of one's name and the spiritual significance of that number, how it foretells one character qualities and interests - will they be artistic, will they be a restless spirit etc. I had great interest in this a while back so i know what I'm talking about.
Very interesting 🤔 thanks
Your presentation and graphics design is out of this world. Awesome stuff
I kind of watch all of their videos ,just so i can i salivate over the editing of all of them
And your map analogy was an old NYC map with IRT, BMT, and IND trains.. Love it.
Incredible work indeed, way above the average!
The animations in this video kinda looked like the intro to pixar’s Monsters Inc. which happens to be jazz as well
I've enjoyed music for many decades. I knew that jazz was complex and advanced, but I never knew why. It was a language I didn't understand. This video did a lot as an introduction and an appreciation.
ktpinnacle Agree, as a former sax player this video provides valuable insight
I learned in highschool jazz band that jazz was a language I didn't understand. Scared me away from playing any other type of music, but I sure love listening.
Fito Paez (argentinian musician) said in an interview once (about people saying they don't dig jazz or classical music): "it's not that you don't like it, but that you don't have the resources to understand it"
Great to see Adam with vox after his complaints about the video about the christmas chord.
I think it happened more because of the national anthem videos. Vox released one that was pretty similar to Adams and the comment section filled with people accusing Vox of ripping Adam off. Vox responded that they weren't aware of Adams video and added a link to their description. And Adam said that while he believed they weren't aware of his video he thought they should have checked youtube and the realized that not only was there a video making similar points, but also that the originator of that video was living in the same city and could have popped in. So hopefully not the last time vox invite Adam over if he has relevant expertise.
@@simongunkel7457 Seems kinda self-centered, tbh. "wHy DiDn'T tHeY aSk _MEEE?!!"_
More than just one person can make a video about the same topic.
Well, he got asked about the video in a live stream on the day the vox video came out. On the other hand, he would have been a logical choice as an interview partner for the vox piece and if you typed music theory us anthem into a youtube search at the time, Adams video was the top one.
@@Lycaon1765 also he is one of the top youtubers on music theory and specially jazz music
@@Lycaon1765 The fact that he said it in a live stream kinda makes it better. Lots of things are said during a live stream that wouldn't make it into a video in that raw form.
I happen to think Tommy Flanagan's solo is very elegant and stately, and yet, even though he disjointedly misses a few pieces of the bars here and there, he still captures the whimsical nature of the piece itself. It's actually a brilliantly benign juxtaposition against Coltrane's frenetic explosion of notes.
Being an educated musician, I must say your explanation of the coltrane changes and giant steps is great and as simple as possible for someone who doesn't have any idea about music theory. Well done.
Bband Ditto. And, agreed.
Absolutely!
As someone with no musical talent or skills, this even made (some) sense to me.
I really enjoyed it. My teenage daughter plays saxophone and I'm trying to introduce her to jazz that she can find relatable. I'm hoping this warms her to Coltrane.
ua-cam.com/video/Gci6Jgazdms/v-deo.html
same, I've never heard it explained this well.
One of the members of my undergrad jazz combo wanted to play Giant Steps as the 1st set-piece. The pianist just went to the bathroom and didn't come back until the next class with that group.
🙊 🤣
Omg, that just cracked me up so hard...I can just so picture that...hilarious!!!!!
I imagined the whole situation in my mind
your pianist was a sensible fellow! hahaha
"The most feared song in jazz"
*has flashbacks to the bass boosted version of the monsters inc theme*
the meme was to literally throw a speaker into another room as it blasted that song, as though the speaker was a grenade, I can see why it would strike fear into the hearts of so many
haha! best comment ever
Yes, That Thing Really Scared Me.
I never realized there was such a thing.
What
As a saxophonist, I was blown away when I first heard this song. He was on another stratosphere on this one
Ngl it kinda gave me anxiety half way through, is that normal?
@@shady8045 yes, you feel what it was like to be tommy flanagan hearing the tempo for the first time
1:04 I wish they invited Adam... Oh my
I had absolutely the same thought!!!! :D
Flanagan: hey what key are we in?
Coltrane: H
I laughed longer than I should have at this 😂
Lol, H is B in German. Bach made it be like that, and H is still sometimes used for B.
Then a key change mid way to J
@@brigidvandermoezel7814 same in Polish. B is still H
@@MsAkoms same in Czech Republic and Slovakia
I find flanagan's solo to be perfect for the song as it gives me some room to catch my breath. It gives a dynamic break as it stands in such a stark contrast with the all the other intensity
That piece is definitely a rite of passage for Jazz musicians.
I’m a pianist. When I first began learning the piece, I had a transcription of Mr. Coltrane’s.
I practiced that solo painstakingly slowly. Learning that solo at ballad tempo, taught me the game of the song. His solo should also be considered a part of the melody. It is so iconic and only considering just those first 16 bars to be the melody, does a tremendous disservice to one of the greatest masterpieces of all time. That solo is an absolute treasure of musical and mathematical genius.
Excellent explanation of Giant Steps and the theory behind it. I think it's also important for new jazz listeners to know that Tommy Flanagan was not just "any jazz pianist"...but was one of _the_ most highly respected jazz pianists on the jazz scene at the time (and for many years thereafter) , who had not only recorded with Coltrane before, but with many of the biggest names in jazz. No Slouch! (as jazz musicians used to say). He was, of course, "blind-sided", when Coltrane brought in Giant Steps, with it's challenging chord progression, and then counted it off at a rapid tempo The story goes that the pianist thought it was going to be a ballad...and prepared for it as such! Years later, Flanagan recorded Giant Steps with his own trio and produced a couple of highly respectable bop-ish versions. Another interesting thing: Coltrane's initial recording of the composition (later released in the Atlantic box set) featured the young, highly talented Cedar Walton on piano (who went on to have a long and stellar career), and on _that_ recording, Cedar opted _not to solo_ at all... so daunted was he by the changes and tempo!
Flanagan: ua-cam.com/video/wkXerGtKtKM/v-deo.html
Judging by ear without knowledge of theory I would say that Tommy Flanagan didn't miss a note here. I always liked how he made the piano sound like a rhodes here.
Great comment, thanks for the insight
Of course Flanagan would be caught off guard when Coltrane just came and shoved that arrangement to his face and played it right away. Flanagan would be like, "HOLD OOOOOOOON!!!"
@@fajarsetiawan8665 lol, I agree !!!! COLTRANE going insane ( in a cool way)
This is forever my fav Earworm episode. Soooo good
This should be a top comment
Today I learned I'm too dumb for jazz. Very interesting video.
You're not too dumb! The concepts presented in the video can take many years to master, anything you gleaned or learned from the video is super valuable!
@⸚ you lost me haha
@⸚ please don't become a teacher, are you really trying to explain notes in Hz to newbies? lmao
I you realized that you're too dumb for jazz, then you're certainly not too dumb for jazz.
You just need to learn it.
@@nofood1 Actually, his explanation is real easy. Most people know what an hertz is or the word resonate with them. Also, it's a solid scientific concept, not something so abstract as a note of music. Using frequencies to explain theory to beginners makes perfect sense to me.
In fact, music theory in general would gain SO much to rely more on the basic scientific concepts underlying it, because it's *theory*, as the name implies... it's theory therefore it explains natural phenomenon, and all music theory is based on scientific studies.
Most of the time music "theory" books sounds really like music *rule* books and that gets a LOT of people confused as hell who think that theory = rules. The theory of music explains the phenomenons of music like any other scientific theory. Musicology explore the phenomenon of music from the perspective of sociology... etc
I believe you're wrong and remembering the octave-frequency relation really doesn't take any skills in math nor in music yet is SO useful to understand everything later on.
I just want to say that Flanigans Solo is refreshing Because It isn't a nonstop flurry of notes like Colrane's solo. It's like hearing a relaxed James Earl Jones announce what's coming next, which happens to be a tobacco auctioneer. And yes, I'm a piano player. 😉
You’re entitled to your opinion. But you have to admit that you can hear Flanagan thinking, “ Where to now?”
I agree . They bth had different styles . Just listen to Tommy Flanagan with anyone else !
Detroit Jazz players
"If you don't understand a lick of music theory..."
I see what you did there ;)
No, I don't actually..
@@senadsusturica5584 A "lick" is a short musical phrase in a piece of music. It could be a little bass fill for example.
😃😄😅😂🤣
I thought you were talking about the lick.
a licc of music theory*
Hell yes. I get so mad when people say "jazz has no structure'. It has next level structure!
Exactly! Just because it’s complex doesn’t mean it lacks structure. Jazz is just mathematics for the ear. Even the most complex math, incomprehensible as it may be for most, has a beautiful underlying structure. Hell, compositions from someone like Conlon Nancarow have structure. I think most people who want to argue stuff like this just don’t understand the concept and can’t appreciate what they’re hearing, so they put it down. It’s just an unfortunate part of the human condition...
It breaks conventions which is something different.
@Technews Within the context of jazz, sure. But the OP said people say "Jazz has no structure." which is completely false. I just meant to explain that the issue isn't a lack of structure but a subversion of your expectations if you're not accustomed to it.
They usually mean 'I can't hear a structure'
Jazz was a natural genius misunderstood at large back then, and one sadly forgotten at large today.
Coltrane: Give me all of the key changes you have.
*Tommy begins setting up to play*
Coltrane: “Wait, Wait. I’m worried what you just heard was, ‘give me a lot of key changes.’ What I said was ‘give me all the key changes you have.’ Do you understand?
Tommy Flanagan: O_o
John Swanson
The story behind this is that Coltrane invited Tommy on the recording a couple of weeks earlier. Tommy asked him if he could look at the charts ahead of time. Coltrane told him not to bother-- it was all easy stuff he could sightread. Later on, Tommy went to work and mastered those changes.The presentation here is unfair.
This is the best Ron Swanson reference mixed with jazz I've ever read lol
@@magnussimms6384 how many have you read?
@@nwahs3233 not many 😂
Imagine the sheer relief the drummer had when he heard he didn't have to play any musical notes
? You, think Drummers do not feel or know Notes in Music, changes ,progessions ,etc. Real Drummers Navigate much more than others .Ya.
@@dynasticlight1073Thanks for ruining the joke.
Are teacher played this song for “relaxing music” for our test. Though, once I heard it, I got scared.
*our
@Alguém por aí My teacher also plays (mostly classical) music when me and my classmates are taking the tests.
Amazing Havlect / ABFDie I would have screamed!!! I have horrible test anxiety.
creative way of saying “our”
@@lymarie1974 bro all u have to do is think about the think about remembering the study and write it down like an interview got itok good
Who else was pleasantly surprised to find adam neely
I found this ridiculously fascinating as a non-musician. I had no idea jazz was so interesting!
Looking forward to your other videos.
Boi. Jazz is the most interesting music genre.
@@boopboop9356 Everything is Jazz
Wait, you didn't know the most avant garde and technical music out there is interesting? Crazy lol
I mean not giant steps specifically, just 🅱️azz in general
Music in general is fascinating. Not only jazz, but many other genres, and even in genres that seem simple there are fine examples of creativity in one song or album. Have you ever wonder how a musician that later became deaf could keep writing music? This is why
As a music teacher this is one of the best videos I have watched - accessible, accurate and well put together - BRAVO!
This video plagarized sideways, I'd encourage looking into it. The content made was origianlly made by a guy called sideways, you cand find information about it on the community page of his youtube channel.
Jazz needs to come back, it’s so relaxing and soothing yet so engaging and interesting at the same time
jazz didnt go away ... when all the young kids came into the room it went into the kitchen to finish the sourdough bread , it`ll be back out when the kids have finished trying to sell rap as poetry
It hasnt disappeared. It will just never become the mainstay in popular music again. I don't think it cares though. It is what it is.
@@EvilSean62 most important jazz musicans have embraced rap. Roy Hargrove, kamasi Washington, herbie Hancock, Robert glasper, etc.
Totally agree. And I have no idea why “Smooth Jazz” disappeared as a popular radio format sub genre
Evil Sean go listen to “To Pimp a Butterfly”, it’s one of the greatest rap albums of all time. It’s actually rap as poetry.
My girlfriend wanted to start a family. I subtly changed the subject to "How the circle of fifths works". It worked. No more baby talk. No girlfriend either.
Was she too board or too basic/ ignorant?
rofl
well done on ending your bloodline. I'm sure it was worth it.
hahahahaha , so i take it she wasn't into music much ...huh ???? Lucky you then , maybe the next will be better !
@@georgeisaak5321 Exactly! :)
I met Tommy Flanagan after an Ella Fitzgerald concert in 1974. He's an excellent pianist. To hear him struggle on Giant Steps is eye opening. Coltrane really is everything they say about him.
Or perhaps "ear opening".
I beg to differ about the Tommy Flannigan solo. Maybe you all should listen to it 100 more times. It's very displaced rhythmically and beautifully creative. Perhaps you wanted him to play the solo you wanted to hear. There are NO mistakes in that solo.
Somebody finally said it. Thank you
This is interesting. I had no idea about the supposed problems with his solo until I watched this. Before I just thought I was blissfully ignorant.
Right, no mistakes. But it does sound like he has to (Very Briefly) pause and then play again. I'm not downing him, he did an amazing job considering he (reportedly) only got the song the day before.
@@Will-Max Definitely not a mistake, maybe more of a happy accident. I think it really adds a nice moment of downtime in the middle of the song, without slowing the pace, & makes the way Coltrane flys off with the sax all the more impactful by comparison. It’s like the song is taking a moment to catch up with itself before sprinting off again & that feels right considering how quick it starts. Weather or not Flannigan meant it to be that way I have no clue, but it worked out really well.
I really dig his Choppy rhythm. I do agree that it is not what he wanted, but it fits the song, contrasting Coltrane's chaotic energy
You did a really great job on summarizing that. I for one can confirm that a drunk that knows nothing of Music completely understood what was explained... kudos
Godless Voice it’s hentai and it’s art
That drunk is a genius lol
@Mountain Chicken - That video where the guy drops his hentai stash at work lmao 😂
I felt that they were a bit over dramatic..talking about how the chord changes were in 3 different keys...when a lot of keys shares the voices....its really nothing supernatural or unusual about it at all.. you gota do what you gotta do is what coltrane was thinking probably..or he wasnt thinking at all just getting the song done the way he felt it should sound..the means how he got there didn't matter..just get there.. ....but millennials study it and get blown away lol. But maybe its because gospel music is a big part of my life and childhood that maybe to me..its not a bigdeal...but to yall its..WOW
@@b3at2 when somebody does it first, they get The Prestige of doing it first... And that a Pianist could not keep up with a saxophonist... I submit that is a bit more impressive. They might have clickbait the video with their title... But it was a slight click-baiting in my opinion. You're talking about keystrokes versus human-powered wind. And the human-powered wind won over the keystrokes. Just slightly... Not superhumanly... But slightly more impressive. And that Coltrane did it first? He deserves the rights of being a pioneer
And the video is really well put together. Incredible work really.
Now that I understood the giant steps stuff I'll go explain it to a friend. He's not gonna understand anything and I'm gonna confuse myself and I won't know anything anymore
Don't worry, you can sit there and google it while people wait
A great way of self destruction
I already don’t know anything anymore, and all I’ve done so far is just watch it.
The quality of this video is next level. You explained something that should be really difficult to understand if you’re not musically inclined and made it totally relatable with great analogies, explanations, diagrams... I mean, wow. I didn’t just learn something, I now have a much better understanding of how complex music really is. Love it. Great job.
This video plagarized sideways, I'd encourage looking into it. The sad thing is no one has sideways's back.
The research that goes into all the Vox videos is just outstanding!
Incredible! Googled the circle of fifths and then got two other people with a great understanding to make the content for them leaving them to explain extremely basic music theory.
With exception to anything political, they can do anything but that.
@@pseudonymousbeing987 they're great at political stuff tho
They got Adam Neely so that helps. But normally vox is infamously... Stretching
What about that whole "Christmas chord" thing tho lol
0:59 - "If you don't understand *a lick* of music theory"
This comment has been approved by the DEFGECD crew
Ah, a man of culture
THE LICC
ABCDBGA for alto and bari sax. The “lick”
Gangstar Vegas Beast the lick is in more than one key lol, i think it’s more accurate to just say 2345312
7:46 Just in case you needed to summon the ghost of John Coltrane, this is the chart you need.
Ha
"A Love Supreme." His truth.
Thank you I really needed It quickly
And once you have it, you need to perform Giant Steps.
This video was what single handedly got me into jazz as a whole, and I’m so grateful.
This video plagarized sideways, I'd encourage looking into it. The content made was origianlly made by a guy called sideways, you cand find information about it on the community page of his youtube channel.
" Coltrane was somethin.' "
Miles Davis
Coltrane was miles ahead of its time
@TheReal FakeCaptain yes
@Wayne Wallace
That's because Miles was deep.
@@indonesianbassbooster5167 *streets ahead. lol
There is a good bassist for that opinion .... oops !
I can't believe I actually understood the theory in this. I still can't improvise over Giant Steps though..
David DiMuzio goes to show how well a proper presentation will take you. Best way to start is to break it up into chunks and do it VERY slowly, it’s muscle memory and establishing familiarity, the original tune moves so fast and effortlessly that it can only really be handled by a deep familiarity and anticipation of changes. I strongly recommend checking out Rick Beato’s channel and vid on this. Cheers man!
@@justingarcia7722 a good explanation that is.
Adam says "rite of passage" for good reason
most people just copy John's phrases
check the guide tones
Wow. Thanks to Estelle and everyone who contributed to this video for giving me a glimpse into the mind of a genius!
This video is made extremely well. Both manages to educate musicians and non musicians alike while not being too over complicated or too simple
Coltrane's study of the circle of fifth is like he's summoning something
He's summoning the groove.
Looks like some scene from Full Metal Alchemist
Being a Major rpg nerd and a minor vocalist, this kinda lends itself to a discussion on D&D's bard class and their flavor of magic. :D
Kristian Curkovic right! looked just like a transmutation circle
Well he is a canonized saint of a church, and there are people (some who I know very well) who actually pray to him
This is so well done. Awesome work!
Woah I didn't know you liked jazz! I love your videos!
Oh hey, I know you. You kind of got buried towards the bottom here but engineering is sweet
This video plagarized sideways, I'd encourage looking into it.
They’ve come a long way since declaring that a half diminished supertonic chord was the chord that made Christmas music christmassy
they were correct
corhydron111 Eh, not really. That chord functions basically as a iv6 chord in a IV-iv-I progression. Fm6 is jazzy, but it's not *the* chord that makes music sound christmassy. It's soft jazz music in general.
It's also what makes pieces in a minor key minor
Jazz can also = Good Christmas Music
christmas and jazz have gone hand in hand since the days of wine and roses
This is still one of my favorite UA-cam videos of all time.
WoW. Not only is the content of this video essay incredible, BUT OMFG THE EDIT !!!!!!!!!
Suggestion: after all that learning, maybe you can bring the song back and let us hear it and appreciate a idk 20sec snippet with our new knowledge - I know we got a good chunk in the first chapter - and i did just click back to hear the tommy flaningan part, but it would be nice if the payoff was built into the end of the actual video. great lesson regardless.
The NBA Storyteller - THE END go listen to the song
It’s like speaking about a highlight and not showing it, it just feels like build with no payoff
ua-cam.com/video/xr0Tfng9SP0/v-deo.html
I imagine It’s a Fair Usage issue. You can play clips of someone else’s work but you’d be breaching copyright to play the whole thing.
joshua barryington but this music is readily available
me not getting any bit of this: wow this is super cool!
God bless believers and have a good day!
At 6:13 …why are y’all using a word for word explanation from Sideways? I don’t see any citation to his work? Did I miss it?
I would find nothing before his video that used the language analogy-what’s your source? Also…Sideways has a video on this topic that is incredibly similar but came before your’s. Was he an inspiration?
I feel like I've just discovered a whole complex world of music that I had no idea about.
Welcome to music theory! Jazz is about the most difficult part to start with, that's like trying calculus in third grade. But if you like what you saw, we have plenty that we can teach ya! Either of the two music theory people featured in this video would be a great start point.
Welcome to the Party!
Welcome. You can check out any time you want but you can never leave
I felt the same way when I started studing music theory last year. I have played a variety of instruments in my life, but I didn't get into the theory until last year.
yeah popular music vs coltrane-era jazz is like Paint vs Photoshop.
Me, clicking on this video: "Man this better be giant steps..."
Video: "John Coltrane's Gian't Steps-"
Me: "thank god"
bahaha it was writen '' earworm'' on the image so i thought "hmm don' t know this song, i thought it would be about giant's step."
You couldn’t tell by the thumbnail?
@@banfield1368 they could but how else would they write this quirky, hilarious, unique, original, funny, special, gut busting, individual joke??
Tbh i thought the same and I dont have a huge jazz playlist in my stuff, basically some 3 songs plus giant steps
I have never been so confused yet intrigued in my life. I have a newfound respect for jazz artists. This is basically genius.
The song sounds like a theatrical performance about how a person gets lost, runs all over the place and cannot figure out where to go, but at the same time, the actor playing this character has complete control over the performance.
That's one small step for Man, one giant major third step for John Coltrane.
Christopher MacIntyre fun fact i go to john coltrane’s high school
Clever!
excellent
He ran a Trane on Flannigan.
*(jazz music stops)*
Avery did it first
@@SupremeLeaderKimJong-un Oh my bad.
I can already see the meme in my head *what have you done*
（ＪＡＺＺ ＭＵＳＩＣ ＩＮＴＥＮＳＩＦＩＥＳ）
So you’re the new Justin Y
Pleasantly surprised to see Adam Neely in this video. Good on you to bring in an expert (actually two).
I’ve tried to improvise on Giant Steps but fail miserably after four measures. Huge respect to anyone out there who can tackle this monster/masterpiece! I just love this tune.
I actually like the piano solo a lot, don't know why people always say it's bad, or he 'failed'. Bullshit. With that bass pumping relentlessly during the silences it makes Giant Steps even more fearsome :)
same....tommy leaves more spaces...trane fills all the spaces = tommy's solo is 'better'
I think he was intentionally building up the intensity for John, he was going all out at the start Giant Steps would just be boring steps.
Me too, I always thought broken solos were a stylistic thing, jazz musicians are always yapping about space and phrasing, well, there's some space for them.
It is the "Jazz police" they thell us,it is good or bad, i play jazz and i dont care about the jazz police !!!!!
I don’t think anyone said it was bad, it’s just pretty evident that he was a little overwhelmed by the changes. I don’t think that’s a failure on his part, this was a really demanding thing he was given.
Great explanations. I have no background in music theory but I felt comfortable through the whole video.
Go practice piano then, zipperhead
But did you understand?
I teach music theory. I always begin by saying, "A famous economist once said that to understand economics, all you have to understand is Supply and Demand. To understand music theory, all you have to understand is Cycle of Fifths".
That is why Vox is classified as explanation journalism.
That was a good video. Some additional points:
1) The modulations are especially difficult in the first 7 bars bc they change keys in mid bar.
2) Have You Met Miss Jones (1937) used Maj 3rd modulations in the bridge and isn't nearly as hard to play.
3) To me, Giant Steps sounds a lot like an exercise, especially bc Trane repeats himself so much, playing "1 2 3 5" and "1 3 5 7" over and over. Obviously he had practiced this a lot before the session. And after this record, influenced by Kind of Blue in the same year, Trane went in the opposite direction, playing modal jazz on just ONE chord for a long time. I look at Giant Steps as his "last hoorah" with frantic chord changes and his 1950s "sheets of sound". After this, when he formed his quartet, he got much more spiritual and, to me, much more musical. Give me A Love Supreme, Crescent, or Live at Village Vanguard over any Trane from the '50s.
Great comment! Really nice observations.
I appreciate how you voiced your third point as opinion rather than fact.
A Love Supreme will always be one of the most meaningful albums ever recorded to me. That said the "sheets of sound" are why I fell in love with Coltrane to begin with
@@slothmoth2389 Coltranes take on My Favorite Things is my favorite piece of jazz ever
I know a lot of players who CAN play Giant Steps but view it as an exercise. I've had people come up to me at gigs and they request it, I often wonder if they request it every time, and if they do, if band play it every time. I also wonder if they mentally allocate marks out of 10 for each respective performance. I totally agree with you that his later work was more musical. I do find the circle of fifths and all the diagrams drawn by Coltrane to be fascinating in a mathematical way.
Nice comment. Coltrane is probably my favourite musician ever, and while I definitely enjoy the fifties albums, especially the way he played the fast blues, his classic recordings with the quartet was just, and still is, hauntingly beautiful.
MrThang
Well interesting enough, my son told me that Coltrane’s wife said he regretted recording that song. It was meant more for his own developing his ideas ... sorta like practice. The later artists in our era, actually create a more melodic solo of that song, which of course is because the time they had to listen to him and develop their own ideas.
This video is already a classic in the jazz world.
I freaked out when I saw Neely
I like how they are collabing with a guy that has previously critisised them.
@@Begmann0306 They really took the things he said in stride and listened when he said it'd be cool if they could just reach out to him for a better perspective.
He killed it in this vid and expressed what's interesting about the track so well.
Trym Bergmann i’m surprised that they can handle criticism really well and ask the guy who criticized them to make a new content together, and their content is instantly getting better 😂
@@Begmann0306 yeah me too. I think it's great how he have honest and pretty even-handed feedback and they respected it enough to actually bring him on for a future video anyway
Coltrane is easily one of the best musicians of all time so it's great to see his work being recognized and shared on a modern popular platform. You guys are awesome! Can't wait to see more!
Country music: 3 chords, 300 listeners
Jazz: 300 chords, 3 listeners
Old Uncle Bob Being one of those three listeners, if you know the other two, introduce us please. It gets quite lonely.
Hey, I'm like number 51
Haha... a bit of LOL - very good.
bluegrass on the other hand is cool
Very down to earth
One of the most well-produced videos on youtube ever!
explaining art through what could only be another piece of art.
This video plagarized sideways, I'd encourage looking into it. The content made was origianlly made by a guy called sideways, you cand find information about it on the community page of his youtube channel.
This was really well done--I'm saying that as someone who understands music theory pretty well but has always found jazz intimidating. Thanks for putting this together.
Actually, there is quite a bit more to Giant Steps. The chord progression of three-tonics indeed are related by a major third interval. These three related chords/keys are related via the Hexatonic Scale, or the Augmented Scale. G Bb B D Eb F#.
Coltrane had been studying this scale and ‘Third Relations’ with his teacher Dennis Sandole in Philadelphia. The music of Scriabin, Stravinsky, Bartok, Holst and others exploited third relations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Scriabin especially composed entire sections of large works using this scale. In the scale (for example in G - there are major third related chords each with three qualities. - Major, minor, augmented triads on G, B, Eb. They each also extend with M7ths. (These are Group One Chords).Between these ‘three tonics of three qualities’ there are Augmented triads (Groups Two Chords) on the leading tones of Group One notes - Bb,D,F#.
Furthermore, the melody of Giant Steps is firmly in the Augmented Scale with its variances of M7 and mM7 chord arpeggios in lines 1 and 2 - when the B becomes Bb, (GM7)and in line 2 when the G becomes Gb ((F#)(EbM7).
All the other guide tones of the motives in the second half of the tune outline the varying M,m, Aug chords of this Hexatonic Scale/key.. They are numerously overlapping -
There are two notes, A and F (used to accommodate the inserted ii-V progressions) in bars 4 and 8 (the A reappears in bar 10 under the same harmony) which do not come from the scale.
That is, the ii-V progressions are ‘jazzifications’ of the use of this iconic scale. He connects these three Major-Quality tonics with their related ii-V progressions - which do not really come from the mother scale. This becomes a ‘jazz way’ of connecting these Hexatonic-derived chord ‘key’ relations.
Coltrane chose to compose this exercise using the Major Key orientation of this scale, but one could also do the same for the possible minor, and augmented possibilities of RN I, IIII, V. (Group One Chords).
Remember that (Group Two Chords) RNs II,IV,VI are augmented triads. They don’t even have the possibility of extensions because of the symmetry of the scale.
This scale was further used by the advanced players of the 1970’s and 80’s, such as Michael Brecker and the iconic Jan Garbarek, and Ralph Towner. Indeed, this scale also introduces to jazz musicians some new chord types, such as the Maj 7 #9 chord (also found in Lydian #2 mode, VI in harmonic minor; as well, for the first time for jazz musicians, the Major 7 #5,#9, as well as numerous combinations of M, m, Aug chords and M7, M7#5, mM7 (Group One chords) and using the singular ‘Aug triad of three names’ of Group II chords.
As well, Olivier Messiaen in the 1940’s was a pioneer of symmetrical harmony and an influence on jazz musicians. Giant Steps is actually very simple, and logical as a system, an exercise in symmetrical harmonic relations eventually abandoned by Coltrane for its closed-ness and predictability.
Charlie Parker was studying the Hindemith sonata for alto saxophone in his last years and expressed his desire for jazz to move closer to this direction. Also, of course virtuosi such as Chick Corea have been profoundly influenced by these ideas from Bartok and others.
If anyone is interested in the full story of the structure Giant Steps, I am happy to send my short treatise (undergrad assignment at Washington University in STL).
William Lenihan Just when I thought I started to get it... anyway I’m interested, can you mail me your analysis so I can give it a try ?
Sure! Can you send it over
I've become obsessed with the Augmented Scale and am studying the Javier Arau paper. If you can share your paper with me or at least just recommend some additional source material please let me know!
Hey, if you still there , can you send me too ?
Wow send me too. Definitely interested
On this recording Tommy Flanagan put down one of the greatest chord solos of all time. Simply beautiful!
We 3
Haha what?
John is so legendary! His artistry is immaculate and is the blueprint for music progression
Incredible video on all fronts -- I loved all of the analogies, animations, and especially loved Adam and Braxton's appearances!!
They did it they actually got adam
More like a taxi driver who has to go from the train station to the airport at 70 mph and every couple of seconds it's a different city.
This is actually the perfect analogy :D 'Cause you'd have to blend the different city road maps in your head and come up with a route that somehow works in all those cities while they're changing into each other. In real time, as you're driving.
Killer analogy i think this is the best comment.
At a different airport...lol..I loved it
Nah. Just a slide to the right, the PATTERNS stay the same, only the key changes. It's more like driving in New York through the numbered streets, and every three blocks you transport to a different cross-street - but the relationships are identical. Really, it's only hard if you usually play in just a few keys.
Imagine the gps callouts for that.
- In 300 meters, enter the station through platform 1
- In 200 meters, turn right onto the general aviation ramp
- In 10000 kilometers, land in narita international airport
- 200メートル先、右に曲がって空港から出ていてください
I've just written on my 2021 goals list to watch this thing 20 times, and then master giant steps improvisation.
My ex gf said that music theory was comparable to my final algebra that I had to take for civil engineering and economics majors. I think she might have been right.
sicboi It gets worse memorizing minor keys, their key signatures, which half steps to raise, double sharps and flats, overtone series, understanding partials, some complex key signatures, modes of limited transportation, memorizing perfects majors and minors, etc.
Jeff Jeffrey your sentence gave me a headache. It's Friday man, now I have to have a drink to get rid of that headache.
I went to school for music, didn't get a degree, just wanted to learn what I knew I'd need to know for my career.
I can say, with complete honesty, music theory 1-4 were the hardest classes I've ever had in my whole life.
@@BRUXXUS Another way to think of music theory is that its just a language used by people who need to explain a series of tonal events after actual artists get done with their creations.
You don't have to learn a whole dictionnary to fluently speak a language, you just use it when you encounter a word you don't know.
It's kinda the same with music theory.
I feel like people think they have to study *everything* about it to make good music, you just have to pick some bits theory that are interesting for YOU and your own music imo.
The drummer was probably like, "Ha! You guys go improvise!". xd
John really went easy on him. Should have made him drum in all 3 keys
best comment out here XD
I used to think Jazz drummers had it easy until I saw the movie 'Whiplash' lol.
@@coonalisa230 great reminder to watch what looks like a painfully awesome movie
@@coonalisa230 jazz drummers are among the best in the world. Jazz drumming is a whole different level of drumming.
And the drummer had the time of his life.
I’m a drummer and in my jazz combo I’m like “let’s play giant steps” and they hate me because it’s so hard for them but so easy for me.
@@supernightslash nope, he's not humble-bragging because the drum part is super easy in comparison. He's remarking about the difficulty gap in the different instrumental roles.
@@supernightslash r/asshole
@@supernightslash I wonder if you want to delete your comment now or you still do not see the error.
Leeloo Minai It’s deleted! I have no idea what it said, but kudos for everyone being supportive. I’ve been jumped up and down on a few times and it sucks. So, kudos!!
The visuals on this were AMAZING. Made the contact so easy to digest. Vox has some great producers and animators on this episode.
This video plagarized sideways, I'd encourage looking into it. The content made was origianlly made by a guy called sideways, you cand find information about it on the community page of his youtube channel.
I understand nothing
but it was a very cool video regardless
You'll get it if you play music and have a decent teacher
@@VivekPatel-ze6jy Or if you watch music theory vids on the good ole Interwebs. Never took any music related class in my life and just about all of this made sense to me from learning via Internet.
Thank you Vox, very cool!
Same here dude
You took the words right out of my mouth.
Thanks for including Adam Neely. About time y'all acknowledged him!
Excellent explanation of some fundamental music theory and 'Trane's contribution to modern jazz.
Watching several times, still I had no idea. But I believe it's magnificent
*_Y A L I K E J A Z Z ?_*
FBI Agent 911 DOES ANYBODY WANT COFFEE??? WHO WANTS COFFEE??
*_Y A_*
VANESSAAAAAAGRHGEGEHRH!!!!
*DO YOU LIKE JAZZ?*
OMG ive heard of this where did it come from 😭😭😭😭
Emmy award-winning video. Let that sink in. 👌🏻
I'd say it deserves it
@@enflamedhuevos I mean, no one at Vox in this video knows anything about music theory. For example, that's not even where the fingers go while playing the saxophone.
^^ dude that’s totally inconsequential
No, this sink keeps wanting in it's so annoying. Probably got kicked out of his mom's place again.
@@currentlyalex this isnt a genius video😭😭😭
Please more videos explaining music theory, you explain it in such an easy way! Thanks for the videos, I would love to see more of this, I was trying to understand how jazz worked without success until I saw this. To me my ultimate goal is to: understand music history by explaining it with music theory and how it was actually made, so you could actually mimic a composer or musician of a certain time. Maybe you could help everyone understand music this way and make it more creative by having a look to its past. Thanks anyway, you're one of the best music teachers and you're note even a musician, respect for that!
Watch Adam Neely's vids too, the guy can really explain it at a normal level on his channel too.
Less fancy graphics, but that's it
9:10 That is a great way to visualize and easily understand the chord progression of Giant Steps! Thank you!
it's actually very satisfying when you're a musical person and you actually get to understand the explanation
Thank you Vox, very cool
Jazz music stops
Thank you Kim, very cool
Thank you, beloved comrade.
Cool job with the pandemic in PDRK, Kim. Zero cases!
One of the quintessential LP’s of all-time!!!! I love many pianist and Tommy Flanagan is one of my favorite.All I can say is that he nailed it like I would expect him to do.They don’t make them like these guys anymore!!God bless both of them and may they both RIP!!!!