Songs that use Counterpoint

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! 😇

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 volia

[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

[luisrusmonforte]

- Songs that use: "insert music theory concept"
- Thom York's face:

[mateusbez]

Oh god. That ‘vocals only’ of God Only knows is beautiful. Brian Wilson is such a brilliant mind.

[jasonremy]

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

[LTDLimiTeD]

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.

[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.

[unacuentadeyoutube]

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

[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.

[Marina-pegx]

oh my. David this is insanely good?! I mean everything you do is perfection. Whenever you do the 'if it 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!

[leon]

I was rooting for Scarborough Fair / Canticle to make into this piece, and there it was!

[andriyskrypnyak]

Thank you very much, David, for the example of our country's national anthem from the 16:23 minute. You are real friends!

[whatever]

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!

[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.

[itsgoubie]

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.

[howie]

I'm glad someone finally pointed out the wonderful counterpoint of "Scarborough Fair/Canticle".

[sarahbird]

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.

[urbangorilla]

The middle, slower section of "Close to the Edge" by Yes has a great example of two inter-woven melody lines.

[ivind]

I love the fact that in almost all your music theory videos there is radiohead !!! RADIOHEAD GENIUS

[Chishannicon]

My favorite pop songs of the late 90s/early 00s were always the ones that featured counterpoint at the end. Britney Spears's "...Baby One More Time" and "Oops!... I Did it Again, " as well as "Get Another Boyfriend" by The Backstreet Boys were great examples of such songs. Incidentally, Max Martin wrote all of them. Dude knew how to craft a song.