How to Write a Fugue

[Han321654]

Genius! Good luck with your enjoyable first-aid for the musical minds of public forums. Could 12K education really use a video like this? Well of course except we can't afford to give kids this sort of option and we go on letting them learn GAGA.

[amanderj]

Very Clever! Full Marks! A musical fugue explained by a verbal fugue supported by a visual fugue - three levels of complexity!. Wonderful!

[artyzach]

Hahahaha I see what you did there with the vocal audio. Fugue! :D

[MartinRaetzJr]

Ingeniously. I had much fun.

[GarretsCarrots]

We actually watched this in my music theory class.

[guevarajon2011]

Very amusing and beautifully and intelligently composed and recorded! As a music student at a college, like many others, I'm very critical when it comes to music, especially baroque (my specialty). You have, however, done a fantastic job here. God bless!

[POTOPhan13]

My orchestra director was talking about this video last week, so I thought I'd watch. Hilarious!

[mcrettable]

we you trying really hard to sound like carl sagan for some reason?

[kierkexauss]

Have you ever considered 'defugalizing' the audio parts to explain the structure of the piece? I would be very interested in listening to that.

[mrptroa]

Hysterical!! Thanks!!!!

[TCharlieA]

ha, i recognize the song in the background. BWV 915.

[Sei850811]

Nice play on bridging the structure of the fugue and the title of your choice of song.. Loved this video!

[composer7325]

This is a very good idea but don't redicule you good idea by all of you talking together.this could be brilliant if you stop tryng to be funny.

[SatanPanda]

This video is really brilliant, I lol'd

[noize61]

Why did there have to be a penis there? I can't show that in school!

[STJukes]

What BWV is bach's fugue at the end??

[abagyoni]

@STJukes 1049. It's the 3rd movement of the Brandenburg Concerto no. 4

[acolytes777]

i understood the idea by the way the thing is created

[minimalisminmusic]

by the way...3:45 there are fifths xD

[minimalisminmusic]

once Barenboim said "music is great because many people can say different things at the same time and they perfectly cohexist".

this video is a wonderful example of this. When the three pals say different things, you can understand nothing. But when he plays the piece, with three voices playing three different things...is wonderful!

...music :)

[TheMatrixMusic]

Brilliant! =] This video may have been uploaded in 2006, but it has entertained me in 2011 =P

[austreneland]

whats that playing at the end.....i know the jig fugue at the beginning.....its a favourite of a friend of mine...and visiting organists at our church will do it on our lovely taylor and boody....but what is that last....its so....idk....typical but unique

[ericfontainejazz]

Ingenious instructional video!!!

[strawberryzits]

Hi! This is hilarious, I was really interested in looking at the sheet music you had written but I couldn't find it anywhere on the site that you linked to above. Is it still up? Thanks for your reply

[happyman]

wow are you triplets?

[JoanCarazo]

Fantastic and very funny fugue

[EllisFilm]

This is brilliant all around.

[gngeannakakes]

The best part of this video starts at 4:21 ;-D

[betty54545]

Even Bach would be proud!!!

[lorenzopascarelli]

Genius, my friend. THis was genius all those years back when i first saw it and it still is now..:!

[jschwartz63]

Amazing! Brilliant. ... Can it b played backwards?

[rosescentedshit]

brilliant fucking way to explain it!

[Laudan08]

I love this stuff. U should have put at the credits the opus for the 2 pieces on this vid, apart from your fugue.

[Laudan08]

@Laudan08 Lmao at commenting mine. Jig fugue with human chorus, and Brandenburg 4 3rd mov.

[leningrado1942]

You are a very talented and gifted youg musician.

[MusicInvestigation]

OH! I GET IT!! Because they're overlapping!!!

[mjcatdog]

this is too cool!

[SaveKlalz]

Where can I get that acapella arrangement of Fugue a la Gigue that you did in the beginning? I liked it even more than the Spears fugue. :x

[tynank]

@SaveKlalz sounds like the swingle singers. Jazz Sebastian Bach

[SilverRod20]

I'm sure you had everything planned out before making this, but the fact that you were writing this in pen still really makes me nervous. ><;;

[nowhereman0918]

Ingenious!! XD



[Grug16]

Everyone knows the only way to write one is just to plunge right in and write one. If you have the urge to write a fugue. If you have the nerve to write a fugue that we can see. So go ahead and write a fugue.

[swiinka]

The best one is that musicology fugue in the middle when Dan/Danny/Daniel are speaking ^^ You're the bomb, dude!

[ericoschmitt]

these 3 guys speaking at same time seems like a fugue for 3 double basses. how the hell will i understand anything???

[Chefodeath]

Reminds of that line from Amadeus. "Imagine if you had multiple voices speaking at once in a play, it'd be giberish, but in music, it is harmony."

something like that.

[bertiethetoupee4]

That was actually really good! Really funny and yet really informative, too. Can't fault you.

[dberry02jr]

Thank you. Bach would be proud.

[rozzanttyuk]

haha we watched this in class today:D hilarious!

[rozzanttyuk]

haha we watched this in class today:D hilarious!

[BigBiff88]

you shouldmake turning the fecies of modern music into masterpeices your job:D

[RagingBearVideos]

I love it because I get it.

[learnproject]

Wonderful, intriguing and entertaining. Bravo!

[Jose5k]

3:28 to hear the lovely masterpiece.

[lupuspglh]

I get that the three people talking at the same time is like the voices of a fugue, each one with a complete melody, but I didn't understand a word

[BrandenburgConcerti]

WONDERFUL!

[MsSoundguy]

"Impetuous, skanky." And all this time I thought I was the only one to feel that way.

[Bram01568]

Loved it as an introduction to the idea of fugue....will definitely play it to my class. Thanks, lot of work and cunning to make,.

[mikebagel27]

LOL erase the dick

your really talented man i liked it

the 3 dudes talking over eachother is funny but maybe a BIT too long??

for a short fugue.

but anyways the music itself was really good!

[bobbobato]

That was an incredibly and dissapointingly short fugue.

It provides an illuminating POV on 'oops I did it again', though.

[andresflamenco]

Excellent!

[otharennaur]

OMG! I love this video!

[AEFic]

I love you.

[thedirtyq]

I am sitting in Dr. Ng's class this very moment, and we at CCM would like everyone to know that this answer is properly written. The link after the subject takes us away from the original key, allowing is to have the given answer. Thank you, Dr. Ng.

[chonak1]

What a great video! I wish I could "share" it with a prof, but the naughty drawing is visible at 0:51, even without pausing, so that's out.

[Moximix]

Creative and funny!

Congrats!

Thank u for sharing the sheet.

Regards from Argentina.

[Danielpi]

@paulwilsonmusician No, I got it. Thanks for the kind words.

[erroll9621]

@Danielpi There's so much good information here! do you have the original unseparated audio files?

[paulwilsonmusician]

PS: I didn't mean u poorly explained it i meant in secondary schools etc, u explain it in such a simple way which I will now use when i teach :)!

[paulwilsonmusician]

Thank you so much for explaining a fugue as it is poorly explained! You are a genuis! Thank you :D!

[nellster66]

that was well good!

[seamusfinnigan2000]

this is awesome :) i was hoping the bass weren't too low for bach usually made the bass and the 2nd (and the 3rd) melody not that far away in range. :) but this still blows my mind! great job!

hey can i ask, what's the name of the song in the beginning and also in the last of the video? thanks!

[urbano277]

lol pause at 0:51

[ian81tube]

Pretty funny with a point still well made.

Good job

[couch63]

nice

[5619762]

if you stoped talking it would be more useful , what he he is trying to say :

1- you find your main theme and play it in the key you want ( lets say D minor )

2- when your main theme is going to finish, thats when your 2nd theme or voice is going to enter .

3- making the the 2nd theme : just take your your main theme and play it on the 5th note of your main key ( D minor ) and play the 2nd voice in ( A minor ) =

D minor 5th note is A = ur 2nd theme will be played in A minor.

[skeltube]

Skellez is right! Do another video and this time let us learn a bit of your science!

[HolyKatana]

Loved the spoken-word fugue explaining what's going on.

[KiptaviusFuzz]

Damn that picardy third!

[zeta1ret]

ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT!!!!....(love the catholic skanky youth phase!!!...)

[ShingoDingoRingo]

somebody get this guy some coffee

[glevantino]

ha. never thought I would see Britney Spears and Bach mentioned together.

[budzillab]

I love the Wendy Carlos at the end! Well-Tempered Synthesizer ; )

[jedimastert0810]

greatness. the best part was watching google captions ramble about southwest states

[fizzylimon]

Seriously, you had me nearly in tears I was laughing so hard. This is brilliant. I wish I had come up with it XD

[spasticteapot]

That's.....brilliant!

[klickstart]

@spasticteapot 

[burobbi]

BRILLIANT STUFF! :D

[StringzOfFury]

I never thought I'd ever see a britney spears cover i liked

[lalindatita]

I have enjoyed a loooooootttt!!! finally I have found something funny meanwhile I study for my test tomorrow. Of course, about fugue and other things...

[canadianmushroom]

This is a really clever idea.

[genietja]

Maybe my female students would rather learn this over Bach 2 and 3-part inventions. hmmmmmmm.

[achan1058]

Can we get a script of what you said?

[mynewaccountyay]

What is the piece at the end? Somebody please tell me, it's stuck in my head and I just can't remember what it is...

[mikey72uk]

That is really funny. Like it!

[NewEquinoxProduction]

very cool....a little bach???

[Kitsua]

This was a delightful idea, brilliantly done with wit and charm. I'm very impressed and entertained indeed.

Consider: the Gouldesque overlapping dialogue is actually describing what's actually happening in the music itself, just with words instead of notes, highlighting the beautiful complexity that is possible with the Fugue form. Marvellous.

[KaimanaFOHS]

I took Music Theory Classes, its amazing to say that i actually know what hes talking about lol

[emendez]

This is Awesome. Absolutely awesome.

[newFranzFerencLiszt]

I'm crying about think there is someone to compose these things... I absolutely want to learn how to do it.. but i can't...

[Crustaceans]

There's a dick on the chalkboard.

[newFranzFerencLiszt]

@Crustaceans haahah yeah!

[2Cents]

....Did everybody get that?? Good!....cuz there's gonna be a test in the morning...

[jsj3131995]

this would be very informative, if i could understand it.

[FrancescaHuemer]

There's a phrase I never thought I'd read: "Thanks to Brittany Spears and Johann Sebastian Bach."

[magyjoan]

Are you a triplets

[Redskins1726]

My head......*BOOM*

[starkey7uk]

Wow, even the theme tune at the end is fugue-like - for five parts methinks?

[trainz10]

Well, This isn't really a Fugue, it's more of a Fughette, because It's so brief.

[sheepouz]

@trainz10 thanks. Your sooo clever!!

[Guakingo]

Useless. You can´t hear a bloody thing of the description. I suppose it´s meant to be funny but I would really have liked to follow this discussion!

[smishok]

Awesome !

[thegoddescomposer]

whats is the lastest fugue on this video

plz can some one help mi

[thegoddescomposer]

fugue is for my

the best music ever created in the whole universum

its speaking and responding and repeating

this music so strong so beautifull

the motief of the fugue repeats always it will never die

i need fugue each day, each moment , each time

baraque has born in my heart

the music the overwhelming power

can u also talk about the fugue of beethoven missa solemnis 3th movement credo there is a fugue with the text i wait for the life of the world to come

[Amissimal]

Hehe, good lesson! At last someone who can explain things

[HerrWarja]

The sheet music is wrong in measure 16! In the video you play B natural but in the notes it is written B-flat. It's B-natural right?

[PranayCracked]

can u give a text clearly of what ur saying PLEASE~!!!

[saxygurl8]

The retrograde was nice..

[1ddg6527]

awesome! too clever lol

[CrystalFlames]

I'm still not quite sure how to write a fugue, but Britney's song helped enlighten us all a little bit.

[nsquidc]

Can't... stop... listening....

[BartlomiejGlowczyk]

This was awesome. Now I will look in totally different was on this song ...

[NIALLDOTCOM]

Just going to let you know, that Picardy third really bothered me.

[abslch]

@NIALLDOTCOM: Me too! :P

[NEPats51]

one of the greatest videos ever!

[skotous]

JUST WHAT ARE THEY SAYING?:P:P:P

[minasgekos]

brilliant indeed

[tieguy1685]

Jig fugue as intro and Brandenburg No. 4 3rd Mov. for credits?

[Synsacrus]

brilliant!

[abluesman100]

oops i did it again....proves that musical and harmonic advancements made in the 17th and 18th centuries are still relevant in todays popular music

[kentin27v]

ça dechire sa race =D

[RICPOIRIER1]

Très recherché! Agréable, instructif et plaisant! Merci pour ce divertissement.

[RowlingScones]

wow, u guys are amazing... genius.

[SilencingSin]

you guys? its the same guy...

[MorbidAngel4444]

You are SOO talented! :O I watched this video over and over again back in summer when I was taking counterpoint at a music academy. xD

[PNBAFFA]

lolol i play this fugue all the time. check out my variations on katy perry " i kissed a girl" tell me what you think. they were off the top of my head.

[polgarfan]

notice how he ended this vid on a fugue!!

[mekore]

total 5 stars!!!!!!!

[retsofnalanosaj]

gaaah make it stop!!!!

[samisyosam]

The well-nympho'd clavier.

[DJPsionix]

Now do it in the style of Shostakovich :P

[Danielpi]

tempting...

[crazycellist973]

@DJPsionix Have you ever watched any Victor Borge videos? He Happy Birthday in the style of many composers. Very entertaining and also does Shostakovitch!

[mizukahosen]

@DJPsionix or perhaps try Schoenberg! i would LOVE to see that =P

[ian81tube]

@DJPsionix How about you do it in the style of Shostakovich?

[DJPsionix]

@ian81tube Maybe I will. I'm not the greatest fugue writer though. Danielpi did a great job.

[Huddiethegreat]

Genius

[Chippyrat]

hah, very nice

[crabbb622]

Have you considered posting a script in the description of the video? I'd really like to hear what you said...

Also, does anyone know where i can find any decent online reference concerning composition?

[hildagrim]

Yes please!

[vanya2309]

What the f***, where is normal fuga? =))

[tehmarzvotla]

This is beautiful.

[McrILOVETHEMalot]

This actually helped me understand my homework :L :P

xxx

[tomgt4]

you can understand him in three parts. Cocktail party effect. Just listen to one voice.

[sweetevilproductions]

I still don't really know how to write a fugue xD

[wisperofdeath]

take the same song and create 3 lines that work together to create a fugue; fugues I think were more common in the baroque era instead of the classical.

[nickfromdtown1992]

yeah i know its so complex. like you can know the theory and all but the best way to know how to write them is understand how to listen to them. learn the fugues in the well tempered clavier. it helped me a lot

[andreamoboe]

That is great! Awesome stuff! :)

[Pappythapapsta]

Man I thought at first at the begging it was Tchaikovsky's 6th symphony third mvt. it sounds just like that!

[platmosic]

LOL look at 0:50

[DrNemmo]

Brilliant !

[Ericstlaurent]

way to go Daniel Pi. Now you'll have to do more...

Come 'on...

[skellez83]

I wish you didn't talk like that. That would have been soooo useful to hear your talk actually!!!

[robertgift]

Thankyou, So enjoyable.

Well done in every way.

At first it appeared this was going to be about organ.

But I see you used piano.

Could only be improved if you printed the script of each character.

Nice composition, too.

I may have to do something with that theme. Hope you will.

[pugay69]

very funny stuff! Thanks.

[sailingforde04]

I like it !!!

[TheLastCoolName]

godammit. I wish I could have actually gotten some learning value out of that. Instead I just laughed. Curse you.

[sal198500]

you're awesome. seriously, hilarious.

[tehsamjones]

freakin brilliant

[systematicchaos]

My music appreciation professor showed this to my class! This is epic win!

[theycallhimjayayers]

same here, we watched it this morning and i died laughing at the beginning!

[Trinitrotolaissance]

HAHA this is great. You will have to write more of this.

[k8sl]

This is absolutely brilliant!

[b0ttomzone]

oh man. this has got to be the only musical endeavor i've ever witnessed that included both j. s. bach as well as britney spears in the thank yous ^^