icepixie | Music question

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!

Current Mood: curious
Crossposts: http://icepixie.livejournal.com/743496.html

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

icepixie

"Why are some mathematical ratios more pleasing than others?"

I feel like it has to relate to the idea of the Golden Mean and all that stuff about facial symmetry and particular hip/waist ratios being more attractive than others.

Or perhaps certain chord progressions (and thus mathematical ratios) sound more intentional than others, and thus carry the connotation of communication, which we're wired to respond to?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Profile

icepixie

My AO3 Page

March 2023

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
			1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8	9	10	11
12	13	14	15	16	17	18
19	20	21	22	23	24	25
26	27	28	29	30	31

Tags

adventures in cookery [16]
amusements on the intertubes [158]
ankylosing spondylitis [12]
apartment [1]
art [2]
article [1]
austen h8 [10]
ballet [3]
ballroom dancing [39]
birds [10]
birthday [7]
books [157]
- harry potter [8]
- lotr [10]
- vorkosigans [10]
buying a house [1]
choir [16]
college [74]
comps [22]
contra dance [1]
crack [7]
crazy fic ideas [22]
dead of cute [3]
dear yuletide writer [5]
dog [14]
doooooooom [4]
ehlers-danlos [2]
england [3]
england is strange [26]
exeter [38]
fail [2]
fake tv show [2]
fandom [47]
fandom addiction fairy [4]
fanvids that live in my head [3]
fic [120]
fic series
- closet idealism au (b5) [12]
fic
- snippets [4]
figure skating [207]
- spectating [33]
gardening [2]
geekery [9]
glee [23]
gonna need an ark [12]
grad school [177]
graduation [2]
grammar goddess [1]
gre [4]
grrr argh [61]
gynecological adventures [32]
health [39]
heh [43]
history [2]
holiday cards [3]
housekeeping [7]
humane society [2]
i am english major hear me analyze [26]
i have awesome friends [4]
i wonder [1]
ibook saga [7]
icons [13]
job search [5]
kenyon [93]
klutz [14]
knoxville [4]
laura roslin is my role model [1]
lazy academic [1]
library [2]
life [307]
little post of horrors [4]
media
- thrilling adventure hour [3]
- welcome to night vale [1]
meme [94]
mock mock mock [2]
mood themes [2]
movies [73]
- fred and ginger [31]
- sky captain [4]
- the cutting edge [7]
- the thin man [6]
museum [2]
music [141]
musicals [5]
my illustrious publishing career [4]
nashville [55]
octorhymo [1]
pealers [2]
photography [7]
photos [133]
picspam [1]
poetry [12]
- mine [3]
pollage [15]
puns [15]
recs [40]
scapercon
- vsc [1]
scary [15]
science fiction [6]
senior week [5]
shiny [16]
skating [1]
skiffy [2]
tea [5]
teaching [46]
thesis [58]
tooth saga [5]
trains [4]
travel [64]
- bath [4]
- bristol [1]
- california [1]
- chicago [5]
- cornwall [4]
- dartmoor [5]
- dawlish [3]
- denver [2]
- dover [2]
- edinburgh [3]
- exmouth [1]
- glastonbury [2]
- ireland [6]
- kent [2]
- london [12]
- lucerne [3]
- new york city [2]
- northumbria [1]
- oxford [1]
- paris [2]
- salisbury [1]
- salzburg [2]
- scotland [3]
- seattle [2]
- st. andrews [2]
- stourhead [1]
- stratford [1]
- topsham [1]
- totnes [2]
- washington dc [2]
tv
- agent carter [15]
- alias [5]
- atlantis [26]
  - sheppard/weir [6]
- babylon 5 [149]
  - ivanova/delenn [2]
  - ivanova/garibaldi [25]
  - ivanova/marcus [3]
  - ivanova/talia [1]
- ballykissangel [10]
- bbc [8]
- body of proof [44]
- bones [44]
- brisco county [1]
- bsg [93]
  - adama/roslin [3]
- bunheads [3]
- burn notice [26]
- caprica [1]
- carnivale [6]
- caroline in the city [6]
- castle [80]
- chilling adventures of sabrina [1]
- china beach [29]
- corner gas [21]
  - karen/davis [1]
- crusade [6]
- cupid [30]
- doctor who [86]
  - charley pollard [3]
  - doctor/rose [1]
  - eight [17]
  - eight/charley [10]
  - five [5]
  - five/tegan [6]
  - four [10]
  - four/romana [2]
  - four/sarah jane [2]
  - nine [9]
  - sarah jane smith [1]
  - six [1]
  - ten [32]
- due south [72]
  - fraser/thatcher [30]
  - yukon fic [7]
- earth 2 [1]
- farscape [25]
- firefly [4]
- firely [1]
- forever knight [3]
- fringe [96]
- futurama [2]
- ghosts [1]
- horrible histories [1]
- lois and clark [2]
- mad men [7]
- middleman [1]
- misc [36]
- miss fisher's murder mysteries [3]
- moonlighting [4]
- nashville [5]
- nikki & nora [2]
- northern exposure [56]
- orphan black [2]
- pushing daisies [33]
- rizzoli & isles [10]
- robson arms [3]
- sajv [7]
  - jules/rebecca [1]
- sg-1 [35]
  - daniel/janet [1]
  - sam/jack [12]
- sleepy hollow [3]
- slings and arrows [17]
- spaced [4]
- star trek [4]
  - discovery [2]
  - ds9 [7]
  - enterprise [1]
  - voyager [11]
- stranger things [4]
- supernatural [2]
- the americans [5]
- the crown [1]
- the invisible man [1]
- the librarians [2]
- torchwood [1]
- wandavision [1]
- warehouse 13 [24]
- wings [1]
- wonderfalls [14]
- x-files [24]
- xena [4]
useful things [4]
victorian [17]
vidding [26]
vids [30]
weird [3]
when i am old i shall wear purple [2]
work [22]
writing [133]
wrong [2]
wtf [15]
year in review [3]

Page Summary

icepixie - (no subject)

Style Credit

Style: Philosopher for Dusty Foot by timeasmymeasure

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags

Page generated Jan. 15th, 2026 10:10 pm

To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive

Music question