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From: ian{at}beathoven.com (paramucho)
Newsgroups: rec.music.beatles.moderated,rec.music.beatles
Subject: MATHEMATICS, PHYSICS AND A HARD DAY'S NIGHT
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Date: 10 Nov 2004 05:03:27 GMT
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This post concerns an article concerning the opening chord of "A Hard
Days Night":

MATHEMATICS, PHYSICS AND A HARD DAY'S NIGHT
Jason I. Brown, Dahlhousie University

http://journals.cms.math.ca/cgi-bin/vault/public/view/Notesv36n6/body/PDF/Notesv36n6.pdf?

After analysing the frequencies of the opening chord to "A Hard Day's
Night" the author declares he has solved the mystery with the voicings
below:

 +-----+----+-----+------+--  
 |     |     |     | E   |  
 +-----+-C---+-----+-----+--  high C
 |     |     |     | G   |  
 |     |     |     | D   |  
 +-C---+-----+-----+-----+--  treble C
 | G   |     |     |     |  
 | D   |     | D   |     |  
 +-----+-----+-----+-----+--  middle C
 | A   |     |     | F   |  
 |     |     |     | D   |  
 +-----+-----+-----+-----+--  bass C
  GH    JL    PM    GM

  GH - 12-string guitar
  JL - 6-string guitar
  PM - bass 
  GM - piano

I'm assuming that his notation is "as heard" rather than "as
played"
since guitar parts are usually notated an octave higher than they
sound.

The deductions are based entirely on assigning frequencies to
instruments. There's no attempt to correlate what his ear tells him
about the timbre of the notes being played. It's a number game.



PREVIOUS WORK:
The author begins with an historical survey of other suggested
voicings. I don't know where he found them but they are nothing like
those produced by Tom Hartman, Walter Everett or Dominic Pedlar. 

Tom Hartman has reproduced the chord using similar instruments.

Walter Everett's two volume set on THE BEATLES AS MUSICIANS (BAM) is
the standard reference for Beatle musicology -- the omission of that
book from his refererence list is quite stunning. Walt also works with
instruments close to the originals.

Dominic Pedlar dedicates pages 475 to 516 of his SONGWRIIING SECRETS
OF THE BEATLES to the opening chord of "A Hard Days Night", including
frequency analyses. While I don't agree with all of Dominic's
conclusions I certainy couldn't imagine addressing the chord voicing
without dealing thoroughly with his, Walt's and Tom's previous work.


SOURCES & MATERIALS:
He doesn't seem to have made any reference to the well-known and
widely distributed outtakes of the session where the chord is heard
evolving. 

He hasn't taken advantage of stereo separation.

He makes no reference to George Harrison's well-known comment that
it's an "F with a G on the top" (roughly remembered).



ANALYSIS:
Now to his assignments:

o  The idea that Lennon would simply play a single high C is not 
   borne out by the outtakes. He needs to provide evidence.

o  There is *no* aural correlation for his high piano parts. 

o  I've pencilled in the usual guitar chords assigned to JL and
   GH below. These are so commonly accepted that he needs to refute
   them to even get into the game.

 +-----+-----+----+------+--  
 |     |     |     | E   |  
 +-----+-C---+-----+-----+--  high C
 |     |     |     | G   |  
 |     |     |     | D   |  
 +-C---+-----+-----+-----+--  treble C
 | G G |   G |     |     |  
 | D   |     | D   |     |  
 +---C-+---C-+-----+-----+--  middle C
 | A A |   A |     |     |  
 |   F |   F |     | F   |  
 |     |     |     | D   |  
 +-----+-----+-----+-----+--  bass C
  GH    JL    PM    GM


VERIFICATION:
He hasn't attempted to verify his results by reconstructing the chord
and checking that it bears some resemblance to the original.


SUMMARY:
Survey of past research: He misses all the major sources.

Use of materials: Way below the standard expected of Beatle research.

Analyis: Akin to Pin The Tail On The Donkey.

Verification: None.

I'd recommend to the author that he start over, read the literature,
use all the sources, and have another shot. He ask any of the
specialists I've named above to read his draft. What he's come up with
so far is not even ballpark -- it's like me pretending to be a
mathematician by stringing together a sequence with SIN and COS.

Of course, Jason is welcome to come to rec.music.beatles.moderated to
argue his case.


AND ANOTHER THING:
I've never gotten around to writing about this wonderful chord but
I'll throw in a couple of comments and a suggestion.

Dominic works very hard to proove that it's the Harrison Chord even
when all the evidence points to Lennon as it's constructor. The worst
of it comes when Dominic provides a Clinton-explanation for Lennon's
apparent fingering of the chord in a photograph -- Lennon, he says,
may have just been forming the shape but not depressing the strings.
There are three or four other main weaknesses in his argument, but I
won't go into them here...

What Dominic does hear are the B's an E's that are usually not
notated. He tries to work them into Lennon's chord but I think they
have a difference source. Martin says that it was Lennon who worked on
getting the chord to sound right, so my guess is that while Martin was
adding his piano splash, Lennon strummed some of the open strings of
the guitar, to provide a bit more wash. It's just an idea, and nothing
more.

--

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