Tag: USA

Chris Thile, Edgar Meyer, Stuart Duncan + Yo-Yo Ma | Attaboy

Classical musicians don’t always experiment with other genres, but famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma makes a regular habit out of it. Ma has collaborated regularly on jazz projects — but here, he and his band of noted Bluegrass/Americana players present a smooth, lyrical sample of a style often called Newgrass from 2011. Mod at 2:43, then back to the original key at 4:14.

Jonny May | Despacito

Guest post from MOTD member Alex Mosher:

A cover of Luis Fonsi’s “Despacito” (2017) with a modulation around 2:40. The original might have six billion views, but this cover adds something very new.

From Jonny May’s website: “Teaching piano is one of my greatest joys, and over the past 15 years, I’ve helped over ten thousand students take their piano playing to the next level.” He performed as a Main Street Disneyland pianist for over nine years and has over 30 million hits people with his Youtube videos.

Earth, Wind + Fire | After the Love Has Gone

“Earth, Wind & Fire held a lofty status as the perhaps the preeminent R&B band in America as they began making their 1979 album I Am,” (American Songwriter). “It was by no means an overnight journey to get to that exalted status. Early in the ‘70s, the Chicago-based outfit labored to find a widespread audience. That all changed in 1975 with the release of the album That’s the Way of the World. Spurred by a No. 1 hit single in “Shining Star,” the album ended up hitting the top of the charts as well. EWF sustained that momentum through a series of smash LPs and singles in the second half of the decade.

Although they wrote much of their own material, the band occasionally looked to outside sources as well. That’s how they nabbed “After the Love Has Gone,” which was penned by a trio of writers who didn’t have any idea they were going to be submitting the song to an R&B band.”

This classic power ballad, co-written by Bill Champlin, David Foster, and Jay Graydon, reached #2 in the USA during the summer of 1979. The first modulation is at 0:53; thereafter, the mods are too numerous to track!

UPDATE, April 2021: We were mistaken … The internet’s friendliest guide to music theory, Charles Cornell, tracked all the key changes!

Mark Shilansky + Fugue Mill | Ordinary World

After becoming Exhibit A for chart-topping synth-pop blockbusters in the early 80s, Duran Duran scored an uncharacteristically understated hit in 1993 with the ballad “Ordinary World.”

Boston-based pianist/bandleader/educator Mark Shilansky and his band Fugue Mill have thoroughly re-harmonized and restructured the tune with their 2014 cover, stacking verse after verse.

Finally, the single extended chorus arrives (at 3:33) with cascading modulations nowhere to be heard in the original.

Andrea Bocelli | Angels We Have Heard on High

Hope everyone has had a great Tuesday! Today we feature the great Andrea Bocelli singing “Angels We Have Heard on High” (2009) with two, yes two, quite majestic modulations (for you music theory nerds out there, I have put in a comment what kind of modulations these are. Quite interesting.) Again, you should really watch the whole thing, but the modulations are around 2:07 and 2:51. Enjoy!