HARMONIC AND MELODIC ORGANIZATION BASED ON A 2 OR 3 LEVEL RHYTHMIC/MORPHOLOGICAL ORGANIZATION OF MELODIC THEMES PROGRESSION, INHERITED FROM POETRY MEASURE ORGANIZATION.
In older times it was not the chord-progression the main organization invariant of a song or improvisation in folk music, but the melodic themes progression as morphological or 2nd level rhythmic structure.
Very often Celtic but also in Greek folk music, we notice an at least 2 levels rhythmic organization structure inherited from the poetry measure of the lyrics. So poetic measure, rhythmic measure, melodic organization and harmonic organization are highly correlated, with a common base the human emotions.
In older times it was not the chord-progression the main organization invariant of a song or improvisation in folk music, but the melodic themes progression as morphological or 2nd level rhythmic structure.
Very often Celtic but also in Greek folk music, we notice an at least 2 levels rhythmic organization structure inherited from the poetry measure of the lyrics. So poetic measure, rhythmic measure, melodic organization and harmonic organization are highly correlated, with a common base the human emotions.
E.g. in Greek 15-syllables poetry (meaning 4*4=16 syllables but the last is a pause) measure structure, we have 4 measures of 4 parts, in which the first 3 are of the same rhythmic structure while the 4th is different E.g. (0101), (0101), (0101) (1011). The 2nd organization level rhythmic measure is the ||(0101), (0101), (0101) (1011)||
Most often in Celtic music the rhythmic pattern inside the measures is of the type (1100) in other words two n=beats with note two beats silence etc. Si the previous pattern would be
||(1100), (1100), (1100) (1110)||
Each melodic theme, e.g. the one with beat-structure (1100) , is usually an a theme with waves or ripples, starting and ending at an interval of octave (12 semitones) or 5th (7 semitones) or the same note! that are the best harmonic intervals (see about simplicial sub-melody structure see also post 86 chromatic music techniques) . From this point of view they may follow the underlying chords and actually navigate though the notes of the chord. That is they may be considered chord-generated melodic themes, and although the chord may be remain the same at different times the melodic themes may have completely different character, like ascending versus descending, waving with this way versus waving with anther way.
Usually the pattern of the melody e.g. in Celtic folk music is with underlying chords two successive in the wheel by 4ths, that is e.g. D7->G . E.g. there is an ascending excitation movement to the next octave, maybe also one more fifth higher (may be called upwards melodic movement) , during the D7, while there is descending waving return to G (maybe called downwards melodic movement) , which goes quite low so that finally the melody closes with waving ascending return to D from where it started.
Interval dilation , or Interval acceleration, deceleration
For the theme to be nice it include melodic density contraction or expansion, (in other words dilation) , or accelration/decelartion as far as intevals is concerned. In other words it may start slowly with intervals of 2nd, the accelerate to intervals of 3rd or 4th/5ths and decelerate at the end to intervals of 2nd again. Or othe combination. It may start fast and decelerate, or it may start slow (always as far as pitches and intervals is concerned not time) and close by accelerating to intervals of 3rds or 4ths.
Waving larger than start-end moving of the melodic theme.
In this technique (e.g. reels of Irish music) the starting ending notes of the melodic theme is an interval of 2nd (e.g. the same note or one or two semitones away), but the intermediate waving steps are intervals of 3rd or 4ths/5ths! This is somehow the opposite of what usually oriental music melodies are doing!
Most often in Celtic music the rhythmic pattern inside the measures is of the type (1100) in other words two n=beats with note two beats silence etc. Si the previous pattern would be
||(1100), (1100), (1100) (1110)||
Each melodic theme, e.g. the one with beat-structure (1100) , is usually an a theme with waves or ripples, starting and ending at an interval of octave (12 semitones) or 5th (7 semitones) or the same note! that are the best harmonic intervals (see about simplicial sub-melody structure see also post 86 chromatic music techniques) . From this point of view they may follow the underlying chords and actually navigate though the notes of the chord. That is they may be considered chord-generated melodic themes, and although the chord may be remain the same at different times the melodic themes may have completely different character, like ascending versus descending, waving with this way versus waving with anther way.
Usually the pattern of the melody e.g. in Celtic folk music is with underlying chords two successive in the wheel by 4ths, that is e.g. D7->G . E.g. there is an ascending excitation movement to the next octave, maybe also one more fifth higher (may be called upwards melodic movement) , during the D7, while there is descending waving return to G (maybe called downwards melodic movement) , which goes quite low so that finally the melody closes with waving ascending return to D from where it started.
Interval dilation , or Interval acceleration, deceleration
For the theme to be nice it include melodic density contraction or expansion, (in other words dilation) , or accelration/decelartion as far as intevals is concerned. In other words it may start slowly with intervals of 2nd, the accelerate to intervals of 3rd or 4th/5ths and decelerate at the end to intervals of 2nd again. Or othe combination. It may start fast and decelerate, or it may start slow (always as far as pitches and intervals is concerned not time) and close by accelerating to intervals of 3rds or 4ths.
Waving larger than start-end moving of the melodic theme.
In this technique (e.g. reels of Irish music) the starting ending notes of the melodic theme is an interval of 2nd (e.g. the same note or one or two semitones away), but the intermediate waving steps are intervals of 3rd or 4ths/5ths! This is somehow the opposite of what usually oriental music melodies are doing!
The above in their turn create the correlation in the melodic themes pattern, so that a melodic theme is repeated 3 times while the 4th time is different and resolves. E.g. in the first two melodic theme by 4ths fifts or even octave intervals may be used as if accelerating , while in the last two measure it contracts or decelerates and might use melodic themes intervals of 3rds or 2nds and also inverted melodic themes.
Which again in its turn create a correlation in the harmonic structure or chord-progression structure, so that e.g. we may have
(ii, I, ii,I) , (ii, I, ii,I) , (IV, I, IV,I) , (V, I, V, I).
We classical music the higher order rhythmic structure is usually called musical morphology, and it is often inherited by poetry morphology , The poetic tern sonnet and the musical term sonata are nor for no reason similar words.
Similarly the poetry measure can be based on 3 instead of 4, e.g. 11-syllable poetry (meaning 3*4=12 syllables but the last is a pause) also very common in folk Greek poetry , which leads to 9/8, 6/8 measures .
E.g.
(110), (3 beats )
(110), (3 beats)
(110) (3 beats)
(111). (3 beats different )
Total of 12 beats corresponding to the 11-syllables poetry (the last has no lyrics)
The 2nd organization level rhythmic measure is the ||(011), (011), (011) (110)||
Or for example it could be
(1100), (1100), (1100) (3 measures)
(1100), (1100), (1100) (3 measures)
(1100), (1100), (1100) (3 measures)
(0011) (0011) (1101) (3 measures different now)
Total of 12 measures, corresponding to 11-measures poetry (the last has no lyrics)
Waltzes are examples of such measures that are dividable by 3 .
Similarly the poetry measure can be based on 3 instead of 4, e.g. 11-syllable poetry (meaning 3*4=12 syllables but the last is a pause) also very common in folk Greek poetry , which leads to 9/8, 6/8 measures .
E.g.
(110), (3 beats )
(110), (3 beats)
(110) (3 beats)
(111). (3 beats different )
Total of 12 beats corresponding to the 11-syllables poetry (the last has no lyrics)
The 2nd organization level rhythmic measure is the ||(011), (011), (011) (110)||
Or for example it could be
(1100), (1100), (1100) (3 measures)
(1100), (1100), (1100) (3 measures)
(1100), (1100), (1100) (3 measures)
(0011) (0011) (1101) (3 measures different now)
Total of 12 measures, corresponding to 11-measures poetry (the last has no lyrics)
Waltzes are examples of such measures that are dividable by 3 .
