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Topic: Hergest Ridge Chords, musical analysis< Next Oldest | Next Newest >
henryparr Offline




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Posted: April 14 2018, 05:40

For me Tubular bells is not a very emotional piece. It’s like a huge and complex pattern -a vast and wonderful musical doodle. Hergest ridge feels more like one thing, and it is deeply emotional.
Sometimes H R has been criticised for repetition and a lack of musical ideas. I don’t think this matters when the ideas are so good, and I disagree anyway. It seems to me that there is more on offer in H R than in, say Ommadawn, and the musical ideas are more inspired and more special. And that is partly subjective and partly the result of my analysis of the music itself.

The oboe tune for example, is very interesting. Mike doesn’t particularly use or play chords, its more about countermelodies and bass lines but I have worked out some chords that certainly work for me.
If we divide the tune into 16 bars, the tune is in D but I put a cappo on fret 2 so it appears to be in C. The chords are then Dm, Bbmaj7, Am, Bbmaj7 repeated, fairly remote from C. It’s the changes from the minors to the major sevenths that are the key to the atmosphere. There are 2 resolutions to the tonic C chord but not where you would expect – at bars 11 and 14 – and these are delicious. They are like a brief contact with home before continuing on the mystical journey. (Bars 9 – 16, Dm Bbmaj7, C, Am, Bbmaj7, C, Am Bbmaj7).
The earlier trumpet tune, so evocative of the high, open, grassy ridge, is an object lesson in the idea of playing the same tune with different chords. The sequence consists of the tune played twice, the first time with: (cappo 2 again)
D  D   Csus2 Em D C    G ,   and the second time with
F  Bm Am     G    F Em G,    completely different!
(again these chords work for me, you may disagree!;)
The last chord sequence on side one with the swooping guitar solo is very special to me, and quite hard to analyse. The closest I can get is (cappo2 again)
Dmaj7, -4220-, -2223-, -0422-, Dmaj7, Gsus2, 2-222-, 0-202-
Dmaj7, B, E, Amaj7, Dsus2, Cmaj7, E.
The second theme on side two is beautiful and I think works with:
C(sus2), Em, Bbsus2, F(6), -0003-, --0553, Abmaj7, G.   (cappo2 again)
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nightspore Offline




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Posted: April 14 2018, 07:07

This interests me because of my earlier post on "The Story of Hergest Ridge". My knowledge of musical theory is rudimentary so I can't comment on your structural analysis. However, I note that the oboe melody begins at 8'27", has a break at 9'47", resumes at 10'15", has a second break at 10'41" and then finishes at 11.39". This means that the total length of the oboe section is 3'12" or 192 seconds. Interestingly, if this length is divided into 16 as you suggest, the answer is exactly 12. Again, my non-musical-theory ear can't hear anything at either 132 seconds (11/16 of the way in) or at 168 seconds (14/16), so I'd be pleased if you could tell me - if this is at all possible in a non-technical way - what I should be looking out for.

Another take on the oboe section - and assuming that Mike's thoughts or point of view is represented by the guitar, and that the oboe (high boy) is something else (perhaps the thing that is being crafted, as I suggest in the post mentioned elsewhere) - it is significant, according to my reading, that Mike takes his mind off the object twice, at the points in the section I mention. To me, this could also be construed as a kind of "backwards look" on the journey away from home, or a look away from the thing that was crafted.
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henryparr Offline




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Posted: May 10 2018, 05:12

I'm not quite sure what you mean to be honest, when I said divide the tune into 16 bars I meant the tune once through , about 27 seconds. It repeats 5 times, the third time has the trumpet tune but the chords are the same, the fifth time has both the oboe and trumpet tunes. I make the whole section about 135 seconds. Just listening to it again there is something so strange and mystical about that oboe tune,  . . .
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