<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META content="text/html; charset=us-ascii" http-equiv=Content-Type>
<META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 8.00.6001.18928"></HEAD>
<BODY
style="WORD-WRAP: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space">
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=921465207-11082010>Dear Stephen, and all</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=921465207-11082010></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=921465207-11082010>The score is impressive: Zimmer and team up their
game considerably when working with Christopher Nolan (as he has done in the
past when working, say, with Terence Malick). And I found that
progression haunting my thoughts too (I'm tempted to say "haunting my
dreams"...).</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=921465207-11082010></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=921465207-11082010>That's partly, however, because of its similarity to
the cue at the metaphysical heart of Thomas Newman's score for _The
Shawshank Redemption_. When I was driving home from watching _Inception_,
wondering if the street might wrap up around me, I was also wondering
whether Newman's lawyers would be getting in touch with Zimmer's sometime
soon. Listen, for instance, to this:</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=921465207-11082010></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=921465207-11082010><A
href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71iLRDoCWmU&feature=related">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71iLRDoCWmU&feature=related</A></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=921465207-11082010></SPAN></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2
face=Arial><SPAN class=921465207-11082010></SPAN></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff
size=2 face=Arial><SPAN class=921465207-11082010></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=921465207-11082010>I suspect there may also be similarities to other
tracks from the Remote Control empire, but I'd need to check on that (an
excellent former student of mine, Adam Dutch, wrote a Zimmer Masters thesis
when he studied at Keele, and I need to ask him for a read on this
progression and the score).</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=921465207-11082010></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=921465207-11082010>Similarities aside, thanks, </SPAN></FONT><FONT
color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN class=921465207-11082010>Stephen, for
putting the _Inception_ progression in a productive theoretical
context. Progressions like those in _Inception_ are also important in
Newman's music, which has long interested me. There's a rock heritage
to these sounds (both composers have a varied musical background) alongside a
recent art music influence (I wonder if some of these chordal mixtures feel so
strange if played on a guitar, say, or by a rock keyboardist). In
Newman's case at least, there's also the requirement (in some movies)
to suggest, through folk-ish modal tinges and false relations, an
Irish-American accent (read "authenticity"). Anyway, I'm going to
muse on the Cohn and how it might help one analyse the structure and meanings of
these sounds more precisely.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=921465207-11082010></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=921465207-11082010>Regards</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=921465207-11082010></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=921465207-11082010>Nick Reyland</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=921465207-11082010></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=921465207-11082010>Dr Nicholas Reyland</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=921465207-11082010>Music : Film Studies : Media, Culture and
Communications</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=921465207-11082010>Keele University</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=921465207-11082010><A
href="mailto:n.w.reyland@keele.ac.uk">n.w.reyland@keele.ac.uk</A></SPAN></FONT></DIV><BR>
<DIV dir=ltr lang=en-us class=OutlookMessageHeader align=left>
<HR tabIndex=-1>
<FONT size=2 face=Tahoma><B>From:</B> smt-talk-bounces@societymusictheory.org
[mailto:smt-talk-bounces@societymusictheory.org] <B>On Behalf Of </B>Stephen
Taylor<BR><B>Sent:</B> 10 August 2010 22:30<BR><B>To:</B>
smt-talk@societymusictheory.org<BR><B>Subject:</B> [Smt-talk] Inception chord
progression<BR></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>I've seen Inception twice and there's a chord progression I just
can't get out of my head - the entire score is by far the best I've heard from
Hans Zimmer & co. (and the slowed-down Edith Piaf is excellent). The
progression's clearest instance is the scene in Paris where the streets and
buildings start folding over themselves.<BR><BR>G min Gb Maj/Bb
Eb Maj<SPAN style="WHITE-SPACE: pre" class=Apple-tab-span>
</SPAN> B Maj
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>The soundtrack on YouTube - folding streets</DIV>
<DIV><A
href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1PvjIiM5qk&feature=related">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1PvjIiM5qk&feature=related</A>
(3:44 - in this example the last chord is B Maj7) </DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>- or -</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><A
href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_QEBeTa37M&feature=related">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_QEBeTa37M&feature=related</A> (2:25,
uptempo)<BR><BR>Here it is with the voice-leading - I really like the
alternating half-steps in the top voice, which divide the progression in two;
the progression also wraps around itself, so it can repeat ad infinitum.</DIV>
<DIV><BR><IMG src="cid:921465207@11082010-31A4" width=659 height=136
apple-height="yes" apple-width="yes"><BR><BR>The four chords very nearly fit
into the "Western" hexatonic system from Rick Cohn's 1996 article in Music
Analysis, except for the Gb major chord (which belongs to the Southern system).
The Gb major is the kicker, it seems, partly because it's farther away from the
Eb major in terms of voice-leading. And the Db in this chord is the only
non-hexatonic note. <BR><BR>Does anyone know of any other instances of this
particular progression, or ones like it? Are there other ways to look at it
besides hexatonic (cubic lattices, etc.)? It feels "modern" to me, like I
wouldn't hear this in Wolf or Strauss - but I wouldn't hear it in Shostakovich,
Phil Glass or John Adams either. Very intriguing!<BR><BR></DIV>
<DIV>Steve<BR>_________________________________<BR>Stephen Taylor<BR>Associate
Professor of Composition-Theory<BR>University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign<BR><A
href="http://www.stephenandrewtaylor.net/">http://www.stephenandrewtaylor.net</A><BR></DIV></BODY></HTML>