Songs that use Counterpoint

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Published 2022-04-05
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Counterpoint is a musical texture where two or more melodies interact to create a sense of harmony whilst also maintaining their independence from each other. It is most commonly found in Baroque music, however we can find examples of contrapuntal writing in pop and rock music too.

For this video I decided to forego my usual Patreon outro and instead feature a rendition of the Ukrainian national anthem which I've arranged. I've also decided to donate the Patreon proceeds from this video to Save The Children's work in Ukraine.

And, an extra special thanks goes to Douglas Lind, Vidad Flowers, Ivan Pang, Waylon Fairbanks, Jon Dye, Austin Russell, Christopher Ryan, Toot & Paul Peijzel, the channel’s Patreon saints! 😇

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0:00 Introduction & Bach
1:04 "God Only Knows" by The Beach Boys
2:23 Homophony Vs. Counterpoint
3:28 "For No One" by The Beatles
4:39 "Supermassive Black Hole" by Muse
5:45 "Paranoid Android" by Radiohead
8:10 "Country House" by Blur
9:05 "Scarborough Fair/Canticle" by Simon & Garfunkel
10:29 "One Day More" from Les Misérables
11:57 Fugues
14:20 Consecutive 5ths
16:19 Shche ne vmerla Ukrainy i slava, i vo

All Comments (21)
  • @PvtPartsRPG
    There’s a lot of instability in my life but one thing I can always count on is seeing Paul McCartney in the thumbnail of a David Bennett Piano video
  • - Songs that use: "insert music theory concept" - Thom York's face: Helloooooooo
  • @mateusbez2669
    Oh god. That ‘vocals only’ of God Only knows is beautiful. Brian Wilson is such a brilliant mind.
  • @jasonremy1627
    Thom Yorke, Paul McCartney, and JS Bach. David's big three...
  • @FaMinore
    Paul McCartney also uses counterpoint in Wings' "Silly love songs" layering the 3 melodies introduced before then adding a fourth melody with the bass
  • @Vonliktenstien
    My favorite Bealtes counterpoint is the 4 parter at the end of I’ve Got a Feeling with John and Paul’s vocals mixing with Georges and Billy’s riffs. Great stuff.
  • @Marina-pe1gx
    oh my. David this is insanely good?! I mean everything you do is perfection. Whenever you do the 'if it was......, then it would sound like this', I LOVE it. So much care goes into stuff like that and it is so satisfying to watch while learning!
  • @i.setyawan
    I always love Bach's use of counterpoint, although it caused me great grief when I was learning the piano as a child. It was my piano teacher, who pointed out that my two hands were playing independent melodies although together they make nice harmony. Perhaps that was the point when my liking of counterpoints (in any genre of music) begun.
  • @whatever2045
    I'm a big fan of counterpoint, so this may be my favorite video of yours yet. Also bravo for your arrangement at the end!
  • @LTDLimiTeD1995
    When you mentioned musicals, my mind when straight to the last bit of "We Don't Talk About Bruno" when all the verses come together.
  • @wozzywick
    Great video. Blackbird by The Beatles is the example of counterpoint in pop that I most often hear cited. In terms of vocal counterpoint, Queen’s The Prophets Song and Duran Duran’s New Religion are great examples.
  • @sarahbird7398
    Great example with For No One. It’s one of my favorite Beatles songs and hearing those two melodies come together toward the end of the song always hit me extra hard.
  • @jorgeguberte
    Counterpoint is definitely my favorite subject. I'm still a beginner so i can do only second species, but it's still fascinating. It relaxes me, makes me dream, makes me feel immense satisfaction when I crack the puzzle.
  • I've never had chills running down my spine from a brief example in a music theory video, till now. Les Miserables is a complete work of art
  • "Paradise by the Dashboard Light"! Where they're singing "...will you love me forever..." and "let me sleep on it..." at the same time. Also in the outtro, "it was long ago and it was far away..." with "it never felt so good, it never felt so right...".
  • @leon723
    I was rooting for Scarborough Fair / Canticle to make into this piece, and there it was!
  • @pup64hcp
    It took me a moment to realize why the second voice in the final piece was marked yellow. Brilliant. 🇺🇦
  • @ivind6625
    I love the fact that in almost all your music theory videos there is radiohead !!! RADIOHEAD GENIUS