What is the the Back to the Future chord?

Analysis of the Back to the Future chord by Alan Silvestri
Full score for purchase at Omni Music Publishing:
omnimusicpublishing.com/produ...

[@SeriousMoh]

Man, these chords always touch my heart. It's just the best music for the best film.

[@Keith_Horn]

So true!

[@MardukGodSlayer]

As a jazz musician, I saw your chord chart and my first thought was, 'Oh, that's clever! Alan's written four different melodies over the same chord.'

[@Keith_Horn]

That makes sense!

[@ydva1317]

Thanks for breaking the score down, so much I didn't realize when I was a kid. Tritones are about the farthest related pitches from each other, its almost like G/E is meant to represent Marty's time and the Db/Bb that follows is the timeline he's in. When the G and the Db sustain together, we get this blury confusing sound that represents Marty a person from the future being in the same space as the world from the past. I suck at explaining things

[@Keith_Horn]

Ha! No you don't! I think that's a perfectly legit take on these chords. If we are in two different times/realities, why not have opposing chords that are in conflict with one another representing those times. Thanks for your thoughts!

[@thornhill67]

When I first listened to Petrushka, it made me realize how much movie score composers were inspired by/borrowed/ripped off from Stravinsky. It reminded me of Back to the Future specifically at most.

[@Keith_Horn]

Totally. His music, especially the ballets, is so inspiring to film composers and the sound of BTTF is inspired in part by Petrushka.

[@Keith_Horn]

@@maximiliandemartis6167 That's a great suggestion - I haven't heard of Montiverdi's theory of emotions. I will definitely check it out. Thank you!

[@thechinaman7182]

wow man this is really observant and creative of you to make. I am really impressed by how much attention you have paid to movie scores and found such interesting ideas such as "The Back to the Future Chord". You're creating history. A lexicon of musical ideas beyond theory.

[@Keith_Horn]

Thanks so much! You're very kind.

[@skyscrapersx5877]

all you have to do is look at the sheet music, he's not listening to it and going "oh its this"

[@DrewReviewsOfficial]

IVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS!!!

[@lewisedmundscomposer]

Great stuff, Keith, as always! Thank you!

[@Keith_Horn]

Thanks, Lewis!

[@omorganstudios]

Thx Kevin! You break down the notes into chords I can remember...

[@Keith_Horn]

Thanks for watching!

[@Keith_Horn]

@ 3:26 I meant to say "E" not "Eb"

[@DrewReviewsOfficial]

GREAT CHORD AND GREAT BREAKDOWN!

[@Keith_Horn]

Thanks, buddy. One of my favorites!

[@NicoCoboMusic]

This is great content! Keep it up man.

[@Keith_Horn]

Thanks!

[@jonabond]

The thoughtfulness and musical genius of the composer is what makes this score a classic. Great channel

[@Keith_Horn]

Couldn’t agree more. Thanks!

[@gilevansinsideout]

The score is almost all tritones! 😀 Nice vid. thanks

[@Keith_Horn]

He really got a lot of miles out of the tritone in this score. Thanks for watching! Your channel looks very cool, btw - looking forward to digging in.

[@Ashanath-Music]

Wow i just learned something new. I know the half whole scales but never implemented. Thank you. I like and subscribe ❤

[@Keith_Horn]

Thank you! Yeah it's amazing how much harmony you can get out of that one scale.

[@omorganstudios]

@ash_guitar_noise I think guitarists would need an octave pedal...will try this out

[@thromboid]

To me, the half-whole diminished scale absolutely screams "ooh, something interesting and mysterious is afoot!" 😁 So glad to have discovered your channel. Hoping you've done or will do a video on Dave Grusin's music from The Goonies. BTW, any 80s kids who love film music should check out Varèse Sarabande's compilation of 1985 movie music.

[@Keith_Horn]

You’re so right about it being mysterious. Goonies would be an awesome study!

[@BillWithem]

"Did you rip that off?!" 🤣

[@sias9546]

cf. Silvestri's score cues from Roger Rabbit "Toontown", and Flight Of The Navigator "Transporting The Ship", "Flight"

[@Keith_Horn]

You're so right! Thanks for pointing those out.

[@curtpiazza1688]

Great stuff! 😂

[@Keith_Horn]

Thanks!

[@dragorn3212]

What keyboard/soundpatches are you using

[@Keith_Horn]

Its Rhodes - LA Custom Lush from Keyscape

[@thesingingaccountant1]

Sounds a bit Ghostbusters too

[@Keith_Horn]

Oh, interesting. Which cue? I'd love to compare the two.

[@Intense011]

what software shows the notes on the scale while you play?

[@Keith_Horn]

www.chordieapp.com/

[@chong2389]

Affectionately stolen from 'The Day the Earth Stood Still' (1951) score by Bernard Herrmann. "Good composers borrow -great composers steal!" - attributed to Igor Stravinsky

[@BongoBaggins]

Sorry, did you just flash up the WALLBERG Italian Job and not THE Italian Job?

[@BongoBaggins]

Subbed though, despite what was obviously a genuine mistake :'D

[@Keith_Horn]

HA! Yes, yes I did. The John Powell score is SO good!

[@okayhonks]

It's awesome stuff.... but, like... when did we stop calling it the "octatonic scale?" There have been a handful of videos that just go with the alternate "diminished scale" name, and I'm left wondering why octatonic fell out of fashion...

[@dominicmoisant8393]

Octatonic just means 8 note scale but no other distinction, the whole and half diminished scale names are much more descriptive.

[@okayhonks]

@@dominicmoisant8393 I get that, but that was the *dominant* name for it while I was studying, and it's just weird to not have it show up *at all*

[@Keith_Horn]

That's a good point. I suppose I use the terms interchangeably but for this video I decided to call it a HW diminished scale for clarity. In the same way pentatonic can mean more than one thing, octatonic might be too general a term for this specific iteration of it. In the published score, Tim Rodier refers to it as both octatonic and symmetrical diminished. This also makes me wonder - why are the seven Greek modes not referred to as variations of septatonic scales? Also, octatonic just sounds cooler than symmetrical diminished. Thanks for opening up the conversation!