The Rule of the Octave

For the footnotes and other extra information see the following link:
www.earlymusicsources.com/you...
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Created by Elam Rotem & Sean Curtice, April 2021.
www.earlymusicsources.com
Special thanks to Iason Marmaras, Johannes Menke, Felix Diergarten, David Erzberger, Leonard Schick, and Anne Smith.
Support us on PATREON: / earlymusicsources
Support us by getting Banchieri’s treatise as a poster: teechip.com/stores/earlymusic...

[@Williamegert]

Elam, I mean no flattery in the statement: you are the quintessential music teacher. There is a lot of elitism that goes on in this realm. You make things easy to understand, use humor, are humble and above all, it is crystal clear that you are a true lover of your art. Thank you, I am made greater after watching your videos.

[@EarlyMusicSources]

Thank you 😊

[@rbbrchkn]

Well said! ❤

[@AidanMmusic96]

Seconded!

[@amaialaurentia]

Don't forget the rest of the wonderful folks that appear in the videos as well!

[@materdeimusicd.buckley2974]

@@EarlyMusicSources very helpful . Thank you.

[@brentusfirmus]

"Counterpoint teachers hate him! Local *lutenist* discovers the *secret* to continuo playing with ONE WEIRD TRICK... LEARN THE TRUTH NOW" 😂😂😂

[@markchapman6800]

I loled!

[@LeVezz]

I DID learn some nasty tricks!!

[@faustomanuelorieta]

😲

[@Bubblezz451]

Can someone explain the joke? I want to laugh too

[@nieklucassen4748]

Hah! That is very funny 😄😄😄

[@MusicaUniversalis]

10 years ago, my then composition teacher who I had just started taking lessons with showed me all inversions of this rule (ascending and descending) in major and minor and then made me learn to play them by ear in all key signatures. He demanded I play them before writing them down in order to train my ear, it was tedious but ultimately incredibly helpful. After playing them, I ended up writing almost two notebooks full of every inversion along with every key signature of this rule. It took a few weeks, but it was worth it, and good start to getting into figured bass. I'm honestly very surprised someone made such a beautifully thorough video on it, it always seemed way too specific for my own channel. Anyway I just got it as an exercise from him and never bothered to search for the source texts, so thanks for this.

[@AndrewGordonBellPerc]

Just before going to bed last night I had the thought: It's been a while since the last Early Music Sources video. Then I wake up to this!

[@smuecke]

Your meme game is so strong. Loving it!

[@NorkelFjols]

"Counterpoint teachers hate him!" God, that had me laughing for a whole minute XD

[@DUNCZI]

Dear Elam, today's (learnt) musician (so not bass guitarists) basically (or frequently) do not know just enough measure about early music. Hence, when early music is on performance there are many mistake will be detected. I appreciate Your nobile work. You really will be a source. Grazie mille! Juts go ahed. Your fun.

[@user-os7pg3nt3c]

I'm surprised every time how incredibly well done your videos are. There is no shortage of research, good explanation, humor, and - not to mention - stunning visualization. It's a miracle to me that you don't have ten times as many subscribers. Please keep up the phenomenal work and don't stop making these videos!

[@maurobraunstein9497]

I never really cared about Renaissance music -- until I saw some of your videos. This was years ago, and now I'm totally captivated by the music theory of the past. It's a little weird to think that KZbin wouldn't have any historical music theory content if it weren't for this channel, but I don't see where else to learn this stuff (other than from the primary sources, which are not easy to read -- or find). Are there even comprehensive textbooks showing different theorists'/teachers' approaches to voice leading, cadences, modes, etc.? I feel like it's only here. Thanks for constantly making such great content.

[@aliveormedicated]

also would love an answer here

[@Vasioth]

Well first of all, there is the seminal essay which is essentially a textbook on Galant music by Robert Gjerdigen called Music In The Galant Style that caused the recent paradigm shift in music academia around the world to start teaching 18th century, Italian music again and made words like "partimento" and "schema" come back into the cultural zeitgeist. It is great. There is The Solfeggio Tradition by Nicholas Baragwanath which goes indepth on the hexachordal solfeggio system which was widely adopted in Italian conservatories in the 18th century and elsewhere in the world. There are the various counterpoint treatisies of Fux, Albrechtsberger etc. There's a book on Palestrina styled counterpoint by Jeppsen. There is a podcast on partimento and Galant theory by Nikhail Hogan available on KZbin, Spotify and other major streaming platforms. There is the phenomenal book by Job IJzerman callef Harmony, Counterpoint and Partimento whose gambit is to synthesise all three. You start in two voices doing scale realisations, then three voices, then go into cadences, then learn the rule of the octave, then start learning about 4 part harmony etc. It tries to demonstrate this theory from the 17th to the late 19th century. It is really, really good and very affordable on Kindle store.

[@johnrothfield6126]

Toward the end of the episode you touched on the idea that "Rule of the octave" might have a mystical, astrological, or eternal aspect. The following should be obvious. I think this can be equivalently thought of in modern terms as follows: 1. The rules can probably be derived from first principles based on what is considered consonant or dissonant, which in turn could be argued is mathematically determined by the overtones, which at the time were considered mystical, like math itself. Certainly systems of mathematics are god-like. 2. Probably an machine learning AI could generate the rules by feeding it a few compositions. I'm sure someone has done this. 3. I think some of the authors you mentioned ascribed the rules as innate. According to Chomsky, we have innate language recognizers that can create grammar, so that we could naturally create a grammar to recognize the rules. Probably every thinking musician has there own theory of music that they create. 4. Apriori. Probably the rules could be generated from a small set of axioms, similar to Geometry or 20th century work by Whitehead etal. The problem of course is that such a system is closed.

[@Ekvitarius]

Well Rameau tried to reduce music to a few natural principles but music perception is just too complex to reduce to something like the laws of motion. To paraphrase Kant, there will never be an Issac Newton for a piece of music

[@betaniaher]

Thanks!!

[@rafesca1373]

This is fantastic! I started practicing the rules a few days ago… I’m already finding I can improvise an elegant-sounding third voice on two-part pieces-like magic! I’ve always wanted to get good at improvising on early music, but I never quite understood how. It’s really uncanny how much this video opened up and clarified a huge chunk of music of western history for me. Thank you!!

[@ryantotten5011]

Its a game changer for sure!

[@carlstenger5893]

Yet another excellent episode. Thanks so much!

[@westvent]

thank you

[@nathanbarnes4740]

Awesome content as always! I always love sitting down to a new Early Music Sources Vid.

[@hucbald37]

Each of your new videos is a real treasure for us musicians and teachers. This one again shows very nicely how well one can teach. Full of best expertise and humor! Thanx a lot again!

[@alexmontes8152]

Thanks for every you show!!

[@leonelluquez8590]

EXCELLENT. As usual!

[@natullus9489]

yeah!! new Early Music Sources video = best day of the week! thank you

[@sylber55]

Wow, one of the best episode! 🙏

[@OutbackBoy]

YES! NEW UPLOAD. I WATCH. THANK YOU.

[@agogobell28]

This is excellent!! I love how you explored how common practice tonality evolved and developed from earlier beginnings.

[@spielplatzaltemusik4666]

Great Video and a great channel! Thank you for putting in so much effort to spread the word about early music in a lighthearted way!

[@nicholassievers962]

This is one of your best videos!

[@ced1401]

Best video i've seen on the subject, thanks a lot.

[@LanceHardaker]

Amazing Video Elam! One of your best.

[@ENFPianist]

Thank you for making this!

[@carlosazambujayt]

Amazing class. God bless you all!

[@kateclark8170]

Absolutely wonderful (again!) Thank you so much Elam and Sean! It is so clear and bright and lovely to watch and even funny :-) And I want to point out that not only keyboardists but also melody instrumentalists can benefit hugely from understanding the Rule of the Octave: it is a wonderful guide to the harmony underlying their own repertoire and to embellishing it.

[@inhorama338]

Great content on so many level, thank you !

[@MusicaAngela]

I just got the poster and love it! And I’m glad to be supporting such a fantastic project. Bravo!

[@mantions84]

Bellissimo episodio, come sempre! 😊

[@maxjohn6012]

Fascinating! Thank you!

[@mrsenstitz]

That was so eye opening. The place of the third is brilliant.

[@1980subrosa]

Excellent content, rich and concise.

[@Marianofrv]

Magistral y hermoso. Gracias

[@videosdehistoriadelamusica4484]

Great video! Thank you very much! Yet another contribution to music education of inmeasurable value!

[@CharbelAbiNader]

outstanding

[@GoodSneakers]

Another splendid episode! I thought the rule of the octave just had something to do with octave intervals or parallels, but this was very insightful for me as a piano teacher and arranger!

[@lawrencetaylor4101]

In church I wasn't an orphan, in fact I came from a large family and had younger brothers, and a meaner older brother. When we had to sing, they would often laugh. So I never learned to harmonize. In fact, I joked that I was born with two left ears. I bought a piano at 65 years of age, like my Mother, and have been practicing ever since. It was only last month that I learned of the Rule of the Octave. Elam and his channel has become an amazing guide. I got over my shame of singing and practice singing using the tonic, third and fifth. I watched this video for the third time, and I guess I have to learn counterpoint. Oh well, it's never too late.

[@musicalintentions]

This was a wonderful episode. Thank you as always for sharing your research and observations with all of us. 💕🎵💕

[@monsieurgrigny]

Excellent, very well-prepared show. Thanks!

[@Albagari]

Just working on this on my ornament lesson, this came as a wonderful gift! ✨

[@J0SERAMON]

Amazing video!

[@brendanward2991]

Eccellente! Grazie.

[@meteoraproducciones]

Bravo! Thank you very very much for this explanation.

[@lduc63]

Trop bien !! comme d'habitude !

[@elchatismiquin6445]

Thank you very much. I learn a lot with you!

[@OldCanadianguy953]

I gave up trying to understand this by 4:19 when I realized I’d need a foreign languages degree just to understand the topic.

[@namets]

This you tube channel is the rule of early music💪

[@mrsenstitz]

I have learned a great deal from you. Thank you.

[@RP-mm9ie]

Loving it!

[@philippsobecki8510]

Fantastic

[@matsburman5615]

Bravo!

[@061mozart123]

This was a very interesting and informative video. All the sources that you quote from are fascinating. Thank you for this.

[@roberthillier4662]

Brilliantly presented as usual. Thanks from a mere flute player. My hat goes off to accompanists - it is good to see how they can begin to cope with an unfigured bass.

[@PcCAvioN]

Sometimes these videos go a bit over my head (I am a vocalist 🤣) but I know when my mind is being stretched. Thank you

[@millennial8441]

A very important issue. Thanks for sharing.

[@deo_gaming6676]

I learn a lot in this channel.

[@leonidasdeguevara7146]

Fantastico!!! Gracias

[@bijaykumarsamantroy5167]

Super guidelines sir , you are top 🙏

[@anahatamelodeon]

Just discovered this channel. I thought I knew a bit about harmony but almost all of this was new to me. Thank you!

[@rocio9427]

You couldn't imagine how excited was I when I saw your post ("counterpoint teachers hate him" 😂), I love this channel! Good job guys 👏

[@alessiobussi7453]

Toooooop! Beatifull!!!

[@valerianooliveira3171]

Parabéns pelo belo trabalho!!

[@HumbleNewMusic]

Such a b e a u t i f u l video in so many ways... Thank you Elam!! 👊 🎶 🙂

[@HumbleNewMusic]

& not just this one... the others too 🎵 🙂

[@dennismenezes9423]

I love the music content but man, what a sense of humor .. so good, hehe

[@mr.z9609]

I am beginning to learn Partimento and this is useful.

[@Emre-tf8hp]

Wonderful video! 236 likes to 0 dislikes shows you have pleased the gods of counterpoint

[@elmoico2950]

Buenardo, esto lo he disfrutado muchísimo.

[@LouisSerieusement]

Très bon accent français, bravo et merci !

[@unic0de-yvr]

Me, an uneducated listener hearing all the cadences at 6:00: "Oh I get it!! It's the harmonica chords!"

[@nihaimamoniquestamper7670]

🥰👌Thank you for this teaching. Greeting from Netherland.

[@jibicusmaximus4827]

I just did first performance in a year 😀 I had a year to prepare lol, I am happy, it been too long..this video is perfect to wind down to!

[@germansnowman]

Flawless pronunciation of Johann David Heinichen! Not to mention the great content, of course.

[@kamp-anders]

Made me want to compose.

[@jcortese3300]

16:50 -- This is the sort of nerdery I come here for, along with the musical nerdery. :-) Bravi!

[@jibicusmaximus4827]

As a electric blues guitarist, well, mostly (I play a few instruments and styles) I love this channel

[@jibicusmaximus4827]

@Julia - 𝙾𝚙𝚎𝚗 𝙼𝚢 PROFILE thanks, i guess, it's a bit cringe, it was all a test really, i plan to upload better stuff, i have videos of song ideas and videos i took of police (kind of like auditing i guess) quoting laws and arguing mostly lol but they are trapped in two devices at the moment, i plan new content too, just think about trying to do it from this device here when i saw your comment funnily enough.

[@FatimaSantos-qb4ev]

Muito boom.!

[@A_Muzik]

Finally!!!!!

[@nigelhaywood9753]

The perfect fourth is a dissonance. Love the meme!

[@paolopalazzo]

bravissimi!

[@ShaunNgKF]

Thank you for you video! This is a topic that I’ve particular interest in as I’ve worked on Campion during my studies. I think the Rule of Octave, as we understand it, is probably a bit older than the early 18th-century sources that we have. Campion’s reference to his teacher as inventer is probably not true. The mention of this teacher is likely one of those things that you do to flatter someone in the right circle to elevate yourself. One important lute and theorbo manuscript by Vaudry de Saizenay (1699) contains the Rule of the Octave, in major and minor, on the first page. Saizenay also lists Jacquesson (lute music) and De Visée (theorbo music) as his teachers, perhaps they taught him lute and theorbo. As these composers can be said to belong to an earlier generation, perhaps this rule might have been thought up by the pluckers from the mid 17th-century, in line with the appearance of bass parts that are suggested in manuscripts by Marais (way before he published the first French basso continuo part in 1689). Keep up with the good work on your videos.

[@duality4y]

I love your video's they are great! Question though what music is that in the intro?

[@llbape]

a history of the development of "key signature" would be interesting. thanks

[@asherplatts6253]

I remember learning this in Music Theory I in college and being like, "yeah yeah, whatever, let's skip this and get to the 20th century stuff" But 15 years on, this is incredibly useful for building harmonies when you just need to get from point A to point B and don't want to do a ton of guesswork. It just works. It might nit be the most interesting thing ever, but not every passage needs to be. Sometimes you just need filler to get between ideas, and this gives you exactly that. It is the potato of music. It is basic, but it's always good, and it's filling.

[@taylordiclemente5163]

This should be taught in undergrad music theory courses.

[@classicgameplay10]

Anyone knows what software this channel uses to make those videos? I find it amazing.

[@1961Lara]

Wow.... great video!!Where were you when I was in college?!

[@facundoboms8955]

Hi, I love your videos, they have made me look at music from another perspective. There´s one thing that caught me by surprise in this video: why do these theorists understood the minor mode as what we now call the melodic minor scale when ascending and as the natural minor scale when descending? I hope the question is clear, maybe it has to do with the understanding of the church modes in the Rennaisance as you explained in the video about the modes but I´m probably wrong.

[@uhoh007]

No beating around the bush. I have to playback at .25, taking notes to keep up. The RO is making a serious comeback it seems :)

[@skerpracso]

10:36 genius!!

[@adamcolbertmusic]

21:05 this ad parody is the best thing ever xD xD

[@goodcyrus]

A. These videos have exceptional production quality, with beautiful sound bites and graphics. B. The audience gets the impression he learned something but a simple quiz would show the majority did not retain 90% of what was said. C. Why? Because the presentation was beautiful to the senses and nice and hypnotic but not clear logically. Very much like history channel stuff, good graphics, not clear or deep content. Very addictive but not equally educational.

[@Natyelvertonmusictuition]

Well you may not have learnt anything...

[@johnrothfield6126]

Like any lesson, it is of limited use without practical application, study and/or research. His lessons provide inspiration to do that.

[@guitarplayerfactorychannel]

A guide to playing largely I IV V predominantly over every chord.

[@A_Muzik]

4:27 The practice that made Artusi spin like a dervish in his grave.

[@pedroandrade657]

Hi, great video. Do you use a different tuning for your examples? It would be so much help. sounds a semitone lower

[@joshjams1978]

Yes, he’s in A415, which sounds à semitone lower

[@user-eh8bc2ux3y]

I just realized how I view harmonic relationships a lot different than standard pedagogy. To me a 1, 3, 6 in a major mode is just the 2nd inversion of its relative minor mode. It always seems weird that they build the harmony based on the bass note. To me, C3 and C4 are the same theoretically, and their choices only matter when actually composing music, which their usage depends on context. Also 4th degree is just the 5th degree if you switch the what I call pivot point of the harmony from one note to the other. The pivot is determined by melodic cadence, mostly which voice end up being the tonic, dominant, and so forth.

[@scothebert6366]

II=II3. I NEED MY SHOULDER CRUDS TO FALL OUT.

[@rorshack23]

Note to self: 4:55 Use of Sevenths (Rule of the Octave) 8:51 Minor Keys (Rule of the Octave) 11:58 Generic Unfigured Bass Example (Rule of the Octave) 13:07 18th Century Partial Figuration (Figured Bass Symbols - diatonic) 13:24 Generic Modulation Example 16:51 Gasparini Book 19:54 3 Authors from different nations (Rule of the Octave) 21:40 Voices of criticism (Limitations?)