The Great Myth of the Medieval Tritone Ban

Рет қаралды 1,276,014

Күн бұрын

Debunking the great myth!
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Exploring the Daseian scale, 4-part organum, the ars nova and why this myth is so damn persistent!
Watch the bonus video exclusively on Nebula!
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Sources:
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0:00 Intro
1:44 Part 1 - Tritones, Baby
4:54 Part 2 - The Carolingian Super-Ultra-Hyper-Mega-Meta Dorian
9:38 Part 3 - The Old Days
12:24 (lo-fi Pérotin interlude)
16:37 Part 4 - The Fascination of Evil Thoughts
20:31 Part 5 - Diabolus in Musica
26:09 Part 6 - Xerox of a Xerox
Solmization and the Guidonian hand in the 16th century
• Solmization and the Gu...
Yes, I do realize that I’ve already done this video!
• The Devil in music (an...
JOSH BAILEY ON THE DRUMS IN THAT INTERLUDE!
www.joshbaileydrums.com/
(⌐■_■)
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Peace,
Adam

Пікірлер: 5 800

@AdamNeely 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching! If you want to watch me rant about Guillame de Machaut's spicy 14th century harmony, you can check out the bonus video over on Nebula! Get both CuriosityStream and Nebula for 26% off here (best deal): curiositystream.com/adamneely

@scrumpeldwarf 2 жыл бұрын

What's up bud. I've been watching you.

@saltytea7367 2 жыл бұрын

@@scrumpeldwarf oh dear

@mayrln 2 жыл бұрын

did you grow a beard just so you could cosplay as the devil?

@ZippyLeroux 2 жыл бұрын

Hey man! Thanks for not being a dick about being so thoroughly correct in the face of such thorough incoreected... Incorrectly... Uhh... Incorr... Wrong!

@reme7903 2 жыл бұрын

thanks for you for clearing up the misinformation

@lordspoot151 2 жыл бұрын

The year is 2300, there are rumors that three hundred years ago the Lydian scale was banned as to not summon Jacob Collier.

@dacoconutnut9503 2 жыл бұрын

Someone: raises a 4th Jacob Collier: *AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHS* his way into the room with a G7913

@AbhiBass96 2 жыл бұрын

HAHA! I cannot breathe. This is great!

@Chris-vr8cd 2 жыл бұрын

Year is 2301, someone managed to summon him by playing Lydian b9

@honsebingus6426 2 жыл бұрын

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

@jeroenrl1438 2 жыл бұрын

I thought it would summon Rick Astley?

@metacob 2 жыл бұрын

Someone today: "Man, this riff is SICK!" Someone in 2321: "300 years ago, this sequence of notes was banned by health officials who declared it to cause disease"

@AlanKey86 2 жыл бұрын

Genius and very underrated comment

@evangelhogelho 2 жыл бұрын

Blessed d+

@sbyrstall 2 жыл бұрын

It was the cause of the covid-19 epidemic. 👍

@LiMCRiMZ 2 жыл бұрын

Exactly.

@doczooc 2 жыл бұрын

That riff was sick and he absolutely killed it!

@Ellary_Rosewood 2 жыл бұрын

Can Medieval lo-fi become a thing already? I didn't know I needed that in my life, but now I desperately do.

@santoriomaker69 2 жыл бұрын

I think it's more lo-fi since it's merely a sample of a medieval tune. But using medieval instruments and choral harmony to simulate a lo-fi type beat would be a pretty cool experiment.

@Ellary_Rosewood 2 жыл бұрын

@@santoriomaker69 Yeah, it would be so cool. Hopefully someone will make it someday! 😀

@Vkdennis87 Жыл бұрын

There are absolutely bands making Medieval European folk music. Heilung is a good place to start.

@bensomethingetc Жыл бұрын

@@santoriomaker69 No, what you should do is mix medieval/ars nova theory with lo fi

@markkinnon4866 Жыл бұрын

Not a million miles away from the works of Richard Souther way back in the day - kzfaq.info/get/bejne/hKlmm7uZqZizcnk.html

@crowbar_the_rogue 2 жыл бұрын

Where I learned music theory, the teacher kept declaring that the tritone was "the ugliest" interval so I started calling it "the nicest" interval in retaliation. I didn't even like it that much, looking back on it. But no interval shall be deemed the ugliest if I have anything to say about it! Then I got into jazz and realised that the tritone is probably the most interesting and versatile interval out there - it can sound ominous, expectant, sarcastic, whatever you like. It can make the melody spicier or it can peacefully resolve into a minor sixth.

@StoicDivinity 5 ай бұрын

Wow ur such a revolutionary

@germansnowman 2 жыл бұрын

The “tritone is the devil’s interval” myth is basically the “everyone was a flat earther” myth of music history.

@vtnatureboy 2 жыл бұрын

Tell that to Camille Saint-Saens.

@neaituppi7306 2 жыл бұрын

@@vtnatureboy Who isn't "everyone"

@ZAWARUD00 2 жыл бұрын

BTW, it's often easy to spot this kind of myth. When people say "during some centuries, the triton was banned by the Church in some places" it directly rings a bell. A serious claim would be "this guy in year X banned the triton to be used in place Y". When an historical claim is always excessively vague, it's surely a myth.

@IuriSigma 2 жыл бұрын

@@ZAWARUD00 Good catch. This is also true for most dissimulative claims overall: When someone's lying, they usually use vague and unspecific language.

@MattMusicianX 2 жыл бұрын

@ Martin Winter, was going to say the same thing :) Myths about myths and myths about my-time-period-is-better-than-all-other-time-periods. We say "Kids these days..." but also say "People back then..." 🤦 Just pick one already. I will add that at least it's understandable why people today believe the tritone myth while, however, there's no reason/excuse for believing everyone was a flat earther at one time.

@BenLevin 2 жыл бұрын

It’s amazing how hard the repetition legitimizes part hits. I guess repetition really does legitimize legitimately

@riggs234 2 жыл бұрын

The repetition of repetition legitimizes legitimizes its repetition

@divisix024 2 жыл бұрын

Repetition of the repetition of repetition legitimizes legitimizes the repetition of repetition legitimizes legitimizes the repetition of repetition and thus legitimizes the repetition of repetition legitimizes

@devonlamrock869 2 жыл бұрын

You know what's funny? When Adam mentioned the "two types of tritones", comparing the lighter rising tritone to the sadder descending tritone, I immediately thought of lovemenot. I'm 90% sure the 2nd to the 3rd note in the guitar intro is a tritone by listening. I'll have to actually play it on a piano when its not so late lol.

@igmusicandflying 2 жыл бұрын

I think the reason repetition legitimizes is because repetition legitimizes, y'know?

@brentstorck3589 2 жыл бұрын

How repetitively legit

@Phlarx 2 жыл бұрын

"Repetition legitimizes" is such an interesting and deep concept, because sometimes it cannot change the truth (like rewriting history, or changing the laws of physics), but sometimes it can (like word definitions and evolutions of language). This subtle distinction can be quite fascinating. There's lists and lists of words that have changed meaning over time, or been invented as we need them. Some people will say that these aren't 'real' words until they're added to a dictionary, but in actuality, a word must be 'real' before it will be added to any dictionary. Sorry, bit of a tangent there :P

@cinematiccrisis Жыл бұрын

But the truth (aka your standpoint) has also to be repeated - so it's always word against word.

@NoNameAtAll2 Жыл бұрын

it can rewrite history not the facts, but their interpretation

@Phlarx Жыл бұрын

@@NoNameAtAll2 That's what I meant; the actual events of the past cannot be changed. The stories we tell cannot change the past (though they can change how we remember the past).

@yunaru3643 Жыл бұрын

@@Phlarx but it might as well be, since interpretations=facts if no other evidences exist

@sanghelian 11 ай бұрын

i dont know if it was to keep the video monetized or what, but the original quote is "if you repeat the lie enough, it becomes the truth" and was a trick used by nazis to legitimize their propaganda. It only really works with things people cannot go check themselves, or atleast heavily banks on people being too lazy (or afraid) to go check themselves. Most of advertisement uses it, that's why influencers exist and they say " this vpn has military grade encryption" so often.

@ExistentialNathan Жыл бұрын

One thing my high school music director drilled into us was: "Practice isn't perfect. Practice is permanent. So learn it right the first time."

@thomasdavis8117 2 жыл бұрын

If there's anything I've learned from studying history it's that people in the past were always smarter than we give them credit for.

@petitpanierdosier3206 2 жыл бұрын

Not only people of the past but just others in general and there's a psycho concept about it don't remember the name though

@bunchesofmusic6751 2 жыл бұрын

Smartest thing I’ve heard all week :)

@theoriginaltommysteward 2 жыл бұрын

The flipside is also true -- people today aren't NEARLY as smart as they think they are.

@RafaelNelvam 2 жыл бұрын

so true. underestimating the past is part of our nature, but technology in special really screwed our perception of history

@alfiewright1396 2 жыл бұрын

In some ways. But in other ways they were so shockingly stupid

@jessekulbe1855 2 жыл бұрын

Maybe the real "devil's interval" was the friends we made along the way

@aceof8S 2 жыл бұрын

😁👌

@juliaf_ 2 жыл бұрын

I'd like but there's a flawless 666 likes

@Pteromandias 2 жыл бұрын

What is this from?

@jonnyhenningson9594 2 жыл бұрын

You are yes.

@NotSomeJustinWithoutAMoustache Жыл бұрын

@@Pteromandias I'm not sure, but apparently the first use of the original phrase online was in reference to One Piece, which is very apt.

@ems7623 2 жыл бұрын

Thinking back to my first college music history course - which began in the middle ages - I distinctly remember the professor saying "the tritone was never banned." Oddly, at that point I had never heard the myth that it was, so I was just completely confused by his insistence.

@badgerfool1980 Жыл бұрын

Bravo sir for correctly pronouncing "Ye olde days" (9:40) The "Y" at the beginning of "Ye" used to be an Anglo Saxon letter known as the "thorn" which was pronounced as "th", it looked quite a lot like a "Y" and as such at the advent of the printing press was often substituted by a "Y" leading to modern confusions and people pronouncing "ye olde" in a way which was never intended.

@noisydoll168 Жыл бұрын

I guess repetition legitimized that one, too. How fascinating.

@smuecke Жыл бұрын

Did you know that thorn was banned in the middle ages by the catholic church bc of its connection to paganism??

@alicen3162 11 ай бұрын

YES I LOVE THIS FACT

@theGreyFool 10 ай бұрын

Þ or lower case þ, to spare those interested some time googling. incidentally, the letter 'eth' (ð) was also dropped, though it was never replaced directly in print. instead it was simply replaced with the digraph 'th'

@Attaxalotl 10 ай бұрын

thorn actually looked like this þ, but german printing presses didn't have it (as the German language didn't have it); replacing it with a y and e stamped on top of eachother, and eventually a y and e next to eachother, "ye" and then that somehow became a "th," though I forgot how that happened. Thorn is a pretty neat letter though! I think we should bring it back! (Well, Icelandic still uses it. It's not completely gone.)

@quadecaX8 2 жыл бұрын

That 13th century lofi is fire af

@frithjof2004 2 жыл бұрын

balls in my face

@hustler3of4culture3 2 жыл бұрын

Definitely worth it's own video

@rpenguinboy 2 жыл бұрын

we stan

@joshua2400 2 жыл бұрын

God Christ Jesus bless you all and have a wonderful day my family!

@joshua2400 2 жыл бұрын

love you all

@shanyewest958 2 жыл бұрын

Imagine if they banned the lick so they didn’t summon Adam

@Phill6000 2 жыл бұрын

Give it 200 years and repetition will legitimize it as a fact.

@ArthurCrimson 2 жыл бұрын

L I C C*

@Eclipsed_Archon 2 жыл бұрын

an fact

@curiouscatlabinc2662 2 жыл бұрын

Too late! :D

@Olordrin 2 жыл бұрын

Too late, LegalEagle already used it. :D

@arpanmukherjee4625 Жыл бұрын

In Indian Raaga music theory, we have a thaat called Kalyan. In that the defining characteristics is the usage of "Tivra Madhyam" which roughly translates to and literally is Augumented Fourth. Many raagas in this thaat, used this note in the main phrases. We don't have a concept of harmony but we hear this frequently in the melodies.

@afrozen10-02 6 ай бұрын

That’s super fascinating.

@kildeer1897 Жыл бұрын

I love how the devil is wearing a shirt with the lick

@WhirligigStudios 2 жыл бұрын

I love how Adam Neely spent a few days not shaving just so he could play Satan for like two minutes.

@st_orlie 2 жыл бұрын

He probably already had the beard. Filmed the parts as the devil, shaved and then filmed the rest.

@PFDarkside 2 жыл бұрын

So that’s what’s taken so long for the next video! :)

@nicolascomesse7432 2 жыл бұрын

I firmly believe that he grew the goatie in over a month.

@pawel198812 2 жыл бұрын

That was clearly the Adam from the darkest timeline. And he's using the power of dissonance, memes, and social media to convince us to summon him and take over the life of our timeline's Adam. I bet Jacob Collier has a goatee in the other timeline as well. Evil Jake and evil Adam!

@KeepTheGates 2 жыл бұрын

He summoned the beard using tritones

@Dram1984 2 жыл бұрын

As a historian it’s always really frustrating when people assume people in the past where just dumber than we are now. Thank’s for pushing back on this.

@DerJayger 2 жыл бұрын

I just wanted to write that.

@ze_rubenator 2 жыл бұрын

People forget that they're riding easy on thousands of years of innovation, yet they themselves have never had an original thought.

@Riot076 2 жыл бұрын

Or that they didn't care for hygiene and were always covered in mud. Or that they were flat earthers or all died before 30 (shout out to Shadiversity). Or that the commoners didn't know any life aside from hard labour. And were also illiterate (in the present meaning of this word)

@germansnowman 2 жыл бұрын

@@Riot076 Metatron has a great follow-up on Shadiversity’s video.

@Riot076 2 жыл бұрын

@@germansnowman I've seen this one as well. He made some really valid points (as usual)

@AlikaMadis Жыл бұрын

Thanks for making this video! I’ve been trying to tell people that the tritone was never “banned” for years

@justindavis2013 Жыл бұрын

The use of "diabolus in musica" probably comes from the meaning of "diabolos" as literally a thing "thrown across," as in an obstacle on your path; so it was probably a reference to how hard it was to compose with.

@shanepauker3498 2 жыл бұрын

ascending tritone: delightful descending tritone: devilish purchasing fast food and disguising it as my own cooking: delightfully devilish

@pikapuffin368 2 жыл бұрын

Well, Shane, you’re a strange man, but I must admit: you steam a good ham.

@klimentmilanov 2 жыл бұрын

A tritone!? In this musical period, in this harmonic style, in this part of Western Europe, localized entirely within your piece commissioned by the Catholic Church!?

@callumwoulahan7681 2 жыл бұрын

@@klimentmilanov yes

@slowpunkforslowpunks2050 2 жыл бұрын

@@callumwoulahan7681 Can I listen to it?

@pikapuffin368 2 жыл бұрын

@@slowpunkforslowpunks2050 No

@TheMrsredfox 2 жыл бұрын

As a historian of medieval Europe, THANK YOU. Not just for the content, but for your attention to scholarship and respect towards it.

@kenlieck7756 2 жыл бұрын

Me... Die... Devil... Evil? Juggalio dude that is so effin' Metal you *gotta* respect it -- even if historically Europe were total gaylords what with all that "Final Countdown" power ballad sh*t...

@casperpieper8500 2 жыл бұрын

Jeg

@snoozley853 Жыл бұрын

@@kenlieck7756 wut

@thomasdupont7186 Жыл бұрын

Woooow that's impressive (to know you're a true historian) and inspiring... You're so right, we don't have enough respect and admiration for scholarships nowadays....

@andrewsammond6517 2 жыл бұрын

19:00 I wonder if Koji Kondo knew about this when composing Saria's Song versus the Song of Healing. I'm sure there are other aspects of the pieces that lend to their respective atmospheres but it was always fascinating to me that the same tritone played ascending versus descending changed the mood of the song.

@SlyHikari03 2 жыл бұрын

Yeah, It’s so playful and misty sounding, like forest feel like.

@quinn7894 3 ай бұрын

Interesting too, considering the only notes you can really play on the ocarina are D, F, A, B, and D, making the tritone very easy to access, but the major chord becomes elusive

@iamkeiju6756 Жыл бұрын

hey! the idea you mentioned of composing music for the big halls might also be the reason behind pop culture's (especially cartoons, think simpsons or something) obsession with that "aaah" sound, it is so characteristic of something godly, or heavenly in those realms and as to why that "aaah" was chosen is because it was the most powerful part of compositions you could hear in a church.

@zubrycky 2 жыл бұрын

The greatest trick the Tritone Ban ever pulled was convincing the world he did exist.

@CravensBen 2 жыл бұрын

But what if he does, you know?

@IzzoCello 2 жыл бұрын

🤣

@Moonless_Future 2 жыл бұрын

I want to like this, but it's got 666 now and that seems appropriate for this video.

@xXxjayceexXx 2 жыл бұрын

@@Moonless_Future same I hit like then undid it

@MakingaStink 2 жыл бұрын

You, my friend have won the comments. -Chris

@turtledruid464 2 жыл бұрын

The "devil in music" myth was literally in my music theory textbook. Really goes to show how easy it is for misinformation to become canonized.

@galoomba5559 2 жыл бұрын

same

@alexa174 2 жыл бұрын

There is a distinction to be made: if your textbook propagates the myth that it was banned, then sure, let's be mad about it. But most authors of such books have a very strong desire to appear as posh as possible, and throwing around useless terminology like "Diabolus in Musica" is the easiest way for them to do that. They don't necessarily *want* to spread any misinformation, but since they fail at properly explaining the context (aka their only job as a textbook author), that is exactly what happens when the students inevitably misunderstand what's written in the book.

@tonyisyourpal 2 жыл бұрын

“… become canonized” - I see what you did there ;)

@Tmanaz480 2 жыл бұрын

Right up there with "Columbus proved the earth is round".

@Bronze_Age_Sea_Person 2 жыл бұрын

@@Tmanaz480 Columbus proved the earth is round *Laughs in medieval Portuguese's armillary sphere*

@malaquiasalfaro81 Жыл бұрын

Before I knew much theory, I always called the jump from 0-6 as the “Nirvana Scream” because it sounded like a portion of Smells Like Teen Spirit. Now I use that interval a lot in my blues playing

@TheMartyredextras Жыл бұрын

I like that you actually put your music theory into practice in your videos by writing or remixing little bits within the video

@BrunoBrogio 2 жыл бұрын

This is how you educate the internet in 2021: you make 13th century lo-fi beats to study/summon the devil to

@olivierlaborde7887 2 жыл бұрын

Underrated comment

@lilybeejones 2 жыл бұрын

You made me choke on a chicken nugget

@lbb2rfarangkiinok 2 жыл бұрын

"a chord progression called the tritone". That one just stung.

@sbonfiglioli 2 жыл бұрын

Even better: the guy's playing A major

@eboone 2 жыл бұрын

“yet ever present in the minor 7th chord”

@matter509 2 жыл бұрын

worse I think is 'a note called the tritone'

@noahbarnhartandit2365 2 жыл бұрын

There's a lot of great Tweets here... I'm partial to 12:10 "Literally 3 notes (...) Once banned by the church 😈" Oh, just 3 then? That would surely be exceedingly easy to fact check, you'd think.

@jonathanriggs6599 Жыл бұрын

@@eboone 🤢🤢

@Chris-cf2kp Жыл бұрын

Your videos are always top tier. There is so much interesting information crammed into them.

@RobertoCosenza Жыл бұрын

Adam, I love your channel more and more. Admittedly sometimes I don't understand you (because some of the videos are too advanced for me but it's my fault) but you have a way of explaining music theory that really appeals to me. Thank you for sharing with us your experience and expertise as a musician

@AimeeNolte 2 жыл бұрын

Came to see the Devil costume…stayed for the lo-fi…and to hear you say “ars nova” a bajillion times.

@joaquinpercusses 2 жыл бұрын

That Viderunt Omnes Lo-Fi slaps hard!

@adityasrinivasulu 2 жыл бұрын

New arse lol

@joshuasamaniego3992 2 жыл бұрын

Love how you music creators support each other! Y’all rock!!

@JoJoDo 2 жыл бұрын

The lo-fi was 🔥🔥

@Midaspl 2 жыл бұрын

That lo-fi reminded me a lot of one song from the Silent Hill 2 tho... (white noiz)

@user-mb73 2 жыл бұрын

“Forgive me, father, for I have sinned. It has been a year since my last confession. I, uh… I played a tritone today in music class…”

@mb-176 2 жыл бұрын

why do we have the same username lol

@edwardclark6731 2 жыл бұрын

@@mb-176 what- @@@m b

@Cunningcreeper Жыл бұрын

I’ve always thought that while yeah the tritone is dissonant, the “Devil’s Interval” concept did not seem realistic. They knew almost as much about music back then as we do now, with infinitely less technology. Thank you for clearing this up.

@matiasfnovoae Жыл бұрын

You are awesome Adam. I'm going to show this to my Critical Thinking students - not only to culturize them a little bit in music, but also - to show them how to actually achieve a well driven process of analysis. Thank you so much for all your content 👏🏻

@LearnCompositionOnline 9 ай бұрын

So the tritonus was not avoided in medieval music?

@dietmarpfeffer4874 2 жыл бұрын

as a musicology student, I must say that I enjoy your longer documentary-like videos very much, I fall in awe thinking about all the research and thought you put into this. Thank you Adam!

@andrewjuby6339 2 жыл бұрын

As someone who only has the shallowest understanding of music theory from high school band 20 years ago, I love them too! I think that's one of Adam's greatest strengths: he can take very technical material and make it approachable and engaging no matter what your level of understanding is!

@joshk5686 2 жыл бұрын

I love how Adam basically did a genealogy of this concept to deconstruct our misconceptions of medieval music.

@AriMai84 Жыл бұрын

I’m glad you mentioned Early Music Sources - that’s one of my favorite channels ever! So much to learn from. 😊

@adenmekiah7935 2 жыл бұрын

Exceptionally grand presentation here sir. Inexplicably fulfilling in all fundamentals of obtaining knowledge and deciding what one holds as true. Love the sense of humor you have as well, it is definitely a sweet bonus element of the premise and analyses. Really appreciate your ability to properly convey this information. Thanks bro!

@KevinOMalleyisonlysmallreally 2 жыл бұрын

Make an EP called "repetition legitimizes" containing all the lo-fi tracks you've made for your videos please.

@TheSummoner 2 жыл бұрын

I second this.

@swaree 2 жыл бұрын

I decasecond this

@TheNateHaas 2 жыл бұрын

PLEASE yes, also the stuff from the microtonal equal temperament video

@evan-vd4fu 2 жыл бұрын

@@TheSummoner I second this.

@chicken_punk_pie 2 жыл бұрын

Much agreed

@AndyGoodstuff 2 жыл бұрын

Fuck my life, I can't believe how many times I've been the guy that says this to people only to now learn why it's complete bullshit. Sincerely though, thanks Adam. I'm genuinely so glad I learned where this all came from now.

@amaialaurentia 2 жыл бұрын

Same!

@spacevspitch4028 2 жыл бұрын

Probably the majority of us honestly. I first heard it when learning part-writing in high school. Though, my understanding was simply that it was to be avoided and never used as anything more than a passing tone to be resolved. The "devil in music" trope was pointed out but no one said it was outright banned. Just frowned upon. Like, "This thing sounds bad. Avoid it as much as possible." Honestly, my theory teachers made a much bigger deal about not using parallel 4ths, 5ths, and octaves (but especially 5ths) to such a degree you'd think that was the _real_ devil in music back then 😛

@jaimejaramillo1058 2 жыл бұрын

@fisterB 2 жыл бұрын

And I have never heard about this ban, so thank you Adam, that you and not any of the misinformed would command my attention.

@chasbari 2 жыл бұрын

Yep. In the same club.

@camarotrash Жыл бұрын

I think one of the reasons Nirvana’s “Aneurysm” is so good is because its chord progression-F#/C/B/A-features an immediate jump from the first chord to its tritone chord.

@bontempssss Жыл бұрын

I'm almost entirely ignorant of 'music theory,' and you intrigue and inspire me. What an extraordinary perspective you offer. Thank you so much!

@bdschwa 2 жыл бұрын

"All these 'Lil' rappers with their triplet flow." - Pope John XXII

@Bobbias 2 жыл бұрын

It's incredible how the timbre of the instrument affects how harsh a tritone can sound. Hearing the chant, there's a certain richness between the reverb and the complexity of human voices that is entirely absent when hearing it on a dry piano sound.

@owenbloomfield1177 2 жыл бұрын

I wouldn't be surprised if the choir is not singing in equal temperament.

@Bobbias 2 жыл бұрын

@@owenbloomfield1177 that's a good point I hadn't considered. I wouldn't be either, now that you mention it.

@Jason75913 2 жыл бұрын

I prefer a string patch to a piano patch on my keyboards for trying out chord movements, piano makes the more dissonant chords extra dissonant.

@wyattreed4024 2 жыл бұрын

The almighty "20th century harmony" really opened my eyes to how drastically timbre affects the harmonic colour of a piece. Definitely changed the way I see the relationship between orchestration and composition.

@ceciliasaraivaunirio 2 жыл бұрын

Good point. I have tried to play it on my cello, and even discounting my not so good intonation (lol), it doesn't sound good. My teacher tried it too, it sounds horrible, really, when you try to play both notes of the tritone at the same time.

@williamogrady8216 Жыл бұрын

Very fun Adam. Nicely done. I just found something I was amazed I didn't see before: Take the tritone that occurs in the C major scale, B-F. Resolve it inward by half-step and you get C-E, strongly suggesting a C major chord. Now, go back to B-F(E#) and resolve it OUTWARD by half-step. You get A#-F#, strongly suggesting an F# major chord, as far away from C major as you can get. One simple, beautiful interval spans the entire tonal system!

@harrylightfoot2223 2 жыл бұрын

Incredibly well thought out, researched, documented and packaged argument Adam keep up the good work!

@DaMonster 2 жыл бұрын

The PERFECT tritone ever present in the minor seventh chord There are just so many things wrong with that tweet it’s hilarious

@johnkotches8320 2 жыл бұрын

It’s a great example of knowing a word exists without knowing what it actually means.

@TheCrazyDog1234 2 жыл бұрын

these people really typing just to type

@thegreatgambeeno 2 жыл бұрын

Those are all indeed words in an order.

@Cloiss_ 2 жыл бұрын

there was another one that seemed to imply that the tritone is literally 3 notes

@alieffauzanrizky7202 2 жыл бұрын

@@Cloiss_ Well, "tri" and "tone". I can't even blame him to not understand what tritone is

@samsepiol6151 2 жыл бұрын

As Bill Bailey put it: "this is an augmented forth or a diminished fifth, depending on your outlook on life."

@gabrielrangel956 2 жыл бұрын

I suppose both, all pure tritones have inverses

@mastod0n1 2 жыл бұрын

I love Bill Bailey and I appreciate that joke, but there is actually a difference between augmented 4th and diminished 5th. It has to do with context and where each note wants to resolve. The augmented 4th wants to resolve outward but the diminished 5th wants to resolve inward.

@gabrielrangel956 2 жыл бұрын

@@mastod0n1 they are literally different notes in any system of JI, singers will also usually hit one or the other but rarely the 12tet one

@noesunyoutuber7680 2 жыл бұрын

@@mastod0n1 For all of us who watch Adam Neely but are nonetheless not the best with music theory, what exactly does resolving outwards versus inwards mean? Out of key versus in key, upper octave root versus lower octave root, I'm lost.

@franekciuk3694 2 жыл бұрын

@@noesunyoutuber7680 The 4< resolves to a 6 while the 5> resolves to a 3

@bouzoukiman5000 Жыл бұрын

I was always skeptical of that story. Thanks for setting the record straight

@andrewprichard1896 Жыл бұрын

Just stumbled onto your channel and can't stop watching. I absolutely love your content!

@aloysiusdevadanderabercrombie8 2 жыл бұрын

Music theory is like one of my other hobbies, linguistics, in that people like to perpetuate myths that have no historical basis in order to feel like they are more advanced and evolved than those who came before them.

@tiddlypom2097 2 жыл бұрын

Like "Eskimos have over 200 words for snow!" I'm also a linguistics geek and the debunking of this "fact" was a key moment for me in seeing how much misinformation is continually propagated. Most areas of study are more complicated than can be explained with these kind of factoids.

@jolkert_ 2 жыл бұрын

@@tiddlypom2097 Linguistics gang. the "100s of words for snow" one is really annoying. there's also a lot of bad takes about English spelling. the worst is "'ghoti' is actually a spelling of /fɪʃ/ that is perfectly consistent with English spelling rules" like no it's not. find me one English word that uses for /f/ at the beginning of a word or for /ʃ/ at the end of a word. or even one word that isn't "women" that uses for /ɪ/ (that one *might* exist actually? but I can't think of one off the top of my head so). Like no that's not how English spelling works

@sigmascrub 2 жыл бұрын

@@jolkert_ "try to find me the one word that does this that's not the one word that does this"? 😶 I'm not trying to be an asshole, but...

@dnys_7827 2 жыл бұрын

@@jolkert_ I mean ive always found the ghoti thing pretty funny as well as pretty useful as a tool to show people the inconsistencies of English orthography. I dont think anyone is literally saying this word could naturally occur, it's more of a 'hey look, heres some weird relationships between sound and writing that you probably haven't noticed' gesture and it can very easily be followed up by a 'now let's think about why this looks so unnatural' to demonstrate exactly how context dependent the patterns of english spelling are. it's a good meme and it mostly gets used fine imo.

@JeremyAndersonBoise 2 жыл бұрын

Narcissism of Small Differences? Smells like it.

@merdufer 2 жыл бұрын

Imagine an alternative history where the tritone was described as "a pain in the ass" and it became known as the music of kinky sex.

@MackerelSkyLtd 2 жыл бұрын

Insert the painting by Hieronymus Bosch which has a guy playing a trumpet with his ass here.

@BrunoBrogio 2 жыл бұрын

Then the soundtracks to anal scenes would be super jazzy

@arthurmerlinodemadureira1671 2 жыл бұрын

Esse comentário devia ter mais atenção 😭

@fenestrapain 2 жыл бұрын

I mean, there are tritones all over the Nine Inch Nails discography... and damn if that isn’t classic bdsm background music.

@alpaca_x Жыл бұрын

The mere effort required to conduct due diligence in researching this topic is a feat on its own. Great content as always!

@marks6051 Жыл бұрын

12:40 I love that you winkingly throw a tritone into the 13th c. lofi bassline too. Great video!

@penguin902 2 жыл бұрын

We need more respectful and accurcate "um actually" stuff like this. There's so much disinfo that gets mutated and malformed and reshared today in so many topics and it's a game of telephone on an evergrowing level. Snd when you get 'certified' ppl involved it can allow for b.s. to catch on even quicker(like the Jacob Collier thing). This is a refreshing format to combat that.

@reywashere5284 2 жыл бұрын

In the late 20th century, the minor 2nd was banned on beaches to avoid summoning sharks.

@Mitioritos 2 жыл бұрын

Honestly this makes alot of sence. Last week i played a 4 choir Giovani Gabrielli piece and i noticed how many times there would be tritones in my voicing and sometimes in the harmony itself... but its still a very controlled I-V-I type of sounding piece

@Tausami 2 жыл бұрын

David Byrne (from Talking Heads) has a great book about music where he reframed the evolution of western music over the centuries as equally talented musicians writing for the context where their music was performed, and that context changing through the development of technology, changing what pressures musicians were under and eventually giving us more leeway to fuck around Like, if you're writing music for a choir to sing in a reverberant cathedral, you don't want to use much dissonance. With that 10 second reverb, where the last chord is still sounding while the next one plays, it will just turn into an incoherent mess. It's not that they were naive and afraid of the spicy notes, they were just writing for a performance context where those notes weren't very useful.

@Tausami 2 жыл бұрын

It's not surprising at all that dissonance became more common as the context changed to allow composers more control over the performance. In the classical period, a string quartet in some rich guy's mansion can get away with a lot more than a choir in a cathedral could. And on top of that, add in economic development. Wagner was able to commission his own performance space to his own specifications, to suit the type of music he wanted to write. Perotin could never have done that. Who knows what Perotin would have written if you have him a billion dollars and told him to do whatever he wanted?

@Tausami 2 жыл бұрын

And of course, today, with modern recording technology and synths and shit, we can literally make any sound we want and get away with it. And with the internet and stuff, we have a shot at finding an audience for whatever it is we want to do

@roberthaveman4726 2 жыл бұрын

I can't decide what's better: debunking a pernicious myth or shining a spotlight on the radness that is early music. Thank you Adam!

@servvo 2 жыл бұрын

the daseian scale is actually just a bunch of licc baits stacked on top of each other

@YumiVanherck 2 жыл бұрын

I thought I was the only one who noticed

@StupidMusicalExperiments 2 жыл бұрын

Licc tease

@mattgilbert7347 2 жыл бұрын

Dasein scale? The Being There scale?

@KafinSulthan 2 жыл бұрын

@@mattgilbert7347 ahahah nice heidegger reference

@erboch7124 2 жыл бұрын

I thought I was the only one lmaooo

@michaelcarrig627 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you for this, I have been looking for some reference for this myth forever.

@johnsayre2038 Жыл бұрын

By far the most interesting thing I have heard, seen, learned, or thought about all day. Quite a bit of new to me information. Thank you so much for the content.

@LordQueezle 2 жыл бұрын

I would love way more lofi-chant tracks

@spongeborgtheford4971 2 жыл бұрын

Do you know if this one was released?

@maxwellkiesner5047 2 жыл бұрын

Yes please!

@netrunnerz 2 жыл бұрын

Don't worry pals, I'll remake it!

@spongeborgtheford4971 2 жыл бұрын

@@netrunnerz bet. Please do it

@spongeborgtheford4971 2 жыл бұрын

@@jonbezeau3124 delete your comment it's not relevant to the reply section.

@InventorZahran 2 жыл бұрын

The old church: "They fill their ears with impertinence, and they relieve them not. [...]" Blues musicians: **play dominent 7th chords with no intention of resolving the dissonance**

@ThePapsforshort 2 жыл бұрын

Wow! Really interesting and informative history on the use of the tritone in music from antiquity to present. The tritone in context can be amazing, especially in Jazz... great 30min doc!

@Traveler248 2 ай бұрын

Absolutely brilliant video. I appreciate your deep research into your topics, and the great examples peppered throughout. I learn more in one of your videos than I did over an entire semester in music school -- partly because I ditched because it was so boring.

@Taschenschieber 2 жыл бұрын

"And can I learn this interval?" "Not from a Jedi."

@manueldelsol31270 2 жыл бұрын

"Have you heard of Tony Iommi the wise" ?...

@eldani8095 2 жыл бұрын

ha! :D nice one

@Micahtmusic 2 жыл бұрын

have you ever heard the tragedy of the tritone?

@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721 2 жыл бұрын

@@manueldelsol31270 I thought not. It's not a story the Catholic Church would tell you.

@jjs333 2 жыл бұрын

“Not from a pop artist”

@thomasrosebrough9062 2 жыл бұрын

Side note: I love the phrase "jpeg'd into oblivion"

@daanwilmer 2 жыл бұрын

We're truly living in a digital age now that "jpeg'd into oblivion" is more relatable than "Xerox of a xerox".

@iantaakalla8180 2 жыл бұрын

When Bojack Horseman’s downfall in Season 6 is named “Jpeg’d into oblivion”

@ze_rubenator 2 жыл бұрын

@@daanwilmer Xerox wasn't a thing in my language, it was just called copy machine.

@eliasv.2910 2 жыл бұрын

Simulacrum of Simulacrum!!

@seedmole Жыл бұрын

One big takeaway from this video for me is how much it highlights the piano's tonality and how so much of western music theory is filtered through the lens of the piano. These relationships are fine and can stand alone as long as they're played with simple enough tones, but the moment they start containing signicant amounts of overtones, you get the cacophony that the piano produces when it's playing the same voicings. Western music notation doesn't account for the tonal qualities of the waveform aside from what instrument it's written for, but if it did have notation for that it would probably indicate that those delicate ars nova voicings simply cannot be played on piano because it produces dissonant relationships between overtones that could be avoided on instruments with more purely sinusoidal tones.

@hetedeleambacht6608 6 ай бұрын

YES!!! machaut on piano......hm...didnt quite sound as i have sung it in a vocal ensemble....then there is ....simultanuous playing all the notes and playing them in succession (albeit with some reverberance)....not transferable to piano entirely indeed

@wills_helm 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you so much for this video! Not only did I get discover 'new' music but also got Inspired to do an essay for college where I and a colleague quote this video and some of the reffrences you provide 🔊🎼🎵🎶❤

@Team_Recorder 2 жыл бұрын

This is brilliant Adam, why did I legitimately learn more about tritones from this video than in a zillion years of early music conservatory??? Love a surprise James Tenney mention too (his spatial music is wild) 🎵

@joekelly7505 2 жыл бұрын

Were any of your teachers classically trained metal-heads? 😆

@KLBoringBand 2 жыл бұрын

James Tenney is sooooo rad. Diapasón is one of the best pieces I’ve heard!

@juleslefumiste9204 2 жыл бұрын

Cause you were a lazy student prob lol? :D

@gonikassif8527 2 жыл бұрын

Yooooo it's Sarah

@tristanperciful6609 2 жыл бұрын

Yooooo team recorder! I started recorder because of you!

@BLooDCoMPleX 2 жыл бұрын

The "lo-fi choral" is basically a Massive Attack song.

@chucku00 2 жыл бұрын

It was called trip-hop in the 90's.

@arianaalioth Жыл бұрын

Your lo fi Perotin interlude is DOPE. SICK. SLAPS. ABSOLUTELY STUNNING AND AWESOME!!!!!! Is there anyway you can make a separate track and post on youtube.

@sushibutter7917 2 жыл бұрын

i love the way you edit!! good video

@LunaireTD 2 жыл бұрын

That sudden lo-fi section hit me like a truck in the best way possible.

@Jilktube 2 жыл бұрын

Yeah I've never heard of this myth, but as a historian, reading all those tweets and watching to all those clips made me want to cry. Shit's too real and I gotta deal with it all the time.

@paavobergmann4920 2 жыл бұрын

biologist. I feel you.

@petitpanierdosier3206 2 жыл бұрын

Twitter is the equivalent of why you don't give people too much power

@mxtantrum 2 жыл бұрын

but this is not just an internet meme. I never had a Twitter account (I don't even know how it works), no Instagram, I deleted my Facebook account years ago, TikTok sounds to me like a brand of pet food, and I don't even have Whatsapp anymore. Call me a monk if you want, but that didn't make me more insightful about the Tritone Hoax (I guess we can call it that now).

@gloriouscontent3538 2 жыл бұрын

I'm glad I'm not alone in that, because I started breaking down hearing from Brad Nunn's comment that this misinformation makes it's way into the exact place it shouldn't.

@gandalfthegrey2171 2 жыл бұрын

Yep, fellow historian. So sick of people thinking that those who lived before us were silly or stupid or less enlightened.

@HoraceMash 2 жыл бұрын

I fondly remember Physical Education class at Arnold Junior School in Blackpool, Lancashire in 1977 during which our Welsh teacher, Mr Dresser, had his 9-year old students perform interpretive dance to the title track of Black Sabbath. Ironically, our headmaster, Mr Outhwaite, introduced the school to Holst during assembly. Tritones were getting a lot of airtime in 70s Blackpool. Love your work Adam Neely. Keep searching for truth and beauty (and spicy goodness).

@mr88cet Жыл бұрын

The 7:5-frequency-ratio tritone is a surprisingly-serene musical experience. Well, for a tritone anyway…

@yvesbajulaz 2 жыл бұрын

What a well made and perfectly paced docu… He is really in a league by himself for music content.

@astamilio 2 жыл бұрын

I'm a teacher, and I'm going to use part 5 as an example of the difference between history and memory. Thanks Adam!

@sprunch_alox 2 жыл бұрын

I really wish I was your student..anything history is something I love to take part in..and the fact that you love taking new things (especially from KZfaq) just shows how much you want others to learn..Thank U my guy~😂

@Rylee_G 2 жыл бұрын

Hell yeah

@niceperson180 2 жыл бұрын

In high school in our advanced chorus we sang madrigals with tritones in them, so I always knew this myth was total hogwash but could never actually explain why. This was so satisfying to watch lol

@dearodear 2 жыл бұрын

BRAVO ! That's most comprehensive and documented content I've seen about the triton. Thank you

@chizhang2765 2 жыл бұрын

Jacob and co.: Tritones are so dissonant they can literally summon devils me: *hold my badly tuned guitar*

@DapperHesher 2 жыл бұрын

*diabolically laughs in minor 2nd

@iantaakalla8180 2 жыл бұрын

Pokémonishly laughs in the minor second and tritones

@v0Xx60 2 жыл бұрын

Saying something is "hard as Hell" doesn't mean it's ACTUALLY FROM HELL. I find it amusing that people seem to think that just because ancient people were ancient that they didn't know what a "figure of speech" was and that they only spoke literally.

@Maugrin9 2 жыл бұрын

I's a very common thing for people to think past humans were antiquated and weren't just as smart, sarcastic, funny, etc. as we are today. Like, of course musicians back then would've complained that tritones and minor seconds were a pain in the ass to sing, because musicians in the present say that too! Historical change isn't a linear progression towards the perfection of the human race; culture changes, but people are still people.

@CravensBen 2 жыл бұрын

Same goes for the Bible. So many people think humanity just became smart a few generations ago.

@dacoconutnut9503 2 жыл бұрын

*undantes your sonata*

@v0Xx60 2 жыл бұрын

@@CravensBen amazing how even with a few thousand years of art, music and theater to draw from, we still manage to make such childish mistakes.

@bacicinvatteneaca 2 жыл бұрын

It's probably linked to classism and racism. People don't think preindustrial societies were/are human.

@sniffythepoocowtatum5436 Жыл бұрын

I really enjoy following your thoughts. My mind connects in many of the same ways you present yours in your vids. I very much enjoy these videos. Thank you. I am turning everyone on to it that I think can follow along. Good on you pup!!

@MarkPhillips 2 ай бұрын

Awesome. Thanks so much for explaining this to such detail, but I shall have to watch it at least 6 times to get my head around it all. thanks again.

@dolomighty74 2 жыл бұрын

On even shorter time scales, the higgs boson became "the god particle" from being originally "that goddamn particle"... patterns I'm finding...

@SimiVideoCreator 2 жыл бұрын

omg i didn't even know hahaha

@Bronze_Age_Sea_Person 2 жыл бұрын

It's so funny to see other people's reactions when they mention the god particle and I explain the actual physics behind it and how difficult was to detect it at first. It's like : "Oh!" and they quickly deflate, since such an "awesome" topic became boring physics, although not boring for me. Same when you explain the Mayan Calendar and show 21/12/2012 was just an end of a cycle of it, not the end of the world. Just another cool conversation topic thrown into the gutter, and the person will have to rely on "sure the weather is nice today" as conversation topics once again.

@alexandrebier4581 2 жыл бұрын

Note to self: never get into an argument with Adam. The lenghts he will go through to prove you're wrong are ridiculous.

@BigDBrian 2 жыл бұрын

doesn't that just make him easy to control

@shammerHammer 2 жыл бұрын

Honestly though, if you call out Jacob on something he said, you better make sure noone will have any ground to attack you :D

@Digital-Dan 2 жыл бұрын

Cross out ridiculous, and replace with wondrous.

@alexandrebier4581 2 жыл бұрын

@@Digital-Dan Yes! I meant ridiculous in the most positive and incredible way!

@diannelovesyou 2 жыл бұрын

This is him not even in an argument! Imagine how much more thorough he'd be

@davejones4292 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for this. Really interesting and entertaining. Would love to see more videos like this.

@MooImABunny Жыл бұрын

pretty funny, a few days ago your lofi Pe'rotin interlude popped into my mind but I couldn't remember what it was. now youtube just suggested this video to me again, lo and behold, there it is. good tune

@regojozsa 2 жыл бұрын

"the tritone is the devil's interval" being an inside joke for composers just seems like an earlier iteration of The Lick

@MoonDisast 2 жыл бұрын

"The lick is a devil of a music meme. So annoying" . . . "The lick is the music meme belonging to the devil. In brings chaos unto the world"

@NicleT 2 жыл бұрын

Same phenomenon with the Wilhelm scream among sound editors in movies.

@Jason75913 2 жыл бұрын

I'd be very surprised if they didn't have actual "The Lick" memes among themselves back then, at least the performers.

@Tmanaz480 2 жыл бұрын

@@NicleT Dang! You read my mind. But I was gonna say Universal telephone ring.

@gabrielbarcelos1226 2 жыл бұрын

I need this lo-fi track man. These little snippets of music you make are so goddamm good.

@colinlabriegagne7094 2 жыл бұрын

we all need adam to release a lofi album

@archerdoubleO 2 жыл бұрын

Same

@GeorgeMammarella 2 жыл бұрын

Fr, got his lofi xmas tracks he did when he had them on bandcamp. Would do again for this.

@WildsideSky Жыл бұрын

Thank you so much for making these videos, your content is INCREDIBLE!

@Peter-by3ox Жыл бұрын

was waiting for the Sabbath ref - you didn't disappoint - nice \m/

@supergene256 2 жыл бұрын

I'm very happy that you're exposing people to the greatness of early medieval polyphony. We need melodies in modern music again

@pwhqngl0evzeg7z37 2 жыл бұрын

Hearing that 14th century piece makes me want to hear more of it. I really want modern musicians to start capitalizing on these techniques, similar to the way some prog rock refreshes classical techniques.

@topologyrob 2 жыл бұрын

To clarify, I'm guessing by "early medieval polyphony" you're meaning early polyphony in medieval periods, because of course in the early medieval years (like 500-800 CE), polyphony wasn't much of a thing in notated music was it? Though it was going on in folk music all over the place. Perotin wasn't till way later - 1199.