So in high school I took a lot of music theory classes, everthing from counterpoint to chromatic harmony and fugue/sonata form etc.
But when I come over to the dance music and I try to write chord progressions like Above & Beyond, or Darren styles. the classical theory seems to become useless.
It seems backwards that it can be so easy to write complex things like fugues, but then writing ‘simple’ harmonies for euphoric dance floor moments is a 100+ hour process.
Ok so two quick questions about this, thank you very much for any response
-Do you think the consistantly big superstars in trance music are masters of ‘dance music harmony’? like they sit down and whip out amazing chord progressions with ease kind of deal? or does it take them forever like me? lol
-alot of the good sounding arps and chords are diads, like two note chords. But in classical theory tonality starts to go to **** when you work with diads, Is it pointless to think in terms of I^6 to VI to VII to iv?
hopefully my questions arnttoo jumbled, but any advice about dance harmony would be immensly appreciated!
Thank you:D
From my personal experience and working with Chris Agnelli… neither of us have ever studied music theory but have both had chart hits.
We both study other peoples chords a lot… figure them out and see what things are working in them… what bass changes over what chords etc.
When you understand what progressions create which moods you can piece stuff together.
I would have no problem spending a solid week of 8 hour days working on chords for a track.
The other thing is that production plays a big part in the feel of a track so you kinda have to be able to visualize what the chords will sound like when everythings together… that just comes with experience i guess.
[quote]phil johnston (21/03/2012)[hr]From my personal experience and working with Chris Agnelli… neither of us have ever studied music theory but have both had chart hits.
We both study other peoples chords a lot… figure them out and see what things are working in them… what bass changes over what chords etc.
When you understand what progressions create which moods you can piece stuff together.
I would have no problem spending a solid week of 8 hour days working on chords for a track.
The other thing is that production plays a big part in the feel of a track so you kinda have to be able to visualize what the chords will sound like when everythings together… that just comes with experience i guess.[/quote]
Thanks Phil!!
like this!!:)
While certainly not a rule, modes can often be your friend with EDM or any loop-based music. For example, the Dorian and Phrygian modes are particularly favored in a lot of Disco and “French Touch” style dance music.
It can also be helpful to think of chord progression as riffs (as in the rock and pop sense of the word, not the classical/art music sense of the word) instead of just a backing.