Composing Brahms Style Textures on a Basic Chord Progression

Concept, compositions, piano and editing by Michael Koch. Sheet music available here:
www.patreon.com/posts/composi...
00:00 intro
00:44 the chords
01:41 Style #1 + analytic breakdown
02:30 Style #2 + breakdown
03:44 Style #3 + breakdown
05:24 Style #4 + breakdown
07:18 Style #5 + breakdown
07:58 on irregular phrasing + Brahms examples
08:50 Style #6 + breakdown
09:44 an expanded concept of the Hemiola
11:07 geek section

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

00:00 intro 00:44 the chords 01:41 Style #1 + analytic breakdown 02:30 Style #2 + breakdown 03:44 Style #3 + breakdown 05:24 Style #4 + breakdown 07:18 Style #5 + breakdown 07:58 on irregular phrasing + Brahms examples 08:50 Style #6 + breakdown 09:44 an expanded concept of the Hemiola 11:07 geek section

[@hawkbirdtree3660]

I love how this channel actually produces music and composers, as opposed to just talking about how music sounds nice, LOL

[@agucci]

The chord progression of Brahms is the chord progression of the Law. ❤

[@rogerdanis.]

This is one of the BEST and most comprehensive explanations of a musical concept I have ever seen. BRAVO!!!!

[@NicoIlViolinista]

I always thought Brahms was something particular, but you really opened a window into the horizon.

[@RaptorT1V]

I didn't know Brahms' music was so beautiful and his "compositional techniques" - so interesting! I somehow bypassed him; I listened to Chopin, Scriabin and Rachmaninoff.... now I'll be catching up) By the way, Brahms and Rachmaninoff have 1 thing in common: they both often use *3:2 polyrhythms*

[@thekeyoflifepiano]

The production value of your videos is seamless. I don't really like Patreon subscriptions, but if you released an ebook, I would get it. You always give great information.

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

✌️😌

[@monsieurgrigny]

This was a little masterpiece, Michael, beautifully produced a always. Extremely innovative.

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

THX haha, well I wouldn't say innovative but I appreciate if you can see something special in it.

[@randomchannel-px6ho]

As far as lowest notes on the piano go, I recall a few Ravel pieces where he has both the low a and Bb played at the same time as a dramatic effect.

[@NikhilHoganShow]

Great as always, Michael!

[@hawkbirdtree3660]

Has Michael been on the show?

[@NichtWunderkind]

Best podcast ever

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

Thanks, Nikhil❤️🙏

[@juliendespois508]

This is as inspiring as it is discouraging... Thanks for another great video!

[@niccolomaldera]

Another wonderful video. Brahms is an endless source of great textures. And, of course, you catch the brilliant ones. Thank you and keep sharing your amazing music

[@gogpoydi]

Thanks to your videos ive been exploring different textures and its made all the difference in my writing.

[@Ark4evah]

Amazing video as always!

[@angelospateros6806]

EXCELLENT!!! Thank you! Indeed Brahms' works, especially the intermezzi, seem like exercises on original rhythmic and structural devices! In Brahms every piece HAS to offer a novel idea, something that intrigues the mind and ear! I think that his obsession with rhythmic games is inherited from Beethoven...

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

of course: Beethoven is surely a model, but as well and probably more influential was Schumann. But you‘re right, Beethoven is about syncopations…✌️

[@erickramirez5483]

I loved the video❤!! I finally understood hemiola! And I'm grateful As well for the super nice summary about key concepts on the style of our beloved Johnny Brahms😂😂😂 Thank you so much for the amazing study material ❤! Really really appreciate it ❤❤❤❤

[@felippealves]

Meu canal favorito falando do meu compositor favorito

[@nicolasrioscardona]

Muchas gracias por tanta y tan valiosa información. Definitivamente este canal abre una ventana de posibilidades musicales. Gracias infinitas!

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

Muchas gracias! 😅

[@MusicaAngela]

This is brilliant. And your “tinkering” is very impressive!

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

Thanks, Suzanne

[@counterpointenthusiast]

Tolles video! sehr informativ und schöne und kreative Anwendung von den gelernten Konzepten :) außerdem natürlich auch sehr unterhaltsam, hab mich beim musescore nerd direkt angesprochen gefühlt ;)

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

Der Enthusiast! Ja, merci, vielen Dank! Glaub ich, dass du dich da angesprochen fühlst😂 Grüsse gehen raus an die musescore-Nerd-Community… Ehre!

[@gabrielakochmusic]

Love it ✨🤍

[@Posark]

Wonderful video I switched from classical to jazz for more improvisational freedom but I recall playing through some Brahms and thinking oh but this is such genius... it’s sad that most classical training is now so far removed from understanding the composition, and is more a question of technical prowess. I believe classical improvisation can make a comeback and your presentation is 🔥

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

Thanks for your comment :D Well, improv is definetely becoming a growing niche in classical music already. "Question of technical prowess": absolutely, but I think it's more the kids actually (that's at least my impression) - When you look at all the Argherich-memes, many videos on tonebase and whatsoever else you get to see on youtube, you get the impression that technical supremacy is what people find most attractive in a pianist and much content is produced surrounding that topic. haha, but actually I love to marvel at somebody nailing a difficult piece as well lol

[@gilevansinsideout]

Very well done!

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

THX😊

[@timothyj.bowlby5524]

That's a great video. Thanks. I can hear where Scriabin might have gotten some of his ideas in this...

[@darb.musica]

Very good!

[@armansrsa]

very nice, I like how the double suspensions in the second phrase of number 3 resolve seperately, first the lower 6-5 suspension then the 4-3 suspension... actually I see these suspensions as accented 64 chords much like the one you always see at a cadence:)

[@oryx3]

I _love_ the Intermezzo at 10:19!

[@telaim]

Great! Thank you

[@MofosOfMetal]

The most amazing thing about Brahms' music is how he has a reputation for being a 'conservative' successor to Beethoven and lived right up until the late-romantic with a style that remained superficially 'old-fashioned' yet he forged a totally new, personal and unique style within the realm of a more traditional harmonic vocabulary with his compositional techniques and development of personal idiosyncrasies. It's similar to what Rachmaninoff was doing later - finding success as an 'old fashioned traditionalist' by developing a unique style within a slightly more traditional framework than most of his contemporaries. I think that should be inspiring for composers today. That people don't have to reinvent the wheel to make great and original music. Music doesn't have to be radically innovative to be great, it just has to find it's own unique and personal voice.

[@jitsukerr]

Brahms was the furthest thing from conservative harmonically -- he was a traditionalist of _form_ and _structure_, rejecting the overt narratives of programme-driven music coming from eg. Liszt.

[@gv273]

​@jitsukerr I'd argue Brahms was fairly conservative harmonically actually, never innovating much on Schumann. His music was definitely rooted in some sort of functional harmony in a way that Wagner really deviated from (Brahms' harmony always seems to be going somewhere in a way that Wagner's might not). Even if he was a traditionalist he was still quite creative and out-of-the-box in terms of phrase structuring and rhythm, as this video demonstrates!

[@witttravis]

Your examples strangely remind me of Daft Punk's song Within. Loved the video!

[@luisdiaz05]

Excellent video! .Could you Make a video about Mendelsshon style? 🙌🏾

[@zoetropedia]

easiest sub of my life

[@bornaerceg9984]

Luuuuush! Great video! ❤❤❤ Johnny 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

This somewhat reminds me of Frescobaldi's "Partite sopra l'aria della Romanesca", where the music is clearly in triple meter, but it is notated in quadruple meter.

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

17th century is gold. I know that piece.

[@thinkOfMeAsAClassicalMusician]

That’s such a brahmsian progression

[@Diego_Plays_Piano]

Pero que buen video por dios santo , eres el tipo de personas que me gusta tener de amigos

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

haha... thanks man, lol you know that the author of one of the most popular 16th century sources on improvisation is as well a Diego Ortiz??!!

[@Diego_Plays_Piano]

@@en-blanc-et-noir hihi yes, my beloved Grandx20 father 😄 . Joking aside, I'm familiar with his work and I love to listen from time to time the ricercatas from the "Tratado de Glosas" . However I didn't know this about the improvisations 😱 now I want to read all about it , thanks again 🙏

[@JBrahms3]

Hey! I just discovered your channel a couple of days ago, and I’m absolutely loving this. I’m sorry if this question has been asked elsewhere, but, in another video, you mention that Brahms might have used partimento guidelines from D. Kellner. However, it looks like there isn’t really an easily available English translation of that volume. What, if any, English language partimento method would you recommend to most closely learn Brahms’s approach? That can either be a direct source of what he actually most likely learned from, or a volume that modernizes the language and methodology that’s available in English today. Thank you, and, again, amazing channel! Someone earlier said they would buy your ebook, and I would absolutely second that!

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

Hello :D Thanks for watching! Brahms / Partimento: well I guess Brahms didn't purchase the Kellner for compositional studies and probably more likely just out of musicological interest. He was collecting a lot of old stuff and you may have heard that he even owned an important collection of around 300 Scaraltti Sonatas (an italian manuscript)... so I'm pretty sure he didn't "learn" from the Kellner. It is basically a genuine baroque type of source and I wouldn't even call it a treatise on composition really as it is just a very brief compilation of basic rules of chords and voiceleading - and surely it is not a genuine Partimento source at all although it covers the rule of the octave. So if you're reconning that it would provide any pathway into Brahms' music then this is a misunderstanding. And to disappoint you even more: there is no Partimento source that would in any way "teach" romantic styles like Brahms or Schumann, such a thing doesn't exist as Partimento is in any way just a 18th century thing because baroque music was way more generic and it kinda calls for a building block approach. The closest thing you can get is probably Kalkbrenner's "Harmonielehre" which is basically a treatise on composition but pretty much Partimento based, although it does not contain Paritmenti in the narrow sense but rather reveals a clear building block approach on harmonic patterns and relies on the rule of the octave. It is not possible to directly transfer this approach to other musical styles - although on my channel you see me applying Partimento inspired methodology on romantic music anyway (there is e.g a video "do Scriabin and Partimento match?"). Ebook: lol, you can subscribe to my Patreon, I upload materials every month, not only video related stuff but as well teaching materials that I use for my own students.

[@JBrahms3]

@@en-blanc-et-noir Wow! Thank you so much for such quick and thorough response! All of that makes sense. What book would you recommend to simply learn partimento efficiently and effectively today, even if it’s staying within the 18th century style? Thank you again!

[@rjdubu1485]

Michael would you consider producing a video on your film, recording setup and editing to get notation while you play? Or if it has been done already and you have a source I would sincerely appreciate!

[@robertocornacchionialegre]

Cool!

[@kaptnkirk2740]

Großer Stoff mal wieder! Die krummen Taktzahlen habe ich aber noch nicht verstanden. Vielleicht bei mehrmaligem Durchsehen?

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

Käptn Körk… ich hab das auch nicht gleich gecheckt. Muss man bissle sacken lassen

[@Ricardo7250]

3:32 Liszt was the first composer to write using the lowest A Bb and B of the piano. Other composers (such as Chopin) would stop at C for the lowest note, that was probably Brahms case as well

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

Op. 118, 1 third last bar

[@RaptorT1V]

6:40-6:51 LMAO 🤣

[@ulysse__]

3:33 Hey, this is from the Intermezzo n°1, op.118 :-)

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

LOL Exactly! One of my all time favourite piano pieces

[@ferenc_l]

Great video! Also, I am not sure if it's intentional, but the "falling thirds" chord progression you used as the basis for these examples is another Brahms cliche :) For example, a falling thirds pattern underpins the entirety of the 1st movement of his 4th symphony (the main theme is just a chain of thirds rearranged in different octaves - H, G, E, C, A, F# and so on).

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

Thanks man! :D LOL this is a great observation, I guess I half-consciously went for it. Of course I know some pieces that use it (like the shown section from the E major Intermezzo) but wouldn't have gone so far to say it is kind of a Brahmsian thing - well maybe it is, yeah you're right about the symphony and Op. 116, 1 just came to my mind, I somehow blocked this piece out, dunno why, probably I practiced it to death... But thanks for commenting!

[@juwonnnnn]

👏

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

🍭

[@larseriksson1184]

D-minor is the saddest of all keys.