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If ever there was a type of music with a specific meaning that would be sure to last in any target audience, it would have to be music involving love in one way or another... Everybody needs this music in their life and everybody can relate to it, even if it's the really lonely side of love!

I've been trying to pick up on certain elements of each of these 'different emotions of love' tunes to try and incorporate them into my own works... The only real ESSENTIAL thing they need seems to be vocals, it's very hard (but not impossible) to have a 'love song' without lyrics.

Other than that I've noticed these elements for these categories of 'love music'.

Romantic music to make you want to make love to your other half and smooch a lot -
Spanish Flamenco-style guitars are often used.
String Sections
Electronic Guitars (often 'ballad' style)
Minor Scales (would really like to know which, and which modes are often used!)
Vocal harmony
Pianos
Brushed Drum kits
Smooth pads
Subtle Percussion such as tambourines
Woodwind - Particularly Saxophones.

Sad love music that you often listen to when lonely, which makes you feel one hundred times worse
All very similar to the romantic elements just with more sad tones in voice and often slower swings etc.

And obviously there's plenty more types of love music, but I'm interested to see what everybody else has noticed... Please

this is like the Roland Barthes analysis of music. There's a bunch of works like this, lemme think of which ones matter the most.

hooray for structuralism.


but yeah-- read barthes. S/Z in particular.

terekete wrote:this is like the Roland Barthes analysis of music. There's a bunch of works like this, lemme think of which ones matter the most.

hooray for structuralism.


but yeah-- read barthes. S/Z in particular.

I had a feeling either you or the dude with the piano in his head would be the first to reply to this lol.

I've tried to follow your advice and have been all over Amazon looking through Roland Barthes works relevant to music, without much success...
I also had a look on wikipedia regarding the author, and read a little about structuralism, had no luck finding this either...

I'd appreciate if you could give a hand pointing me in the right direction at all?

Phrasing

rfk wrote:Phrasing

Hhmm, now you've lost me?

I see you're from Chichester, I'm one of your gritty neighbours from Bognor lol

in practicality: major keys are happy. elements of 'love' can be felt through any key, it's all about how you write them.
there's also fender rhodes, muffled drums, muted elements in general-- though none of those are exlusionary as being ONLY about love.

as far as things having static, consistent relationships with being about "love"... that's a really philosophical concept.

If yr in the mood to get all eggheady:

Barthes wrote a bunch about breaking down prose into structural elements that related to emotion. S/Z is the big one, but "a lover's discourse" is great as well. Neither are about music, but are definitely parallels to this idea.

Nothing is immediately ringing a bell, though i think Derrida wrote some on music.

there's this: http://www.cobussen.com/proefschrift/10 ... a_text.htm

Foucault also wrote, i think, on music.

just a forwarning-- you're venturing into some EXTREMELY high-level nerd stuff on this.

terekete wrote:in practicality: major keys are happy. elements of 'love' can be felt through any key, it's all about how you write them.
there's also fender rhodes, muffled drums, muted elements in general-- though none of those are exlusionary as being ONLY about love.

as far as things having static, consistent relationships with being about "love"... that's a really philosophical concept.

If yr in the mood to get all eggheady:

Barthes wrote a bunch about breaking down prose into structural elements that related to emotion. S/Z is the big one, but "a lover's discourse" is great as well. Neither are about music, but are definitely parallels to this idea.

Nothing is immediately ringing a bell, though i think Derrida wrote some on music.

there's this: http://www.cobussen.com/proefschrift/10 ... a_text.htm

Foucault also wrote, i think, on music.

just a forwarning-- you're venturing into some EXTREMELY high-level nerd stuff on this.

If you want some high-level stuff step into Adorno's : Philosophy of Modern Music






http://books.google.com/books?id=QNDYSV ... q=&f=false

if you want to drop some love

drop it brazillian style

maj7
9
minor6
diminished

maj7 chord is love

also read a bit on Hindustani raag-- each raga is set up to fit a particular rasa, or mood--- very psychoacoustic stuff.

terekete wrote:
just a forwarning-- you're venturing into some EXTREMELY high-level nerd stuff on this.

Lol I wouldn't worry about that mate, I watch Eggheads daily And, I'm reading Shakespeare's history plays at the moment just for pleasure. I have a bit of a crave to learn as much as I can about anything and everything!

I'll be sure to check out all you have suggested, thanks again!

hurlingdervish wrote:if you want to drop some love

drop it brazillian style

maj7
9
minor6
diminished

maj7 chord is love

Wicked, I'll try this out!

terekete wrote:also read a bit on Hindustani raag-- each raga is set up to fit a particular rasa, or mood--- very psychoacoustic stuff.

Sweet dude, I've done a fair bit of study on Indian music and own a copy of 'The Raga Guide' (a very expensive book, might I add!!) So I'll definitely look into this one as well!

If you have to THINK about what kind of chords sound like "love", you're doing it wrong.

It's simply putting an emotion into music. Ya just gotta feel it. And know how to play music.

yong wrote:If you have to THINK about what kind of chords sound like "love", you're crap in bed.

fixed

yong wrote:If you have to THINK about what kind of chords sound like "love", you're doing it wrong.

Well if you're going to be like that I'll be pedantic and say that in reality love is only an emotion generated alone by THOUGHT so, in reality, you have to THINK about anything, including how to make something sound like 'love'. Love is just an amount of thoughts, maybe sometimes a very little amount of them, which signal certain chemicals causing the 'feeling'.

Admittedly, I agree that in essence, making a love song should come from the 'heart', but I like to believe that anything is critically analysable.

ninjadog wrote:It's simply putting an emotion into music. Ya just gotta feel it. And know how to play music.

I see what you're all saying here, but lets be honest... You can put all your emotions into playing music on a drum kit alone and you're never going to give people the goosebumps and feelings I'm thinking of in doing so, so I think you're missing my point...

wirez wrote:

yong wrote:If you have to THINK about what kind of chords sound like "love", you're doing it wrong.

Well if you're going to be like that I'll be pedantic and say that in reality love is only an emotion generated alone by THOUGHT so, in reality, you have to THINK about anything, including how to make something sound like 'love'. Love is just an amount of thoughts, maybe sometimes a very little amount of them, which signal certain chemicals causing the 'feeling'.

Admittedly, I agree that in essence, making a love song should come from the 'heart', but I like to believe that anything is critically analysable.

Feel music, don't think music.

yong wrote:

wirez wrote:

yong wrote:If you have to THINK about what kind of chords sound like "love", you're doing it wrong.

Well if you're going to be like that I'll be pedantic and say that in reality love is only an emotion generated alone by THOUGHT so, in reality, you have to THINK about anything, including how to make something sound like 'love'. Love is just an amount of thoughts, maybe sometimes a very little amount of them, which signal certain chemicals causing the 'feeling'.

Admittedly, I agree that in essence, making a love song should come from the 'heart', but I like to believe that anything is critically analysable.

Feel music, don't think music.

do you think with your penis?

well then, love isn't all a thought process then is it.


Seriously though, some things just aren't worth trying to express in our limited vocabulary. I think you would get more of a sense of what a love song is by listening to love songs; chord progressions, instrumentation etc are just going to be traditions and cliches, and I don't think you should necessarily rely on that to write music.

Besides, wtf is a love song without lyrics anyway? A song that makes you feel love? So if you love a song that makes it a love song? So if you love cannibal corpse's tracks then they write love songs?

Honestly, I don't believe that instrumental music is inherently related to concepts like love. Instrumental music can effect you emotionally, but I think any explanation of it's effect on you is going to be a simplification, and utterly useless unless you're trying to explain it to a deaf person (which is a stupid exercise because if you succeed in explaining how great you feel when you listen to that certain piece of music then they're just going to be pissed off they can't experience it).