True, but you can make music in harmonic minor sound anything but dark and depressing!
Where as if you're good enough, you can get that effect from a major key.
I'll find some examples.
TB
Dark chord progressions anyone?
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- KVRAF
- 1975 posts since 4 Feb, 2005
the major key can't be "depressing", IMO, but it can be EMOTIONAL. That usually involves a lot of tetrachords/extensions, and noncircular movement (typically with an emphasis on the ii, vi, and vii.)
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- KVRAF
- 2356 posts since 30 Sep, 2003 from Sunny Staffordshire
Hmmm, subjective.Toxikator wrote:the major key can't be "depressing", IMO, but it can be EMOTIONAL. That usually involves a lot of tetrachords/extensions, and noncircular movement (typically with an emphasis on the ii, vi, and vii.)
I actually do think that the minor key can be depressing. And I think that with the right use of dissonance it can also be extremely dark and twisted. Infact, sometimes more so, as we dont usually associate the major key with such darkness.
Hehe, you have me hunting around for examples now!
TB
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- KVRAF
- 2356 posts since 30 Sep, 2003 from Sunny Staffordshire
Well, I found this little nugget.
It isnt depressing, but it is dark AND in a major key. The use of chromatic harmony and suspension results in some quite unsettling dissonances.
http://download.yousendit.com/5412FE8C3FDE77F0
Not a perfect example, but one that sprung to mind initially. I'll try to find some others.
TB
It isnt depressing, but it is dark AND in a major key. The use of chromatic harmony and suspension results in some quite unsettling dissonances.
http://download.yousendit.com/5412FE8C3FDE77F0
Not a perfect example, but one that sprung to mind initially. I'll try to find some others.
TB
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- KVRAF
- 2356 posts since 30 Sep, 2003 from Sunny Staffordshire
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- KVRAF
- 2356 posts since 30 Sep, 2003 from Sunny Staffordshire
Dont get me wrong, I wouldnt ever suggest that a major key is a good starting point for the dark and depressing!
Just that it can sometimes be refreshing to use a major key in a dark theme. The use of dissonance, tempo, register etc can all lead to some interesting effects and totally NOT what you would associate with a major key.
TB
Just that it can sometimes be refreshing to use a major key in a dark theme. The use of dissonance, tempo, register etc can all lead to some interesting effects and totally NOT what you would associate with a major key.
TB
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- KVRAF
- 2356 posts since 30 Sep, 2003 from Sunny Staffordshire
Tell you another one. I think that the slow movement from 'Eine kleine nacht musik' by Mozart is pretty sad. Its not dark, but it is definately somber. Not at all your typical 'major' mood.
TB
TB
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- KVRAF
- 1975 posts since 4 Feb, 2005
1) I like! The major key one is a bit diff. from what I was talking about; I mean the effect isn't an emotional sort of spooky, it's more like a "Stephen King's IT was a clown, and clowns AREN'T scary, and that's what makes it scary" kind of spooky. The major consonances don't impart the quality, it's the extra notes that contrast them.
It's still a very cool example, though.
2) This is more what I was talking about. It's very emotional and complicated, but not necessarily "dark" in a conventional sense. It's just climactic and powerful.
I ALSO like!
It's still a very cool example, though.
2) This is more what I was talking about. It's very emotional and complicated, but not necessarily "dark" in a conventional sense. It's just climactic and powerful.
I ALSO like!
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- KVRAF
- 2356 posts since 30 Sep, 2003 from Sunny Staffordshire
The clown analogy is PERFECT!
That is precisely what I mean. You're expecting this nice major key to warm abd fuzzy, but yet for some reason its freaking you out, lol.
I do love that kind of thing.
Something I hear alot in film score these days is when you fit a major chord and quickly change to a minor. I'll find you an example. That can be an interesting way to make a major chord sound genuinely dark (ie, within the context of the passage).
TB
That is precisely what I mean. You're expecting this nice major key to warm abd fuzzy, but yet for some reason its freaking you out, lol.
I do love that kind of thing.
Something I hear alot in film score these days is when you fit a major chord and quickly change to a minor. I'll find you an example. That can be an interesting way to make a major chord sound genuinely dark (ie, within the context of the passage).
TB
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- KVRAF
- 2356 posts since 30 Sep, 2003 from Sunny Staffordshire
Check this one out. I love this piece. The last bit is really dark in a subtle way, and in a major key. I think the chromaticism in the piano part along with the general tempo and progression makes it a fine example of how a major key can produce dark music.
http://download.yousendit.com/C186D015136B73C4
TB
http://download.yousendit.com/C186D015136B73C4
TB
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- KVRAF
- 2356 posts since 30 Sep, 2003 from Sunny Staffordshire
Ok, here's an example of my own composition. Here you use a borrowed major chord which quickly shifts (in a kind of alternative type of resolution) back to the minor. The prescence of this unexpected sharpened third can be quite surprising. That was until it got used in filmscore liberally! Now I guess it doesnt sound shocking at all.
http://download.yousendit.com/172B9B9D62F5E855
I bet you could do some cool stuff like this using suspensions in chromatic progressions though. I'll have to try that out.
TB
http://download.yousendit.com/172B9B9D62F5E855
I bet you could do some cool stuff like this using suspensions in chromatic progressions though. I'll have to try that out.
TB
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- KVRer
- 3 posts since 7 Nov, 2006 from trondheim, norway
check out the extremely weird and possibly what some would describe as "dark" organs in Autechre's "Iera" from Untilted. Figure out the chord progressions there:)
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- KVRAF
- 4692 posts since 28 Jan, 2003 from In these very interwebs
