possibly preparing for the human ear-brain the dissonant intervals so that they sound even better than the consonants.
While playing, one has to think of the future move. How the next chord is to be served to the brain?
A bit like playing pools or chess when one has to think of the future moves. Sometimes a bit like life.
Example:
Writing's on the wall - Sam Smith
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8jzDnsjYv9A#fauxfullscreen
Or how the chords melt (morph), one to the next on the Vocalise - Rachmaninov
Rachmaninov wanting to move from chord X to Y uses 3 chords one on each measure. The inbetween chord contains also some or one of the notes of Y while keeping one or more of the notes of X. And this should happen for nearly all the chords especially at the beginning of the masterpiece.
Other example:
Let's assume a piece is to be written on the key of C minor. This means by definition all Es, As, Bs are flat. E is flat, A is flat B is flat. The first bass will normally be C. Default code is 135 so the left hand will play C the right hand will play C E G (remember E is flat).
Say then the next chord is to be E7. This means the seventh counting up,natural notes from bass E (ie D) must be prepared and the third from bass added [Bach]. The chord would be by the 1357 rule, E bass and right hand G B D (remember E is flat, B is flat) so E bass G B D. This chord is called E flat major seventh. So rearranging to B D G so that we are close to the previous chord.
We may then create an in between chord so that the seventh on the 3rd chord is prepared to our brain or played, heard for example in advance. So we have.
CEG
CDG
BDG
Together with bass:
Bass C harmony CEG
Bass C harmony CDG
Bass E harmony BDG
(Remember all E ,A ,B are flat)
These first few chords can be the Writting's on the Wall song in the first example played in a different key.
But let's take the actual James Bond, Writting's on the Wall song. The key is F minor. This means by definition that all A, B, D, E are flat. The second chord has code A7. This means it is bass A and G C G oct for example. G is the seventh from bass and the third from bass is C. Looking at the future the seventh of bass A (ie G) has to be prepared. In this case played before the actual chord. The first chord comes naturally F (the key). So we have F bass and rule 1,3,5. So F bass and A C A. We may omit the 5th. To prepare the forthcoming seventh we can include the G as such:
C bass A C G oct (G prepares the brain for the next bass) A bass G C G oct (bass A comes the 3rd (C) added, G already there)
Remember all A, B, D, E is flat. Doesn't it sound beautiful?
Chords do not come out of thin air there is an emotional logic in them.
(For same strange reason dissonant chords were banned for millenniums in Hellas. It should not be a conspiracy. Perhaps someone thought they are not to be played since they are called dissonant. It is ironic as it happens in the place they were perhaps first studied or even invented by Pythagoras studying overtones of a stretched string. Banning of the beauty has perhaps led to only composers who were not educated in music to use them. For examole Vangelis, Hatzidakis etc. Fortunately this is changing and now preparing sevenths and ninths is being taught at primary school to happy children. So gradually Hellas is getting out of the intellectual crisis.)
If you study any score of successful, beautiful and intellectual music be it a symphony, a song, a movie theme... It's all there. The bass, everything referenced to it. The 1,3,5 default rule. Then 7th, 9th, 6th intervals from bass prepared by anticipating the future. And then the 3rd from bass added.
Further reading:
Bach Bass Rules PDF
https://normanschmidt.net/scores/bachjs-general_bass_rules.pdf
Harmony - Piston
Musical Acoustics - Hall
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