Time for an old school military march.
This is a device that i spotted in Nobuo Uematsu’s ‘memoro de la stono’ used in a non military way,
this is a simple takedown for it,
Much like the gothic choirs device i did a couple weeks ago this centers around the pedal in the bass.
Keeping the bass held allows the music to move steadily above and change chords in the melody without changing the overall function, while still kicking up lots of harmonics to clash with the melody line (in a good way!).
This time the music starts in minor and the chords that are moved between are I and II although IV is a good substitute for II if you’re looking for a slightly less biting chord for a more noble sounding section.
In Memoro de la stono the music then moves from minor to major but the overall device stays the same sticking to chords I, II and IV over the new pedal.
So why is this titled Military March?
Well one of the ways i use this device most is in military music, inspired heavily by John Williams score for the star wars series, here is a score for my own version of this march down below.
As you can see the piece remains with C chugging along in the bass and the chords shifting above it, but it gives a different feel to the slower more noble sounding memoro de la stono from earlier.
There are plenty of ways to use this so just have fun with it!