Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2019 June 28

= June 28 =

Song Title was something Titicaca? But can't find this by that name, what is the name of this song?
Song on Vocaroo Many thanks, again the file from years ago was just Something Titicaca, all help is appreciated! RetroVector (talk) 04:28, 28 June 2019 (UTC)

What's this music?
Hi, Can anyone tell me what this music is?

Youtube /xMDdaNLc8DU?t=44

It won't let me post the link, but I expect you can work it out. Thanks. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.20.193.222 (talk) 13:29, 28 June 2019 (UTC)
 * If you're asking about the theme music at the start of the film, that is music specially composed for the film by Matt Morton (his name appears in the credits at the end). You can listen to extracts from the soundtrack here. The film is called The Last Steps and we don't have an article on it. --Viennese Waltz 14:07, 28 June 2019 (UTC)
 * Viennese Waltz Tyvm, I greatly appreciate your answer. Perfect. Have a wonderful weekend. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.20.193.222 (talk) 14:29, 28 June 2019 (UTC)
 * Yeah, no worries. --Viennese Waltz 14:35, 28 June 2019 (UTC)

86.20.193.222 (talk) 14:37, 28 June 2019 (UTC)

Key of "Now the Day is Over", G or D??
Every note in the first and last quarters of the hymn "Now the Day is Over" (this song has no Wikipedia article; please do a Google search for info on it) is a D. The note G appears only a few times, all within the middle of the song; assuming there are 8 measures in 4/4 time they're all in the fourth and fifth measures. The fourth measure has 2 half notes (E-G) and the fifth measure is G-G-F♯-E (and all notes in measures 6-8 are D.) It clearly sounds more like it is in the key of D than it does like it's in G, but the song is officially in G as indicated by the chords (G-D7-G in measures 1-2, Em-B7-Em in measures 3-4, A7-D-G in measures 5-6, D7-G in measures 7-8.) How easy is it for the melody to actually sound like it's in G major without playing any chords?? (Do a Google search for sheet music.) Georgia guy (talk) 20:32, 28 June 2019 (UTC)
 * A song's key is a notational convention and not a law of physics. Which is to say, when a song is assigned a key, it is done so because the performers of the song then know what kind of conventions to follow (notes and chord changes to anticipate).  Technically, any song can be notated in any key, it just depends on how many accidentals you want to use when writing.  If you don't read music, and are really good at either playing by ear or memorizing a song, the key is irrelevant.  Some songs do fit comfortably in multiple keys.  If you want to get better at understanding music theory like this, especially on the sometimes arbitrary and non-deterministic nature of music theory, there are a few really good YouTube channels out there.  Three I can recommend are 12 Tone, which is probably the best entry level one, then bassist Adam Neely probably hits a mid-level understanding well, and engineer and producer Rick Beato does good as well, but his analyses often presume a higher level of understanding than the others, though his "What Makes This Song Great" series is approachable.  I hope those are useful to you.-- Jayron 32 16:34, 29 June 2019 (UTC)
 * That is clearly not what I'm talking about. What you're talking about is something like the following, which I have no problems with:

Here are 2 ways of playing the same melody on the piano; all notes are quarter notes except the last note of each line, which is a half note:


 * 1) C-C-G-G-A-A-G, F-F-E-E-D-D-C
 * 2) F-F-C-C-D-D-C, B♭-B♭-A-A-G-G-F

These are the same melody in different keys.

But that clearly is not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about a melody that sounds like it's in the key of D major accompanied by a G major chord progression. Georgia guy (talk) 17:14, 29 June 2019 (UTC)
 * That's clearly not what I was talking about either. I'm saying that there, given the same set of notes used in a song, one can call it any number of keys.  A key is a notational and conventional thing.  I don't know what you're talking about in your response, because it had nothing to do with what I said.  What I was saying is that there are some songs that could be considered to be in different keys depending on perspective, and that assigning a set of notes to a key is useful but somewhat arbitrary anyways.  Yes, if I write a 12-bar blues using the E, A, and B chords, it's nearly universal that music theorists would recognize that as the key off E, but that doesn't mean every song is so easy to categorize.  After all, we have concepts like "accidentals" and "borrowed chords" and the like because there are many songs that defy easy categorization into a single key.  What you are talking about in your recent response to me is key modulation, which I never brought up at all.  I was talking about the fact that yes, there are times when one song will be difficult to assign a key to.  Because music theory is not deterministic.  It is a tool for analyses, and sometimes our existing conventions fall short of providing a facile analysis.-- Jayron 32 18:11, 29 June 2019 (UTC)
 * I think the question makes more sense than you are giving it credit for. I presume the tune in question is Merrial: music here, though in A major rather than G. To my ear, if I play or sing just the melody line, with no harmony, then the final E "sounds like" the fifth of the scale rather than the root. I can't put my finger on why this is the case: possibly it's because the Es in the previous bar sound like a phrase that would typically resolve to an A. AndrewWTaylor (talk) 07:46, 30 June 2019 (UTC)

Is there a name for this song?
I noticed that this song from Putt-Putt Goes to the Moon also is used in this episode of Adventures in Wonderland (skip to 8:36). Does it have a name?75.117.52.123 (talk) 20:35, 28 June 2019 (UTC)
 * Both tunes (not "songs") are based around a whole-tone scale, which is often used for spooky or mysterious effects. AndrewWTaylor (talk) 07:33, 30 June 2019 (UTC)