Kanon in D-Dur

That's "Canon in D Major" in German. And this is the guy that wrote it. Johann Pachelbel.

When I was 8, I stayed in Nottingham with my mom, when she was pursuing her PhD. I switched on the TV and heard the classic rendition of Canon in D. I loved the song ever since.

When I hummed the song to my friends, they didn't recognize it. All they knew were those funny-edition classical songs playing in the background of some Road Runner episode.

Well, they should be able to recognize it by now. As of late, this song got a little too famous! I have turned from an underdog supporter to a mainstream fan. Oh well.

Canon, by definition, is a musical composition where one instrument plays one sequence of notes, then after that another instrument plays the same sequence. The original instrument will then play another sequence. This repeats with the third instrument, and so forth. This is called chord progression.



Pachelbel had this idea where you can repeat a sequence of notes, but overlay it with a different sequence thereafter. The result: beautifully crafted music. Genius!

Unlike other classical songs, Canon is easily adaptable into songs of other genres, due to its repetitive nature. Good examples that use the same style of chord progression are Vitamin C's Graduation, Scatman's World, Oasis' Don't Look Back in Anger and Green Day's Basket Case.

And now, to celebrate Canon's 327th Anniversary (I know, weird number :P), I present to you... YouTube videos!



New Canon Rock by Mattrach. At first, it sounded like any other Canon Rock. After a while, I imagined myself playing Guilty Gear to this music. Excellent, dude!



Korean Commercial. Canon + Beatbox + DJ + Traditional Korean instrument + Hiphop dancers = Canonical Heaven XD



Pump It Up. This is a rendition of Canon in D by Banya, a Korean composer. The video was made as just a background animation for the dancing game, so it's understandable if the animation is not top notch. The story is simple and nice though.



Love Is by Kato Miliyah. The ending theme to one of the best animes this season, Toward the Terra. I just think she moves too much, but the song is nice!

And lastly, if you don't want to watch the above videos, at least watch this one:



Pachelbel Rant. This is the first time I've seen a stand-up comedian that regularly uses a guitar in his skits. Rob Paravonian is one heck of a funny guy. Check out his other videos in YouTube while you're at it.