Minor second dissonances

[Arpangel]

B Minor is the worst, or the best, depending on how you look at it.

Depends who you ask. According to Spinal Tap, D minor is the "saddest of all keys".

It is, it is.

[adamburgess]

Just finished playing for a night of Les Miserables… The Gb major bit on harp was quite sad. The minor stuff is much more 'bitey' than sad in this show.

All about context (and timbre, and arrangement, and… and… and…)

[merlyn]

B Minor is the worst, or the best, depending on how you look at it.

Depends who you ask. According to Spinal Tap, D minor is the "saddest of all keys".

It is, it is.

Perhaps worth noting that Spinal Tap are not the most reliable source of information for matters relating to music.

[shufflebeat]

B Minor is the worst, or the best, depending on how you look at it.

Depends who you ask. According to Spinal Tap, D minor is the "saddest of all keys".

It is, it is.

Perhaps worth noting that Spinal Tap are not the most reliable source of information for matters relating to music.

Or maybe electronics.

[Sam Spoons]

But they do go up to 11

[Arpangel]

Perhaps worth noting that Spinal Tap are not the most reliable source of information for matters relating to music.

Are they musicians?

[merlyn]

Are they musicians?

Spinal Tap think they are musicians. I'll let you decide for yourself. Here is Nigel Tufnel of Spinal Tap with his tastefully titled D minor ditty in the style of Mach. (A cross between Mozart and Bach).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgViOqGJEvM

[Arpangel]

They are 'entertainers' very good ones, isn't that what we all are, as musicians, ultimately?

[merlyn]

Again, it depends who you ask. Robert Fripp would say no.

An idea I liked from Fripp is that there are two worlds -- the world of music, and the world of commerce.

"In the world of music much can be accomplished with little apparent effort. In the world of commerce little can be accomplished with much apparent effort."

As an example Segovia could produce beautiful music while sitting stock still. That's music. A rock guitarist might bang out an open E while twirling the guitar around his head. That's commerce.

[adrian_k]

They are 'entertainers' very good ones, isn't that what we all are, as musicians, ultimately?

Not in my case! Don’t like performing and haven’t been able write my own material. It’s been a puzzle for me for many years, what use is this thing that won’t let me leave it alone?

Then I started training as a music therapist, and it’s making sense to me now. And relevant to the OP, because I used to spend a lot of time trying to write stuff, and part of that was the intellectual/theoretical side that used to kick in when I got stuck. But now it’s often about expressing something in a specific moment, no time for thinking. It’s very surprising what comes out, sometimes prosaic, sometimes deep but ephemeral, sometimes lyrical, but it can be just right for the person you are working with in that moment.

I find now that I work out afterwards what has been going on harmonically when I have created a piece of music, and I find things I never would have if I had started with scales and a structure.

[Arpangel]

As an example Segovia could produce beautiful music while sitting stock still. That's music. A rock guitarist might bang out an open E while twirling the guitar around his head. That's commerce.

But neither way, is more "right", or "better" than the other, and I fully understand both approaches.
Segovia wouldn't bet able to spend hours siting on a stool if it wasn't for the money he earned from his guitar, same with Fripp.

[merlyn]

If you want to develop a line in guitar twirling, please feel free.

Anyway ... we've twice de-railed this thread. The train is out in a field somewhere, with long grass growing around it. The nearest track is keys, and if we can get there, we might be able to get back to minor seconds.

I don't think the idea that Bm is "more dissonant" than other keys hangs together. There is one note (C# => C) different between Bm and Em, and one note (G => G#) different between Bm and F#m. Between them F#m and Em contain all the supposedly dissonant seconds or ninths from Bm.