TSJMajesty
Rock Star
- Messages
- 7,313
Ok, so no pre-apologies..., IYKYK (I love DT and JP!)
First up- In The Name Of God, from Train of Thought, easily one of their best albums, imo.
The opening heavy phrase. (In C std, btw)
First time:
then the 2nd time, he ends it on the low C, on the 'and of 4', to start the next one, with the octave (F/7) C being on the downbeat, instead of how he did it the 1st time. That right there is clever, for lack of a better adjective:
But then to "catch up", he throws in a couple 16th notes, so this part can finish the same way as the 1st one, which has the added benefit of keeping it interesting, since it's a bit different:
And the last time, he adds a little cadence to polish it off.
Then, for the 2nd time around, Portnoy opens the drums up a bit, to bring some emphasis the 2nd go around, with the first 3 phrases being exactly the same, but on the final one, JP adds a little twist to the ending cadence. Just, brilliant!
Such a great piece of writing, taking a basic musical phrase, doing an ABAC pattern, twice, but the way he flavors it with different note choices and rhythms, it's more like an A1,B,A2,C1, A1,B,A2,C2.
Furthermore, it's a great example of how to add embellishments to a musical idea, to hold the listener's interest. At least that's how I see it.
Oh, and it's got that harmonic minor scale going, which sets the mood of the song. And since the C feels like the "root", I suppose it's the Phrygian Dominant mode of F harmonic minor, but I'm not all that well-versed in modes, so I could be wrong about that part.
Here it is, cued up:
First up- In The Name Of God, from Train of Thought, easily one of their best albums, imo.
The opening heavy phrase. (In C std, btw)
First time:
then the 2nd time, he ends it on the low C, on the 'and of 4', to start the next one, with the octave (F/7) C being on the downbeat, instead of how he did it the 1st time. That right there is clever, for lack of a better adjective:
But then to "catch up", he throws in a couple 16th notes, so this part can finish the same way as the 1st one, which has the added benefit of keeping it interesting, since it's a bit different:
And the last time, he adds a little cadence to polish it off.
Then, for the 2nd time around, Portnoy opens the drums up a bit, to bring some emphasis the 2nd go around, with the first 3 phrases being exactly the same, but on the final one, JP adds a little twist to the ending cadence. Just, brilliant!
Such a great piece of writing, taking a basic musical phrase, doing an ABAC pattern, twice, but the way he flavors it with different note choices and rhythms, it's more like an A1,B,A2,C1, A1,B,A2,C2.
Furthermore, it's a great example of how to add embellishments to a musical idea, to hold the listener's interest. At least that's how I see it.
Oh, and it's got that harmonic minor scale going, which sets the mood of the song. And since the C feels like the "root", I suppose it's the Phrygian Dominant mode of F harmonic minor, but I'm not all that well-versed in modes, so I could be wrong about that part.
Here it is, cued up:
