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I know what intervals are, and if you told me the notes a group was singing in harmony, I'd be able to tell you what part of the chord each note was. But I couldn't put any of this into a story that says, "They did this for this reason, with this effect."



So, anyway, although it's got no obvious hit like "Dream Girl," Chapter 2* of SHINee's 3rd Album is a lot better than Chapter 1, and this has something to do with the harmonies — which and when — and that these seem, to my ignorant ears, to draw more on classic boyband harmonies than the ones in Chapter 1 do. But beyond that I can't tell you much.

I also feel — and can't do better than "feel" — that the individuals in SHINee aren't quite good enough singers to make the harmonies really hurt the way I think they ought to, just as Super Junior's harmonies also don't hurt in the way they ought to. Aren't as shivery as intended.

Also, not knowing K-pop history well, my hypothesis is that TVXQ/JYJ are the standard here, do (did) have the voices. But I rarely get pulled-in by TVXQ's songs. (Not going for shivers?) Here's one that does pull me:



*SHINee The 3rd Album Chapter 2. 'Why So Serious? -The Misconceptions Of Me.' Chapter 1 was called 'Dream Girl - The Misconceptions Of You.'
koganbot: (Default)
Mark, or someone, why is the harmonic minor scale called the harmonic minor scale? How is it any more harmonic than the natural minor scale? Wikip:

"One More Day" is composed in the key of A harmonic minor, meaning though in A minor, it has a G#, an accidental, at the end of the chorus and the end of the second verse. The vocals span around an octave and a half, from C4 to E5. It is written in verse-chorus form, with a bridge section in a rap-form, featuring Sung Hyo Ram from XCROSS as the guest rapper, before the last repeated chorus.


Wikip explains "harmonic" in the name like this:

The scale is so named because it is a common foundation for harmonies (chords) used in a minor key. For example, in the key of A minor, the V chord (the triad built on the note E) is normally a major triad that includes the raised seventh degree of the scale: G♯, as opposed to the unraised G♮ which would make a minor triad.
What confuses me about this explanation is that it assumes that, if your i is a minor, then V is somehow more "harmonic" than v is. (That is, that the major chord that's a fifth above the chord that establishes the key is, when the key is minor, more "harmonic" than the minor chord that's the fifth above the original chord.) Now I get that Wikip is saying that the major V is more "normal" or "common" than the minor v. (Where? Among whom?) Is that because it's — somehow — more harmonically related? Is it because of that "leading-tone" business Wikip mentions?

Here's a natural (rather than harmonic) minor for the v, which sounds fine to me:

ExpandSistar Zukie )

Yes, I'm never likely to master music theory. Other stuff is taking my time.

Another reason for this post is that you — especially you who are named "Mark" — may enjoy the ChoColat track for how its harpsichord and melody recall the classic She'kspere/Kandi days of TLC, Destiny's Child, and Pink. Maybe you, more than I, will be able to explain what the melody has in common with those melodies of yore (if I'm right that it does).

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Frank Kogan

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