Progressions: “Pedal Tones”

Not long ago I received an email from someone who, after viewing my analysis of ‘Lost in This Moment’, asked about something that’s been around in songwriting for a very long time when they asked, “What’s a ‘Pedal Tone’?”

Since answering that email I’ve discussed this in 2 consultations with up-and-coming songwriters, so… seems like a good subject to cover here.

What is it?

A pedal tone (or pedal point) is a note that remains unchanged while chords change over/around it. It’s easier for some people to think of it as an ‘anchor’ while the chords change ‘on top’. It’s common for the pedal tone to be either the root or 5th of the key.

Who Uses it?

Pedal tones are used in every style of music. Beethoven used them, as did other classical composers; it’s found regularly in dance music; and rock n’ roll & heavy metal make use of it as well.

You’ll often find a pedal tone used to create a dramatic effect and the bass frequently given the job of holding the root of the key as the pedal tone.

An Example

In ‘Lost in This Moment’ the pedal tone first makes an appearance in the first verse. Listen to the song closely and you’ll here the steady ‘B’ note held throughout the verse as well as the ‘B’ arpeggio of the electric guitar while a very lightly mixed acoustic makes the 5-4-1 chord changes.

If your ear can’t pick out the acoustic guitar, listen to the second verse. The electric guitar maintains the ‘B’ arpeggio while the bass moves from 5-4-1.

Note that the song is in the key of ‘B’, so this is a root pedal tone.

What Makes it Work?

The pedal tone in ‘Lost in This Moment’ helps create a tension and release. The verses begin with the 5 chord (F) of which the pedal tone (B) is a 4th and thereby creating added tension to the already dominant chord. The next chord in the verse progression is a 4 chord (E) of which the pedal tone is a 5th (the dominant of the chord), before the song moves to the 1 chord (B) which brings the pedal tone to function as the root. So the pedal tone in this case creates added tension to the ‘lead’ chord. It’s subsequent place as a fifth and root adds to the feeling of release felt at the end of each line.

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Til next time, keep writing!

5 weeks at #1 for 'Never Wanted Nothing More'

It ran to the top quick, and there it remains folks.

Forget pop music, it's all about ringtones

Anytime Rick Carnes is out and hears a song played as someone's ringtone, well, it's like music to his ears.

Carnes, a songwriter for nearly three decades, laughs when he considers that his work is more valuable as a ringtone--just a few seconds of his music--than a full version of one of his songs downloaded from the Web.

"Where's the logic in that?" asks Carnes, president of the Songwriters Guild of America.

Until last October, music publishers were able to pocket 10 percent of the retail price for a song, according to Steve Gordon, a copyright attorney. This meant that for a $2.99 ringtone, the publisher could make 30 cents and typically split half with the songwriter.

But the labels are now threatening to choke off that extra income. Record companies claim songwriters and music publishers charge too much and want prices restricted to a rate of 9.1 cents per song.

The labels argue that they are entitled to the extra money because music publishers pay nothing of the large upfront costs associated with producing master recordings, according to Gordon.

Carnes, 57, who has written songs for Alabama, Reba McEntire and Dean Martin, said that all the songwriters want is to be allowed to negotiate the price of their music.

Read full article

'Never Wanted Nothing More' #1 for 4th week

'Never Wanted Nothing More' keeps its grip on the top spot of the country music charts for the 4th week. Perhaps a good time for you to review and compare analysis of the previous #1's we've looked at over the past few months.

The 3 Stooges - Insincerity, Triteness and just plain Drivel!

Insincere small talk, trite phrases, and even drivel, sprinkle all of our conversational lives at times and mostly without consequence. But in songwriting, place these in your lyric and you’ve got a disaster on your hands.

There are songs I hear from time to time in which a mini-movie rolls through my mind.

Read my article at:
San Diego Chronicle

From "White Christmas" to Sgt. Pepper: The Conceptual Revolution in Popular Music

In a 'working paper' just issued, University of Chicago's David Galenson argues that the shift in songwriting style from the Tin Pan Alley era to the music of Bob Dylan and John Lennon brought a drastic change to the general songwriting approach and hence the songwriting labor market (Galenson is an economist, thus the labor market viewpoint).

I found the paper very interesting and it coincides with my longtime belief in the approach Dylan and Lennon took in much of their writing. It also tackles the subject of age vs. creativity. Galenson makes an intriguing, and I believe accurate, distinction between 'experimental creators' and ' conceptual creators'.

"Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, and other songwriters of the Golden Era wrote popular songs that treated common topics clearly and simply. During the mid-1960s Bob Dylan, John Lennon, and Paul McCartney created a new kind of popular music that was personal and often obscure. This shift, which transformed popular music from an experimental into a conceptual art, produced a distinct change in the creative life cycles of songwriters. Golden Era songwriters were generally at their best during their 30s and 40s, whereas since the mid-'60s popular songwriters have consistently done their best work during their 20s. The revolution in popular music occurred at a time when young innovators were making similar transformations in other arts: Jean-Luc Godard and his fellow New Wave directors created a conceptual revolution in film in the early '60s, just as Andy Warhol and other Pop artists made painting a conceptual activity."

Galenson's entire paper is here.

3rd week is a charm for 'Never Wanted Nothing More'

'Never Wanted Nothing More' remained the #1 country song this past week, making it the top song for 3 weeks now.

CINCINNATI MAN SENTENCED TO TEN MONTHS IN PRISON FOR MUSIC PIRACY

Federal Judge William Haynes sentenced Decharmus Grover to 10 months in jail (U.S. Attorney's Office, Middle TN). Caught selling CDs and DVDs in the parking lot of a Dollar General store in Nashville, the FBI and Nashville police found over 500 hundred copyrighted recordings and films copied onto CDs and DVDs along with copying equipment powered by the car’s battery. Authorities also confiscated nearly $10,000 in cash, which will be paid to the victim industries as restitution.

In a release issued by the U.S. Attorney's office, U.S. Attorney Craig Morford stated that "Violations of intellectual property crimes and copyright laws such as this occupy a high priority with both the Department of Justice and this U.S. Attorney's office in particular, given that so many residents of Middle Tennessee are involved in the recording industry."

What? You Want Me to PAY for This Coffee?!

A few days ago a friend sent me a link to a discussion on MusicBanter.com which had posted an article from The Detroit Free Press.

The article is about a gourmet coffee shop in Florida and it’s anger over ASCAP approaching them for payment for live, in-store performances. The shop has been asked to pay $400/year and the owners are angry. It always amazes me how some folks think… or don’t.

I posted a response and want you all to see the immediate reaction I received. The general public is so naïve in that they perceive a “right” to free music. These folks don’t seem to understand they couldn’t buy groceries if they weren’t employed by a business that sells a product or service.

I have a very good friend who’s a professional airline pilot. He’s definitely no dummy, yet he’s taken part in illegal peer-to-peer music swap sites for several years and no matter how many angles I use to describe to him that it’s stealing, he fails to get my point (of course if a stowaway were discovered on my friends airplane I suspect he’d be the first to become red-faced and toss them off).

People that would never load their grocery cart or buggy at Wal-Mart then walk out without paying are stealing on a regular basis. I suspect it’s often not actually a failure to understand, as much as knowing they won’t be caught. The only difference between those folks and shoplifters at Wal-Mart is tenacity.

Below is my post in regard to the Detroit Free Press article and the first response to that post:

“$400 per year is likely a great investment in their business. It's $1.10 per day. If performance of cover tunes causes customers to come in or 'hang-out' longer, how many coffees, teas, or muffins do you suppose they'll have to sell before they recoup that $1.10 investment and then reap the rewards of more sales?

Even if the other two performing rights organizations (ASCAP, BMI, SESAC are the only ones in the U.S., NOT the "three biggest") are paid the same amount, it's a total of $1200 for the entire year, equaling roughly $3.30 per day.

The article quotes the gourmet coffee shop owner as saying, "It makes me so angry"... "I feel like the greedy music industry..."

GREEDY?? Really? For wanting to be paid for use of a product?

Next time I travel through Florida I'll have to swing by their coffee shop, drink a cup of coffee, tea, or eat a muffin, then walk out without paying. Surely the GREEDY owners of the product won't expect me to pay for it.”

Four minutes later I received this response:

“What utter rubbish.

Could you imagine the state of the world if the publishing industry took the same example with books? Imagine schools having to pay money out to quote books , imagine libraries being closed down because of illegal sharing of free books.

The music industry is full of crooks & opportunists and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.”

Sadly, many share this perspective based on ignorance. So I answered by explaining that books are not different than music when it comes to paying for use. I explained that libraries and schools are permitted use of copyrighted material by way of “Fair Use” which is part of the U.S Copyright Act.

I explained that libraries have to purchase many of their books with our tax money, spending an average of 20-30% of their budget for materials, with around 85% of that funding coming from taxes and not donations. Based on this I suggested he should include book publishers in his description of "crooks and opportunists".

Of course, just like my friend he didn’t get it; and I’ll still be expected for some strange reason to pay for my next cup of joe at my favorite coffee house tomorrow.

The Song Remains the Same

'Never Wanted Nothing More' continued to hold the #1 spot on the charts this week, so no analysis til next week.

Prince's Experiment With Free CDs Raises a Ruckus

The artist Prince caused a huge stir in the music industry a few days ago when 2.9 million copies of his new CD Planet Earth were bundled with Sunday copies of the UK newspaper The Mail. There was a furious backlash from the music industry -- including his own label, Sony BMG -- at this act of heresy of giving music away free. But it will probably pay off for Prince in the long run. To begin with, The Mail paid him a reported $500,000 for this venture.

Prince's overall logic? Well, his last CD sold only 80,000 copies in the UK. As a so-called heritage artist (meaning one who's been around a while and doesn't sell millions of CDs anymore), he figures since his main income derives from selling concert tickets and merchandise, including sales of his previous CDs, it makes sense to try to attract new listeners and expand his fan base. And offering free music may be the best way to do that. And the UK has been way ahead with that. For years, British music magazines such as Mojo and Q have done that with sampler CDs inserted in their magazines, and the Oxford American does that here at home.

If the music industry had gotten out in front of paid music downloads in a timely fashion, the industry wouldn't be in the pickle it now finds itself in. As it is, the only viable solution for the downloading issue came from a music industry outsider -- Apple's Steve Jobs with his iTunes and iPod. As CD sales continue to plummet, there are few options left for the music business...

Read entire article here.