Dude... that ain't ramblin' man... that's brilliance. : )
C
kkissinger@kevinkissinger.com wrote:
20090805215641.uzy2jqi6kg4k4o8g@mail.kevinkissinger.com"
type="cite">Quoting Brian Good <bsgood@gmail.com>:
Per Boysen wrote:
Very interesting historical two cents.
Wonder what those early Baroque
era people would think about the multi glissandi THX jingle! :-)
They'd be hiding under the theater seats, I imagine. :-)
Actually, in the pre-Renaissance era, they chanted in parallel fifths
in a style known as "organum". (A popular example are the monks in
Monty Python -- they are chanting in organum -- stopping only to beat
their own heads with boards. I don't think the boards were authentic --
however the organum is.)
The reason that parallel fifths and octaves are avoided in contrapuntal
music is that this motion destroys the independence of the voices.
So, to baroque ears, parallel fifths would likely have sounded "old
fashioned". And, yes -- in choral singing (other than organum) a
careless (or random) parallel octave or fifth causes tuning problems
for the singers. (usually, when a choir runs across a "problem passage"
the culprit is usually a parallel fifth, parallel octave, or some kind
of poor voice-leading.)
For any Moondog fans -- he was really into classical counterpoint and
on my Moondog CD liner notes Moondog is quoted as saying that
voice-leading was very important to him.
The power chord is a perfect example of parallel motion -- it is
parallel motion that blends into a mass sound. That is, you don't hear
independent notes so much as one big, powerful sound.
Popular songs such as "Iron Man" and "Smoke on the Water" derive their
sound from parallel fifths.
Interestingly, in the twentieth century, parallelism returned as a
style. What goes around, comes around.
Hindemith, as I recall, wished to avoid parallel octaves and fifths
because it was "old fashioned" and has an ancient sound.
Forgive me for rambling on -- I really enjoy counterpoint and, in fact,
the countrapuntal possibilities of live-looping inspires me when I work
with loops.
-- Kevin
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