What is this melody?

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julius
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What is this melody?

#1 Post by julius » Tue Oct 14, 2003 10:56 am

Blues on Parade, Woody Herman. The background riff (daaaah, dah dah dah, daah dah DAH, dah dah dah) sounds familiar, but I can't place it. Is it a classical theme? An Ellington theme Herman copped?
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kitkat
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Re: What is this melody?

#2 Post by kitkat » Tue Oct 14, 2003 11:38 am

julius wrote:Is it a classical theme?
Well...the first four notes (GBCD) make me think of this minor classical piece that I can't place, but I'm pretty sure I've played it or studied it in a particular semester I still have notes from, so I should eventually be able to name it if it's relevant... It goes:
G BCD F {Eb}DCD G BCD{Eb}D{Eb}F {Eb}DCD
then some stuff...
And then higher instruments repeat that melody (can't remember if they take it into major or stay in minor). It's some orchestral piece.

So yeah...the switch to major between
GBCD
and
B(up)G (down)G(up)ED (down)D(up)DC (down)D(up)AG
throws me off.

Dunno...if no one can find better theme, maybe the first four notes came from the classical piece, and the rest was a swing composer? I mean, we're talking same rhythm, and I'm pretty sure even the same key.
But that's probably kind of far-fetched, so I hope someone comes up with something better.

Cool song.

---------
Added: Still can't find where the phrase stuck in my head thanks to your riff comes from. Asked my music prof and my genius-at-memorizing-melodies friend, and all they could say about it was, "Something Russian."
Last edited by kitkat on Tue Oct 14, 2003 4:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Lindy Bomb
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#3 Post by Lindy Bomb » Tue Oct 14, 2003 3:37 pm

Hm, that *does* sound familiar. Now I'm going to be humming that theme for the next few days. Thanks Julius. :wink:

It sounds reminiscent of Holst...or John Williams (which would mean that he did the ripping off, which is no big change for him)... :roll:
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Lindy Bomb
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#4 Post by Lindy Bomb » Tue Oct 14, 2003 4:14 pm

Ok, so...to go with what kitkat said the first four notes of the phrase do sound familiar, both major and minor. It's the smae motif from the Overature to Ruslan and Ludmilla by Glinka, but without the really fast scales that follow. I know it sounds like something else though, the entire melody. Maybe Wagner, maybe Holst, maybe Williams (who ripped them both off), or maybe we're all just imagining things. :wink:
Last edited by Lindy Bomb on Tue Oct 14, 2003 8:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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julius
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#5 Post by julius » Tue Oct 14, 2003 5:00 pm

In the end I think it was just familiar because I'd heard a version of Blues on Parade NOT by woody herman so many times that the melody just became impressed on my brain.

Oh well. It's a pretty catchy melody, so not too surprising.
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