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Ricardo -> RE: chord theory question soleares (Oct. 16 2013 19:31:43)
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quote:
But frankly I still don't get the general scheme of things (i.e. why solea has E instead of Em, and what "phrygian key" refers to exactly).
Really? If you simply play some solea and change all the E chords to E minor chords your ear should tell you "why". If your question is HOW does theory explain it then that is easier, but you must accept the need for special "terminology", or random description of things that happen in music.
MODES are scales. YOu can refer to the notes with numbers. THe numbers, as per jazz theory but any equal tempered modern music can use it too like pop or classical etc, are based on the MAJOR scale. 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 is the major scale. Also "do re mi fa sol la ti do" is the same thing. So a mode such as "dorian" is 1,2, b3, 4, 5 6 b7. When talking about dorian your are talking about THAT scale, no matter what your root is pitch wise. Now musically the "environment" you use that scale can be a number of things.
1. OVer a drone. A single note (number 1 of the scale obviously), over which your musical mix up of that scale makes sense.
2. Over a chord. ONly a single chord is needed, and again should contain note 1 as the bass. Most common are chords like 1 b3 5 b7, but you can have ALL the notes of the scale used in a chord such as a minor 13 chord, etc and what a 13th chord really is, is ALL the notes of the mode heard at once.
3.Over a modal VAMP. What that is, is a simple sequence of chords that imply, together, the scale involved. For Dorian, you could spell two chords , for example 1,b3,5,7 and 2,4,6,1....you can hear both are minor 7 chords and together spell the entire mode. But HARMONIC RHYTHM becomes important so as not to confuse the second chord for being the actual mode used. Another vamp for dorian could be the 1,b3,5,b7 chord and the chord based on the 4th degree, which is a DOMINANT 7TH chord in this case. The tune by Santana Oye Como Va, is a good example of that dorian vamp.
You can have more than just 2 chords for a vamp, but things start getting quite busy. For example BEAT IT by Michael Jackson has this chord sequence repeating : Em D C D. Many people would say the tune is in the key of "E minor" but the truth is this music is more simple than the key of Em. It is a modal VAMP that implies E Aeolian.
So now, what WOULD the song need to be called "Key of E minor"??? Well, it could have a number of different chords, or even other scales, but what it REALLY needs most simply is a dominant chord. B7. That would totally change the entire name game of describing the music.
So What differentiates a "Mode" from a "key" is the deliberate and necessary usage of DOMINANT resolving to TONIC chord function. Modal vamps, no matter how many chords you use, do NOT have that function UNLESS you have a 5---->1 harmonic resolution, in which case it's no longer called "a vamp", it's a "progression". It's that simple.
A flamenco palo could be in 1 of 3 possible keys. They are:
Major. Alegrias B7-E for example.
Minor , Farruca B7-Em
Por arriba, or spanish phrygian, Serrana or solea: F-E
Now it is confusing because one could use F-E as a MODAL vamp over E phyrigian Dominant mode. THis is borrowed from the key of Am but with no Am resolution, it is MODAL not a key. But you must stick to a scale pattern 1,b2,3,4,5,b6,b7. Flamenco music does not necessarily "vamp" in this manner. Sometimes it does but it tends to go outside of the mode and use multiple tonic to dominant relationships like any other music in a "key". If we make the E chord Em than we DO have a phrygian vamp, and in fact could use a bunch of chords that avoid the V-I move, and keep the focus on the natural phrygian mode (1,b2,b3,4,5,b6,b7). Again, this NOT the point of flamenco guitar. The flamenco guitar is not "vamping" for most songs, we are harmonizing the singers melody, with a focus on DOMINANT to TONIC resolutions.
IN the case of spanish phrygian, viewed as a KEY not a vamp, the dominant is F (the stronger sounding tritone sub for Bm7b5 which is the literal 5 chord from the scale). just as in major or minor keys, the dominant 7 is prefered as the pull of half steps is stronger for resolution. The spanish phrygian deal is no different. F7 is stronger, and so often used in place of the simple F-E or Fmaj7-E. The inversion of the dominant F chord is also special as we have the leading tone to tonic (Eb-E natural).
It would be fun if we could do this with other "modes"...that is find ways to tonicize the mode with altered dominants etc, but it turns out, based on our tuning system, this thing only works nice for phrygian. Also that defeats the purpose of vamping. So, I differentiate:
major key from Ionian mode (no V-I function),
minor key from Aeolian mode,
and spanish phrygian key from either natural phrygian or phrygian dom .....all for the same reasons.
For those that study classical theory in school, you won't hear about this fringe level spanish phrygian deal. It is only touched on with Augmented 6th chord harmony analysis of mozart era choral music. This topic addresses this F7-E deal of sp. phyrgian DIRECTLY....although it is not refered to as such. And of course in context of different music, HARMONIC RHYTHM is the key difference. (Jazz students also touch on this with tritone subs for any dominant chords).
Example:
Mozart: F7-E7-Am....
Flamenco: C7-F7-E(b9)....
so flamenco "cuts the head" of the phrase that could have resolved to Am....and it does it rhythmically so that we come to rest on E and need no further resolutions. It is hard for western ears to grasp, but once you get inside the rhythm, the resolutions are quite easy to accept.
Hope that helps. If not, just play. [:D]
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