<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif;font-size:14pt"><div class="" style=""><span style="font-size: 18px;"><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;" class="">Darryl White wrote:</span><br style=""></span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;" class=""><span class="" style="font-size: large;"><br class="" style=""></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: large;"><font face="georgia,serif" class="" style="">It's true that this succession of chords doesn't go anywhere</font> <font face="georgia,serif" class="" style="">but neither do most strings of chords that we routinely call 'progressions.'
This example circulates in one place. Most progressions of tonal music do the same thing; the only variable is the length of the cycle. To retain a scale, mode, or key, and a handful of chords coextensive with that is to merely circulate. What's more at issue is whether a cadence is ever reached.<br class="" style=""><br class="" style=""></font></span></div><div style="background-color: transparent" class=""><span class="" style="font-size: large;"></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;" class=""><font face="georgia,serif" class="" style="font-size: large;">Also, Jay Rahn made me wonder if we have examples of pop songs in which this progression begins on IV or V. One advantage to both these options is that the progression would end on vi or I.</font></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;" class=""><font
face="georgia,serif" class="" style="font-size: large;">-------------</font></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;" class=""><font face="georgia,serif" class="" style="font-size: large;">Another approach to the Am-F-C-G and C-G-Am-F successions would focus on their harmonic rhythm and the parts of the diatonic collection they unfold. </font></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;" class=""><font face="georgia,serif" class="" style="font-size: large;"><br class="" style=""></font></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;" class=""><font face="georgia,serif" class="" style="font-size: 18px;">F in Am-F introduces the E-F semitone; G in C-G introduces the B-C semitone.</font></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial,
'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 18px;"><font face="georgia,serif" class="" style="">In the Am-F-C-G succession, G introduces the F-B tritone; in the C-G-Am-F succession, F introduces the F-B tritone. I.e., i</font><span style="font-family: georgia, serif" class="">n both successions, the 'last' chord introduces the tritone.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 18px;"><span style="font-family: georgia, serif" class=""><br></span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;" class=""><font face="georgia,serif" class="" style="font-size: 18px;">In both successions, the first and third chords are part of the 'usual pentatonic' CDEGA.</font></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande',
sans-serif;" class=""><font face="georgia,serif" class="" style="font-size: 18px;"><br></font></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;" class=""><font face="georgia,serif" class="" style="font-size: 18px;">Arguably, then, relative simplicity between the first and third chords, and increasing complexity at the second chord and (especially) at the fourth chord.</font></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;" class=""><font face="georgia,serif" class="" style="font-size: 18px;"><br class="" style=""></font></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 18px;"><font face="georgia,serif" class="" style="">Starting at F or G would result in much the same pattern except that the tritone would appear at the first chord of the second
pair of chords rather than at the end of the succession. E</font><span style="font-family: georgia, serif" class="">laborating somewhat on Darryl White's observation, 'cadences' would occur at the end of the F-C and G-Am pairs.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 18px;"><span style="font-family: georgia, serif" class=""><br></span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 18px;" class="">In contrast, starting at Am or C results in 'cadences to' the beginning of the next pair and to the cycle as a whole. In this respect, cycles that begin at Am or C are continuous rather than segmented, both within and between their repetitions. </span></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',
'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 18px;" class=""><br class="" style=""></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 18px;" class="">Jay Rahn, York University</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 13px" class=""><span style="font-family: georgia, serif" class=""><br class="" style=""></span></div><div class="yahoo_quoted" style="display: block;"> <div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt" class=""> <div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt" class=""> <div dir="ltr" class="" style=""> <font size="2"
face="Arial" class="" style=""> On Friday, May 2, 2014 12:15:44 PM, Darryl White <darryl.musico@gmail.com> wrote:<br class="" style=""> </font> </div> <blockquote style="" class=""> <div class="" style=""><div id="yiv8975559739" class="" style=""><div dir="ltr" class="" style=""><div class="" style=""><span class="" style="">Conor Cook wrote:<br class="" style=""></span><br class="" style="">I think that thinking about our [VI-IV-{I-V]-VI-IV} entity might be
ill-served by talking of it as a progression at all, at least in its
repetitive form. Is it not a chaconne or passacaglia? Though I know
that these forms are made up of what we often term a "progression," it
hardly progresses anywhere. It is the repetition that makes is
fascinating, with its interlocking extremes (witness the possibility of
starting at two different points). While we do need to
address the harmonic motion, let's not forget that this is an old form,
used to great effect.</div><div class="" style=""><span class="" style="">____________<br class="" style=""></span></div><span class="" style=""> </span><br clear="all" class="" style=""><div class="" style=""><div class="" style=""><font face="georgia,serif" class="" style="">It's true that this succession of chords doesn't go anywhere</font> <font face="georgia,serif" class="" style="">but neither do most strings of chords that we routinely call 'progressions.' This example circulates in one place. Most progressions of tonal music do the same thing; the only variable is the length of the cycle. To retain a scale, mode, or key, and a handful of chords coextensive with that is to merely circulate. What's more at issue is whether a cadence is ever reached.<br class="" style="">
<br class="" style=""></font></div><div class="" style=""><font face="georgia,serif" class="" style="">Also, Jay Rahn made me wonder if we have examples of pop songs in which this progression begins on IV or V. One advantage to both these options is that the progression would end on vi or I.<br class="" style="">
</font></div><div class="" style=""><br class="" style=""><br class="" style=""><br class="" style=""></div><div class="" style="">-- <br class="" style="">Darryl White<br class="" style="">University of Arizona<br class="" style="">School of Music<br class="" style="">
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