Korg Forums

Hi everyone!

I used to be a real regular around here in the early 2000's, and then kind of drifted away. I gotta say, it's been ages. AGES. But my logon is still good! It uses an ancient password that I'm being told by Google has been compromised, but what the heck - I got no financial information here.

Anyway, since I'm here, I figure I'll promote my music a little. Which isn't a lot of music - all of it is from this year alone. But it's ALL in the 5/4 time signature, so that's maybe a little different.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtBIy5 ... i6g/videos

I got tired of doing something I thought was good in 4/4 and then wondering "Did *I* really write that? Or did I just subconsciously STEAL it?" That thought used to just plague me.

And then in November of 2020 I'd written yet another 4/4 that I couldn't be sure I hadn't stolen, and I thought, why not try 5/4? NO ONE writes music in that. Some even say you CAN'T write music in it (except for a couple of weird pieces). Challenge accepted! I also figure if I write something I like in it, and it doesn't sound like the theme to Mission: Impossible or Dave Brubeck's Take Five, I'm probably golden. So I decided to focus ONLY on 5/4.

I spent 2021 doing nothing but 5/4 song starts. I have something like 150 of them, because man is 5/4 an open field. Now I've been spending 2022 turning some of those into pieces. The whole idea has been to find what I think of as "natural" 5/4 melodies; melodies that don't sound weird because they have an "extra" beat, because they DON'T have an extra beat: they're 5/4 melodies. Not 4/4+1 melodies.

Anyway, if you're so inclined, give 'em a listen. I do have to admit that they were not recorded using Korg instruments (although I still have both my Triton and my Karma). These are mostly done with Native Instruments Massive, to be honest, although there's a few other softsynths in there.

My personal favorite: Venturing Out. But really, I kind of like all of them. Although, to be fair, I AM rather biased.

Enjoy!

What a fun project! You prove convincingly that good music can be written in 5/4 in a variety of styles. Well done!

Thanks!

At first 5/4 was a little tricky, but once I got the hang of I started to wonder why no one else is writing in this time signature.

People used to tell me that you couldn't write music in 5/4 for a variety of suspect reasons, the main one being that 5/4 is "irregular" or "uneven".

That's nonsense. It's only uneven inside a single measure. Beyond that, everything breaks up into two's and four's and eight's, etc., just like in 4/4. If you've got a melody line that's longer than a single measure, the unevenness doesn't even matter.

5/4 isn't unmusical at all. It just has a character all its own, and that character doesn't mix well with 4/4 instincts. I had to rewire my brain to a small extent, or I'd try to play 5/4 and keep falling into 4/4. NOW I have the opposite problem. I can improvise for a solid hour in 5/4, but if I try to play some 4/4 stuff I keep messing up because I keep adding a beat.

Anyway, since no one is writing in 5/4, that means all the simple, easy, and obvious melody lines are still there for the picking. It's an almost entirely untouched musical universe that people don't visit because they think you can't do anything there. BUT YOU CAN! It just takes a little practice.

Stop reading, go listen:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtBIy5 ... i6g/videos

I swear, over a hundred people have read this thread, in "Promote Your Music", and about five of you have actually listened! Why are you here if not to listen?