Name that (last) tune.

March 1, 2006 7:40 PM

Anyone ever create a music playlist where the next song begins with the same note as the last song ended on? Want to share?
posted by starman to Media & Arts (5 answers total)

I've made a few playlists and some DJ mixes where the songs were in the same key, or in a closely related key, but nothing as in-depth as the same note.
posted by fvox13 at 9:27 PM on March 1, 2006

I'm guessing that starman is talking about harmonic mixing, which all DJs should do (though few even know they're not), though I agree that in terms of "same note" there's not going to be a lot to be gained - but that could just be starman's inaccurate terminology. It's likely for a piece of music to start and end on the tonic of its key, and thus two pieces of music, one of which starts with the same note with which the other one ends, are likely to be in the same key. So in effect, the question is: Anyone made a mix-tape where all the songs are in the same key?

At least harmonic mixing allows for variations in the key across songs.
posted by benzo8 at 3:09 AM on March 2, 2006

Not a direct answer - but have a listen to some Scottish or Irish music such as reels or jigs. These tend to get played in medleys of at least 2 tunes. The convention is to play through the first tune twice then switch to the second one. Note the effect that this gives - a real kick of energy. Folk musicians often talk about which tunes go with others (and there are some traditional popular groupings) - however the basic rule is that you never put two together that are in the same key - because it sounds rather monotonous. There is no exact rule about how far you should move the key to get a good effect - but the typical move would be from A to D or vice versa - ie normally at least a 4th.

By the same token I would expect a playlist that exploited harmonic mixing in an energising way to use keys in the same way - rather than keeping them all the same.
posted by rongorongo at 4:45 AM on March 2, 2006

Response by poster: Actually I don't know anything about harmonic mixing, although it makes sense. The question stemmed from randomly hearing a Machines of Loving Grace song following a Grateful Dead song- although I am far from perfect pitch, the first note (or key, most likely) sounded similar. Thanks for the replies so far. I'd still be interested to see if anyone has made such a playlist (based on key would work, although note would be impressive).
posted by starman at 6:13 AM on March 2, 2006

In the Aeroplane Over the Sea -> Two Headed Boy.
posted by ludwig_van at 8:36 AM on March 2, 2006