Examples Of Tonal And Atonal Music

[SODDI]

Not sure why Steve Reich isn't on here. This was one of the first ... what I consider .. atonal pieces that convinced me I could like it. This is simply brilliant use of cadence and texture. (by the way @jancivil, the Davis/Jackson album is an all time fave). I'm a jazz fusion guy at heart I think.

Hmm. I always though Reich was very tonal up to "Desert Music".

"Music for 18 Musicians" is one of my favorite pieces of music, but "Drumming" runs a close second. I do not believe either veers off far from standard chromatic. Can't do much but with glockenspiels.

[SJ_Digriz]

Hmm. I always though Reich was very tonal up to "Desert Music".

"Music for 18 Musicians" is one of my favorite pieces of music, but "Drumming" runs a close second. I do not believe either veers off far from standard chromatic. Can't do much but with glockenspiels.

I can't argue that too much. Drumming is great as well. But, I believe under the definition of atonal, 18 musicians is pretty much dead center. There is no key or progression. There is a center note of course, because as you point out continuous banging on the glock. Anyhow, it does not have a "progression" as far as I know. It's very possible i don't understand the definition.

[jancivil]

Nah, that isn't atonal, atonal means there is no center for any significant amount of time, the Reich sits there on, what is it, F, forever.

[SJ_Digriz]

Nah, that isn't atonal, atonal means there is no center for any significant amount of time, the Reich sits there on, what is it, F, forever.

Interesting, that would mean pretty much any musical style with a drone is not atonal? I guess the song is in the Note of F

[SODDI]

Electronic music, in its basic form, is the tonality of electricity extending now into the tonality of a calculation made by electricity. Bob Moog chose to put a chromatic keyboard on his early modulars; Don Buchla refused.

Very few people chose the e-tonal synthesis route of the Buchla synths; they were almost a discipline as much as an instruments. I read that Suzanne Ciani nearly had a nervous breakdown when she had to give hers up because it was just too expensive to maintain.

This is a piece from Morton Subotnick on a Buchla, "Sky of Cloudless Sulfur" and it uses the Buchla's ability to send multiple control voltages for every "note". I think I'm hearing a bunch of LFO work here. But it's definitely electricity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xzDLbjUrrY

[jancivil]

Also, while Beefheart as a source for Zappa has some traction among, well, Beefheart fanatics, I'm not real sure there's *any* influence musically. FZ was writing serial atonality before he knew Don Vliet, and the letter to Varèse quoted in the Varèse book reveals FZ's idea of himself as a modern composer at 16, referencing Ruth Crawford Seegar's atonal counterpoint there. Varèse is a chief source for FZ's rhythmic language and he was a fan of Webern shortly after. He talks about idiotically writing a bunch of music because it looked good, sounding good not so much. He seems to conflate that 'simple minded' way with 12-tone series writing. But he started off with that basically. There is a 1963 recording of a concert (St Mary's College?) he secured a hall for and a small orchestra with aleatoric elements alongside his other modernistic writing.

[jancivil]

Nah, that isn't atonal, atonal means there is no center for any significant amount of time, the Reich sits there on, what is it, F, forever.

Interesting, that would mean pretty much any musical style with a drone is not atonal? I guess the song is in the Note of F

Yeah, a real drone cannot be atonal. I have some dissonant music that is all long tones, some might want to say atonal. There's a point where I don't care if it is or isn't called 'atonal'. I think it's an odd word for music.

[SODDI]

Nah, that isn't atonal, atonal means there is no center for any significant amount of time, the Reich sits there on, what is it, F, forever.

Interesting, that would mean pretty much any musical style with a drone is not atonal? I guess the song is in the Note of F

I love how Philip Glass told everyone EXACTLY what he was doing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PL9Rjn7EiRw

[SODDI]

Speaking of Arnold, I recall that back in the good old days Herodotus himself once dared folks at KVR to listen to Moses und Aron.

I wonder how many took him up on it...

I saw it performed at BAM back in the 70s.

[jancivil]

I need to see an opera live. Not seen many. Last time it was Richard Strauss Salome. At the Bill Graham Convention Center, oddly. sounded great!

[aMUSEd]

Speaking of Arnold, I recall that back in the good old days Herodotus himself once dared folks at KVR to listen to Moses und Aron.

I wonder how many took him up on it...

I saw it performed at BAM back in the 70s.

It's a great opera, never seen it live though.

[jancivil]

I watched a film once with Philip Glass' score. It was right weird. There were chord changes a bit like in that video, triads going to weird places. More subtle than that thing, but weird and unsettling. I don't want to hear a lot of that frankly.

[SODDI]

The Magic Band's main influence was that their original guitarist was Ry Cooder - his influence loomed large even though he was only with The Magic Band for one album. Bill Harkleroad and Mark Boston came out of that blues revival. John French was a f*cking hitter and was the band's main arranger forever.

[rp314]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2gVhBxwRqg

[jancivil]

I was listening to that the other day.

also, too:

https://youtu.be/CuEXhP9rmPc?t=22m6s