Small Theories

What would happen if…

In a song, each part was played in a different time signature? What if those parts were also in different key signatures? Would it matter? How would it sound? Where would it begin?

Let’s give the bass player something. They can start it off. First note: a G. A good, solid note for the instrument, nice to center around. Next note: an F, the dominant seventh above the G. Then the A above that, the third of the F, or the ninth of the G. The fourth note is a Bb, just a half-step above the A, which then goes down to another G, the octave of the first note, and then a C, the fourth of the first G. Let’s repeat these six notes. Repeat them again, and again. It looks like this:

That line plays throughout, until the end (which one might call the “coda”), in this case indicated by the letter “D” in a box. Notice that every fourth note drawn above is made staccato. That’s because our next part is in 4/4 time. Playing the notes staccato is purely optional.

Four bars of the bassline, or six bars of rest begin the “melody” line in 4/4. This also begins with a G. Then an F, but down a whole-step rather than going up. The third note is an A, a whole-step up from that G. The fourth note in the melody is another F, as before. This is the first “chord” in the song. The previous three notes were octaves of the bassline. This first “chord” is a Bb 5 chord – that is, the F is the fifth of the Bb. The second measure in which the melody plays notes begins with a G, just like the previous measure – another octave reflection of the bassline. 

The “melody”:

Here is the “harmony” part:

Note the differences in time and key signature in all three parts. These can all be unified, such as making them all in the key of F, and in 6/4 time. Also, I have not described the chord construction formed by the addition of the “harmony” line. Since this is a relatively “strict” composition, it may be tempting to perform exactly as written, but this is certainly not necessary.

If none of this makes sense, do not worry. Is it math or is it music? Or is it something else? Most of the songs I will discuss originated with some kind of pattern or set of “rules”, but as they grew, worked their way into something more “musical”. Yes, these compositions may be analyzed mathematically, but that could only apply to a “perfect” world, which this (thankfully) is not. To describe how out-of-tune my guitar is, for example, would require more effort than I wish to discuss here. The next songs I will write about will probably sound - and look - more like music, at least in some branch of the jazz tradition. After all, these transcriptions are only guides to interpreting these “small theories”.

Here is a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxvPkTM1CNw