Why is Instrumental in this is in D Major? Daydreaming by Radiohead Chords, Melody, and Music Theory Analysis - Hooktheory
It has several out of scale notes, why is it put in D Major?
The bIII and bVI are borrowed from the D minor scale. This is a pretty common composing technique, called “modal interchange,” which is a fancy way of saying, borrow chords from other modes of D. So technically you can borrow anything from D minor, D Dorian, D Phrygian, etc. (Although not everything sounds good in all contexts.) And I said they’re borrowed from D minor, but they’re also in D Dorian and Phrygian. Borrowed chords like this can introduce a measure of uncertainty, until a certain note is played, until and unless a chord contains the characteristic note of the mode. (For Dorian, for example, it’s the major 6.)
Out-of-scale notes seem confusing at first (they certainly confused me), but they make music interesting.
i do it a lot to create what i call “pseudo” modulations where i just need a hint that i’m modulating but not really…
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It could be argued that you are, in fact modulating. I mean, technically, you are. But I get your point. They’re more like head-fakes than real changes in direction.
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To be very very specific, bIII is probably best thought of as borrowed from Dorian. (3->b3, 7->b7)
bVI as borrowed from Harmonic Minor. (6->b6, 3->b3)
bVII as borrowed from Mixolydian. (7->b7)
These are at least the most consonant scales in relation to the Major scale. Of course when improvising or writing melody over these chords one could choose to go a little farther from the parent key if they so choose, but let’s look at the bIII chord (in D Major) as an example.
If you conceptualize this chord (F) as being just borrowed from D Minor, you may end up using a Bb (b6 of D Major, 4 of F) over the chord. At this point, this is totally valid as an artistic choice, but I feel it is still important for the composer to know they are pulling the ear a little farther from the home tonality even if they like it.
If you conceptualize this same bIII (F) chord as being just borrowed from the D Dorian, you may end up using a B (6 of D Major, #4 of F) over the chord, thus remaining a little more consonant to the home tonality.
Sorry if that’s too much info or redundant to your knowledge. I just find these little intricacies fascinating.
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