Abba / Jean Michelle Jarre
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Posted on Dec 11, 2005 04:15 pm
D 427
Member Since: Dec 11, 2005
i know that Jarre got that unique feel with broken chords but Abba? anyone analysed the above artists and how they got that European classical feel in their composition?
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Dec 11, 2005 08:39 pm i like abba a lot, but i dont know who jarre is.
abba uses strange chords here and there. like on the words 'you can dance' in dancing queen-- that chord is probably a departure from key...unless they did some even tricker and used illusion to pull that effect off. but i dont know what they did there without going and playing something.
i never noticed broken chords though. of course i have never heard an abba song while sober.
Dec 11, 2005 09:10 pm turns out that that moment i mentioned in dancing queen uses a secondary dominant, which is one of the easiest and coolest sounding theory tricks to use.
other artists who use secondary d's all the time include radiohead and the beatles.
basically what you do is you change what is normally a minor chord in the key youre using into a temporary major chord. theres a common reason to do it. its hard to explain. the reason you want to do this sometimes is to momentarily 'borrow' the strong feeling that a dominant seventh chord resolving into the tonic chord provides. so you basically say "ok, screw the key. the chord i plan to use following this chord im currently using has a root a perfect below the root of this chord im currently on, so i can go ahead and bend this chord to major even though it shouldnt be, to borrow the V7-I resolution and ramp up the energy in a mildly jarring way in doing so, since this alteration introduces an alien note."
actually the more common thing to say to yourself is just 'screw the key.'
in this song, if im reading this right, they're using c sharp (which should be, if they were staying in key, c sharp minor, the iii minor chord) to point to a minor chord a fifth below, the vi chord of the key, f sharp minor. this sets up the vi minor to act as a co-tonic within the song. for that moment, the vi chord becomes the new tonal center of the song, instead of the I. this is a really cool thing to do. it always sounds cool and new, even though it appears often enough in music to be recognizable.
they also flirt with a secondary dominant but dont resolve it like they 'should' on the words 'time of your life': the last chord there is b7, which is II major (instead of ii minor, which the key would dictate normally.) this should resolve down a fifth to F major, but f major isnt in key at all, and it isnt used in the song. instead of going way out into weirdness, they trick you. it makes you think that change is coming, and then they dont do it, resolving to D instead.
the key is A, near as i can tell, and this entire analysis depends upon that being right.
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Dec 12, 2005 05:56 pm I know with Jean Michelle Jarre it is partially due on some piece's to key change event's. There are several of his compostition's I believe that have key change's in unexpected place's. That might give the broken chord feeling. Honestly I am not huge on theory, but I do like the music of both artist's mentioned above, especially Jarre.
Dec 12, 2005 06:03 pm who is jarre
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Dec 12, 2005 11:39 pm Jean Michelle Jarre is what some would consider a New Age artist. He became popular when New Age was in it's heyday in the late 90's and early 2000's. Kind of like Tangerine Dream meet's John Tesh. Some very intreging texture's and melodies.
Dec 12, 2005 11:48 pm ah nice. ever hear that one guy? i cant remember his name. -- (this post in honor of the waltz thread)
oh no wait i remember. robert rich. hes the only real new age guy ive heard, a cd called 'rainforest' when i was like 14. he eventually evolved into some kind of dark atmospheric stuff, which i like much more. he collaborated with lustmord, ultimately. which is a very, very scary isolationist space project that i dearly love.
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Dec 13, 2005 07:20 pm Indeed, heard of him. I was really into the new age stuff for awhile. (still kinda am I guess) I did some work doing that type of stuff very spacey as you said. Not my favorite kind of music to work on, kinda depressing really.
Dec 13, 2005 08:57 pm lol yeah its gotta be hard to work on if even only because of the sheer amount of work involved. that is what would depress me. 10-12 minute long tracks? astoundingly complicated beds of sounds? maybe ill just limit myself to listening for now.
BeerHunterwww.TheLondonProject.caMember
Since: Feb 07, 2005
Dec 13, 2005 09:10 pm Quote:
Jean Michelle Jarre is what some would consider a New Age artist
I remember his Oxygene album from the early 80's if not, late 70's. He has done a lot of movie soundtracks.
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Dec 13, 2005 10:24 pm BeerHunter, yes indeed he has. Under other names as well. Oxygene was one of my favorites as well. There are now 4 differant version's of that tune out. I gotta go dig out some of my old vinyl and look for that stuff. I have a pretty good playlist of his stuff on mp3, nice music to nap to.
BeerHunterwww.TheLondonProject.caMember
Since: Feb 07, 2005
Dec 13, 2005 10:46 pm It seems to me that he has a brother that does music soundtracks as well?? Can't remember his name (haha, something, something Jarre). Rick Wakeman has done similar stuff as well. Both are pioneers in this genre. Gary Numan is another name that can be added to that list. Wow, forgot about all those guys!
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Dec 13, 2005 11:56 pm OH ya, and I was mistaken. There are actually 6 parts to Oxygene.
Danny Elfman is another that can really build a fantasy world with the music he writes, especially his sound track stuff.
