we recently converted Hookpad, our chord and melody sketchpad for teaching and writing music, to a PWA. Prior to being a PWA users often had to redownload samples each time they visited the site, and now they only have to download a sample once (our AWS bill has gotten smaller as a result). It was also really nice to suddenly be able to install the app locally and be able to use it without an internet connection.
Getting all that capability just by adding a manifest file and a service worker was pretty cool. I won't comment on the pros and cons of just releasing a native app (we are in a lot of schools that prefer a web interface so this made sense for us), but we are very happy with the added functionality and don't see any downsides.
Ask and you shall receive. Hooktheory's Trends tool lets you see and hear all the chord progressions of the individual songs used here. As mentioned in the article, this analysis actually used our free API for accessing our chord progression database (I'm one of the creators of the site).
I know, but it only shows the top 10 of each (which is what I was referring to above). I grew up listening to mostly British music in the 80s, but that's underrepresented in the database - so I searched for the Smiths, Pet Shop boys, and several other bands from that period without getting any results at all.
Sorry. We used to have a way to show more than the top 10, but it seems to have been disappeared. I'll make sure that gets added back to make browsing easier.
Part of the problem is that sometimes when people analyze a section of a song, they include a pick up, etc. Other times the song doesn't have a strong resolution, so it's not clear where a progression begins or ends.
We thought this was the best compromise for now. The tool will show you all songs that start with the progression, as well as songs that use the progression in a phase shifted manner (which is also interesting).
I disagree that a classically trained musician wouldn't be surprised at the predominance of IV -> I in popular music. Plagal cadences aren't nearly as common as V->I in the common practice period, and when it is used, the pull of IV to I isn't nearly as strong. The resolution is much weaker.
Of course it weaker, but tons of two chord songs only have I and IV, it's a sound well burned into our ears. Anyone studying music theory would not be surprised by this. Perhaps I'm meaning something different by classically trained, I just mean trained in theory, not the classical period in history.
I also dislike this idea of breaking the rules, theory is descriptive of music, not prescriptive. There isn't anything you can do that can't be described by theory, that's its purpose. The rules aren't rules, they're just common idioms that people use, using an uncommon idiom is not breaking a rule. Rule is not a proper word to use.
It's a slight inversion of expectations. V -> I is more common in classical, but IV -> I is a close second. In this set of songs, IV -> I is more common, but V -> I is a close second.
Your "classical training" is pretty weak if your teachers never saw fit to mention that little tidbit at any point. If mine bent over any further backwards to disclaim the idea that classical chord progressions were the only ones I think their spines would have cracked.
That's a good recommendation. I have a feeling it wouldn't change the results much for pop songs.
I know Pandora has done some analysis like this for their database, but I thought it was limited to things like major or minor tonality, upbeat tempo, etc. and didn't delve as much into the nitty gritty harmony. One reason for this might be that these patterns are so universal (spanning lots of genres), that it might not be too helpful for determining what types of music people like. I could be wrong about this though.
Getting all that capability just by adding a manifest file and a service worker was pretty cool. I won't comment on the pros and cons of just releasing a native app (we are in a lot of schools that prefer a web interface so this made sense for us), but we are very happy with the added functionality and don't see any downsides.
https://hookpad.hooktheory.com