don't really see many music theorists on youtube that specialize on japanese music even though japanese music is the most interesting for me. really appreciate your work, gavin.
Very cool! I always thought the term "non-functional harmony" was a bit of a misnomer, as it often clearly does serve a function. If anything it just means we need to add a new chapter to the theory book. Great video as always!
Thanks so much! You may enjoy the 12tone video I linked to in the cards “Nonfunctional Harmony Isn’t Really A Thing”. I try to get more specific about nonfunctional chords and voice leading chords.
Really amazing videos Gavin! If I may ask, what does L.V. at 8:08 mean? Also: do you level your tonalities mainly by following the melody? I struggle to understand fully the analysis because there's so many ambiguity, which I think is key to this music
V.L. is my shorthand for Voice Leading. I label chords with that when they don't have a defined function, but they have chromatic neighbor tones or shared tones with the next chord. For tonalities, I try to use the simplest explanation that sufficiently explains what's going on.
Thank you so much, this helps bring a lot of recent finds into context XD. I wonder, are you familiar with Takashi Yoshimatsu? ua-cam.com/video/whbaUjWPax4/v-deo.html ua-cam.com/video/hJpPXNyM2Kk/v-deo.html
what makes the harmonies in this piece reminiscent of the composer ravel, the chord in 10:22 sounds like something he would write (and i notice the ostinato was inspired by the composer's bolero but would love to know about why the harmonies in this piece sound similar to 20th century french impressionism)
In Blu, I hear the note F as a “blue” color, and it’s interesting that many of the chords have F in them. F7, Dm9, Bbmaj7, Gm7 and later Ebm11. Even later: Dbmaj7. I interpret the song as being closer to Am than C major. Bb would be flat II. I think key changes do make the most sense to analyze this type of music. Japanese game composer Uematsu loves to shift keys like this as well and his style reminds me of this composer Sakamoto.
12:51 showcases a chain of fifths from E to C, with all chords being maj7 chords. The quality of the chord prevents from analysing it as each chord being the V of the following one, and rather one could interpret each chord as being the IV chord of the previous one. This is not however the plagual cadence Jacob Collier introduces in his masterclass, but its mirrored version. If Jacob Collier introduces the following chord progression : IV/IV - IV - I Here we observe : I - IV - IV/IV - (it keeps going) Bonus : the last chord Cmaj7#11 contains a #15 (which is C#) introduced into Gavin's video on the circle of fifths as the 7th fifth of a chord made out of stacked fifths This is a sound Jacob Collier often uses
At 4:26, we can hear an exemple of Chromatic Mediant, used to modulate back from Gb major to G major. In a given key, wether it is major or minor, there are the mediant (built on the 3rd degree) and the sub-mediant (built on the 6th degree). Although these two are diatonics, a key contains also 6 chromatics mediants, derived from the mediant and the sub-mediant. These chromatic mediants are often used to modulate since they evoke a drastic change of color, and so since the romantic era in Europe. The 3 chromatic mediants derived from the mediant in a major key are : III bIII biii The 3 chromatic mediants derived from the sub-mediant in a minor key are : VI bVI bvi The 3 chromatic mediants derived from the mediant in a minor key are : biii III iii The 3 chromatic mediants derived from the sub-mediant in a minor key are : bvi VI vi Here, Sakamoto uses the ii from Gb major, which is also the bvi chromatic mediant from C major to modulate back to the key of G major, since C is the IV in G major. This shows how much chromatic mediants can help to modulate easily to a distant key, or to a key closer to our target.
7:18 : German Fifths Don't mind this comment yet please, i am gonna search on the subject and then post what i learned here to keep it warm in my head :)
Sakamoto's technique of establishing a melody on the same tonality, despite using two keys that differ by a perfect fourth degree, is common in many of his compositions. Furthermore, keys differing by an augmented fourth degree are linked together in his 1981 "Photo Musik" and 1983 "Perspective" as well. In music theory, combining two of the most distant tones into one piece of music is very tricky, but thrilling to execute. It is like a train going down a double-track line entering the other line from the initial line at a certain point through a switching track.
Your Video is very intresting already saw something similar in book Theory of Harmony Arnold Schoenberg he said something about the topic fluctuating tonality and suspended tonality and in another book Tonality, Atonality, Pantonality Rudolph Reti or Tonality, Atonality, Pantonality a study of some treands in twentiesh century music Rudolph Reti with subjects like Melodic Tonality, Fluctuating Harmonies, Moving Tonics, to me a example is Debussy clair de lune, it´s tonality but is there is some more, fluctuating tonality.
There is an interview in which Sakamoto hints at a belief that he’s a reincarnation of Debussy, mostly noting that he feels a deep soul connection to Debussy’s music.
From a distance, I've admired Sakamoto, Morricone, and Hisaisho but never really dared to understand the harmony until you. Thank you from the bottom of ny heart (and somewhere near the bottom of the harmonic rabbit hole).
Hello Gavin, i hope you are doing well :) At 10:58, you showcase the following chord progression to show how borrowed chords may become too heavy of a tool to analyse the music of Sakamoto : Fmaj7 - Ebmaj7 - Abmaj7 - Dbmaj7 I got to admit that i find some of his harmonic decisions really difficult to digest for now, however in this particular instance, if we are in C major, wouldn't it be easier to analyse such a chord progression as : IV - bIII borrowed from parallel minor - bVI borrowed from parallel minor - bII (neapolitan chord) ? It could also just be seen as going around the circle of fifths from Eb to Db as you mention it Knowing the following chords would have helped me to understand better but i'm not good enough to transcribe music yet... Anyway, i know that any model of music theory that fits you the best to understand is the good one, but i couldn't help myself asking Also i got to search what is the german fifth now ahah
@@gavinleepermusic Wow that's pleasing to be remembered thanks ! :) To be honest i looked half of it yesterday before quitting from not understanding ahah And i will surely watch it again deeper later ! :) Have a nice day ;)
@@martialpanyvino Yeah I think this set of chord symbols is a bit much. Probably easier to describe it as just moving that lydian sound around in a non-functional way. But yeah, it's mostly in that I - IV - IV/IV kind of motion.
you can actually play an Asus9 and it would sound great, the Gb/Bb also sound like a Neapolitan Chord in F, which can be picked as another way for resolution.
@@gavinleepermusic I mean The Unanswered Question by Charles Ives is such a great piece, and a nice example of polytonal composing that feels like it actually tells a story and feels purposeful, rather than just sounding dissonant for the sake of being experimental. I imagine you've heard that one though. I wish I had some examples from contemporary Japanese music, but all the pieces I've looked at in that category can be explained by the concepts you have covered already in your videos. I did start transcribing some Junya Nakano songs, some of which have a unique sonority, often modal and ambiguous voicings with the occasional polychord. He was one of the composers that worked on the Final Fantasy X soundtrack, he also did the entire OST for Threads of Fate/Dew Prism.
Junya Nakano - From Final Fantasy X OST (all of these are gems): This is Your Story Phantoms The Summoning Grand Maester Mika Luca Twilight (this is a very dissonant track, feels polychordal, halfway through the strings swell up really high for this beautiful unsettling contrast/reprieve) A Contest of Aeons Junya Nakano - from Threads of Fate OST (a little more dated sounding, but I'm a fan): Circling Memories ~Klaus~ (also translated as "Surrounded By Thoughts: Klaus" depending on where you find the OST) A Chance Meeting Church Village (also translated as "Town" or "Corona Town") Rocky Mountain Sky Garden Ghost Temple (or "Temple of Ghosts")
I don't think there's a music theory channel I enjoy more than yours, Gavin. Your examples and explanations are always crystal clear, and the topics are super interesting. Looking forward to the next one while I read Kayanochino's books!
Thank you Aditya! I’d rather 1000 people really learn something than 100,000 people engage on a surface level. Both volume and depth would be awesome though!
ive composed or covered/arranged over 600 pieces but none of this theory stuff makes any sense to me, it’s gibberish. how can u tell what key a part of a song is in, when it’s a salad of unconnected notes? arrogant labelling
i'd rather you have a look at the theory stuff first before calling it arrogant labelling. it might even help with your future pieces. or not, i'm just a reply to a comment in a barely watched underrated video.
Figuring out what key a song is in, while it might seem like a basic step, is actually super hard! Especially in more advanced songs like these where the key actually changes too! This material is fairly advanced, so I’d make sure you understand the basics first. Learning Music Theory With Ocarina of Time covers some basic fundamentals, so you may enjoy starting from there.
@@gavinleepermusic i went to the Learning Theory With Ocarina Of Time video and you start out by saying stuff about “degrees of a scale” as the _very beginning_ of the lessons, but i had to go look up what that meant cuz i didnt know (i cant read notation really). and then when u got to the fairy fountain song part, u used chords that you said were “simplified” “to demonstrate a concept” but to me they just sounded discordant…. the fairy fountain song chords are supposed to be big complicated chords, i can tell in my head u simplified them too much, bub! thank u for offering the help but it’s too late for me to learn music theory, im too far ahead from that door, im too far behind in theory for where i am in my music “career”. i think i have to go by ear like i always have. all the guides to where i am in music theory are intended for little children & its really hard on my ego. i just wanna do mysterious chords & funky basslines & cool beats!!!
@@AuntBibby i mean, a lot of musicians out there don't really know theory that well but are still pretty dope. if that's how you want to play, then i fully encourage it. theory isn't mandatory after all. i still do want to stress that you can make your pieces more colorful with some nice theory in play though. also kinda curious about your work. think you can link some of it?
![{Transition Chords} & Contemporary Japanese Music - [Kashiwa, Kondo, et. al.]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/OsCHcAe3GNQ/mqdefault.jpg)
![{Transition Chords} & Contemporary Japanese Music - [Kashiwa, Kondo, et. al.]](/img/tr.png)
![Learning Music Theory With -- [The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/9dMhAl3Gx3M/mqdefault.jpg)
don't really see many music theorists on youtube that specialize on japanese music even though japanese music is the most interesting for me. really appreciate your work, gavin.
Thank you Yamada-san. It’s such a pleasure to work on these, and I’m glad to hear the videos are helpful!
IV/IV/IV/IV/IV is my new go to chord
Lollll it’s naturally the most intuitive choice!
Very cool! I always thought the term "non-functional harmony" was a bit of a misnomer, as it often clearly does serve a function. If anything it just means we need to add a new chapter to the theory book. Great video as always!
Thanks so much! You may enjoy the 12tone video I linked to in the cards “Nonfunctional Harmony Isn’t Really A Thing”. I try to get more specific about nonfunctional chords and voice leading chords.
Found your channel recently and what a gold nugget of music info
Honored to hear you say that! 🙏
Really amazing videos Gavin! If I may ask, what does L.V. at 8:08 mean? Also: do you level your tonalities mainly by following the melody? I struggle to understand fully the analysis because there's so many ambiguity, which I think is key to this music
V.L. is my shorthand for Voice Leading. I label chords with that when they don't have a defined function, but they have chromatic neighbor tones or shared tones with the next chord. For tonalities, I try to use the simplest explanation that sufficiently explains what's going on.
Thank you so much, this helps bring a lot of recent finds into context XD. I wonder, are you familiar with Takashi Yoshimatsu?
ua-cam.com/video/whbaUjWPax4/v-deo.html
ua-cam.com/video/hJpPXNyM2Kk/v-deo.html
what makes the harmonies in this piece reminiscent of the composer ravel, the chord in 10:22 sounds like something he would write (and i notice the ostinato was inspired by the composer's bolero but would love to know about why the harmonies in this piece sound similar to 20th century french impressionism)
This video is perfect. Well researched, elegant and informative. I will re-watch it for sure! Thanks!
Thanks so much! Glad you think so!
Really loving your content. It helps explain the kind of music aesthetic that I'm drawn to and inspires my own work.
Glad it helps!
In Blu, I hear the note F as a “blue” color, and it’s interesting that many of the chords have F in them. F7, Dm9, Bbmaj7, Gm7 and later Ebm11. Even later: Dbmaj7.
I interpret the song as being closer to Am than C major. Bb would be flat II.
I think key changes do make the most sense to analyze this type of music. Japanese game composer Uematsu loves to shift keys like this as well and his style reminds me of this composer Sakamoto.
*Video starts in 144p*
Gavin: _Check out these production quality improvements!_
lol
12:51 showcases a chain of fifths from E to C, with all chords being maj7 chords.
The quality of the chord prevents from analysing it as each chord being the V of the following one, and rather one could interpret each chord as being the IV chord of the previous one.
This is not however the plagual cadence Jacob Collier introduces in his masterclass, but its mirrored version. If Jacob Collier introduces the following chord progression :
IV/IV - IV - I
Here we observe :
I - IV - IV/IV - (it keeps going)
Bonus : the last chord Cmaj7#11 contains a #15 (which is C#) introduced into Gavin's video on the circle of fifths as the 7th fifth of a chord made out of stacked fifths
This is a sound Jacob Collier often uses
Someone's paying attention! haha yes, very good.
At 4:26, we can hear an exemple of Chromatic Mediant, used to modulate back from Gb major to G major.
In a given key, wether it is major or minor, there are the mediant (built on the 3rd degree) and the sub-mediant (built on the 6th degree).
Although these two are diatonics, a key contains also 6 chromatics mediants, derived from the mediant and the sub-mediant.
These chromatic mediants are often used to modulate since they evoke a drastic change of color, and so since the romantic era in Europe.
The 3 chromatic mediants derived from the mediant in a major key are :
III
bIII
biii
The 3 chromatic mediants derived from the sub-mediant in a minor key are :
VI
bVI
bvi
The 3 chromatic mediants derived from the mediant in a minor key are :
biii
III
iii
The 3 chromatic mediants derived from the sub-mediant in a minor key are :
bvi
VI
vi
Here, Sakamoto uses the ii from Gb major, which is also the bvi chromatic mediant from C major to modulate back to the key of G major, since C is the IV in G major.
This shows how much chromatic mediants can help to modulate easily to a distant key, or to a key closer to our target.
7:18 : German Fifths
Don't mind this comment yet please, i am gonna search on the subject and then post what i learned here to keep it warm in my head :)
Sakamoto's technique of establishing a melody on the same tonality, despite using two keys that differ by a perfect fourth degree, is common in many of his compositions. Furthermore, keys differing by an augmented fourth degree are linked together in his 1981 "Photo Musik" and 1983 "Perspective" as well. In music theory, combining two of the most distant tones into one piece of music is very tricky, but thrilling to execute. It is like a train going down a double-track line entering the other line from the initial line at a certain point through a switching track.
Make the melody note be the maj7 or #11 and it will sound like japanese stuff
Your Video is very intresting already saw something similar in book Theory of Harmony Arnold Schoenberg he said something about the topic fluctuating tonality and suspended tonality and in another book Tonality, Atonality, Pantonality Rudolph Reti or Tonality, Atonality, Pantonality a study of some treands in twentiesh century music Rudolph Reti with subjects like Melodic Tonality, Fluctuating Harmonies, Moving Tonics, to me a example is Debussy clair de lune, it´s tonality but is there is some more, fluctuating tonality.
There is an interview in which Sakamoto hints at a belief that he’s a reincarnation of Debussy, mostly noting that he feels a deep soul connection to Debussy’s music.
From a distance, I've admired Sakamoto, Morricone, and Hisaisho but never really dared to understand the harmony until you. Thank you from the bottom of ny heart (and somewhere near the bottom of the harmonic rabbit hole).
Welcome to the bottom, brother ;)
Honey wake up, new Gavin Leeper dropped
Is there any chance you’d do a more in depth video on parallel, dominant and relative multipolar tonality?
Maybe soon!
woo hoo! it's finally up! :))
So glad that Nomura has a place in one of your video ^^
Indeed! He’s a composer at Bandai Namco now. As of April!
I think it would be a nice idea if you could give us tasks at the end of the video to solidify the ideas in our musical minds. great vid! :)
Hello Gavin, i hope you are doing well :)
At 10:58, you showcase the following chord progression to show how borrowed chords may become too heavy of a tool to analyse the music of Sakamoto :
Fmaj7 - Ebmaj7 - Abmaj7 - Dbmaj7
I got to admit that i find some of his harmonic decisions really difficult to digest for now, however in this particular instance, if we are in C major, wouldn't it be easier to analyse such a chord progression as :
IV - bIII borrowed from parallel minor - bVI borrowed from parallel minor - bII (neapolitan chord) ?
It could also just be seen as going around the circle of fifths from Eb to Db as you mention it
Knowing the following chords would have helped me to understand better but i'm not good enough to transcribe music yet...
Anyway, i know that any model of music theory that fits you the best to understand is the good one, but i couldn't help myself asking
Also i got to search what is the german fifth now ahah
I’ll have a proper look at this later and get back to you! Was curious when you’d get around to this one hehe. Probably my toughest video
@@gavinleepermusic Wow that's pleasing to be remembered thanks ! :)
To be honest i looked half of it yesterday before quitting from not understanding ahah
And i will surely watch it again deeper later ! :)
Have a nice day ;)
@@martialpanyvino Yeah I think this set of chord symbols is a bit much. Probably easier to describe it as just moving that lydian sound around in a non-functional way. But yeah, it's mostly in that I - IV - IV/IV kind of motion.
4:04 For me, the key center switches to E
you can actually play an Asus9 and it would sound great, the Gb/Bb also sound like a Neapolitan Chord in F, which can be picked as another way for resolution.
Very enlightening. Now I want to know more about the methods for transitioning, especially for the bigger jumps.
I return to this video frequently. Each time I return I understand a little bit more :)
Ive been subbed to you for a while but hadn't seen this video. Ryuichi is one of my favorite. Thank you for this
Yay more inspiration
Such a detailed video loved it
Sakamoto secret sauce!
Loving the songs your taking a look at! Check out "A Song For Nicholas" it does basically the same maj7 moves as Blu.
Thanks! I’ll have a look!
Love the analysis. I plan to use this as best I can.
thats so cool
l have a feeling it will be awesome
Nice, can't wait!
This is amazing!
I always love your videos, they're so helpful. Thanks again for sharing your knowledge with us
Thank you! I’m so glad to hear that :)
Wow, so much to digest in this video! Thanks for sharing your findings. On another note, I went and purchased those three books immediately!
Yeah I make them dense like textbook chapters haha. I’m sure Kayano-san appreciates the purchases!
@gavinleepermusic Do you think you will ever make a video on polytonality? I think you would do such a great job covering this topic.
@@MasterpieceTheatreDM Thank you! I’ve been exploring the concept actually. Any pieces you’d recommend I check out?
@@gavinleepermusic I mean The Unanswered Question by Charles Ives is such a great piece, and a nice example of polytonal composing that feels like it actually tells a story and feels purposeful, rather than just sounding dissonant for the sake of being experimental. I imagine you've heard that one though. I wish I had some examples from contemporary Japanese music, but all the pieces I've looked at in that category can be explained by the concepts you have covered already in your videos. I did start transcribing some Junya Nakano songs, some of which have a unique sonority, often modal and ambiguous voicings with the occasional polychord. He was one of the composers that worked on the Final Fantasy X soundtrack, he also did the entire OST for Threads of Fate/Dew Prism.
@@MasterpieceTheatreDM Oh please send a few of your favorites from him!
Junya Nakano - From Final Fantasy X OST (all of these are gems):
This is Your Story
Phantoms
The Summoning
Grand Maester Mika
Luca
Twilight (this is a very dissonant track, feels polychordal, halfway through the strings swell up really high for this beautiful unsettling contrast/reprieve)
A Contest of Aeons
Junya Nakano - from Threads of Fate OST (a little more dated sounding, but I'm a fan):
Circling Memories ~Klaus~ (also translated as "Surrounded By Thoughts: Klaus" depending on where you find the OST)
A Chance Meeting
Church
Village (also translated as "Town" or "Corona Town")
Rocky Mountain Sky Garden
Ghost Temple (or "Temple of Ghosts")
@@MasterpieceTheatreDM This is Your Story definitely sounds like a Sakamoto tune.
So glad to see a new vid!
finally got around to this one, another beautiful presentation of these ideas gavin. imma buy a shirt too cuz that design is fireeeeeeee
Thanks so much for your support! Glad you enjoyed this :)
god you're such an inspiration.. everything from your discipline and brilliance. I genuinely aspire to be like you
Wow, thank you for all of your kindness. I feel really touched 🥹
take it easy bud lol..he’s just a guy on youtube making videos
I don't think there's a music theory channel I enjoy more than yours, Gavin. Your examples and explanations are always crystal clear, and the topics are super interesting.
Looking forward to the next one while I read Kayanochino's books!
It’s an honor to hear you say that 🙏 Please enjoy Kayano-san’s books as well. Happy that people are supporting them.
I really really hope you become very popular and people recognise your great work.
Thank you Aditya! I’d rather 1000 people really learn something than 100,000 people engage on a surface level. Both volume and depth would be awesome though!
@@gavinleepermusic You deserve every form of recognition and praise. Btw your band's Mint Chip sounds awesome 😍😍
aditya mohan Awww thank you for your kind words brother 🥰
ive composed or covered/arranged over 600 pieces but none of this theory stuff makes any sense to me, it’s gibberish. how can u tell what key a part of a song is in, when it’s a salad of unconnected notes? arrogant labelling
i'd rather you have a look at the theory stuff first before calling it arrogant labelling. it might even help with your future pieces.
or not, i'm just a reply to a comment in a barely watched underrated video.
Figuring out what key a song is in, while it might seem like a basic step, is actually super hard! Especially in more advanced songs like these where the key actually changes too! This material is fairly advanced, so I’d make sure you understand the basics first. Learning Music Theory With Ocarina of Time covers some basic fundamentals, so you may enjoy starting from there.
@@gavinleepermusic i went to the Learning Theory With Ocarina Of Time video and you start out by saying stuff about “degrees of a scale” as the _very beginning_ of the lessons, but i had to go look up what that meant cuz i didnt know (i cant read notation really). and then when u got to the fairy fountain song part, u used chords that you said were “simplified” “to demonstrate a concept” but to me they just sounded discordant…. the fairy fountain song chords are supposed to be big complicated chords, i can tell in my head u simplified them too much, bub!
thank u for offering the help but it’s too late for me to learn music theory, im too far ahead from that door, im too far behind in theory for where i am in my music “career”. i think i have to go by ear like i always have. all the guides to where i am in music theory are intended for little children & its really hard on my ego. i just wanna do mysterious chords & funky basslines & cool beats!!!
@@AuntBibby i mean, a lot of musicians out there don't really know theory that well but are still pretty dope. if that's how you want to play, then i fully encourage it. theory isn't mandatory after all. i still do want to stress that you can make your pieces more colorful with some nice theory in play though.
also kinda curious about your work. think you can link some of it?
@@山田健一-u5x thank u. heres one of my favorite albums that i made: unclebibby.bandcamp.com/album/transhumanist-utopia-63 i hope u like it!