Music
18 01 2009Here’s my guess for the importance of chords in a key, in descending order:
I, V, IV, vi, iii, ii, VII (this is in the key of I major with i meaning I minor)
Little fills like ii V7 I or IVm V IVm I seem to be falling out of favour. There seem to be two types of songs: I IV V vi songs and “minor key” songs which are all like vi III ii (or II) and then V IV I. Lots of songs masquerade as minor key songs while actually being mainly iv IV V. Meh.
Of course, everyone who attempts to write music seriously figures this out pretty quickly and some choose to capitalise on how weird it seems to people who don’t think about it (1,2) while others just keep quiet and write hits and everyone wonders “Wow, so catchy. But how?”… lulz.
Pax
I think you give supertonic a little too little credit - It seems to feature in most cadence progressions I end up playing in piano pieces, although I’m talking about Beethoven, Mozart etc. whose music is admittedly a bit old-hat :P. But still, I’d personally say - don’t undervalue ii V I
I do think you’re right though about the whole _ V7 I thing falling out of favour - in post-romantic-era stuff I can imagine it seeming a bit of a melodramatic touch in most cadences, and definitely clichéd - pretty much all permutations of such sequences have been overused to death…
Hugh says:
ii is deffosweffos more important than iii
much love
Benedict
Damn you classical musicians, wrecking my lulz! Ok.
Why do you bother with this shit? Just learn how to make good sounds.
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