lydianchromaticconcept.com

Hello, I'm a Senior in HighSchool, and at my school I have to do a senior project that requires lots of time and effort. For it, I need to make a paper on a subject that really interests me. So I decided to do it on The Concept, which I got about six months ago, and have slowly been digesting it. I am wondering which view I should take my paper, like for example, if I should talk mostly about the mechanics of the concept, or if I should talk about the people influenced by the concept, (or any other views). Suggestions?

Well that is an ambitious project!

Introducing the Concept is a complex undertaking.

If you are dealing with mostly non-musicians, you need to keep it simple and understandable. Delving too deeply into theoretical harmony is probably going to daze them....

I see LCCOTO (an Jazz) as the ultimate study in relativity.

everthing is relative to everthing else if you understand the relationship.

The idea of using the 12 tones of music in an orderly fasion to allow 'tonal sounds to 'not so' tonal sounds-that is -close to distant relationships.

I suppose I would spend more time conveying the 'Idea' of how the 12 tones can relate to each other in different ways but use an additional -seperate medium that they can understand to get the message across.

You can even use family relationships for example -close-distant.

Or looking at things from a different angle which could give a differerent meaning to something.
There are a whole host of things you could use to get the idea across.

You can take a sentence and start re-arranging the words so it slowly transforms into something else with a different meaning... but yet you can always maintain control because you understand the structure and relationships.

You get the idea.

If you are working with non-musicians, don't try to dazzle them with theory but explain how the Concept helps to bring organization to what could be percieved as chaos!

Hope this helps!

Jim B

You might explore the idea of why an alternative theory of music could be valuable. In looking at world music for example, in seems odd to try to analyze music that wasn’t conceived with the same formalities as Western music and try to interpret it through the lens of traditional Western music theory.
Wish I could have gone to your high school!

Hi Andrew,

You can write an exciting paper on Melody.

Some basic areas you could write about are;

1) What is melody?

2) How to construct a melody.

3) Discuss different types of melodies people hear in their music.

4)The importance or lack of importance of melody in music.

The list can go on and on.

Enjoy,

Musically,

Howard

Hi,

I think if the topic is the LC then you ought to keep it in that realm.

you can explain how you might create a melody using LC but that still gets back to the theory /relativity of it.

The advancement of maj/min/dim/aug 7th chords through LC is another approach/ how it expands the use of these chords thru displacement.

A short history of LC is good. How it differs from the standard approach of chords.

Vertical/horizontal.

Just the main areas that express LC the best.

Jim

Great ideas Jim! It's going to be about ten pages, so I'm going to do 2-3 pages on what you were talking about, the history of the concept and how it differs from different theory,. Then I'm going to talk about the different Cds that were influenced one way or another by the Concept (Kind of Blue, Giant Steps, Sketches of Spain, The Shape of Jazz to Come, Sunday at the Village Vanguard, A Love Supreme, Bitches Brew.)