Galen DeGraf

FOR THE ARVO PÄRT FANS (Saturday 11/15)

This Saturday, November 15th, at 7:30pm in New York, GHOSTLIGHT chorus will be performing music by Arvo Pärt within a varied choral program. The acoustic space of the Church of Notre Dame on 114th street is really special as it has a high dome and huge rough rock grotto facade inside.

You can get more info and purchase tickets online through ghostlightchorus.com/ and they're also offering $20 student tickets.


As an added bonus, I will also be there in the audience ready to geek out about tintinnabuli style and music theory in general with anyone who wants to chat!

-Galen

2 weeks ago | [YT] | 16

Galen DeGraf

Don't worry, I took screenshots before they deleted...

Commenter: Claims the rhythms in my latest video were boring to them
Me: Asks what rhythms they're into
Commenter: Refuses to provide examples, claims it's because I don't like metal
Me: Shows that I do in fact like metal. Asks why they would assume I don't and again request examples of music they find interesting.
Commenter: Deletes thread.

This is a reminder that I do like constructive criticism. If you want to talk about something you don't like in my videos, that's fine! Just try to be specific and/or follow it up with what you'd improve. Try not to make assumptions about people you don't know. Together, we can keep the comment sections productive and positive on this channel.

Happy Halloween!

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1 month ago | [YT] | 29

Galen DeGraf

The recent death of ‪@DanielNaroditskyGM‬ is heartbreaking. A strong chess grandmaster, he was one of the best educators in the modern internet and streaming video era, and his presence will be sorely missed. Danya was such a great chess educator, he even inspired ways for me to teach music better.

While processing that loss, I took the melody of "Over the Rainbow" and mapped it to phrygian and fit that over a three-measure harmonic loop using the progression from Radiohead's "Everything in its Right Place." I'll probably post an orchestrated and animated version here on youTube eventually showing the theory behind that, but for now, you can watch me exploring this idea on organ over on Instagram.

www.instagram.com/reel/DQQTm8pDHGu/?utm_source=ig_…

May Danya's memory be a blessing.

1 month ago | [YT] | 24

Galen DeGraf

WELCOME NEW SUBSCRIBERS!

The algorithm (aka you all) hath decided my newest video worthy of a wider reach... but that's not the norm for this channel of niche, advanced, and technical music theory. (Or sometimes children's songs in the style of "The Imperial March." I also did that.)

Anyway, now that you've found me, I recommend going through my content via the curated playlists I've made, such as:

"How to Transform and Develop Musical Ideas" (5 videos, around 1 hour total, a complete college-level course)
www.youtube.com/playlist?list...

"Techniques of 20th-century Music" (Post tonal theory and ear training, and an award-winning video on Arvo Pärt)
www.youtube.com/playlist?list...

"Film and TV Music Theory and Analysis" (Spoiler alert! Assorted analyses, including a lot of Middle Earth music)
www.youtube.com/playlist?list...

"Adventures in Rhythm" (Exploring musical time with creative, mindbending, and paradoxical ideas)
www.youtube.com/playlist?list...


If you want to know about how I make my videos, you can watch a quick video about it here https://youtu.be/UMwIioi3OSk or access a full 30-minute tutorial via Patreon www.patreon.com/c/galendegraf/shop

If you want to be notified about things outside of youTube you can join my mailing list through my website www.galendegraf.com (and don't worry about clogging your inbox, because that mailing list has to date sent out a total of ZERO emails...)

I want to show people how inspiring music theory can be. To make it engaging and accessible, I put a lot of care and effort into videos here, but that's also why there's a lot of time between new uploads. Happy fall, everyone!

-Galen

2 months ago | [YT] | 18

Galen DeGraf

If I had a Baroque style gameshow where contestants were given themes and had to do Baroque stuff with them, what non-Baroque melodies would you like to see sequenced and/or fugued? Obviously "Golden" from KPop Demon Hunters, but what else?

2 months ago | [YT] | 17

Galen DeGraf

Happy 90th Birthday, Arvo Pärt!

2 months ago | [YT] | 11

Galen DeGraf

When I noticed some thematic transformations in Lord of the Rings and Rings of Power, obviously I wanted to make music notation into the shape of a ring. Now I want to discuss a thematic transformation in the musical Wicked, so of course I'm designing a little notation to be the shape of Elphaba's glasses and also an infinity loop...

This connection has nothing to do with the "Somewhere over the Rainbow" Easter egg. Hopefully I can get a video released to youTube before the second Wicked movie hits theaters. My lyrics video briefly discussed Hamilton, but I don't think I've ever done longform content about a musical here.

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2 months ago | [YT] | 13

Galen DeGraf

Latest video about the tastiest mindbending rhythms (16-minutes) is awaiting a couple copyright clearances and hence only available through Patreon for the time being... unless you live in Russia, and there the copyright holder has blocked the video entirely. I guess someone thought my music theory was just too tasty for Russia?

I used to just publish videos first and deal with copyright stuff behind the scenes later, but I now want to get clearance up front due to certain past issues I've faced. Check out‪@RickBeato‬ 's recent videos about copyright on youTube for a sense of what people using original recordings for fair use commentary can deal with.

Wishing everyone a healthy and productive fall!

3 months ago | [YT] | 27

Galen DeGraf

Musical genres featured in the next longform video:

✅Jazz
✅Reggae
✅Timba
✅Prog Metal

Let us all now pray to the almighty youTube content ID system for a smooth process free of delays, disputes, appeals, and reuploads…

Current records held by the yT content ID system:

-Flagging a MIDI rendering of public domain Bach that I recomposed to be polyrhythmic

-An original performance of an excerpt of a public domain composition that was not only flagged, but then required a dispute AND AN APPEAL.

3 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 11

Galen DeGraf

4 months ago | [YT] | 59