You may like the music of Nobuo Uemmatsu. He's composed most of the music for the Final Fantasy games, and is an absolute master at this. The best example is a track called J-E-N-O-V-A.
I love Philip Glass' music, especially Koyaanisqatsi, such a beautiful score! He is a great inspiration for my own music. Your analysis was so much fun to watch!
I'd say it's symetrical. By the way, yes, it's kind of geometric music. It's not a line, it has a shape. I have no clue about solfege. but to me, even it is chrono-logic, it should not be written, but drawn. I clearly see shapes, colours and light contrasts when listening to Glass. I'd say, over all, it's visual music. And that's the reason i refuse to watch the movie. "Vessels" is, in my opinion, the best piece a human as ever done. The stuff i see, the stuff i feel listening to it.... does not need any more images. I appreciated your video. Thanks
Oh wow, I just discovered your channel and I'm loving this! I felt like I also "discovered" this technique through analysis (but from an electronic music perspective), and even did a video featuring the Koyaanisqatsi arpeggio! I love finding your video today, I feel somehow very connected to you through mutual love for the detail in these compositions, even if we come from different musical traditions ☺💙 here was my take! ua-cam.com/video/BmBeh_6H1e8/v-deo.html
Really great stuff. I'm convinced Hans Zimmer was inspired by Koyaanisqatsi's ending track for Interstellar's OST. In fact, Nolan has said that Koyaanisqatsi is one of his favorite films.
Koyaanisqatsi was a revelation to me and my friends, when we first saw in cinema! As a film but more as music! it was our first meeting with Philip Glass and became our most favorite composer of the time! After Beatles and Pink Floyd and Frank Zappa, Glass was our new musical genius! And the other films where he scored and of course Hours is my favorite too! New to your channel, thank you for the great videos!
for me also, caught a glimpse of the film in a review, went straight out and got the LP, totally mesmerising. I like a lot of his opera and piano works, but Reggio’s film took these arpeggios to another level - and vice-versa!
8:50 I wrote a synthwave song where I did just that: chopped off the last beat of some bars. It's not out yet. I'd not say I'm evil, because one cannot be evil when there's no one to care in the first place. My life is safe for now.
Great. Recently I played it in combination with Pink Floyd Echoes (the end). I once saw Glass and Reggio at the German premiere of Koyaanisqatsi. And right, there is Zimmer too! And hey, try it together with Tubular Bells, Four on the Floour ... OK, I'll stop ;-)
Is this the same Philip Glass that did the Geometry of Circles on Sesame Street in 1979? It's BEAUTIFUL!!!!! I would like to know what was his inspiration of writing that melody.
I just watched a Doc called Tones Drones and Arpeggios on UA-cam, from BBC. I am in love with Phil Glass and Terry Riley, speaks to my soul. Thank you for this great explenation and demo. Which DAW are you using btw?
yes, that's a GREAT doc. DAW-wise, i use Logic for my tutorials, though am a longtime user of Digital Performer for film work, and Ableton Live for certain types of songwriting.
Koyaanisqatsi is my favourite film and your transcription of the final scene cue brought those beautiful and terrifying images right into my head. I don't aspire to making this kind of music but breaking worn these melodic fragments is really inspiring. Thank you
I think Glass's music echoes the human voice.. I am driven to explore the patterns with my own voice and developing the themes into new directions. Like many others it mirrors my love of baroque music
One of the really complicated arpeggiation Glass uses is from Einstein on the Beach, particularly the movement called 'Spaceship' in which arpeggios make minor changes measure by measure but also repeated in long strands. The changes are kept after repeats and a new change to the pattern is added. Worth a listen, it is intriguing to hear the changes. And all this without a discernable melody.
What a nice man: it's a pleasant shock to find someone being gently intelligent on UA-cam 😊. Now, I'm not a scholar of Philip Glass but I should point out that what you call (and it's a good epithet, btw) a "figured arpeggio" has been use by electronic music composers from day one: Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk, Klaus Schulze, Jean-Michel Jarre, etc. The "skipping a beat" thing is also a useful tool to heighten tension or excitement, and is a well-used erm... thing (sorry about "thing" - can't drum up a better word). Anyway. Lovely presentation. Thank you.
First time I have seen one of your videos, great presentation and content! I'm an electronic rock artist but I did Trance music remixes and originals for several labels and arpeggios were my life! Not like these though, these are more classical though Trance does have elements of classical in it.
Very interesting. You mentioned that he didn't use the farfisa for the organ sound in the koyaanisqatsi soundtrack, do you know what organ he did use? Cheers!
That’s a great question. The particular movement at the end is what I’m referring to. I think there’s some transistor organ earlier. The end piece is a pipe organ, though where it was recorded I’ve no idea.
LOVE this analysis. I'm always wondering what makes Glasses music so intriguing and deceptively simple at the same time. (Figured) arpeggios, great counterpoint, and modal exchange. And now I know why his music reminds me a bit of Bach. I read (most) of his autobiography and the funniest moment is when he was working multiple jobs and studying with Nadia Boulanger and he messed up his counterpoint assignment...she just looked at him and asked if was ill and needed to go home, to which he replied "no, why?" and then she ripped him a new one by pointing out all the mistakes in his counterpoint 🤣
Many thanks for sharing, excellent video. I myself love to use arpeggios in my music and I do cut sometimes the length of it so they (I tend to use several arpeggios at the same time) have an asymmetrical flow to eachother.
Very enjoyable analysis. The music at the end of Koyaanisqatsi is amongst the best of Glass. It's "simple" but so emotional - even moreso watching the images. Aspects I've noticed about Glass is how the end of the "phrase" leads back to the beginning which creates a [potentially] endless cycle...his arpeggios can be fast, relentless and very exciting - usually with something slow above/below it...and, as you say, the rhythm is punctuated by either dropping a half/whole beat or adding it in.
I had the pleasure of seeing the Glass Ensemble perform the score to Powaasqatsi (the sequel to Koyaanisqatsi) accompanying the film. It was amazing. He sat in with the other musicians while someone else conducted. This was a great analysis, thanks a lot.
I've just found the channel that is going to help me continue my musical education Fascinating stuff and a great inside into one of my favourite composers
I love Koyaanisqatsi; thanks so much for the explanation of Glass' arpeggiation. I'll try it in Cubase. P.S. You should see people try to dance to Peter Gabriel's "Kiss'O Life". The chorus and al fine' section are in 10/8. It was a scream to play in bars...
Lately I have been listening to Philip Glass - early works, Akenatan, etc., and I believe some of the "figured arpeggio" sections are simply melodic chunks that lead to a cadence. I am not very excited about his music because it is so bare and formulaic. However, I have grown to appreciate it more as I listen to the variety of instruments he uses in his works.
The way that I used to compose melody is to start with a broken chord, and then alter notes. Starting with something so intuitive as a broken chord keeps it listenable. I find it very easy to write things that are far too complex to understand. This is a nice method to keep things teligable.
Thank you, Chris. It's always a delight to hear a video analysis from you. Philip Glass's music is, many times so good from my appreciation. And I think that his most beautiful single piece is Facades from Glassworks. Very beautiful and touching.
I saw Koyaanisqatsi when it came out and have been a Glass fan since then. I love the analysis and insight into the workings and seemingly simple ideas that give rise to such beautiful music.
Thank you for the analysis! I love this piece of the Koyaanisqatsi soundtrack, it pops up on one of my Pandora channels regularly. I pretty much stop and listen to it carefully each time, I find the piece mesmerizing, for all the reasons you bring out in your video. At one point I tried to transcribe the notes but I gave up because I couldn't quite make out the bass notes, and I thought there might be a sus chord in there somewhere. So it's great to watch this video! (And I immediately grabbed the notes off your screen) I remember the exploding rocket scene in the movie vividly, I watched Koyaanisqatsi in a theater (well that's dating me). I would have lost myself in the music except that several people sitting behind me had been smoking weed and they all thought the long rocket sequence was hysterical and couldn't stop giggling. Anyway the entire experience was memorable. Thanks again for the video.
I'm an amateur guitarist, and have played some ragtime and love the contrary lines in the pieces I've learned, something which seems absent from most players tool box in recent times. There aren't many rags that I know, but they are super fun to play. It would be awesome to be able to incorporate some of the flavors of Glass in my approach, both arpeggio tricks and modal shifts. Feels ambitious. Thanks for the inspiration.
Subscribed. Very informative. I found it enlightening when playing Glass, to find a balance between the trance it induces (as it should), but also keeping a clear mind to remember the repeats!
I hadn't heard this described as "figure arpeggios" before and I think it's a great way to refer to Glass's technique and similar methods. As Scruton said of Glass's "Ekhnaton": "nothing but figures...endless daisy-chains...in such cases the music slips away from us, and becomes a haze on the heard horizon".
Thanks for this video - it encouraged me to create my own version of 'Prophecies', which I remember from my more youthful years. A labour of love. I hope I did it justice. ua-cam.com/video/ePaujpOXoaQ/v-deo.html
It is interesting to hear this perspective from someone who is really passionate about Glass and also very knowledgeable, because I have never been able to understand Glass’ appeal. His arpeggios seem “acceptable” to me, but if you compare these examples to any of the arpeggios in Bach’s preludes from Well Tempered Clavier, for example, Glass seems obviously inferior to me. But maybe I’m missing something.
@@ImpliedMusic I would suspect Phillip Glass played it too (I assume any classically trained keyboard player would). But I am interested in what makes his approach different, and why he would choose to make those different choices. I get the feeling from Glass- and this might be way off the mark, but it makes me feel as though, he just doesn’t have the emotional energy to construct harmonies like Bach’s. Maybe like, if Bach were Shakespeare, he’d be like Hemingway or Samuel Becket. Sort of like if Eeyore from Whinnie the Pooh were a composer. But I could totally be just projecting.
@@ImpliedMusic I ended up watching the film Koyaannisqatsi; the music is beautiful, Vessels is both repelling and alluring and paired with the visuals certainly of the film helped to place the piece in relation to its ascetic. It’s very easy to see where Zimmer found his inspiration for the Nolan films. The title song was miles ahead of its time. Thank you for bringing this up. It made for an interesting evening. And I fumbled around with some figured arpeggios.
I think UA-cam is reading my mind. I was just looking at the score for this song from Koyaanisqatsi, then UA-cam suggested this video for me. This is my favorite scene from my favorite movie ever. The song is called "Prophecies".
Thank you very much for this great vídeo! It resembles some ostinato also used a lot in Berlin School of eletronic music in bands such as Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze!
@@ImpliedMusic Nolan was a fan of the film Koyanisqatsi (approximately) and probably told to the Interstellar composer to mimic that minimalist musical style I think
Great video. So I am obsessed with 2 things: 1. Koyaanisqatsi, to me is one of the great compositions of the last 50 years, and yet there are so few other Glass pieces even within a mile of that in my book, the other Reggio scores are execrable, and 2. it's very hard to get the complete score since it's 90 minutes, the MP3s are sold on amazon. Consider doing a video on Slo Mo People. It's the dirge in the dead center of the piece. I absolutley love it and I think if I had to take one track to make the case that Glass is a great composer that would be my choice. Your cmoments about his roots in organs and counterpoint would echo through that part as well.
I saw the film in 1987-8 in Iran and it blew me away - since then I started following Glass. I always go back to the last 10 minutes, starting with prophecies where in the film it shows disintegrated late 70s America people left to their own devices and then that passenger capsule as it tumbles down. Probably watched it 30 times.
god that arp you did in the beginning after the block chords and alternating made me make a noise by myself lol that was gorgeous. I swear I found this channel at the perfect time in my life. It was just last night that one of your vids popped up in my recommended, and you're making all that i've learned flow out of my brain in a more understanding way, AND you're teaching me so much. I appreciate the absolute fuck out of you, Chris. Also, your hair is luscious my guy
I remember being totally smashed after seeing that movie Ko..tsi (to prevent from mistyping) for the first time. The music score matches perfectly fine. Thank you so much for explaining why it does.
Koyaanisqatsi. (I think it is a Navajo word/phrase?) And yeah, that soundtrack is amazing. They should re-release the movie with a full orchestra score remix and show the film on 4k tv's and imax theatre screens. (After scaling the reso up with some AI tech) Otherwise: the original is still absolutely amazing.
There quite possibly would not be the Han Zimmer we know, without Phillip Glass having been a student of minimalism. The Interstellar soundtrack pays heavy homage to Phillip Glass' music imo.
@@Asgairsson I have the film on DVD. If there is a blu ray, I'm sure it still looks and sounds amazing. Even the dvd quality is just great still on a big tv because of that film grain style of pre-digital cinematography.
i'm 'verbing' an expresion my teacher dr roland wiggins used, "figuration," which refers to any melodic embellishment to a stock gesture... in these cases, the turns or approach notes to a simple arpeggio or scale are figurations, and the instrumental form is 'figured.' you'll hear this use in Rococo architecture as well. from the jazz lexicon, a melodic enclosure added to a scale or arpeggio would be a figuration.
We actually had a term for that kind of treatment of mostly arpeggiated lines in the North Texas jazz program: contrapuntal elaboration of static harmony (CESH). Bill Evans was fond of it, and I'm pretty sure Steve Reich liked it as much as Philiip Glass did.
I'm a self-study musician and your content is super cool and inspiring for to dive deeper into composing process of my favorite composers!!! Thank you so much!!
I thing you overestimate PG. These arpeggios are very accessible to any composer : parallel motions, contrary motions, etc. It's a very basic thing. No need to have studied with Nadia Boulanger. You may do it on tour own to create plenty of PG-like scores. Nice to have these things illustrated by the piano roll view. Great idea.
![He's great. ["Mad Rush" analysis (with legos)]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/tizP7IFyWig/mqdefault.jpg)
Very underrated UA-cam Channel. Keep going this good work 👍👌
Thanks Werner, that means a lot
@@ImpliedMusic You are welcome. I hope more people will find your UA-camchannel.
Very inspirational. Thanks for sharing :)
Glad it was helpful!
You may like the music of Nobuo Uemmatsu. He's composed most of the music for the Final Fantasy games, and is an absolute master at this. The best example is a track called J-E-N-O-V-A.
Thanks!
Nobuo usmmatsu
My all time fav video game composer
Unforgettable Silhouette from FFIX is very Glass-like.
Definitly support this comment. I always go back to FFX compositions for the beauty. The similarities are there
Edit: my bad phone cramped out.
Cool. No audio in this video. Did you get a DMCA strike or claim?
they'll get me eventually. 😆
I love Philip Glass' music, especially Koyaanisqatsi, such a beautiful score! He is a great inspiration for my own music. Your analysis was so much fun to watch!
thanks juliano, that means a lot coming from you!
I'd say it's symetrical.
By the way, yes, it's kind of geometric music. It's not a line, it has a shape.
I have no clue about solfege. but to me, even it is chrono-logic, it should not be written, but drawn.
I clearly see shapes, colours and light contrasts when listening to Glass.
I'd say, over all, it's visual music. And that's the reason i refuse to watch the movie.
"Vessels" is, in my opinion, the best piece a human as ever done.
The stuff i see, the stuff i feel listening to it.... does not need any more images.
I appreciated your video.
Thanks
To me the part with the counterpoint/contrary motion (6:11-6:17 and again 6:27-6:32) sounds like Balinese Gamelan or Russian bell music.
Oh wow, I just discovered your channel and I'm loving this! I felt like I also "discovered" this technique through analysis (but from an electronic music perspective), and even did a video featuring the Koyaanisqatsi arpeggio! I love finding your video today, I feel somehow very connected to you through mutual love for the detail in these compositions, even if we come from different musical traditions ☺💙 here was my take! ua-cam.com/video/BmBeh_6H1e8/v-deo.html
Just got to the end of the video and wow, your passion for this is so nourishing. Thank you for what you do, please keep it up!
Bach was my first love so there's no surprise that I love Philip Glass.
Well said :)
I played with him his in piano me in orchestra❤
Really great stuff. I'm convinced Hans Zimmer was inspired by Koyaanisqatsi's ending track for Interstellar's OST. In fact, Nolan has said that Koyaanisqatsi is one of his favorite films.
Thx for the analyse...! You should check the score of the movie Mishima, music is by Philip Glass and the last song "Closing" is really beautifull
Koyaanisqatsi was a revelation to me and my friends, when we first saw in cinema! As a film but more as music! it was our first meeting with Philip Glass and became our most favorite composer of the time! After Beatles and Pink Floyd and Frank Zappa, Glass was our new musical genius! And the other films where he scored and of course Hours is my favorite too! New to your channel, thank you for the great videos!
for me also, caught a glimpse of the film in a review, went straight out and got the LP, totally mesmerising. I like a lot of his opera and piano works, but Reggio’s film took these arpeggios to another level - and vice-versa!
2:10 Is it Baroque X-Files?
8:50 I wrote a synthwave song where I did just that: chopped off the last beat of some bars. It's not out yet.
I'd not say I'm evil, because one cannot be evil when there's no one to care in the first place. My life is safe for now.
Great. Recently I played it in combination with Pink Floyd Echoes (the end). I once saw Glass and Reggio at the German premiere of Koyaanisqatsi. And right, there is Zimmer too! And hey, try it together with Tubular Bells, Four on the Floour ... OK, I'll stop ;-)
Is this the same Philip Glass that did the Geometry of Circles on Sesame Street in 1979? It's BEAUTIFUL!!!!! I would like to know what was his inspiration of writing that melody.
I just watched a Doc called Tones Drones and Arpeggios on UA-cam, from BBC. I am in love with Phil Glass and Terry Riley, speaks to my soul. Thank you for this great explenation and demo. Which DAW are you using btw?
yes, that's a GREAT doc. DAW-wise, i use Logic for my tutorials, though am a longtime user of Digital Performer for film work, and Ableton Live for certain types of songwriting.
My first composition lesson : avoid thinking in piano terms.
The clipping you mentioned happens in Hey Yah by Outkast. Very danceable song! Granted it does it the same way every time which makes it predictable.
So cool!
Koyaanisqatsi is my favourite film and your transcription of the final scene cue brought those beautiful and terrifying images right into my head. I don't aspire to making this kind of music but breaking worn these melodic fragments is really inspiring. Thank you
I think Glass's music echoes the human voice.. I am driven to explore the patterns with my own voice and developing the themes into new directions. Like many others it mirrors my love of baroque music
Thanks for such a clear, interesting video. I’ll check out the film & soundtrack. Instant subscribe!
thank you!
I’d love to see you expound on the music of the late Johann Johannsson. Your insight would add to my appreciation and love of his music!
One of the really complicated arpeggiation Glass uses is from Einstein on the Beach, particularly the movement called 'Spaceship' in which arpeggios make minor changes measure by measure but also repeated in long strands. The changes are kept after repeats and a new change to the pattern is added. Worth a listen, it is intriguing to hear the changes. And all this without a discernable melody.
Agreed. Mind bending.
amazing stuff... would you be kind to share the midi files for the songs in this video. thx
Thanks. Perhaps MIDI is something for future Patreon or Membership perks.
I know 0 about music, but I love his music, so I enjoyed this video. Thanks!!!
I wish your channel amazing growth and success. Your content is so unique!
many thanks.
Thank you for this. I thought you WERE Glass until you said Glass. :)
Excellent analysis and gives you new ideas to work on.
the piece you talk about in The Hours is A version of Islands from his album Glassworks
Like Handel, Glass recycles so much of his music. Nice catch!
you have a really high quality channel, dear implied music.
What a nice man: it's a pleasant shock to find someone being gently intelligent on UA-cam 😊. Now, I'm not a scholar of Philip Glass but I should point out that what you call (and it's a good epithet, btw) a "figured arpeggio" has been use by electronic music composers from day one: Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk, Klaus Schulze, Jean-Michel Jarre, etc. The "skipping a beat" thing is also a useful tool to heighten tension or excitement, and is a well-used erm... thing (sorry about "thing" - can't drum up a better word). Anyway. Lovely presentation. Thank you.
Absolutely. And I too wish there was a better word for it!
First time I have seen one of your videos, great presentation and content! I'm an electronic rock artist but I did Trance music remixes and originals for several labels and arpeggios were my life! Not like these though, these are more classical though Trance does have elements of classical in it.
Super.
wonderful🙏
I am a Koyaanisqatsi addict, and now understand its magic little better. Thank you.
Very interesting. You mentioned that he didn't use the farfisa for the organ sound in the koyaanisqatsi soundtrack, do you know what organ he did use? Cheers!
That’s a great question. The particular movement at the end is what I’m referring to. I think there’s some transistor organ earlier. The end piece is a pipe organ, though where it was recorded I’ve no idea.
Wonderful analysis of Glass. Engaging and welcoming! Glass deserves much more of these types of breakdowns. Thank you!
Thanks 😊
i love the passion in the way you speak - nice video - thanks
So nice of you
Koyaanisqatsi is one of my all time favorite pieces of art. Great video again. Keep em coming
thanks. it was eye opening to transcribe that section... its simplicity has great depth.
Thank you so much. you explain Glass's music beautifully.
I love much of his work especially The Hours, the Etudes and Metamorphoses;
Many thanks!
LOVE this analysis. I'm always wondering what makes Glasses music so intriguing and deceptively simple at the same time. (Figured) arpeggios, great counterpoint, and modal exchange. And now I know why his music reminds me a bit of Bach.
I read (most) of his autobiography and the funniest moment is when he was working multiple jobs and studying with Nadia Boulanger and he messed up his counterpoint assignment...she just looked at him and asked if was ill and needed to go home, to which he replied "no, why?" and then she ripped him a new one by pointing out all the mistakes in his counterpoint 🤣
Many thanks for sharing, excellent video. I myself love to use arpeggios in my music and I do cut sometimes the length of it so they (I tend to use several arpeggios at the same time) have an asymmetrical flow to eachother.
Great tip!
Thank you for making this with such a clear explanation! I subscribed.
Thanks for the sub!
Very enjoyable analysis. The music at the end of Koyaanisqatsi is amongst the best of Glass. It's "simple" but so emotional - even moreso watching the images. Aspects I've noticed about Glass is how the end of the "phrase" leads back to the beginning which creates a [potentially] endless cycle...his arpeggios can be fast, relentless and very exciting - usually with something slow above/below it...and, as you say, the rhythm is punctuated by either dropping a half/whole beat or adding it in.
thank you. appreciate the effort and enthusiasm for details and breaking it all down. keep it up
Thanks for this analysis - I have always loved Glass's music.
That was really interesting. Thank you so much! 🙂
Glad it was helpful!
I had the pleasure of seeing the Glass Ensemble perform the score to Powaasqatsi (the sequel to Koyaanisqatsi) accompanying the film. It was amazing. He sat in with the other musicians while someone else conducted. This was a great analysis, thanks a lot.
that must have been a thrill.
I've just found the channel that is going to help me continue my musical education Fascinating stuff and a great inside into one of my favourite composers
cani scozzesi?
Fascinating stuff! Defffffinitely an inspiration for Hans.
Godfrey.
I love Koyaanisqatsi; thanks so much for the explanation of Glass' arpeggiation. I'll try it in Cubase. P.S. You should see people try to dance to Peter Gabriel's "Kiss'O Life". The chorus and al fine' section are in 10/8. It was a scream to play in bars...
😆
He does what arpeggios cannot do.
Lately I have been listening to Philip Glass - early works, Akenatan, etc., and I believe some of the "figured arpeggio" sections are simply melodic chunks that lead to a cadence. I am not very excited about his music because it is so bare and formulaic. However, I have grown to appreciate it more as I listen to the variety of instruments he uses in his works.
i think that's accurate. it's a like a little spin at the top of the arpeggio that leads us out.
Amazing! Love your passion for great music!
The way that I used to compose melody is to start with a broken chord, and then alter notes. Starting with something so intuitive as a broken chord keeps it listenable. I find it very easy to write things that are far too complex to understand. This is a nice method to keep things teligable.
Good stuff
Thank you, Chris. It's always a delight to hear a video analysis from you. Philip Glass's music is, many times so good from my appreciation. And I think that his most beautiful single piece is Facades from Glassworks. Very beautiful and touching.
I saw Koyaanisqatsi when it came out and have been a Glass fan since then. I love the analysis and insight into the workings and seemingly simple ideas that give rise to such beautiful music.
Well said!
Thank you for the analysis! I love this piece of the Koyaanisqatsi soundtrack, it pops up on one of my Pandora channels regularly. I pretty much stop and listen to it carefully each time, I find the piece mesmerizing, for all the reasons you bring out in your video. At one point I tried to transcribe the notes but I gave up because I couldn't quite make out the bass notes, and I thought there might be a sus chord in there somewhere. So it's great to watch this video! (And I immediately grabbed the notes off your screen)
I remember the exploding rocket scene in the movie vividly, I watched Koyaanisqatsi in a theater (well that's dating me). I would have lost myself in the music except that several people sitting behind me had been smoking weed and they all thought the long rocket sequence was hysterical and couldn't stop giggling. Anyway the entire experience was memorable. Thanks again for the video.
thanks peter. it's a breathtaking sequence. i can't watch it without tears, basically. i'm so glad the transcription was useful.
I'm an amateur guitarist, and have played some ragtime and love the contrary lines in the pieces I've learned, something which seems absent from most players tool box in recent times. There aren't many rags that I know, but they are super fun to play. It would be awesome to be able to incorporate some of the flavors of Glass in my approach, both arpeggio tricks and modal shifts. Feels ambitious. Thanks for the inspiration.
Why figure a bass when you can figure an arpeggio?
I am actually learning this piece for pipe organ. Its stunning isn't it?
Subscribed. Very informative.
I found it enlightening when playing Glass, to find a balance between the trance it induces (as it should), but also keeping a clear mind to remember the repeats!
true! some of the etudes have complicated repeat schemes.
Heavenly music indeed! Really enjoy your videos. Thanks!
Glad you like them!
Hi. Chris! I'm now a subscriber. I cant play music but I love having it explained to me - and you do that really, really well. Thank you!
Yay.
You're a wonderful teacher, thank you
Balm. Just what we need. Sweet.
Great lesson. So inspiring, brings me back to when I studied music in high school. Thank you! Subscribed
I hadn't heard this described as "figure arpeggios" before and I think it's a great way to refer to Glass's technique and similar methods. As Scruton said of Glass's "Ekhnaton": "nothing but figures...endless daisy-chains...in such cases the music slips away from us, and becomes a haze on the heard horizon".
beautiful
Thanks great video!
Very good. Please ANALYSED "FOUR MOVEMENTS FOR TWO PIANOS" AND "TWO MOVEMENTS FOR FOUR PIANOS" BY Philip Glass.
Great request. I’ll look for a score
@@ImpliedMusic Thanks a lot! And, of course 2nd piano concerto, by Philip Glass!
Thanks for this video - it encouraged me to create my own version of 'Prophecies', which I remember from my more youthful years. A labour of love. I hope I did it justice. ua-cam.com/video/ePaujpOXoaQ/v-deo.html
You did!
It is interesting to hear this perspective from someone who is really passionate about Glass and also very knowledgeable, because I have never been able to understand Glass’ appeal. His arpeggios seem “acceptable” to me, but if you compare these examples to any of the arpeggios in Bach’s preludes from Well Tempered Clavier, for example, Glass seems obviously inferior to me. But maybe I’m missing something.
yeah. fortunately it's not a competition. i play all of the WTC, and it's my gold standard too.
@@ImpliedMusic I would suspect Phillip Glass played it too (I assume any classically trained keyboard player would). But I am interested in what makes his approach different, and why he would choose to make those different choices. I get the feeling from Glass- and this might be way off the mark, but it makes me feel as though, he just doesn’t have the emotional energy to construct harmonies like Bach’s. Maybe like, if Bach were Shakespeare, he’d be like Hemingway or Samuel Becket. Sort of like if Eeyore from Whinnie the Pooh were a composer. But I could totally be just projecting.
yes, i think those are strong comparisons. @@boldstandard
Haha don’t use it on the dance floor. That was classic! The at was a great visual.
Glad you enjoyed it
@@ImpliedMusic I ended up watching the film Koyaannisqatsi; the music is beautiful, Vessels is both repelling and alluring and paired with the visuals certainly of the film helped to place the piece in relation to its ascetic. It’s very easy to see where Zimmer found his inspiration for the Nolan films. The title song was miles ahead of its time. Thank you for bringing this up. It made for an interesting evening. And I fumbled around with some figured arpeggios.
I think UA-cam is reading my mind. I was just looking at the score for this song from Koyaanisqatsi, then UA-cam suggested this video for me. This is my favorite scene from my favorite movie ever. The song is called "Prophecies".
Ah! I’m so glad you found this
this was so cool, thanks
Thank you very much for this great vídeo! It resembles some ostinato also used a lot in Berlin School of eletronic music in bands such as Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze!
you're welcome. and, yes, good call.
The music from Interstellar remind me a lot these Philip Glass pieces
No doubt
@@ImpliedMusic Nolan was a fan of the film Koyanisqatsi (approximately) and probably told to the Interstellar composer to mimic that minimalist musical style I think
Great video. So I am obsessed with 2 things: 1. Koyaanisqatsi, to me is one of the great compositions of the last 50 years, and yet there are so few other Glass pieces even within a mile of that in my book, the other Reggio scores are execrable, and 2. it's very hard to get the complete score since it's 90 minutes, the MP3s are sold on amazon. Consider doing a video on Slo Mo People. It's the dirge in the dead center of the piece. I absolutley love it and I think if I had to take one track to make the case that Glass is a great composer that would be my choice. Your cmoments about his roots in organs and counterpoint would echo through that part as well.
it'd be good to transcribe that section too.
❤
I saw the film in 1987-8 in Iran and it blew me away - since then I started following Glass. I always go back to the last 10 minutes, starting with prophecies where in the film it shows disintegrated late 70s America people left to their own devices and then that passenger capsule as it tumbles down. Probably watched it 30 times.
That's fabulous
I do it on the dancefloor.
ps thanks for a great video
Thank you!
You're welcome!
god that arp you did in the beginning after the block chords and alternating made me make a noise by myself lol that was gorgeous. I swear I found this channel at the perfect time in my life. It was just last night that one of your vids popped up in my recommended, and you're making all that i've learned flow out of my brain in a more understanding way, AND you're teaching me so much. I appreciate the absolute fuck out of you, Chris. Also, your hair is luscious my guy
thanks! i don't know what was up with my hair that day. it looks like a grey helmet.
Excellent video
I remember being totally smashed after seeing that movie Ko..tsi (to prevent from mistyping) for the first time. The music score matches perfectly fine. Thank you so much for explaining why it does.
Koyaanisqatsi. (I think it is a Navajo word/phrase?)
And yeah, that soundtrack is amazing. They should re-release the movie with a full orchestra score remix and show the film on 4k tv's and imax theatre screens. (After scaling the reso up with some AI tech)
Otherwise: the original is still absolutely amazing.
There quite possibly would not be the Han Zimmer we know, without Phillip Glass having been a student of minimalism.
The Interstellar soundtrack pays heavy homage to Phillip Glass' music imo.
@@py_a_thon that is an amazing idea, indeed. I'd go see it.
@@Asgairsson I have the film on DVD. If there is a blu ray, I'm sure it still looks and sounds amazing. Even the dvd quality is just great still on a big tv because of that film grain style of pre-digital cinematography.
I’m just a jazz guy, but still don’t get the term “figured”
i'm 'verbing' an expresion my teacher dr roland wiggins used, "figuration," which refers to any melodic embellishment to a stock gesture... in these cases, the turns or approach notes to a simple arpeggio or scale are figurations, and the instrumental form is 'figured.' you'll hear this use in Rococo architecture as well. from the jazz lexicon, a melodic enclosure added to a scale or arpeggio would be a figuration.
We actually had a term for that kind of treatment of mostly arpeggiated lines in the North Texas jazz program: contrapuntal elaboration of static harmony (CESH). Bill Evans was fond of it, and I'm pretty sure Steve Reich liked it as much as Philiip Glass did.
excellent info. (CESH) i'm going to put that in my bag. North Texas is a legendary jazz program.
Fantastic analysis, you made it so graphic and easily understood. This makes me want to compose more arpeggio-centred music, thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
I'm a self-study musician and your content is super cool and inspiring for to dive deeper into composing process of my favorite composers!!! Thank you so much!!
thanks! you're so welcome. i came up as a self-taught player until i got to college too.
Koyaanisqatsi sound track has stayed with me for 40 years. Sounds great hummed in the shower with bathroom reverberations.
I thing you overestimate PG. These arpeggios are very accessible to any composer : parallel motions, contrary motions, etc. It's a very basic thing. No need to have studied with Nadia Boulanger. You may do it on tour own to create plenty of PG-like scores.
Nice to have these things illustrated by the piano roll view. Great idea.
I may have over egged the custard😆
Furthermore I’d consider that a simple linear scalar melody and not arpeggios at all.
Much thank :)
That was so enjoyable and very useful. I’ve been a Philip Glass fan for many years and this is a wonderfully informative short analysis.
Arpeggios, figured arpeggios, clipped arpeggios and counterpoint. Very beautiful. Thank you.