musicians of old

Chapter 886 Using Local Materials
Fanning walked to the bottom of that lonely C major score.

"Basic structure" - including "basic lines" and "bass progression".

仅仅六个音符，3-2-1，1-5-1。

On top of this near-original structure, other things were rapidly added in.

"If I insert a passing note #F between E and D on the basic line, the trend changes, and this becomes linear progression, the melody begins to wander; if I want to make the color richer, I can add what is called the VI chord in traditional harmony, making it appear as an augmented sixth; if I choose to 'hover' on the tonic C, using the IVI progression to solidify its throne, this is a lingering, a declaration of will."

"I can do anything else I want."

“If I let the lower voice start from C, instead of going directly to G, it goes around the root note of the Dm chord, then through its dominant seventh chord A7, and finally resolves to Dm, this becomes what is called modulation in harmony, but it is still just another dimension of IVI 'bass progression', which belongs to the structural expansion within the structure!”

Fanning's chalk, like dancing sprites, quickly enriched and enlivened the background structure that was originally just a few notes.

"Shhh!!"

He then randomly pulled out three sheets of yellowed paper from a stack on the podium and briefly showed them to the surrounding crowd of onlookers.

"I just picked it randomly."

"Let's try to become archaeologists of music, peel back the shell of some great works, and see how the 'background' remains, as well as the flesh and blood of the 'middle ground' and 'foreground' grow."

Fanning simply pressed them onto the blackboard.

Bach's Cello Suite No. 1 in G major, unaccompanied, involves melodic movement that is nothing more than a few possible transitions of beautiful intervals.
Through Schenker analysis, Fanning reveals the deep "IVI" harmonic framework and the descending movement of the "basic line" in Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 1 in F minor.

Chopin's Prelude in E minor, with its chromatic chords in the left hand, is actually quite complex if analyzed using traditional functional methods. However, once Fanning emphasizes the sequential logic of its "middle ground" structure, the changes in harmonic tension and the process of transforming melancholic imagery into tragic emotion become obvious!

He used the Schenker analysis method, specifically the "three-chart method".

But if you stop halfway through and examine it closely, it still makes sense using traditional acoustics.

They are different yet compatible.

Or rather, the former is a more essential summary of the latter.

"These techniques—adjacent tones, passing tones, auxiliary tones, antecedent tones, suspension tones, and the harmonic progressions they drive—are what I just called Prolopgation!"

"They are like the instincts of life, enabling simple cells to divide, grow, and evolve, ultimately forming the diverse life forms we see today. Bach used them to weave the warp and weft of reason, Chopin let them flow with the melancholy autumn mist, and Beethoven used them to forge the thunder that fought against fate!"

Simultaneously with Fanning's gestures and words, a timpani struck with a warning tone—

"boom!"

The entire lecture hall trembled slightly.

The low strings then respond with a somber pizzicato, and several unsettling passages rush by rapidly, their rhythms swaying erratically, like a dance in the shadows.

“The way you all look, hahaha.” Fan Ning laughed for no apparent reason.

Faced with these "listeners" who were both familiar and strange, both ordinary and terrifying, he actually wrote a new musical opening on the spot.

Used to record and describe this ghostly scene!
"Okay, let's continue to apply what we've learned on the spot. Let's create a piece on the spot that has both 'romantic' and 'contemporary' elements."

Fan Ning's narrowed eyes swept over the indistinct voices that were all the same: "wearing a top hat and having a long beard."

The other party still did not offer any further response.

"Symphony No. 7 in E minor, third movement, Scherzo!"

The music became eerie and aggressive, with the double bass playing uneasy glissando, the woodwinds emitting sharp, dissonant whistles, and the timpani striking with reversed volume, like a disordered heartbeat!

As the music progressed, the texture of the blackboard behind them began to flicker and become unstable, and complex fragments of the score began to scroll.

Fanning started using what she had on hand!
Describe pollution firsthand, interpret pollution firsthand!
Sections 1 through 32 present the main theme of this somber, dance-like performance for the first time.

Fanning pointed to the string section in the first few bars: “Listen! The double bass and cello stubbornly repeat the D note on the weak beat, while the first and second violins have been given a swirling pattern in the high register, haha, just like you ghosts.” “The harmonic center is of course built in D minor, but I deliberately avoid the tonic chord here, using a lot of diminished sevenths and augmented thirds to float around. What is the function of diminished sevenths and augmented thirds in traditional harmony? Where should they be resolved? Does it matter? It doesn’t matter! Just understand that I like this sound, understand that this is a typical ‘structural obstruction’! My basic line should fall back to ‘1’, but I delayed it, letting the music wander in the darkness!”

The flute and clarinet's rapid passages begin to flicker like phosphorescence, followed by an eerie glissando from the harp.
“Continue using Schenker’s lens,” Fanning’s voice was like a whisper, full of guidance, “These atmosphere-setting ‘foregrounds’ have been analyzed, so ignore them. Now, look at the ‘midground’ fill layer.”

On the blackboard, the scrolling musical score displayed contrasts of light and dark.

Some notes dimmed, quickly transforming into a simplified progression.

To match the appropriate pace of the speech, the tempo of the music was also controlled and varied freely under Fanning's guidance.

"Look here, sections 9 to 16."

"How do we analyze the traditional functions? On the surface, the D minor ii semi-diminished seventh, V dominant seventh, and then a Neapolitan sixth chord seem to wander aimlessly. But if we strip away those colorful outer tones and trace the direction of its structural layers," a few notes flashed heavily on the blackboard, "we can discover an important movement logic—the violin starts from A, passes through G, and vaguely points to F, while the 'bass progression' indirectly hints at A from D. What is this?"

Fanning surveyed the entire room, her gaze intense.

"This is a partial, incomplete 'basic line' shrouded in mist! A descending intention starting from the fifth degree! I didn't let it be complete, but left it in the realm of suggestion and longing. This is the deep source of the 'dreamlike' atmosphere, a kind of delayed anxiety about returning to the safe zone!"

Fanning continues to push forward, with the theme appearing in different voices, but always distorted and fragmented, like a reflection in a strange hall of mirrors.

The 133rd measure of the movement, the middle part of the trio.

The cello and French horn played a broad melody, while the oboe and flute provided graceful support.

Like a brief but certain ray of sunlight after a long nightmare.

But no matter how you listen to it, it always sounds different from music that truly "depicts sunshine".

I have a feeling that something is wriggling in the backlight.

"How is harmony analyzed? Is it clearly constructed on the I-IV-VI progression of F major? A clearly stated and solid functional circle?"

"At most, it's just some seventh and ninth chord intervals."

“However, if we compare the ‘foreground’ and ‘middle ground’ separately,” Fanning changed the subject, her voice as if describing a ‘trick’, “note measure 149, the bass seems to be leading to the tonic F, but the ‘foreground’ and ‘middle ground’ alternately become obstacles to each other, replacing the expected I chord with the VI chord!”

"The resolution of the music is 'deferred,' and a strange sense of dread emerges in the sunlight—a mystery that only Schenker analysis can reveal! The composer manipulates your listening experience and time itself by controlling the presentation and concealment of structural levels!"

Fanning's argument progresses step by step, dissecting her fragmented and bizarre description of the music in a clear and logical manner.

"Therefore, gentlemen, the appearance of music can be infinitely complex and diverse, but its deep structure shares extremely simple commonalities. By using structural layers such as 'foreground,' 'middle ground,' and 'background,' we can observe the secrets of how the world is presented at different 'magnifications'!"

Some of the familiar faces from the music academy in the lecture hall seemed to have emerged from some state of exhaustion, panting as if granted a reprieve, though their eyes still held a sense of unease and anxiety.

At this moment, Fan Ning slowly walked down from the podium and approached a gentlemanly figure in dark robes. His voice was low, carrying an almost dangerous probing tone:

“Schenk analysis allows us to glimpse that, from Palestrina’s pure hymns to the chromatic harmonies in Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, the deepest part of them beats the same heart.”

A small leap forward.

It's temporarily completed.

The gentlemanly figure in black nodded almost imperceptibly.

Admiration, praise, and surprise are all expressed, but it still falls under the category of "enthusiastic" recognition.

And those other "things".
They ate something that satisfied them, but it aroused an even greater craving for chaos!

"call!!"

The piles of papers with musical scores on the podium began to dissolve.

The greasy, colored slurry flowed down the steps and tiles.

All the musical examples that were used for lecturing in the past are gone.