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Wednesday, January 27, 2016

33. The emotions chart of a song.


x-axis=time
y-axies= sadness-joy
z-axies=anxiety-serenity

The reason we choose only these 2 emotional dimensions or 4 emotions is because, the middle not of a chord defnes the sadness-joy dimension, while the upper (dominant) note of the chor defines the anxiety-serenity emotinal dimension


The composed song  must have a definite phrase with start , tension, resolution and end, in the diagram of emotions. The emotions correspond not only to the harmony of the chords but also to the morphology of the melody dynamics and rhythm and of course to the meaning of the lyrics.

Summarizing in  a simplistic way the correspondence of melodic pitch dynamics and the 4-basic emotions in music (joy, sadness, anxiety, serenity) we have 
1) Up pitch moves correspond to joy
2) Down pitch moves to sadness
3) Small pitch intervals of 1 or 2 semitones (chromatic or interval of 2nd) correspond to anxiety
4) Large pitch intervals (e.g. 4th, 5th octave etc) correspond to harmony and serenity. 

E.g. in order to have mainly joy the next rules apply (see also post  73 )

5) Descend in melody with small steps (1 semitone, and intervals of 2nd or minor 3rds ) and ascend with larger steps (intervals of major 3rds, 5th or octave).Ascending with larger steps that those of descending indicates favor of joy. E.g. Ascend with intervals of 2nd and major 3rd and descend with 2nds and minor 3rds. 
6) While ascending, accelerate ascending (meaning use large and larger steps, or larger distances up)Accelerating ascending indicates more joy, while decelerating ascending less joy. The converse with descending. E.g. Ascend by first intervals of 2nd then 3rd and finally 4th or 5th while descend at first with intervals of 5th or 4th, then 3rds and finally 2nds. 
7) Melodies that move with steps of minor 2nds and minor 3rds mainly may be called minor feeling melodies, while melodies that move with steps of major 2nds and major 3rds mainly may be called major-feeling melodies.


We must emphasize a basic philosophy  here that when playing the musical instrument, we do not only produce musical sounds but also independently emotions in us. And I do not mean that the musical sounds produce the emotions I mean that our self is producing the emotions parallel and in fitness with the musical sounds

See also post 59 about the 4 basic melodic moves (spike, waving, scaling, isokratic) and their psychological meaning.



1) up/down spike (=large interval of 5th or larger in one or very few steps, extreme emotional effect, excitement , emotional intensity)

2) up/down waving (also called in this blog butterflying, emotional effect of playing either sad of with joy, emotional complication and ambiguity)

3) up/down scaling (direct ascending or descending of notes in a monotone order without waving, emotional effect straight usually with simplicity, emotional clarity)

4) Iso-kratic waving (=horizontal waving with repeating same note, peculiar emotional effect of internal symmetry , and emotional stability )

From these 4 patterns the 1) and 3) are simple and with emotional clarity. The 2) and 4) are with emotional complication and ambiguity.

Another classification would make them 5!


1) Straight scaling up or down (including spikes) in one or more of the melodic speeds (straight sadness or joy). Here the notes of the simplicial submelody are the starting and ending notes.
2) Ascending or descending waving (complex sadness or joy). Here the notes of the simplicial submelody are the starting and ending notes.
3) Flat equilibrium waving (serenity and equilibrium emotion).Here the notes of the simplicial submelody are the upper level and lower level ofthe flat channel.
4) Flat diminishing waving (serenity and diminishing emotions). Here the notes of the simplicial submelody are the starting upper or lower level and h ending note of the diminishing channel
5) Flat expanding waving resolving up or down  (serenity emotions exploding to either sadness or joy). Here the notes of the simplicial submelody are the starting note and the ending note at the upper or lower level of the expanding channel.


MORE PITCH DYNAMICS AND THEIR PSYCHOLOGY

We may create more complex pitch dynamic patterns than these basic with recognizable psychological meaning. Eg. a melodic theme that has a spike up but then falls back to the same pitch level corresponds ton an emotion of "complaining" or "crying" or angry protest that turns to  sadness" 
In general when the melody is ascending through repetitive descending melodic themes, or is descending through ascending repetitive melodic themes, the emotion (either joyful or sad) is more dark emotion compared to than when the  the melody is ascending through repetitive ascending melodic themes, or is descending through descending repetitive melodic themes, the emotion (either joyful or sad) in which latter case it is an emotion more straight and transparent. 



Some instructive remarks in the composition of the melody based on the chord progression

1) In the part of the chord progression with minor chords, utilize descending melodic moves so that sadness from melody and sadness from harmony fit.Similarly ascending melodic moves for  major chords.
2) In the sad melody parts of the melody (and minor chords) utilize rhythmic patterns that start with faster notes and end with slower notes, and the reverse for the happy part (and major chords).
3) In a triad or 7 nth 4-notes chord the most characteristic notes are the middle 2nd note (in 1-3-5 interval notation  is the 3) and the 7 nth (if it exists). So for the anxiety part of the melodic moves we may utilize 1-semitone trills around these two notes, or waving with 1 or 2 semitones steps and notes outside the chord in the interval of minor 3rd (3 semitones) of the chord. Alternatively instead of trill or small amplitude waves we may utilize chromatic monotone scaling by steps of 1 semitone , or scaling with steps by intervals of 2nd of the scale,  that go from these previous notes of the chord to the same such notes in the next octave. But always make sure that the notes of the chord sound in the average longer, than the notes of these anxiety transition moves with notes outside the chord. 
4) Alternate up (happy) and down (sad) pitch moves , or chromatic moves (anxiety), with harmonic (on chord notes) moves (serenity-harmony).
5) Utilize at least 2 octaves, or even 3 for the melodic moves repeating the notes of the underlying chord on the next octaves , so there is sufficient space for melodic moves, to express with sufficiency the emotions.
6) For the duality of emotions anxiety-serenity, it may be utilized also harmonic waves or monotone scaling over 2 octaves at least,  on the notes of the chord, but also chromatic trill wave over the notes of this wave or scaling (modulated wave on wave or move) and then return to the pure harmonic wave or scaling on the notes of the chord.
7) A chromatic wave by 1-semitones steps or all notes of the scale (steps by intervals of 2nd) that goes up and down at least 2 octaves, corresponds to a chord sub-progression of the song , of our choice that utilizes almost all the chords of the scale!


After the chord progression and simplicial submelody we chose, 
THE DEFINITION OF MELODIC BRIDGES THAN LINK TWO SUCCESSIVE CHORDS BETWEEN THEM AND START AND END AT THE NOTES OF  THE SIMPLICIAL SUBMELODY.

1) WHICH CHORD-TRANSITIONS (PAIRS OF CHORDS) WILL HAVE A MELODIC BRIDGE! (Usually the chord-trasnitions that are in resolutional relation, or resolutional-like relation)

2) THEN WHICH BRIDGES WILL BE ISOMORPHIC IN PITCH AND RHYTHMIC DYNAMIC SHAPE AND WHICH DIFFERENT, DEFINING THEREFORE A PARTITIONING IN THE BRIDGES.

3) THEN IF IN EACH EQUIVALENCE CLASS OF  ISOMORPHIC MELODIC BRIDGES IN THIS PARTITIONING, THE BRIDGES ARE  EVENTUALLY ASCENDING OR DESCENDING (This besides the emotional significance, determines also where to play the chord in one of the 3 neighborhoods of the fretboard)


4) FINALLY  HOW IN EACH EQUIVALENCE CLASS OF  ISOMORPHIC MELODIC BRIDGES IN THE PARTITIONING, THE COMPLICATED PITCH DYNAMIC SHAPE  OR WAVING AND RHYTHM WILL BE AS A REPETITION  OF SUCH PATTERNS OF PREVIOUS ISOMORPHIC MELODIC BRIDGES, OR VARIATION OF  SUCH PATTERNAS S SO NOT TO BE TOO BORING. (This pitch dynamic shape has again a significant emotional meaning)

(The post has not been written yet completely)