Maybe 4 Notes Are All You Really Need

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4 note motifs are at the heart of some of the greatest compositions in all of music. Why are they so powerful and how can we think about them deeper and start to understand what makes them so impactful?
Recorded using
Earthworks SV33
Earthworks PM40
Hallet and Davis baby grand piano

[@barrymiller8137]

Have been following you for years. This 4 note motif idea is a whole new level. I have been replaying Goiding’s creation on Nebula over and over-so hauntingly beautiful. Add to that your 4 note motif creation on this video-wow. Thanks Aimee.

[@AimeeNolte]

Isn’t it amazing? I’m so glad that you love it. Thank you for the sweet note.

[@donschneider7953]

Yes. Four notes. I earned an M.A. in music composition in the 1970's and wrote mostly classical music (string quartet, etc.) and found "the four note motif" idea to be very helpful. Sort like a classical "hook" as well as a crafted "constraint" to work within. In this popular jazz standards genre, I can think of so many where the tune is identifiable by a short motif: After You've Gone, Alone Together, It's Only a Paper Moon , Let's Fall in Love, Makin' Whoopee, Out of Nowhere, Tea for Two, The Girl from Ipanema, Who Can I Turn To? etc. Love your singing (and your hands and smile). Thanks so much for being you and for what you do.

[@Apsleyfun]

❤

[@marshwetland3808]

Her singing sounds great, very pleasant to listen to. Inspires me to want to sing more, too.

[@eltieum]

Shine on you crazy diamond, Pink Floyd. Most Iconic 4 notes motif to me. Si bémol Fa Sol Mi (Bb F G E) let ring with a G pedal.

[@jasonmunley4295]

What? Way more than four notes. Four notes just in "diamond".

[@martinmills135]

@@jasonmunley4295they don’t mean the main motif, obviously, but the very prominent, angular one at 3:55 into the track. Can’t miss it really, if you go and listen again.

[@donaldbutcher1260]

This is by far one of your most informative and interesting videos. Thanks Aimee 😊

[@AimeeNolte]

Glad you think so!

[@redbrown7355]

WOMAN!!!!!! Your talent overwhelms my emotions 😢

[@achaley4186]

You are such a thoughtful musician 🙂 ..just lovely…as a hymn player who has too many hymnals old to newer..I am constantly stunned at how many melodies have been printed…not sure if I’m putting it clearly but in the context of your video you know what I mean. 🙂❤🙏🏼⭐

[@Avery_4272]

Great topic, Aimee. And you've touched on the gist of a "game" I've loved playing the past few years: I quickly play any 4 random notes and challenge myself to see if I can think of and play two or three well-known songs that begin with those same 4 notes. I love being reminded of how different the composers' songs are even though they begin with those same notes. Indeed, you put it so well: "It's amazing what four notes can do," particularly when coupled with different chords/harmonies/rhythms. So I found your video especially fun today -- thanks! (And, as always, your singing is beautiful!)

[@lancecahill5486]

Thank you Professor Nolte. 👍🎶

[@gregoryhaddock5395]

You're an outstanding teacher. Thank you 🙏

[@brucesstreet8204]

Beautiful & inspiring. Loved the gorgeous harmonic flavours you made with 'Beethoven 5th' idea.

[@SherwinGooch]

On the first listening, I couldn't recognize where any of it came from except for the single fast quote near the end. Amazing!

[@joeldcanfield_spinhead]

I forget "And So It Goes"; brilliant piece. In my favorite version of "What'll I Do?" Harry Nilsson and Gordon Jenkins flattened one note of the melody compared to how you're singing it (I don't know how Irv wrote it.) It's magnificent, and reminds me how four notes are not only enough, but sometimes, plenty. I've been watching @RyanLeach teach orchstration, and he, perhaps unintentionally, led me to thinking of melody as 4-note segments.

[@poochieAZ]

Beautiful voice! Thank you.

[@jerrytaliercio9087]

Hi everyone! I love making songs up. I’m self taught and this is so nice, thank you. And you’re manner is very inviting ❣️🎶❣️

[@SherwinGooch]

Merry go, merry go, merry go 'round - boop boop boop. --"Larry" Wild Man Fisher.

[@drewjacobs2076]

Sleepwalk was the first thing that came to my mind. So glad you included that example!

[@gorthnahoe]

“ So It Goes” such a beautiful melody. Masterful

[@carlmagnussen7773]

Hi Aimee, your attitude towards music is beautiful.

[@Ranger1216]

Absolutely, I am a beginner student but four notes will easily get you to a melody that everyone recognizes. “The autumn leaves, and many other show tunes….Thankyou for this video….”four notes and you are invested in the song:”. Brilliant.

[@Howeverwhatabout]

Thank you for remembering John Barry, John Williams is mentioned often (and justifiably so) but John Barry wrote so many timeless ‘ear worms’!

[@JDkeyzz]

Wow ! I do that in my writing and I didn’t realize it, your so awesome Aimee!

[@GladmanNow]

Love your exploration here. Back on the original Tonight Show Steve Allen had his live studio audience call out three or four random notes with which he immediately created a song on the piano.

[@crystalplanet09]

Had never heard somewhere in time and the billy joel piece.. just soul wrenchingly beautiful.. thankyou!

[@crystalplanet09]

I take it back on the billy joel piece.. i had heard that melody in ken burn’s documentaries i think.. just didnt know it was a billy joel piece

[@zazoomatt]

Just starting and been a FAN of you & Adam Nealy since I chose music to help me recover, as I have no premonition of what will come out. Nebula will be SO Fun.

[@AimeeNolte]

Wishing you a quick recovery and I’m glad to make it a bit easier 💙

[@jesusislukeskywalker4294]

🙏❤️☝️ music is the best medicine

[@karls.623]

You are the best!

[@joesauvage1165]

Deepest thanks for this and every heart full thing you do! And your Nebula content and subscription is so worth it! Deepest thanks always!

[@dessiplaer]

I appreciate your most analytical and musical intellect. This was a great video.

[@Marijnzor]

What a coincidence! I'm currently reading "harmony from melody" and had just finished their chapter on motives. So your video came as a perfectly timed conclusion to that chapter. One thing that I always like in motives, is when the motive seems to have words to it even when the words are never spoken. Like how we can all agree that the "superman" motive is saying "superman"

[@amberyooper]

This is really fascinating! Having no music theory background or education, this is something that I've never noticed before now.

[@RasiRon]

Yes I totally agree. Very perceptive.

[@luvpants2012]

Best lesson I've seen in a looong time.

[@RokhartMusic]

Thank you Aimee! 🎶😎

[@siciliostudios]

…man, this is gold to a neophytes ear. ❤ Thank you for a great lesson!

[@jeanpierrecarpentier]

What a lovely voice you have (Very nice video here) :)

[@russellwiitala9733]

Awesome! Thank you.

[@michelmottet6083]

Magifique et avec lartition you are the BEST ❤ merci

[@streetlegal008]

I could hear the beautiful chime from your piano harmonies on this one. Compliments to the tuner!

[@mariojosepr]

I really enjoyed watching this video!

[@Richard-wz7bu]

"So It Goes" is such a haunting song from Billy Joel who is a master of the key change.

[@Sujowi]

I love the Kings Singers version arranged by Bob Chilcott…it kept me company during Covid lockdowns.

[@miket1783-j5j]

I love your channel and all the investigation into how music works. I have played Bass in bands in the UK since 1978 and I'm proud of the fact that so many amazing ideas, songs, tunes, melodies etc came from a group of slightly sedated young lads, a bit like, me with little knowledge of the technical terminology they were dealing with. It sounded good and that was all we needed to know.

[@donlawsonmusic]

Excellent! Thank you ✨✨

[@kencory2476]

You made me cry.

[@kencory2476]

Those are my four notes.

[@anled.composition]

Thanks for sharing !

[@SheCallsMeTyrone]

great video... my beats have this same 4 note formula... that piano is sweeeet

[@mamborickyclassicalmusicac4733]

Wonderful

[@s.webbsentell1411]

...and yes you are magic! (going to the piano now ;-)

[@davidpatrick1813]

Wow, I am a new subscriber and really was captivated with the content. I am a near newbie to guitar but man this was really moving... and hearing music ... music to my ears ... ... never it irritating. 🙂 pat

[@jesusislukeskywalker4294]

you’ve found a diamond in a coal mine 🔭🐥 it was meant to be ☝️❤️🙏

[@LApianoplace]

Thank you for your cover of *And So it Goes* I love notes about it. Four notes go a long way ❤

[@jesusislukeskywalker4294]

❤ great video , wasn’t there a line in Amadeus the movie, the guy said: “too many notes”

[@WilliamSaadGuitar]

Amazing, as usual. Thank you Aimee.

[@MrSupersidewinder]

Thank you🎵🎶

[@leeclarke8993]

First time I watched you on smart tv. Looks and sounds great. Thank You

[@skyeblueii6355]

very inspiring - thanks Aimee - off to my keyboard now :)

[@EixtremeDrummer]

A Horse With No Name, by America: four notes and two chords (the bass line plays the base of three). It's probably the most simple hit in pop music.

[@hikerJohn]

It's the rest of the song that makes the motif memorable . . . It's all it takes to trigger the memory and the emotion the song created. I remember watching a TV pop music program in the 1960's (maybe the Loyd Thaksten Show) and teens could name a song by hearing only two notes . . . and on rare occasion only one note.

[@marfaxa]

name that tune?

[@hikerJohn]

@@marfaxa That was a separate entire show on both Radio and TV starting in the 1950's with adult contestants but the one I'm thinking of was just a 5 minute segment of either Lloyd Thaxton or Dick Clark's American Bandstand.

[@garyhillman4993]

U got a beautiful jazz singing voice Aimee

[@TonyThomas10000]

Awesome as usual, Aimee!

[@Joel_Powell]

Gosh this is good - Now I miss our lessons more than ever.... Hope you are well Aimee!

[@arnolddawson5747]

Cool very interesting. Funny just been learning about period and sentence form and how fragments can form new ideas. So strange I then saw this. I like its about practical things to.

[@harvestnutrition]

Brilliant

[@cns7139]

This is fascinating! Four notes… 💜

[@russellsketchley8830]

I knew the four-note guitar intro was going to be "And I Love Her". What else could it be? Some four-note motifs from TV themes: Dragnet (originally on radio, but it still applies), the Addams Family, Star Trek (the four notes before, "Space, the final frontier.")

[@Songwriter376]

Unrelated, but did anyone notice how unhappy and how much pain was on Judy's face in that short singing clip?

[@johnbrown1851]

I heard a thread of "I remember Clifford in your improvisation on Beethoven's 5th. Very beautiful ❤️

[@StephenMarkTurner]

As a youngster, I loved the heavy guitar playing 1 3 5 6 in Joe Cocker's Beatle cover at Woodstock.

[@MichProgNerd]

It’s All Been Done - Bare-Naked Ladies Close to the Edge - Yes The instrumental intro to Cuts You Up by Peter Murphy

[@fromchomleystreet]

Those first four notes in the Billy Joel tune are the same as “Jerusalem” by Hubert Parry.

[@DeanGroovy]

Theme to Jaws starts with one or two notes, depending on how you slice it. Also, the William Tell Overture starts with one note played 4 times that’s pretty recognizable, I suppose because of the timbre of the trumpets and the rhythm. Funny what sounds stick in our heads.

[@ZestonN]

There are at least 708 songs that use Pachabel's Progression from Canon in D. Even Pachabel wasn't the first to use it. So, don't worry if someone else has used "these four notes". Because there's only 7 notes in an octave, and they've all been used for thousands of years.😊

[@seancostello7608]

You should sing more often, Aimee. Your voice is lovely.

[@AimeeNolte]

I have albums out! Ha much thanks to you!

[@wyattstevens8574]

My brain at 0:35: "The Mandalorian" is a solid example!

[@KarlLew]

Came for the notes…stayed for the singing❤

[@angelthman1659]

2:58 I cracked up at your version of Somewhere in Time 😂 Not that it was bad. It was kinda cute, but I laughed.

[@scottmoquin]

I live for major7 chords!!!!!

[@SurferJoe1]

According to.a story I read many years ago- and I hope this is right- George Gershwin was playing with those four Beethoven notes, trying to give them an upturn- >one>two>three-^FOUR- to see what he could get from them as a sort of Beethoven parody, when Ira complained that a couple more notes would make it much easier to put a lyric to. So George added those two notes: "The>way>you>wear>your^HAT..."

[@kpmaynard]

Thank you!! I wonder how many computers you have created today? This definitely reveals a key concept to creating lovely melodies!! Big hugs for you!! too

[@philmann3476]

"Well, technically it's a motif used to build a theme." Or so I learned from Professor Peter Schickele's color man so long ago.

[@johnjacquard863]

yes!

[@nowkentapplegate5315]

Beethoven Concerto 1 in C. One note an octave below the same note repeated 2 times. Total 3 if you count rhythm, 2 if you count the octave. Otherwise 1 note.

[@matthewgoldberg1461]

My favorite 3 notes- Johnny Mandel’s Em-i-ly

[@TresSeaver]

Funny, as you played the opening notes of "And So It Goes," I was hearing the "Jerusalem" hymn tune ("And did those feet [in ancient times]"): the suspended chords that follow fit that vibe, too. Who'd'a thought of BJ as a member of the WI?

[@4thMG]

Sergei Prokofiev’s etude No.1 is basically a 2-note interval motif and quite powerful.

[@gurshulman3169]

the four notes of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond"!!!!!

[@TheRealSandleford]

The shirt reminded me of an album cover I guess it was "Soap Opera" kinks is the closest

[@BrunoWiebelt]

fantastic that you did not come up with smoke on the water like your teaching

[@brassmagic]

Also amazing what people can do with the same four notes. Billy Joel's "And So It Goes" is so similar to Cyndi Lauper's "True Colors" and yet totally different.

[@brassmagic]

(Actually, not sure who wrote "True Colors" --- always assumed it was Lauper.

[@fromchomleystreet]

It’s also the same as the hymn “Jerusalem”

[@carljacobs1287]

Jaws! 2 notes!

[@mksounds6326]

Another great video! My only complaint is that it wasn't 2 hours long. And just you singing "What'll I Do".

[@johnwebb4499]

I invented a Progression I've never seen used before. It's in Phryg Dom. It goes. III, iii, ii, I. I call it the Descending Sus.

[@johnwebb4499]

I was plugging notes into a Midi. Until I created something I liked. I didn't want Fives because they rush you to Resolve. When you play in Phrygian Dominant, you have access to the minor third AND major third at the same time.

[@johnwebb4499]

You can use Fives ofcourse. But make sure it's inside a Chord.

[@coreygarrett9545]

Hard to do a 2 note motif but I can think of one famous one...JAWS!! DUN-DUN...DUN-DUN...

[@ernie5229]

You should really feature your voice more. It is so beautiful and unique.

[@AimeeNolte]

I have several albums on Spotify. :-) Thanks for your nice comment.

[@nobodyofconsequence9930]

Hi. Love your teaching. Question. As a sax player ( have a piano just for voicing chords , no ability to play it ) would your chord course ( nebula ) make sense to me ? Keep up the great work.

[@AimeeNolte]

Yeah for sure. It’s two parts - about an hour each. Here’s my code for a 45% discount go.nebula.tv/aimeenolte

[@mcwulf25]

Layla and Smoke on the Water both play around with 4 notes in their intro riffs

[@dj_instruments937]

Thought we would get an actual demonstration inside of a DAW of how to apply such a method instead of just rambling. Great gem though!

[@codetech5598]

The opening four notes that proceeds "Space the final frontier ..."

[@SherwinGooch]

12^4 = 20,736 different sequences, and that is without introducing any changes in rhythm.

[@carlosgaspar8447]

what about the one note samba.

[@reneperrin1628]

What is C jam blues? 2 notes. Or 8?

[@connshawnery6489]

I prefer Arnold Schwarzenegger’s definition of a motif, which is the interval required for someone fleeing successfully into a helicopter.

[@nickrails]

GET. TO. THE. CHOPPA

[@mason87104]

Shine on you crazy diamond : Bb F Bb E over a Gm chord

[@s.webbsentell1411]

I love you

[@vivajay]

Too many notes your majesty