The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #137918   Message #3155981
Posted By: Don Firth
17-May-11 - 06:40 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: 3 chord songs that go together
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 3 chord songs that go together
Can't say for sure, but I'm certain that John Verrall, one of the Profs I had at the U. of W. School of Music could have. Fantastic ear for recognizing bits of music and who used it in what.

Years ago (1950s) Leonard Bernstein had an hour-long television show on Saturday afternoons, aimed mostly at kids, but it attracted a lot of adults, too. I learned a lot of music theory quite painlessly by watching that show. He'd explain something about musical structure and then demonstrate how various composers and song writers had used it.

In one show, he took the first four notes of the song "How Dry I Am" (in C, it would be G, up to C, then on up to D and E) and spent the whole hour showing how, with nothing more than rhythmic variations, composers and songwriters started all manner of works with those same four notes.

I had just learned Plaisir d'Amour ("The Joys of Love") from a Richard Dyer-Bennet record, and lo! those were the notes it started with!

I learned a lot from watching that show! Thanks, Lenny!

Don Firth