Archive for the ‘musical theory and background’ Category

Motifs and leitmotifs in metal

Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009

The use of motifs and leitmotifs is very frequent in the musical genres of classical and opera, but we can also find some examples of their use in that furious contemporary “classical” brand of sound making we known as heavy metal. Here we’ll explain what they are and their application in metal music.

The Virginia Tech Multimedia Music Dictionary defines “leitmotif” as follows:

Leitmotif
(LITE-moe-teef)
[Ger., leading motif]

A recurring motif in a composition (usually an opera) which represents a specific person, idea, or emotion. This term was first applied to the operas of Richard Wagner.

(…)

Motif
(moe-TEEF)
[Fr.]

A short tune or musical figure that characterizes and unifies a composition. It can be of any length, but is usually only a few notes long. A motif can be a melodic, harmonic or rhythmic pattern that is easily recognizable throughout the composition.

Virginia Tech Multimedia Music Dictionary

A motif (without the “leit-” attached ot it) can be either melodic, rhythmic or harmonic, it doesn’t matter. It must be short in duration, though, and it must contain some importance for the structure of the composition, if not providing the backbone itself. It is not just a casual riff, but a memorable mini-tune around which parts or the whole of the composition depend on.

Motifs have been used in metal music for all of its existence. In fact, the first motif in the history of the genre is the universally recognizable three-note sequence which is the main riff of the song “Black Sabbath” by the band of the same name. What would the rest of the song be without it? Like this trascendental example, motifs are the norm, rather than the exception, in metal.

Leitmotifs, on the other hand, are motifs that are recurrent in an entire composition or album, and serve to return our minds to a particular feeling or idea. As such, these are not restricted to a single song, but frequently reappear on an album or entire work to reminds us of the object the motif evokes. An entire composition structured around leitmotifs is, then, rather than a collection of individual songs, a unit, or a large song composed itself of songs.

Leitmotifs are famously associated with opera composer Richard Wagner. Its use in metal isn’t much of a recurring happening, nor its full potential been exploited so far, but I can name a few examples of its use that will immediately ring the bell of any devoted hessian:

- The acoustic short piece used as both intro and outro of Iron Maiden’s “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son” album.

Listen to the album’s intro on mp3:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Listen to the album’s outro on mp3:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Notice that both differ solely on interpretation. The piece as the outro to the album is played slower and in a more tired fashion compared to the intro. Leitmotifs don’t have to reappear on a composition at exactly the same way all the time – rather the subtle variation between them can create a contrast, which in turn give the listener a feeling that a narration is taking place. Iron Maiden’s 1988 album is a concept work which tells the life of a clairvoyant from birth to death and it makes sense that the outro, with its more dragging mood represents the end of the life of such person.

Another example from the same album are the intro sequences to the title track and the last track. Both are strikingly similar, except that the first is slower and ominous while the second is more upbeat. Notice that the lyrics on the last track of the album show a man resigned to his fate and happy despite of it, so the altered use of the riff from the title track (which could very well be the seventh son’s main motif) makes sense from this standpoint.

Listen to the intro riff to “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son” on mp3:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Listen to the intro riff to “Only the Good Die Young” on mp3:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

- Bathory, in its viking era, used a number of leitmotifs in its music and particularly in the “Twilight of the Gods” album. Here is but one example:

Listen to the intro sequence of “Through Blood by Thunder” on mp3:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Listen to the intro sequence of “Blood and Iron” on mp3:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Two different intros with the same motif attached to them. If you have the album, you can also notice how the intro to “Blood and Iron” further develops until it turns into the main motif of the song, which carries it to its end. It is not unusual to slowly turn one motif into another – Wagner did that on his operas, particularly in the transition between scenes 1 and 2 of “Das Rheingold”.

Listen to the previous motif developing into the main motif of “Blood and Iron” on mp3:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

- A small example of an implied leitmotif that gets displayed on its full extension later on the album is to be found on Rotting Christ’s “Non Serviam”.

Listen to an excerpt from “Mephesis Of Black Crystal” on mp3 (the implied leitmotif):

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Listen to an excerpt from “Saturn Unlock Avey’s Son” on mp3 (the full leitmotif):

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

These were only a few examples. Notice that the use of leitmotifs isn’t just restricted to concept albums. See how many more you can find on your CDs.

To learn more about leitmotifs, visit this excellent link: Leitmotifs in Der Ring des Nibelungen – an introduction.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in musical theory and background | 1 Comment »

Kraftwerk, Celtic Frost and Burzum – the method of not sticking to one style or sound

Thursday, July 16th, 2009

As a humble attempt to bring some ideas to the table in order to reverse the current backwards trend that plagues the underground, we’ll present to you an approach at music making that was tried by few bands in metal, and, because of the possibilities it offers, it can become a more than viable pathway to follow for metal to keep evolving.

Known by many open minded hessians as one of the few electronic acts that isn’t grating on the nerves, Kraftwerk, one of the leading acts in the genre, made a bright musical career by pasting synthetised and computer-generated sounds into melodically sensitive compositions that mixed simplicity with complexity in an effortless way, providing a soundscape in which emotion and technology interacted as easily as hydrogen and oxygen do to form water. Their way of pasting sounds (and what is music but an elaborate way of doing just that?) was influenced by the concept they had in mind at the moment of making the album, so coldness in sound and rhythmical monotony went hand-in-hand with the concept of dehumanization presented in their “The Man Machine” album, while, on the other hand, “Trans-Europe Express’” classically influenced melodies and introspective style melds well with the journey of self-discovery and pride for european culture the musicians attempted to portray.

With all of that said, you might be asking what does that band have to do with metal? Many things: the shaping of concept, the narrative approach and the human-nature-society topics presented have much in common with the way of making metal. Particularly, Kraftwerk went on to influence two of the biggest names in the genre: Celtic Frost and Burzum.

Celtic Frost’s members well documented obsession with history, legend and esoteric themes gave them an approach towards creating music that was more about describing a mood around which certain lyrics, as mini-narrations, enhanced the atmosphere presented. And, like Kraftwerk, each album differed from each other in the concepts it portrayed and the adjustment of style towards that goal, from the primitive, rapid bursting of anger in “Morbid Tales”, to the mythical and barbarian otherwordly scenery of “To Mega Therion” , to the hedonist, self-punishing operatic drama of “Into the Pandemonium” (some detractors might even say that this album is punishing on its own merit, but I think that, while not perfect, it is a respectable effort).

Burzum, like the previous act, also made his albums with the idea in mind that each of them should have a very distinctive identity, even though various moods interacted in a single album and the whole Burzum concept had more of a a unity behind it than Celtic Frost’s. Still, the difference in style for each release is self-apparent and we hear Varg adapting his playing, production values and even vocal style towards the emotions he wanted to display for each particular release.

One of the things we need to do in order to keep furthering the craft of metal is to leave behind our obsession with style and instead worry of taking each album we pursue as a fresh chance to start over. Otherwise, musicians easily lose ideas as they quickly run out of them if those are constructed around a single theme. We can learn from the aforementioned acts and demand more of our craft and of ourselves in order to reach a brilliant future for the genre.

All of the talk aside, we should study the aforementioned bands to really understand the idea presented here. Kraftwerk’s best works are (chronologically) “Radioactivity” (1975), “Trans-Europe Express” (1977), “The Man Machine” (1978) and “Computer World” (1981). Those should be listened to in that order. In doing so, observe how difficult is to point the similarities between the albums beyond the most basic musical elements, such as vocal styles and rhythms used. Even the sounds and synth patches went through tremendous changes in time and the outfit took their time to develop a voice of their own, starting rather timidly and displaying more confidence with the years (not surprisingly, the electronic genre was developing at the time and was quite fresh – as an exercise, and for fun, compare this rundown of albums with Black Sabbath’s first four LPs and its transition from blues to metal).

The rundown for Celtic Frost should be “Morbid Tales”, “Emperor’s Return” (as separate albums, in order to have a clear idea of the evolution taking place), “To Megatherion” and “Into the Pandemonium” (without “Mexican Radio” if you prefer so ;) ). Burzum’s as follows: “Det Som Engang Var”, “Hvis Lyset Tar Oss” and “Filosofem”. Notice that these aren’t “best ofs”, but a selection to further the comprehension of what has been said here.

Also notice the similarities between Burzum’s “Hvis..” and Kraftwerk’s “The Man Machine”: a simple rhythm track providing the backbone for endlessly repeating sequences (riffs) and the patient development of the songs by adding layers of more riffs on top of the basic ones.

This simple exercise should hopefully help you comprehend what’s been said here. It’s not all, though. The next step – the understanding of motifs and how do they relate with concept and unity in music making – will be explained on a post on its own. Stay tuned.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in musical theory and background | No Comments »

Pedal design can open future posibilities for composition in metal

Wednesday, July 1st, 2009

Guitar distortion is a fundamental asset of metal music. Yet it also has a great disadvantage that represents a big limitation to musical composition: it doesn’t give much of a dynamic range, like an acoustic instrument or an electric guitar on the clean channel do, which doesn’t open possibilities for a greater range of expression and subtlety.

For those unfamiliar with sound theory or musical concepts, dynamic range means variations in volume and emphasis in sound. In developed musical genres, such as classical, the concept can make a difference in the expression of a certain piece: for example, a nice melody played “piano”, or soft, can sound sweet, while another played “fortissimo”, or really loud, can sound powerful and bombastic. It is really a means to drive the point across, to enhance what a certain piece tries to express.

Thinking about this problem while surfing the Internet, I ran into this: Hicks Engineering – Electric guitar distortion box.

This device restores the dynamic range which is lost when an electric guitar is played through a distortion box. It employs precision analog multiplier circuitry which samples the raw guitar input and varies the distortion box output accordingly

Probably not an optimally functional design, but the idea itself is very good and, if perfected, can open a whole new future for the modern music world and to metal specially, giving the style brand new fields to explore and expand. Instead of constant, all-out aggression, metal musicians could be allowed to explore subtlety and different moods, giving metal more emotional range. The possibilities are quite interesting if one thinks about them.

Tags: ,
Posted in musical theory and background | No Comments »

Guitar solo expertise in metal

Tuesday, June 30th, 2009

Instrumental skill may be one of the attributes of metal that most attracts the attention of outsiders to the genre. It’s something that immediately jumps to the eye, the technical display of instrumental virtuosism that makes one go: “wow, that guy can really play!”. For better or for worse, it’s the truth. Most non-metalheads aren’t attracted to the esotericism of black metal, the other-wordly morbidness of death metal or the tales of heroism of heavy and speed metal bands. Only the fireworks matter at first.

Still, guitar solo expertise cannot be easily disposed of. There are exceptions but, for the most part, metal has technical competence and skill deeply implanted into its DNA. So do certain rock, jazz and classical. Now, the choice for us is that virtuosism can be used either as an end (masturbatory fiddling with a simple rock’n roll background) or as a means towards a greater expression of an idea or emotion (classical, baroque guitar music and other examples).

Virtuoso guitar players like Eddie van Halen, Uli Jon Roth, Yngwie Malmsteen, Jason Becker and the like, despite being all tremendously competent and classically influenced in their playing, were also extremely one-dimensional because, despite their background, they all played in rock bands, and in rock, the “one-trick pony” is the law. You don’t want to make your sound complex like classical music is, you want to make it easy for the masses to consume.

In order to make guitar skill a useful and integral part of metal music, we need to think about it as a means and not as an end. Certain forms of extreme metal are already trascending the rock style of one-dimensional neo-classical music and it can further evolve if we lay down the fear of complexity, and add things like subtlety, context, pattern shaping and the like. Guitar solos shouldn’t be tracks to put on top of songs because we’re obligated to do so by the un-written Sacred Laws of How to Make Heavy Metal. They should have the same function as riffs do, a narrative, pattern-like sucession that, on top of another layer (a riff or a similar structure), makes a defined construction that without the solo would make less of a clear sense.

For pointers on how this hypothetical future would be, I’d give you an example of some of the best in classic guitar: Francisco Tarrega guitar adaptation of Allard’s Violin study in A Major.

Now that’s how you are supposed to shred on guitar (and play cricket). Why going fast as all hell when you can play a piece that says something and still be technically proficient, but as a means of enhancing the original message of the song? Most classically influenced mainstream “shredders” take popular bits of classical music and use it as a means to display their technical skill. See how different it is when you focus more on composition and less on showing off?

Of course, it requieres discipline and hours of practice to be just as good as Julian Bream. Metal guitarists like Mike Torrao and Trey Azagthoth also took their time and sweat to perfect their technique and it shows on how their solos are complicated, yet structured to complement the riffs under it and make greater sense of them. Malmsteen also practiced a lot, yet to play a style of music that didn’t really demand much talent. Playing fast isn’t that complicated. Playing a coherent piece that really grabs you and evokes one or many emotions at once, that requieres effort and talent, not just with soloing, but with musical composition in general. And I think that’s where the future of lead guitar in metal is.

Learn more about guitar theory:

Virginia Tech Multimedia Music Dictionary – a glossary of basic musical terms in case you don’t know what certain italian terms on music sheets mean.

Dmitris Dranidis’ Introduction to music theory for guitar – cool guide to get familiar with the most basic theory: harmony, chords, modes and the like.

Wilbur’s Music Tutorial – to learn about common or western music notation.

Golmetsch Online – Music Theory Online – a more complete and comprehensive guide to notation and terms in general.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in musical theory and background | 1 Comment »

Scientific study states genetic basis of musical competence and links music with communication

Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009

Shedding more light on our statement that artistic aptitude in metal is a rare trait, a University of HELLsinki study reveals that musicality is more of an inborn characteristic than most think:

In the study high music test scores were significantly associated with creative functions in music (p< .0001), suggesting composing, improvising and arranging music demands musical aptitude. Creativity is a multifactorial genetic trait involving a complex network made up of a number of genes and environment. Here was shown for the first time that the creative functions in music have a strong genetic component (h2 =.84; composing h2 =.40; arranging h2 =.46; improvising h2 = .62) in Finnish multigenerational families. Additionally the heritability estimates of the musical aptitude were remarkable.

To elucidate the neurobiological basis of music in human evolution and communication the researchers demonstrated an association of arginine vasopressin receptor 1A (AVPR1A) gene variants with musical aptitude. In the previous studies the AVPR1A gene and its homologies have been associated with social, emotional and behavioral traits, including pair bonding and parenting. The results suggest that the neurobiology of music perception and production is related to the pathways affecting intrinsic attachment behavior.

"Music is social communication between individuals," says Liisa Ukkola. "Darwin proposed that singing is used to attract the opposite sex. Furthermore, lullabies are implied to attach infant to a parent and singing or playing music together may add group cohesion. Thus, it is justified to hypothesize that music perception and creativity in music are linked to the same phenotypic spectrum of human cognitive social skills, like human bonding and altruism both associated with AVPR1A. We have shown for the first time in the molecular level that music perception has an attachment creating impact."

Sciene Daily – Genetic Basis Of Musical Aptitude: Neurobiology Of Musicality Related To Intrinsic Attachment Behavior

In more layman terms: ability in music, meaning not just technical skill but creativity and general talent at composing and improvising, is determined mostly by the genes. Not just that, it is also claimed that music making is intimately related with the human traits associated with bonding and communication with other human beings: we use music to transmit to each other ideas so complex that we would be unable to convey with speaking or gestures and do so because we care about communicating those ideas to the world.

All of this data makes one thinks twice about supporting each and every band that comes our way. Not everyone can be an artist and create great, trascendental works, so why should we keep encouraging participation in the metal scene when we can be more concerned about quality and not quantity?

Read more:

- Motivation – what makes metal musicians write music?

- Knowing the music you listen to is key to strengthening yourself and the metal culture

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in musical theory and background | No Comments »