On 16/1/04 7:18 PM, kouhia@nic.funet.fi wrote:

...

sections where the melody modulates into a couple of unexpected keys, but still manages to find its way successfully back to the original key. (Non-musicians can feel free to ignore that sentence!)

Could you explane and give time ranges of those sections? What is a "key"?

Oh dear, I'm not quite sure how to explain the term 'key' using only text (without being allowed to use audio or written music), but I'll give it a go. The term 'key' refers to the musical scale being used in a musical piece (eg C major, A minor, major and minor referring to the sequence notes used in the scale, C and A (or other notes) referring to the 'tonic' note, which is the note the scale starts from). Many tunes (not all) start or finish on the tonic note, but basslines generally start or finish on this note. Some modern songs use the same note in the bassline throughout the entire song (Weird Al Yankovic's 'Couch Potato' (a parody of Eminem's 'Lose Yourself') does this), the bass line playing the same note throughout the track. Other songs (typical 'pop' songs from the 1980s usually do this) use other chords / bass notes but generally return to the 'tonic' note at the end of the verse or chorus. There is one exception to this music - sometimes the music 'modulates' into another key - the 'tonic' note for a section changes to a different note. Classical music does this frequently, usually (not always) modulating up or down by a fifth (eg C major to G major). If pop songs modulate, they usually do so for the last time the chorus is sung, usually moving up by a single note (a 'major second') (eg C major to D major) (which is effectively the same as moving up by a fifth, twice - C-d-e-f-G then G-a-b-c-D) Usually when a piece modulates, the new 'tonic' note it modulates to is a note which was used in the original scale (eg, C major contains the note 'G' so it is common to modulate to G major, but not G-sharp major as G# is not in the C major scale (a 'sharp' note (#) is higher by a small step, a 'flat' note (b) is lower by a small step). Clear as mud? What Yello appears to do is more complicated. Planet Dada starts out in a particular key - let's call it C (the tune doesn't use a typical major or minor scale, the scale I've worked out (using C as the tonic note) is C-Db-Eb-F#-G-Ab-Bb-B-C). At 1:32 the melody is played in a different key, a major second higher (let's call it 'D'). Note that D is not in the original scale (Db was). At 1:39 the second half of the tune is played, this time it has moved up another major second (this is now a 'major third' above the original key) - 'E'. Note that E is not in the original scale, or in the scale used from 1:32 to 1:39. It then returns to the original key at 1:46 This happens again at 2:35 (D), 2:42 (E), 2:49 (back to C) That probably didn't make any sense, but hopefully that helped. Mark P. ----------------------<http://users.tpg.com.au/mrpulley/>------------- --------- "The holly and the ivy, if they come up in your yard, Then go and get the Roundup, and hit the mongrels hard." (Trad., new lyrics by Colin Buchanan & Greg Champion)