{ "schemaVersion": "v1", "slug": "thinking-polyphonically-fugue-state", "title": "Thinking Polyphonically (Fugue State)", "kind": "solo", "listenUrl": "https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lovemusicmore/episodes/Thinking-Polyphonically-Fugue-State-e29g3qd", "publishedAt": "2026-10-14", "source": { "provider": "whisper", "model": "faster-whisper:base", "normalizedSchema": "v1", "transcribedAt": "2026-06-09T10:39:01.706Z" }, "paragraphs": [ { "startSec": 0.4, "endSec": 28.73, "text": "Music Appreciation. What's good, everybody, this is Scoobert Doobert.Last solo pod, I was talking about inversions and harmony and a thing that I didn't reallytalk about too much but it's called voice leading where you're taking one note and you'releading it to the next." }, { "startSec": 28.73, "endSec": 54.41, "text": "And so what I really want to dig into and a little inspired by the conversation with Bubbyis kind of being free with music, exploring different genres, and then also I'm tryingto take some of these music theory concepts and explain how they're kind of like grammar.You know, you can pull from different bags of grammar depending on your situation." }, { "startSec": 54.41, "endSec": 88.01, "text": "If I want to talk very professorial, I'm going to speak in a different manner, that kindof thing.And from that, we have the grammar of historical music and we have the grammar of modern music.And oftentimes the coolest stuff is using a little bit of both.And there's a reason why we study some of these things in music school.So Bach is like the king of music school stuff.We study it not necessarily to become Bach." }, { "startSec": 88.01, "endSec": 117.73, "text": "Instead, it's kind of like taking your vitamins or doing your push ups like Bubby does, youknow, 500 push ups a day.That's four part voice leading exercises.And the real goal of that is not again to write like that, but instead to develop what'scalled a polyphonic mind set.So quick music history lesson.It starts off with Gregorian chant in Western music, Gregorian chant, which is unisonchant in the church." }, { "startSec": 117.73, "endSec": 145.45, "text": "And it's just singing a melody eventually that evolves into organum and now you kindof have drone notes and then these chance.So like also you can think about Indian classical music.We have these drone notes and then melodies on top, a simple form of, you know, two partplaying.We have a drone that's playing like say the root, and then a whole ornamentation on topof that ball.Anyway, that's like drone based music." }, { "startSec": 145.45, "endSec": 176.57, "text": "Then you develop polyphony where you just stack individual voices on top of each other.And oftentimes they're singing melodies that are counter to each other, creating essentialharmonies, but also creating two melodic lines that you can follow.And one of the things I find really fun about bass is that it is the primary counterpointinstrument.You vocal melody and then a bass line and they are dancing together." }, { "startSec": 176.57, "endSec": 194.41, "text": "Sometimes against each other, sometimes ones leading the other, sometimes that thatroll gets reversed and sometimes they go in completely different directions, do a littledance on their own and then come back together.And sometimes they're in lockstep each supporting the next.And that's what Bubby was talking about with Snoop Dogg where, you know, he's got gin" }, { "startSec": 194.41, "endSec": 226.91, "text": "and juice with four notes and they're finding opportunities and moments to stretch out andimprovise and dance with the melody in a different way or in the case of that, like therap or anything where you're ornamenting.And that's that polyphonic mindset is like thinking not just as a support instrument butalso as a counter support instrument, as a counterpoint.And also thinking melodically and everything you do." }, { "startSec": 226.91, "endSec": 250.63, "text": "So the voice leading idea is not just saying like, oh, like less blocky chords, it's tryingto say inside of every chord, there are multiple notes.Sometimes, you know, eight notes as you go on crazy.But usually it'll be three or four notes.How do those three or four notes move to the next note?Be intentional about it.It's regardless if it's blocky, that's fine too." }, { "startSec": 250.63, "endSec": 275.35, "text": "You can also think about it and say like where does each of these individual notes, where'sthe most interesting next place for it to go?So I have three chords and I'm going, or I have three notes in one chord and then I'mgoing to another chord with three notes, where is the direction of each of those notes?That's why we learn Bach.So what I want to do is I found a royalty-free version of one of the coolest and most" }, { "startSec": 275.35, "endSec": 298.83, "text": "famous Bach fugues.It is the little fugue and I want to play it for you and I'm going to talk over it andruin it just so that you can get a sense of polyphony and counterpoint and also the waysthat you can take a melody and twist it and stretch it and convert it and invert it.And you'll just hear it for yourself.It's the best way to do it." }, { "startSec": 298.83, "endSec": 331.3, "text": "So if you are a music school, you'd be transcribing this, you'd be trying to write a versionof this not to become Bach, but instead to think in multiple melodies at once.So like a Gregorian chant, here you go.Here's the main subject, the musical theme, and that's called the answer that comesin." }, { "startSec": 331.3, "endSec": 346.42, "text": "See other playing against each other and they're creating implied harmony, they've gotanother subject, now another answer over in the left ear if you're listening to headphones." }, { "startSec": 346.42, "endSec": 367.25, "text": "Here I'll complex this sounds, but you can latch onto any individual note or any individualpart of what you're hearing and it's a melody.There's just a bunch of melodies kind of going against each other." }, { "startSec": 367.25, "endSec": 392.1, "text": "You have that tension, it sounds like family opera, and here's how you have that return" }, { "startSec": 392.1, "endSec": 418.19, "text": "of that kind of melody that's subject, that's like the chorus in these kind of tunes,right?Here we've kind of changed, now we're kind of in like a different key, we're in a relatively" }, { "startSec": 418.19, "endSec": 475.96, "text": "major key, and listen to the use of repetition, tension, release, complexity, simplicity,that you didn't think you'd be listening to organ today, it's almost over.But you're these chord changes?I could be used in modern music and it has been." }, { "startSec": 475.96, "endSec": 511.19, "text": "I mean even my song underwater kind of uses some of these same changes, you're that tensionand now we're back home, G minor.I mean it's beautiful, right?" }, { "startSec": 511.19, "endSec": 537.67, "text": "That's the kind of polyphonic thinking that yes, you can even do in pop music, not inthat way of course, but thinking about okay, we have this main melody and how are wegoing to talk to it?How are we going to go away from it and return to it?This is a fun version of another kind of song form, just like we have verse chorus,verse chorus, bridge chorus, we've got a fugue and it follows a similar form when it'sa fugue." }, { "startSec": 537.67, "endSec": 561.35, "text": "And so there's a certain set of expectations that are built into the form that you can breakor lean into.And one of the beautiful things about Bach is that he not only follows the rules andwrites the rules, you also feel something from it.It doesn't feel like you're listening to a textbook, it's really good music.And it's that kind of level of being able to think tonally but also polyphonically that" }, { "startSec": 561.35, "endSec": 580.51, "text": "if you can do both inside of all of your parts and be super intentional about whereis the guitar going to go next, where is the piano going to go next, what is the groove,where does it sit?Like Bubby was talking about that slight swing in gin and juice, you know, it's likethough all of those little micro decisions add up to create complexity but a lot of them" }, { "startSec": 580.51, "endSec": 607.55, "text": "are really simple because you're just kind of giving weight to every decision.And still trying to do it freely but you have a G minor thing, where does the G go next,where does the B flat go next, where does the D go next, instead of just thinking wheredoes the G minor go next.Think about all of these notes as their own free organism that are all kind of revolving" }, { "startSec": 607.55, "endSec": 627.99, "text": "around a nucleus that is the song, it's like a little university you're creating.And when you don't think about those individual notes and like where they're going to go or atleast feel that kind of thing, this isn't all textbook kind of stuff, this is like traininga muscle and then you just do it naturally.Like I've talked about before, like basketball players, they don't think about where they're" }, { "startSec": 627.99, "endSec": 650.71, "text": "going to put their feet, they practice where they're going to put their feet and thenthey do it.That's the same thing with music, where if you practice and think really deeply aboutwhere each of those notes are going to go, you don't have to think about it anymore andyou just start doing it like that.And the beauty of composition is you have as much time as you want, you can tweak it and" }, { "startSec": 650.83, "endSec": 675.03, "text": "come back the next day, be like, I didn't like that, that didn't move me.And you always have a north star of what moves you, just like Bubby was talking about.If it's not moving you, it's not going to move other people.So just wanted to give you a taste of Bach Organ fugue this morning and hopefully thishelps you think about writing polyphonically and then also listening to parts." }, { "startSec": 675.03, "endSec": 698.63, "text": "Because most music is tonal or modal, but polyphony still is a really big deal.And when I listen to James Jamerson and Motown stuff, the thing that makes those verysimple songs ascend a lot of times is what the bass is doing in response and call andresponse to that vocal." }, { "startSec": 698.63, "endSec": 716.55, "text": "All of this is connected because music, just as Bubby was saying, is a conversation.If you enjoyed this podcast, I invite you to subscribe and read it five stars.If you can, you can check out my music at scoobertdoobert.pizza and I'll see you guys nextweek.Thanks." } ], "correctionsApplied": [ { "id": "dubert-surname", "count": 1, "note": "Host surname ASR typo" }, { "id": "fuzzy-host-name", "count": 1, "note": "Fuzzy host name (rapidfuzz) (93.75%): 'Scoobert-Doobert' -> 'Scoobert Doobert'" }, { "id": "scubaord-url", "count": 1, "note": "Outro URL ASR typo" } ] }