I decided to be a smart ass, and try to put together quite possibly the worst song ever created.
Deep philosophical musical explanation:
This song contains several elements not commonly seen in western music. It contains minor seconds, tritones, diminished chords, and is very atonal. It lacks consonance, therefore giving an eerie feeling, as if it were to be used in a horror movie. The chordal
dissonance generates a feeling of unease, and unsettled emotion. Therefore, the musicality, if you can even argue that there is any, is practically non-existent.
The dissonance leads up to a picardy third (which means it ended in a major chord) therefore resolving the tension that the picardy third had built up.
The reason for creating this song was in opposition of what we commonly associate with "good music." It goes
into epistemology, specifically the coherence theory. The reason why our perception of consonance is the way
it is, is because of our prior knowledge. In western culture, we are used to a certain sound, and therefore, consider that to have a good sound. However, in other cultures, it is less unusual to see diminished chords and minor seconds used, and in those cultures, this is
considered to sound good. The coherence theory would
state that because we have heard the sounds our whole lives, that is what we will like, and what we will consider to have better consonance (or, the good-soundingness of a song.)
This piece rebels against what we know, it rebels against what we have hear in music. In fact, the tritones, also nicknamed "devil's tritones", were banned
in music during medieval and Renaissance times by the catholic church. This is because it was associated with satanic and a symbolism of evil in music. Though it is
typically avoided, some composers have been able to incorporate it into songs well. Also, I had used much higher frequencies than typically used in music, ranging up to 18500 Hz, which is usually not audible to those whose ages are older than their mid-twenties.
In conclusion, MUAHUAHUAHAUAHAUHAUAHUA WOOOOOO MAUHUAHAUAHUAHAUAH WEEEEEEEE MHAUHAUAUAHUA. I mean, um...this song completely tests every aspect of what we
would like to consider "music", and therefore pushes the study of music theory to new heights.
If only I put this much effort into my schoolwork...
"I did it for the lolz."
Author: DjCyprinus
Keywords: worst song ever terrible music theory coherence dj cypriunus horrible horror IB
Added: May 7, 2008
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