Creating Tensions from Suspensions (Bach Chorale Music Analysis) - Inside the Mind of Bach

[@MusicMattersGB]

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[@isaacshaw1596]

A very lovely sounding chorale. Got to be honest, 4 part harmony is very hard to get to sound rich or warm. With writing a piano piece or anything bigger with bigger ensembles is much easier to decorate and you have far less rules to worry about, sort of. Suspensions in the right place can make all the difference.

[@MusicMattersGB]

That’s all absolutely true but there’s something wonderful and pure about good four part writing.

[@jayducharme]

That was fascinating. I would have thought that so many suspensions would have created cacophony. But they're very subtle, yet add a lot of color.

[@MusicMattersGB]

They’re a wonderful addition

[@cliveaitkenhead]

The 18 Inside the Mind of Bach videos are just outstanding and here's another adding to the earlier Overlapping and Enriched suspension IMB videos. The series is well named because it won't turn us into Bach but it does give glimpses into the multi-tasking, one/several steps ahead composer that Bach was. As Pat Metheny famously said 'Compared to Bach everyone sucks!' Thank you for another terrific video and please can we have some more IMB's!

[@MusicMattersGB]

Okay!

[@lawrencetaylor4101]

Well said. Merci.

[@MusicMattersGB]

😀

[@lawrencetaylor4101]

I came across the Bach Chorale-Gesaenge Book and bought it straight away since I've been learning from your videos, and it's a nice compliment to Cory Hall's Sightreading book. This is labeled Number 139 in that book. It is so nice to have the original score to use. I'm very slowly analysing the harmony, and can't wait to have a better musical level when it becomes slightly easier.

[@MusicMattersGB]

That’s a great pursuit. Keep going!

[@bobbysbeats5249]

I am self-taught in music, but what I see here is very beautiful.

[@MusicMattersGB]

Excellent

[@sandeshrathod9699]

You must have been told this a number of times, but here it is once again - you are a wonderful teacher 😊

[@MusicMattersGB]

That’s most kind of you.

[@pathaks1]

Class insight on understanding suspension thru alto❤

[@MusicMattersGB]

😀

[@antonioiturralde6048]

Great as usual. Thank you so much, Gareth!

[@MusicMattersGB]

A pleasure

[@RickHardcore]

Great work! I subscribed!

[@MusicMattersGB]

That’s great. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk

[@GivernyLourens]

Thank you very much for these informative and very interesting videos. Keep up this wonderful work. It is very helpful for us that work without a teacher to a large extent

[@MusicMattersGB]

A pleasure. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk

[@johnmac8084]

So much packed into a few bars! Beautifully explained Gareth, thank you. Also I like the clearer notation today, much easier to read, especially on a small screen 😀

[@MusicMattersGB]

A pleasure

[@mrbrianjhewitt]

The voicing on beat two of measure two is interesting. It has the 3rd of the chord in both the bass and tenor parts. Even though they are minor it seems using a C# in the tenor line would have avoided having the two thirds but would also have avoided the leap down to the A of the next chord?

[@MusicMattersGB]

Yes. It’s an interesting solution

[@simonsmatthew]

I guess the crucial question is what sounds best. And then more crucially, if it does sound better, why? Perhaps the C-sharp has a very strong leading note feel? And perhaps that is not a note you would want to double? Especially as it would have to be followed by D.Then you have parallel octaves.

[@MusicMattersGB]

@simonsmatthew Interesting discussion point

[@mrbrianjhewitt]

​@@simonsmatthew Agreed, what sounds best. Maybe Bach liked the tenor line dropping from E to A giving it a more emphatic cadence while the bass continues its beautiful descending line down to the cadence.

[@MusicMattersGB]

@mrbrianjhewitt 😀

[@the_eternal_student]

Alot of times when you play these Bach pieces I cannot hear anything in them, especially after listening to more modern music, but this time when you played Bach I could hear the tension. I wish I could figure why sometimes I can hear the crunchiness and sometimes I cannot. I have had a few theories, but nothing reliable.

[@MusicMattersGB]

Stick with it!

[@MooreMusic12]

Very interesting thank you

[@MusicMattersGB]

A pleasure

[@crankjazz]

Pete Townshend, of The Who, made great use of suspensions.

[@MusicMattersGB]

Absolutely

[@simonsmatthew]

I wonder why Bach put the ii chord (a minor) in the fourth beat of Bar 2 in first inversion. It makes the bass jump a seventh. You also get a crossing of parts between the tenor and the bass. I can see you would get parallel octaves between the soprano and bass if you just switched the tenor and bass around, but I would still there would be an easier solution for the singers!

[@MusicMattersGB]

That a minor chord is in root position.

[@simonsmatthew]

@@MusicMattersGB Sorry for some reason the lines on the scores provided can't be seen clearly on my screen even if I change the darkness (the top line on the bass clef was missing) so it looked like D going to C! Usually I can work around that problem with the scores provided, but occasionally it causes oversights. Thank you for kindly responding to my comment. On another note, your analyses of these chorales are particularly helpful. I have not studied to a great degree advanced counterpoint (imitative and invertible counterpoint, strettos etc) and I am sure there is enormous value in doing so, but I find for my own musical needs the chorales are incredibly helpful.

[@MusicMattersGB]

@simonsmatthew Glad it’s helpful. Thanks for your comment

[@Rayenn_19]

11:46 I see Bach used two suspensions Bach to Bach

[@MusicMattersGB]

😀😀

[@mymatemartin]

So.... Bach was just a tension seeker???😁

[@MusicMattersGB]

😀

[@Ana_crusis]

This is very traditional rigid western practices..

[@MusicMattersGB]

It’s what Bach does so we’ll but it’s certainly not rigid.

[@Ana_crusis]

​​@@MusicMattersGB maybe rigid isn't the correct word I mean compared to modern music and jazz this is very much deep in the heart of the traditional musical practice. And I suspect way back in the days of baroque music these suspensions were perceived as much more contrasting and possibly dissonant than they are now. Now they are seen as mild and pleasant sounding. Nobody in modern jazz thinks in terms of prepare sound resolve etc

[@MusicMattersGB]

There’s certainly truth in your conclusion there. It’s wonderful that we can appreciate the beauty of so much music written in different styles/ moods at different points in history.