John Adams Approach

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General

  • Simple Melodic Lines and Adds Notes, often 1 at the Time and Later Subtracts 1 at the Time (Glass Influence)
  • Overlap Patterns in Canons, Sty in 1 Harmony Region for a Long Period Before Suddenly Switching Over to Another (Reich Influence)
  • i.e. “Gates” which Derives from Audio Gate that is a Sudden Switch from Negative to Positive, thus Nothing else than a Abrupt Modulation
  • i.e. Repetitive Patterns Slowly Change Over a Regular Pulse 
  • the Harmony Region can be Organised Around the Cycle of Fifths
  • e.g. he Used Lydian vs Phrygian (Light vs Dark)

Oscillating Triads

– He Later Started to Stretch Out a Simply Triad (Oscillating Triad), i.e. Usually by Oscillating the Notes within It to Give it Sense of Activity or Instability

– e.g. in Shaker Loops there is D Major Triad, then a E is Added, then the F# Shifts Back in 2 to the G# (Alternating between F# and G#), Allowing the Initial  Signal D Major Chord to Stretch Out in Time

Common Tones Modulation

– Modulation Through the Use of Common Tones (also Called Enharmonic Modulation)

– i.e. Modulating between 2 Harmonic Areas

– e.g. Eb Major, then Inverting, then Move to F, then to E Minor 1st Inversion while G Note Holds Continuity between the 2 Chords 

Extended Chords

  • He Later Extended the Triad Chords, e.g. Eb Minor with a F Minor Above it (in Jazz Called Ebm13)

– in General, Jazz Caught his Interest Regarding Harmony and Melody

Shaker Loops

  • are Basically Not Much More than 2 o 3 Melody Phrases Repeated Over a Long Series of Chord Changes
  • but Bass Undermines Chord Stability by Alternating between 2 or Unstable Notes
  • Winds Provide a Static Minimalist Texture Chord
  • and then in the Melody, Added Notes Change the Color and Introduce Kind a Parallax Movement Together with the Long Series of Chord Changes

Chromatic Approach

  • Later he Started with Chromatic Approach (Influenced by the Book “Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns by Nicolas Slonimsky”
  • Even Coltrane Stole Giant Steps from Slonimsky and Soon Jazz Guys Started to Improvise in 12 Tone 

– First Part of the Book Deals with Patterns that can be Repeated at Regular Intervals Over Several Octaves

  • e.g. a Pattern Going up Every Minor 3rd, while 2nd Phrase is Retrograde

– Slonimsky Called Gave it Fancy Names Such as Interpolation, Ultrapolation and Infrapolation, means Adding a Notes Sits In-Between the 2 Others or Adding a Notes Sits Outside the 2 Others

  • >> e.g. Basic = C – F# – C 
  • >> Interpolation is Adding a Semitone After Each Note = C – C# – F# – G – C
  • >> Ultrapolation the Semitone will Rise Above the 2nd Note Before Falling Back Down = C – G# – F# – E# – C
  • >> Infrapolation Falls a Semitone Below the 1st Note Before Rising to the 2nd Note = C – B – F# – F – C
  • of Course you can Make any Number of Alternatives by Combining a Few of these, or Changing Intervals, or having More than 2 Original Notes

Adams About Stravinsky


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