Music question

[icepixie]

Music theorists, I have a question for you. I recently heard Dar Williams's "And a God Descended" for the first time, and I found that there was something really, really musically satisfying about the first line of the chorus, or rather the first two lines, since the melody and arrangement repeats itself. (Here's a clip of the relevant part, with a bit of the preceding verse for context.) It's not necessarily that I think it's pretty, though I do, but rather that it feels very, very right that these notes/chords follow each other in this order. Is there some objective reason why I find it so satisfying, such a particularly strong resolution of the chords involved, or something like that? Or is it pure idiosyncrasy?

Also, in case anyone missed it, the Small Fandoms/Rarepairs/Rarely-written Characters Promote-a-Thon and Request Line is still going on! Come share your rare fanworks and see if other people have written things you never knew you needed!

Comments

[alto2.livejournal.com]

I'm listening to Pachelbel's Canon now, and am sort of gobsmacked at the fact that the sequence is exactly the same;

I'm not only because I've seen this WAY too many times (I'm sure you have, too?).

[icepixie]

Oh, that thingy! Yes, I have seen it, but the only thing I remember about it was the part where he rants about the eight notes in the cello part...

[sleepingcbw.livejournal.com]

Heh. Yeah, that's because you actually worked on your comps. Those of us who were less diligent can recite it from memory.

[icepixie]

Heh. Good theory, except for the part where it falls apart when I remind you that you were doing three sets, and if I remember correctly still managed to pull a distinction on the English comps. ;)

[alto2.livejournal.com]

I didn't watch it again because, you know, bedtime and didn't really want that floating through my head when I wanted to be sleeping--but he does talk about how the damn thing is everywhere, right?

(I remember my mother telling me one time that if Pachelbel had known the Canon would be the only piece he was remembered for, he probably wouldn't have written it...)

[icepixie]

He does talk about it; I just didn't remember it.

[alto2.livejournal.com]

Ah good. I'm not crazy after all. ;)