Instrumentality
  • Labwerks
  • Instrumming
  • Sparks
  • Alchemy
Instrumentality

A mad musical adventure

Instrumentality
  • Labwerks
  • Instrumming
  • Sparks
  • Alchemy
  • Analysis

Doe, a harmonic sequence

  • October 2, 2023
  • admin
Total
0
Shares
0
0
0

I’m sure you’ve heard the song Do-Re-Me, which Julie Andrews sings to a group of children in the film The Sound of Music. Just in case you haven’t, take a quick look:

The Tonic Sulfa is a way of describing the intervals in the degrees of a major scale using seven short names: DO, RE, MI, FA, SOL, LA, and TI. It is essentially equivalent to the more formal labelling of tonic, supertonic, mediant, subdominant, dominant, submediant, and leading tone, but much simpler to remember. The tonic sulfa is independent of key but, as an example, in the key of C major, it would constitute the notes C, D, E, F, G, A, B and C.

The song comes over as incredibly simple but, as with most of the famous show tunes, is actually quite sophisticated behind the scenes. As you can see from the score below, each phrase starts with the next higher degree of the scale, starting with middle C.

However, what is really neat is that the song actually leaves the key of C major and embarks on a journey through two other keys before returning conveniently to C major at the end. It does this using a harmonic sequence, starting at bars 9 and 10 with the C and F chords (it’s very common in harmonic sequences for there to be two chords, then second being four steps higher); the same phrase is then repeated one step higher at bars 11 and 12 moving from D7 to arrive at the key of G major; and then one step higher again at bars 13 and 14, moving from E7 to arrive at the key of A minor; it is then relatively simple to return to C major in bar 16.

What makes the key changes obvious is the incidence of accidentals in the score. At bar 11, we see an F#, giving us a clue we are shifting to a G major scale (G, A, B, C, D, E, F#, G), and at bar 13 we see both F# and G#, indicating that we are moving to an A melodic minor scale (A, B, C, D, E, F#, G#, A).

So, this song provides us with two lessons in one: the tonic sulfa and harmonic sequences. Not bad, eh?

Total
0
Shares
Share 0
Tweet 0
Pin it 0
admin

Previous Article
  • Comment

Is Rubato dead?

  • September 1, 2023
  • admin
View Post
Next Article
  • Analysis

Analysed: Carole King’s You’ve Got A Friend

  • October 3, 2023
  • admin
View Post
You May Also Like
View Post
  • Analysis

Analysed: Respect by Aretha Franklin

  • admin
  • March 13, 2025
View Post
  • Analysis

Analysed: Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas by Perry Como

  • admin
  • December 19, 2024
View Post
  • Analysis

Analysed: I Say a Little Prayer by Aretha Franklin

  • admin
  • December 2, 2024
View Post
  • Analysis

Analysed: The Riddle by Nik Kershaw

  • admin
  • September 10, 2024
View Post
  • Analysis

Analysed: As You Said by Cream

  • admin
  • August 6, 2024
White Christmas
View Post
  • Analysis

Analysed: White Christmas by Bing Crosby

  • admin
  • April 29, 2024
View Post
  • Analysis

Analysed: Perfect Day by Lou Reed

  • admin
  • March 28, 2024
View Post
  • Analysis

Analysed: You Are The Sunshine Of My Life by Stevie Wonder

  • admin
  • March 19, 2024

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Instrumentality
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Subscribe
A mad musical adventure

Input your search keywords and press Enter.