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Western music theory describes seven diatonic scales that are the basis of corresponding musical modes, among which the major and minor still dominate due to the universality of their harmonic structure. Other seven-note scales such as Phrygian, Lydian, Dorian, and Mixolydian have the status of modal modes and used mainly to create a musical atmosphere specific to a particular geographical area, historical period, or to evoke associations with various folk cultures. Of all the modal modes, the Phrygian minor is probably the most widespread in classical music which is evident from a number of works completely composed in the Phrygian mode. In folk and popular genres, some Phrygian elements are often interpolated into corresponding minor or other musical modes. In comparison with the natural minor, the Phrygian scale has only one but a quite significant alteration of the second scale degree—called the supertonic—which is lowered and differs from the tonic by a semitone. C Phrygian scale: The flatted supertonic puts the focus on the major chord rooted in that second scale degree which is known as the Neapolitan chord and is often used for musical cadences in both the Phrygian and minor modes. Another result of this alteration touches the dominant triad: it is turned into a diminished chord and thus becomes unsuitable for the performance in the most important authentic cadence. A vivid example of the Neapolitan chord can be heard in the intro of the iconic song Space Oddity, the opening track of David Bowie's second studio album. The harmonic analysis of the song's chord chain denotes scale degrees with Roman numerals, showing the following progressions: Fmaj7–Em–Fmaj7–Em or II7–i–II7–i for the intro C–Em–C–Em–A–D7 or VI–i–VI–i–IV–VII7 for the pre-verse In the intro, the Fmaj7 Neapolitan seventh chord alternates with the E minor tonic triad but the further chord progression is not possible in the Phrygian mode since the major chords rooted in the fourth and seventh scales would have to be minor to fit with the Phrygish canon. Listen to Space Oddity by David Bowie: The jazz composition Warm Canto, recorded by saxophonist Booker Ervin and pianist Mal Waldron for 1962 The Quest, is based on the developed Phrygian harmony with the following core chord sequences: Em–C–Fmaj7–Dm7 or i–VI–II7–vii7 Em–C–F–Dm or i–VI–II–vii Em–Dm7–Cmaj7–Bm or i–vii7–VI7–v Am7 or iv7 In the first two lines, the musical functions follow in an order that has been considered to be the cornerstone of classical music canon for the centuries: T-S-D-T or tonic-subdominant-dominant-tonic. Moreover, the chord sequence II–vii–i is often performed as a cadence in the Phrygian mode. Lines three and four show the progression in which chords are built on each consecutive degree of the Phrygian scale in descending order, bookended by the plagal half cadence with an A minor subdominant seventh chord. In this chord chain, the only chord belonging to the natural minor is the B minor dominant triad which can't be expressed in the Phrygian mode without being diminished. Listen to Warm Canto by Booker Ervin & Mal Waldron: Another curious example of the Phrygian mode is shown in New Person, Same Old Mistakes released by the Australian psychedelic pop musician Tame Impala in his 2015 Currents album. Indeed, verses and choruses of the song are arranged entirely with two Phrygian sequences: Cm–D♭–A♭–Cm or i–II–VI–i Cm–E♭–D♭–A♭–Cm or i–III–II–VI–i In these progressions, the D♭ Neapolitan chord transitions into the C minor tonic chord through a classy resolution in the form of the Ab submediant triad rooted in the Phrygian sixth scale degree. Listen to New Person, Same Old Mistakes by Tame Impala: I Care, recorded by Beyoncé in 2011 for her fourth studio album, is a rare case of a popular song based entirely on the Phrygian progressions of the following chords: C–Em–C–Em or VI–i–VI–i Em–G–F–Em–F–Em or i–III–II–i–II–i F–G–F–Em–F–Em–F or II–III–II–i–II–i–II As in the above-mentioned David Bowie song, the F major Neapolitan chord appears here preceding the E minor tonic triad, a combination that is the most characteristic sign of the Phrygian mode. Listen to I Care by Beyoncé: Surely, the Phrygian mode as a diatonic scale belongs not only in Western music since the other world cultures also contain its analogs. The Phrygian scale—called the Bayati maqam—appears in the Maqam melodic system of Arabic, Persian and Turkish classical music, and in Indian classical music there is Bhairavi thaat which is completely equivalent to the modern Phrygian scale. Although these musical systems do not imply chords and polyphonic structures, the melodies performed in the Phrygian or other scales deliver a unique feeling, and in this way, all music modes themselves can be compared with different paints of the artist’s palette.

"old forms" came to pop music from the classics. all these songs are written by composers and sung by professional singers. the world changed. now only a meager chain of 4 chords is in use. but everyone can make music. it's good!

American multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Adrian Belew managed to extract entirely extraordinary sounds from his guitar even before the invention of guitar synthesizers which would later become a trend not without his significant contribution. During his nearly 50-year long career, he generated an easily recognizable and stylistically unique soundscape, taking part in the most progressive projects of the century including Talking Heads, King Crimson, Nine Inch Nails and other ventures headed by Frank Zappa and David Bowie. Primarily self-taught, Belew developed his guitar skills by studying records of gifted guitarists of his time such as Jimi Hendrix and Jeff Beck. At one of his small club concerts in the late 1970s, Belew had a lucky accident of being noticed by Frank Zappa who was so impressed by an atypical guitar technique that he invited Belew to audition as a rhythm guitarist on Zappa's tour. After a year of touring with Zappa as both guitarist and vocalist, Belew referred to this time as the most educational period of his career: Watch Belew sing City Of Tiny Lites at Zappa's 1977 concert: At the end of the first big tour with Zappa, Belew received an offer from David Bowie to become his lead guitarist on the upcoming 1978 Isolar II tour. Here, Bellew’s performing technique drew some real attention; after all, the out-of-this-world sound of his guitar embued Bowie's Starman concept with the sensations of interstellar flight. Belew was star-struck by Bowie: Watch David Bowie perform Heroes with Adrian Belew on lead guitar and back vocals: The next monumental experience for Belew was the concert and studio collaborations with the iconic Talking Heads whose members were reportedly stunned by his rendition of their hit Psycho Killer. The relations inside the band were particularly tense at the time, so at some point Belew was secretly asked to replace frontman David Byrne, an offer which Belew politely turned down. Watch Talking Heads perform Psycho Killer in Rome in 1980: Soon after his major-scale takeoff, Belew landed a position with King Crimson which he would keep for several generations and become the first vocalist in the band's history to write his own lyrics. In the 1980s, King Crimson managed to keep their progressive consciousness relevant by adding an unprecedented groove of fast dancing rhythms. Performing the role of frontman to the fullest, Belew constantly danced on stage while a respectably dressed Robert Fripp performed musical figures holding his guitar in a classical position with a footstool. Watch Thela Hun Ginjeet performed by King Crimson in 1984: During the first contracts and breaks in his King Crimson activity, Belew engaged in solo projects, tirelessly experimenting with guitar synthesizers and effect processors and challenging guitars to mimic industrial sounds, animal voices, and bird songs. Even though Belew lent his talent for major projects throughout the years, it was his work with King Crimson that marked the most influential years in his long career of combining songwriting with guitar design and music production that continues to this day. Watch Adrian Belew's acoustic version of Three Of A Perfect Pair:

It is no coincidence that the sounds emitted by birds are known in many languages as "songs", rather than simple animal noises, all due to their patterns being structurally similar to the forms of human music. Many generations of researchers have been attempting to determine whether the driving mechanism behind bird songs is tied to some form of conscious musicality or if it simply fits within the concept of basic communication. Recent studies delve deeper into this phenomenon by analyzing the brain activity of birds at the moment of singing to compare it with the same process as experienced by humans. Other research includes comparing thousands of bird songs with databases of human music in order to find matching patterns. While scientists are still looking for reasoning as to why bird songs might extend beyond their base function of communication, many composers of practically any given music era have been finding inspiration in the chirping of birds for entire motifs, often nature-related. Bird sounds can be divided according to their intended purpose into either calls—such as “I’m hungry,” “get away from my nest” which can be conceptually similar to human languages as a means of passing information—or songs which are more varied and complex. Some species, like nightingale or cuckoo, can have only one song, while others, such as thrush, tend to mimic many other birds, and then there are some like sparrow or rook that don't sing at all. Birds learn their song by imitating their parents or other members of their species and, like with many animals that can have regional "accents", there are sometimes regional differences in the songs within one species—which is very similar to the pre-recording era development process of human folk music when informational exchange between communities was minimal. Listen to the way a nightingale varies its song during predawn hours: The very fact that bird songs are rhythmically organized and sometimes rely on natural musical intervals makes them capable of evoking emotions, not unlike human music, and that is why the listener is inclined to associate bird songs with classical music. However, recent computer comparisons of bird songs with a large sample of diverse music in various scales showed that only 2% of bird harmonic intervals coincide with musical intervals. Perhaps this figure would have been higher if the bird songs were compared with the music written in pure tones as opposed to the works with an equal temperament that became the standard during the Baroque period for its greater flexibility in modulations. Out of all bird songs, perhaps the simplest and most recognizable one belongs to the cuckoo. The bird performs in a fairly strict rhythm with only one music interval—a downward perfect fifth. The cuckoo has the lowest timbre in an imaginary bird orchestra which begs for another analogy within music theory: a downward fifth is most often used in bass lines, especially in cadence. Listen to Benjamin Britten's Songs From Friday Afternoons—Cuckoo performed by a children's choir in which the cuckoo's part clearly noticeable in the lower voice: Apparently, the cuckoo is the champion of the number of imitations of its song used in classical music. Its distinct voice inspired many esteemed composers—such as Beethoven, Delius, Handel, Respighi, Rimsky-Korsakov, Dvořák, Saint-Saens, Vivaldi, and Mahler—to either write musical tributes to the bird or weave the cuckoo song into sprawling pastoral works. Listen to Vivaldi's The Cuckoo (Concerto for violin, strings and basso continuo in A major)performed by Giuliano Carmignola with I Sonatori de la Gioiosa Marca: On the other end of the spectrum we find the nightingale, a singer of surprising virtuosity whose song has been frequently subjected to musical analysis that revealed fascinating similarities between the nightingale song structure and the musical forms of human songs. In 1956, Olavi Sotavalta, a professor of animal physiology, published a study on the structure of a nightingale song in which he suggested that a nightingale varying his song creates an arc of suspense, confirming or violating the expectations of the listener—another important allusion onto Western music theory. Here are just some of the famous names from a huge list of composers who mimicked a nightingale song in their works: Handel, Rameau, Respighi, Mendelssohn, Grieg, Granados, and Ravel. One of the most striking works to ever quote a bird song is Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphonywhich features a cadenza for woodwinds based on the motifs of nightingale, quail, and cuckoo. In this piece, the composer depicted a cuckoo by means of two clarinets playing a descending third instead of a fifth. In classical music, the role of bird songs is not limited to imitation; on the contrary, listening to rhythmic and melodic bird patterns has inspired many maestros to compose ingenious motifs that defined entire works. In this regard, the most useful bird is perhaps the yellowhammer who co-authored Beethoven's Fate motif—the most recognizable motif in the history of music. Opening Beethoven's Symphony No. 5, the distinct four-note "short-short-short-long" motif instructs all other voices, essentially being the only extrapolated-on motif of the first movement. According to Beethoven's secretary and factotum Anton Schindler, the composer himself described the motif as "Thus Fate knocks at the door!" Beethoven’s pupil Carl Czerny also shared the origins of Fate motive: Although the yellowhammer song has many more short notes preceding the long low note, the general character of this bird's song does indeed greatly resemble the most recognizable musical motif:

In the late 1960s, after the stereo sound almost completely replaced the mono format in the recording industry, the attention of engineers was shifted to quadrophonic sound technology. Unfortunately, at that time, quad-sound was not widespread due to equipment manufacturers failing to develop a common quad standard, releasing recordings and record players of various formats to the mass market which made it hard to find a match. Nevertheless, quad recordings forced the sound producers to make special mixes which differed from the stereo mixes not only in sound design but also by the inclusion of other takes. This created a particular niche for collectors and die-hard fans who hunted the rare quad vinyl releases to experience the well-known recordings with the fresh colors. In the early 1970s, first quadraphonic LPs came out with three incompatible systems: SQ by CBS Records, CD-4 by RCA and QS by Sansui. New records were released only for one of these standards and consumers could not listen to quadrophonic sound if they had a different system. Read more on MusicTales.club

Not many songs can boast international recognition of being so deeply and fondly Irish the way Molly Malone does. Also known as Cockles and Mussels or In Dublin's Fair City, the ballad—now the unofficial anthem of Dublin—tells the story of a fishmonger named Molly who dies of a fever, but her ghost still wheels the barrow with the wares through the streets. There have been many attempts to prove that Molly was a genuine historical figure, but everything points to her being merely an urban legend. Though the song itself is considered by many to be an old Irish folk tune, there is no evidence that it existed prior to the 19th century, or that it’s based on a real woman, of the 17th century or any other time. According to historian Siobhán Marie Kilfeather, Molly Malone could have as well been based on an older folk song, but neither melody nor words share anything with the Irish tradition of street ballads. The song belongs to the music hall style—the type of entertainment that originated in public saloon bars during the 1830s and rose to massive popularity in 1850s, spanning throughout the Victorian era and dying out before World War I. The earliest version of Cockles and Mussels complete with music was published in 1876 in Boston, Massachusetts, in a collection of college songs. Read more on MusicTales.club

Originally a Venetian gondolier’s song, Barcarolle is characterized by gently rocking rhythms reminiscent of the boatman's stroke. The simplistic nature of the melody and the wistful triple meter add to the charming character of this timeless classic. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the barcarolle inspired a considerable number of vocal and instrumental compositions, ranging from opera arias to character pieces for piano. Frédéric Chopin’s Barcarolle is possibly the best known of the inspired instrumental pieces, although other romantic composers such as Felix Mendelssohn and Gabriel Fauré contributed a host of similar pieces. Listen to magnificent Charles-Valentin Alkan's Barcarolle performed by Marc-André Hamelin: Charles-Valentin Alkan (1813–1888) was one of the great romantic pianists. Much of his music is of surpassing difficulty, taking it way beyond the realm of the amateur and playable only by virtuosi with transcendent techniques. Alkan was well known in intellectual circles—he counted among his friends Victor Hugo, George Sand, and Frédéric Chopin—but he was always something of an introvert and misanthrope. Read more on MusicTales.club

wow! thank you!

I'm happy that you have discovered a great band 😃 one of my friends played with Damo Suzuki in 2000s at several gigs.

German band Can established themselves as pioneers of experimental avant-garde by seamlessly combining their influences, from the tape-splicing technique of electronic composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, the trance-like drone of The Velvet Underground, the minimalism of composer mavericks like Terry Riley as well as the jazz rhythms of James Brown. When Can formed in Cologne in 1968, the members had little experience with rock. Two former students of avant-garde classical composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, the bassist Holger Czukayand keyboardist Irmin Schmidt wanted to merge free jazz, contemporary classical music, and worldbeat. They were joined by drummer Jaki Liebezeit, a free jazz drummer interested in math, and later by one of Czukay’s students, guitarist Michael Karoli who was 10 years younger than the others. It was Karoli, a passionate fan of rock music, who suggested that The Beatles was a better influence to take from than Stockhausen, and the band began their first months together by jamming at a 14th-century castle called Schloss Norvenich. Read more on MusicTales.club

The Chain, included on Fleetwood Mac’s classic 1977 Rumours album, has retained that particular brand of culturally iconic for decades, but even so, it is safe to say that the recent years pushed the song to a much more immediate pop culture awareness. The credit mostly lies with Hollywood (though TV had its fun much earlier with Glee, The Americans, and even BBC’s Formula One coverage used the ending bass line bass line as a theme tune from 1978 till 1997) and its generous streak of splicing it into trailers, ads, and dramatically fueled scenes in which the song becomes an actual integral part of the narrative. Most notable recent appearances were probably in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and I, Tonya. Read more on MusicTales.club

Sunshine of Your Love by the British rock band Cream is perhaps their best known song that spawned numerous covers across genres over the years. The song's origins lie with Cream bassist Jack Bruce and his distinctive bass riff which he developed after attending Jimi Hendrix's first London concert at the Saville Theatre on 29 January 1967. After the riff had taken roots, guitarist Eric Clapton and beat poet Pete Brown later contributed to the song. Read more on MusicTales.club

thanks for coming! I agree it is a very rare direction - lowered VI in a major scales

The authorship of The House of the Rising Sun can not be accurately determined to this day, since the song is a folk ballad. It is based on the tradition of the 16th century ballads, and the melody might be related to a 17th century folk song Matty Groves. Presumably, The Rising Sun was the name of some English pubs, and the location was changed from England to New Orleans by Southern singers. The first known version of the lyrics was printed in 1925. Read more on MusicTales.club

I Put a Spell on You is a 1956 song written by Screamin' Jay Hawkins that became an instant classic and remained his greatest commercial success. Hawkins wrote this as a calm ballad lamenting the lost love of a woman he longed to get back. His first recording of the song in 1955 was not released, and was a lot more slower and tamer than the version everyone is familiar with. A year later, at his second attempt at the song for Columbia Records, Hawkins and the studio musicians drank heavily during the recording session. The result, which Hawkins claimed not to remember recording, was a bluesy, voodoo-tinged single filled with boisterous vocals, including moans and other sound effects. Hawkins reflected on it: Read more on MusicTales.club