The Lydian Chromatic Concept Ep. 2: Paradigms

In the second episode of our Lydian Chromatic series, ‪@bobbyspellman‬ discusses The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas Kuhn and the relationship between the Lydian Chromatic Concept and the philosophy of science.
Ben Schwendener's Organic Music Theory: heightsmusicin...
George Russell's Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization: www.lydianchro...
The Ridgewood School of Music is now accepting new students online or in Brooklyn/Queens/NYC! ridgewoodschoo...
Find us on Patreon for bonus videos, exercises, and transcriptions at patreon.com/RidgewoodSchoolofMusic
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Ridgewood School of Music FB: ridgewoodschoolofmusic

[@bh2382]

Bob is one of the best Jazz educators online. So excited that he has taken up this very interesting topic. Amazing that he's taken the time to lay out the philosophical underpinnings. This is gonna be an all time great series of videos!!

[@RidgewoodSchoolofMusic]

Thank you!

[@felix_alvarez]

can't thank you enough for these videos man. What a blessing

[@HikaruKenRyu-LightsabreJutsu]

WONDERFUL!! never thought I'd hear a cogent summary of TS Kuhn here in the intellectual wasteland of KZbin!! I studied the same, from a professor who had been one of Kuhn's post grads. (You know K Popper was dreadfully wrong though .. ha ha). Now I'm a lawyer who can barely play bass. THANK YOU for reviving such great memories!

[@nicholasschuman4805]

What is this incredible content which I am witnessing?! WOW! Incredible job and thank you :)

[@danpugach]

Love it. When is episode 3?

[@blow-by-blowtrumpet]

I'm really looking forward to the next one Bobby because I read the book, felt that I understood each concept as it was explained, but at the end of it had no idea what to do with any of it. I grasped everything you explained in the first video and still had no idea what he was talking about generally or how to apply any of it practically. I'm hoping your next video will enlighten me.

[@RidgewoodSchoolofMusic]

I'm going to have to get through some fundamentals in the next few videos, but my goal is to explain the principles in such a way that the practical applications become increasingly illuminated.

[@gabinodelpasado]

thank you for taking the time to share this. I will be waitin for more videos. Greetings!

[@lukaszratynski]

It’s so fu****g entertaining!!! ❤❤❤

[@jedtulman46]

This is super cool Thanks Bob.

[@unoaotroa]

Hello Bob, I’m loving this series on the LCC! I think your background as a philosophy major will bring a fresh approach to this complicated and somewhat obscure subject. I’m very excited about what would result falsified in the LCC from your analyses. Thank you for your time and dedication! For other interesting takes on the LCC check out the critical review series that Bebop review did -don’t miss out the discussions in the comments- and the video ‘Mode is a chord symbol: an alternate history of the Lydian Chromatic Concept’ from Shapes music.

[@RidgewoodSchoolofMusic]

Thanks! I'll have to check those out!

[@zachwils2]

Dude. Thank you.

[@forrestlineberry9281]

I made my way about half-way through Ben's Organic Music Theory before getting side-tracked and losing my place. This series might be just the prod I need to dig back into that work and Russell's concepts. I'm looking forward to you exploring some of the applications mentioned and implied in this episode.

[@billwilkie6211]

I went to NEC, and read Kuhn while studying religion at Yale afterward. It's brilliant of you to frame Russell's innovation in light of Kuhn. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[@billwilkie6211]

Btw, Russell was at NEC at the time.

[@carlosvillavicencio4219]

Give us more about it, please!

[@KrystofDreamJourney]

This is the introduction to my book (that I never finished) called "Symmetry In Music" : The true origin and exact age of the Universe is still unknown to the human being. The "Big Bang" theory is - at best - just another proposed explanation, according to which the Universe began 13.8 billion years ago. No matter if that theory is true or it is just another attempt to explain "our place" in vastness of space and time, we are just at the begining of the long road of understanding the greatness of Creation. The astronomers associated with JWST just recently discovered group of stars and galaxies, which are estimated more than 14 billion years old - older than the Universe itself... So, there you go ! We still don't know much what the entire existence of everything is about. Galaxies, stars, planets, universal laws of physics, chemical and molecular composition of matter, biology of all living organisms - all have been organized with incredible precision, and mathematical perfection, logic and purpose. All of that shows also certain symmetry, certain order. Some say that it's all chaos. Perhaps the semi-haphazard result of it, but NOT the principles themselves. These are constant, at least to what we observe and intellectualize. The phenomenon of music is also an integral part of this meticulously organized vastness of space. Music is simply another form of existence in Nature. It has its own properties, qualities and characteristics. Combinations of sounds, notes, harmonies, melodies, rhythms - all of those manifest themselves in their own forms. Silence is also an integral part of music. It merely represents to our ears the absence of audible sound. One can creatively speculate if music is only "our" thing , only present here on the planet Earth, only invented by us - humans, or there's more into it... Just like there are trillions of galaxies, stars and solar systems - there are infinite combinations of sounds, chord progressions and permutations of notes resulting in melodies. We also have infinite possibilities of rhythmic organization of these musical components in time. During many years of musical analysis of existing masterpieces, and during composing my own music I noticed that certain musical patterns, and note combinations produce incredibly interesting and very beautiful sonic results. Almost like they are "designed that way" by a Higher Force. I'm speaking about symmetrical musical scales, harmonies, and melodies present in our 12-note-octave-divided equally tempered system . In this book I would like to concentrate on exploring these scales, and sonic results of certain combinations of notes into chords and clusters. This book has a character of practical guide to symmetry in music. It doesn't discover any "new" scales, any "new" chords etc. All musical material presented here have already been used by many musicians at least since the end of the 17th Century. Bach, Chopin, Wagner, Mahler, Debussy, Ravel, Scriabin, Stravinsky, Messaien, Bartok, Prokofiev, Schonberg, Berg, Gershwin, Ogerman, Goldsmith, Alan Holdsworth - just to name the few...Those famous composers have already explored these symmetrical musical marvels in their beautiful masterpieces. My association of musical notes and chords with certain font colors has strictly practical character at this time. Further studies are necessary to discover if there's a deeper correlation between THREE BASIC COLORS in Nature, (and their mixing resulting in all other colors) and THREE OCTATONIC SYMMETRICAL SCALES that produce virtually all chords, clusters, melodies etc. In my opinion, using different font colors of music notation may help the students to better understand the complexities of symmetry in music. It will also enable them to visualize these scales through the colors - another amazing symmetry and logic in our Universe ! Bro - I dig your approach !!! I studied philosophy myself. Would love to connect...

[@bobblues1158]

Oh yeah, bro. You can put me down for the whole ride. this is my kind of thing. thank you very much!

[@miTnosnhoJ]

Brother, can you paradigm?

[@zacattacx5637]

Part 2: I've read the book and I'm really looking forward towards your rendering of it. Keep it up!

[@travlak]

Looking forward to the next videos. My full knowledge of the theory was summed up in your first video.

[@Dallasllama]

I hope you’re getting paid for this. It’s amazing!

[@markyachnin1901]

This was an enjoyable and informative video. I'm eager for the next one!

[@kevinhateswriting]

absolutely brilliant presentation!

[@VCaamano]

Fascinating. Thanks!

[@johnjacquard863]

love your channel!

[@Tongetamo]

Dear Bob: great video, as usual. Your philosophy background explains your competence as a communicator and teacher! I just wanted to say you that you have caused me to get a trumpet and give it a try... with means that I am hooked to the channel while not being a trumpet player, and only a very mediocre piano thumper. Thanks!

[@RidgewoodSchoolofMusic]

Thanks! I'm happy to hear I've inspired you to pick up the trumpet! I hope the fun you have with it outweighs the unrelenting turmoil built into the very mechanics of the instrument! Best of luck, and happy practicing!

[@bspencersf]

Nicely done! Theory and philosophy connected. Just wow.

[@raaron4315]

i would love to hang out with this guy

[@gabinodelpasado]

14:51 I think he meant to say #4

[@forrestlineberry9281]

Playing the #5 over a major chord is also part of the Lydian Chromatic Concept.

[@STMRecords1]

Superb video! Looking forward to the rest of the series.

[@scottdrake5159]

Yep. Damn, great video. I hope it isn't too long before another "strict philosophy" one, because this was great. On another note, I can't believe I ever even suspected that this (and bop generally) was a system of "wrong notes". Found the Lydian the long way. Again, fantastic videos.

[@harryleblanc4939]

I'm really enjoying this series, and can't wait to get into the nuts and bolts. Are you going to relate this to neo-reimannian theory? There are some aspects of that theory I find useful and illuminating, but its disregard for aesthetics in favor of algebraic similarity kind of undermines its utility for someone actually making music. (e.g, the shift from a C major to an E major is somehow equivalent to a shift from a C minor to an Aflat minor.

[@Aiden-px7ch]

You make awesome videos that have helped me so much as I'm learing harder pieces to play. I wish i could get an autograph from you or something

[@MIsweetshadow]

I hope you will bring Ben along at some point in the serie That would be absolutely perfect.

[@ayanjoemusic]

Oh yes I am definitely in for this. Going to use this series for my studies.

[@nickbirkby2521]

Fantastic video, looking forward to this series!

[@fredhystair5789]

Thx, that was very intereting !

[@djmileski]

Nice analogy

[@bebopreview3187]

I don't think the LCCOTO can explain Ornette Colman's music which is atonal. It's only geared up for music in a tonal framework. Russell himself was going to include atonal music in his 2nd volume of the concept that he never completed. Also the LCC is a system that operates in the equal temperament system so it does not agree with nature, because perfect fifths in a cycle from the harmonic series you describe in part 1 of this series would not cycle round from say C to C as in equal tempered it would be a quarter of a tone out. Really like the philosophical approach, very imaginative.👍

[@cattafish]

Ornette's music isn't atonal though. The earlier edition covers the pantonal method his music falls within. It explains how to construct a rapidly modulating pantonal line where any note can be a tonic at any given time. The rhythmic and melodic character of the motifs and the use of frrely transposed sequences are the elements that held it together . Yet Ornette's sound was still rooted in major minor and blues scales as a source for his ideas . The effect is that of seeming to hover between tonality and tonality in a way that made it hard to determine the specific overall key.

[@bebopreview3187]

@@cattafish Interesting I didn't know that. Probably why his music sounds so melodic and logical (storytelling wise). It's funny that no one mentioned that in the comments on my video 6 on this subject 'the river-trip', (specifically the LCCOTO facebook people) where I state Colman's music is atonal. It would have been interesting to explore the subject. Perhaps this series may do that.

[@AaronNGray]

Nicely explained !