BEST FUGUE EVAR!!!

yay, muppets!

but that's not a fugue, actually.  the hallmark of a fugue is that it starts with a subject, followed by the entry of the subject at the transposition of a fifth to which the original line makes counterpoint.

WTC rocks!  i didn't recognize this melody, but it could have been in one of the preludes (which precede each fugue).

it's the 4th one in book #1, Fugue #2 in C minor- i swear that's it- lemme listen to alphabet chat again

yea, it would be like, just the beginning- the whole this is like 1.35 or sumpin like that...

it's FUGUETASTIC!

oh yea, and that freakey, chruchy ending - what is that called?

oh, you're right!  i've even played that one, just didn't recognize it with the extension and added harmony instead of the 2nd entry of the subject.  good ear!  but it's still not a fugue, just a borrowed melody from one.  :-)

the use of a major chord to end a piece in prevailing minor harmony is called a "picardy third" (since it's the third of the chord that is raised to make it major).  coming to a full cadence and then going on for a few bars to another one is, i think, called an extension.  the descending scale-in-thirds bassline at the end does sound freaky and churchy, but i don't know whether there's a name for it.

@ le sacre - oh cool, i emailed another theory person and to the picardy third thing- ending in C, E, & G instead of a C, Eflat &G - OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT.
i guess maybe a good name for it is Baroque? hahahaa!

I'm a math student & took a lot of music as a young kid, and i love all the music theory rules and trends. dunno why, i just do. So glad to know there is someone on here who REALLY KNOWS about it !! :)

the next-most-fundamental thing about music theory is that chords built off different notes of the scale have different functions within the harmony (and we call them by roman numerals).  the most powerful effect is the V chord.

so in C major:

C  D  E  F  G  A  B  C

the I chord is C-E-G, and the V chord is G-B-D.  again for reasons no one can explain, the B in that chord really "wants" to go upward and arrive on the C (which is only a half-step away--there's no black key on the piano between B and C), which feels like coming "home" to the I chord.

you get an even stronger drive when you add a seventh to the chord (V7): G-B-D-F.  the B wants to go up to C, and the F wants to go down to E (also only a half-step away).  if you play the chords I, IV, V7, and don't finish off with another I, it feels totally incomplete.

;-)

The best Fugee ever was Wyclef because he said "One Time, One TIme" and he became a hella good producer. And he doesn't rant on and on about hatred for white people like Laurlyn Hill. ANd who even remembers the other Fugee? Not me.