FizzWiki - User contributions [en]

Fizz is Pop

2026-07-12T01:54:10Z

Marseraph: Fixed grammar of caption

[[File:Fizz is Pop.jpg|thumb|"Fizz is Pop" tongue-in-cheek bell curve meme from the fizzmemes_ page on Instagram]]
'''"Fizz is Pop"''' is a saying in [[fizz]] music culture that brings light to the idea that fizz music, despite being a '''based''' genre (in the same broader way that progressive jazz and EDM music tend to be) is at its core far more about intentional clarity and defined gestures than about technicality or complexity as an end in and of itself (even though those things do show up all the time in fizz. "unhinged musical shenanigans" and "music theory and sound design abuse" are essential tenants of [[Torus of Fizzosophy|fizzosophy]] afterall). Fizz musicians commonly refer to this defined and intentional gestural clarity as "[[The Thing]]", which is believed by some to be the [[Dark Fizz|most important idea]] in the [[Fizz Movement|fizz movement]] (aside from perhaps saving human made art itself from the coming [[The Great Slop Reset|slopocalypse]]) when you strip everything down to its core. This core philosophy and goal of "Endless Pursuit of The Thing" within fizz, as well as the tenant "Everything Matters" (where every single musical choice down to the smallest decisions about individual notes are recognized as a deliberate intentions that changes the final result) are philosophies that fizz music and pop music shares. This makes the best fizz music more in line the best pop music [[Fizz vs. Jazz|than it does with jazz]] music, which explains why based pop songs are far more talked about amongst fizz musicians than complex progressive jazz music is.

The saying was created in opposition to [[This-is-just-ism|denial of fizz as its own genre]] and as a clap-back to accusations that fizz musicians dislike simple music. Some of these accusations go as far accusing fizz musicians of being snobby and having naive elitism about music, implying that when a fizz musician dislikes a song it's because there aren't [[Oreo Theory|7+ notes per chord]] and the song isn't going full Tigran Hamasyan with the time signatures, rather than that maybe the song just isn't that interesting or is lacking in intention (something that both complex songs and simple songs can suffer from). These pervasive myths about fizz musicians' tastes never cease to get internal eye rolls from fizz musicians that have heard it for the millionth time. Maybe you said it, and got sent this page in response, but it's okay, now you probably understand why it's wrong once you've gone [https://fizzwiki.com/Special:AllPages down the rabbit-hole] here.

"Fizz is pop" in its phrasing is a bit of an aphorism, bordering on a humorous half truth and tongue and cheek metaphorical figure of speech.

[[Category:Fizz Lore]]

Mote

2026-07-11T14:27:28Z

Marseraph:

In music, the word '''Mote''' refers generically to ''any'' musical building block that can be used to create a song when utilized alongside other motes. It's the concept of a musical element, in abstract.

Some examples of musical objects that may be labeled as motes are:

* Singular notes
* Note intervals
* Melodies
* Chords
* Chord progressions
* Sounds
* Samples
* Instruments/Synths
* Rhythms
* Words/phrases in lyrics

Although the word mote may sound similar to other terms such as "Musical Idea" or "Leitmotif," their meanings and use cases diverge, depending on their contexts.

== Etymology ==
In common English, "[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mote mote]" is defined as a small particle or speck, as of dust. The definition is fundamentally the same in a musical context.

Though not etymologically related, the word "mote" is conveniently identical to the middle syllable of the word "[[wikipedia:Leitmotif|leitmotif]]," which reflects the relationship between the two terms.

== Mote versus Leitmotif ==
While the term leitmotif can be used to describe a general musical idea, it is important to note that leitmotifs are musical ideas that are subsequently repeated (with or without modifications), in order to be associated with a particular person, place, or idea. Motes, on the other hand, can exist without ever being repeated or having any sort of significance.

A mote could be a single melody that is only played once, while a leitmotif can only be considered a leitmotif with repetition of said musical element and association with another object in a story.

== Mote versus Musical Idea ==
Motes and [[wikipedia:Subject_(music)|musical ideas]] have many overlaps, but it is important to mention that motes are musical building blocks of any size while musical ideas imply complete phrases, usually within the context of an entire composition. A singular F# note on its own cannot be a musical idea since it is not a complete phrase, but it ''can'' be considered a mote, since it can still be used as a musical building block regardless of its size.

Motes and musical ideas may not the same thing, but they still have an overlap in meaning. A melody or a chord progression can be both a mote and a musical idea at the same time, but "mote" is the broader term of the two, being able to describe many other musical building blocks such as individual sounds, samples, notes, words, etc.

== Examples of sentences using the word Mote ==

* "I really have no ideas for this song I'm working on, I have a lot of different '''motes''' written down but I can't find a way to arrange them properly."
* "I am working on a collaboration with one of my composer friends. We haven't recorded anything yet, but we came up with a lot of '''motes'''!"

[[Category:Music Theory]]

Talk:Street Fizz

2026-07-10T17:30:56Z

Marseraph: Created page with "Would it be better if there was just one page for all Fizz subgenres? This would prevent more stub articles from being added to the wiki. Someone's also making "d-fizz." (djent fizz, not dark fizz. they refuse to call it "djizz" for some reason)"

Would it be better if there was just one page for all Fizz subgenres? This would prevent more stub articles from being added to the wiki. Someone's also making "d-fizz." (djent fizz, not dark fizz. they refuse to call it "djizz" for some reason)

Fizz is Pop

2026-07-10T15:28:34Z

Marseraph: Corrected "eye role" to "eye roll"

[[File:Fizz is Pop.jpg|thumb|"Fizz is Pop" tongue in cheek bellcurve meme from the fizzmemes_ page on instagram]]
'''"Fizz is Pop"''' is a saying in [[fizz]] music culture that brings light to the idea that fizz music, despite being a '''based''' genre (in the same broader way that progressive jazz and EDM music tend to be) is at its core far more about intentional clarity and defined gestures than about technicality or complexity as an end in and of itself (even though those things do show up all the time in fizz. "unhinged musical shenanigans" and "music theory and sound design abuse" are essential tenants of [[Torus of Fizzosophy|fizzosophy]] afterall). Fizz musicians commonly refer to this defined and intentional gestural clarity as "[[The Thing]]", which is believed by some to be the [[Dark Fizz|most important idea]] in the [[Fizz Movement|fizz movement]] (aside from perhaps saving human made art itself from the coming [[The Great Slop Reset|slopocalypse]]) when you strip everything down to its core. This core philosophy and goal of "Endless Pursuit of The Thing" within fizz, as well as the tenant "Everything Matters" (where every single musical choice down to the smallest decisions about individual notes are recognized as a deliberate intentions that changes the final result) are philosophies that fizz music and pop music shares. This makes the best fizz music more in line the best pop music [[Fizz vs. Jazz|than it does with jazz]] music, which explains why based pop songs are far more talked about amongst fizz musicians than complex progressive jazz music is.

The saying created in opposition to [[This-is-just-ism|denial of fizz as its own genre]] and as a clap-back to accusations that fizz musicians dislike simple music. Some of these accusations go as far accusing fizz musicians of being snobby and having naive elitism about music, implying that when a fizz musician dislikes a song it's because there aren't [[Oreo Theory|7+ notes per chord]] and the song isn't going full Tigran Hamasyan with the time signatures, rather than that maybe the song just isn't that interesting or is lacking in intention (something that both complex songs and simple songs can suffer from). These pervasive myths about fizz musicians' tastes never cease to get internal eye rolls from fizz musicians that have heard it for the millionth time. Maybe you said it, and got sent this page in response, but it's okay, now you probably understand why it's wrong once you've gone [https://fizzwiki.com/Special:AllPages down the rabbit-hole] here.

"Fizz is pop" in its phrasing is a bit of an aphorism, bordering on a humorous half truth and tongue and cheek metaphorical figure of speech.

[[Category:Fizz Lore]]

Chlamydian Scale

2026-07-07T21:31:21Z

Marseraph: Bolded stuff & added the actual flat and natural glyphs

[[File:Chlamydian scale in C.png|thumb|Looking at this image will not result in the contraction of chlamydia.<ref>https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/4023-chlamydia</ref>]]
'''The Chlamydian Scale''' 1 ♭2 ♭3 4 5 6 7 (Aka '''Neapolitan Major''', '''Cappadocian ♮7''') is a scale that no one uses (because it sucks). The Chlamydian scale is so useless that the Fizz community decided it needed an aptly bad nickname. Not that it's other name is any better. It's not even a major scale. Both the Chlamydian scale and the neap. minor have ♭3s. The difference is in whether the 6 is a ♭6 or not. Everyone of any point of view at all with any sort of music theory knowledge would agree that this is stupid.

Utility Monster Track

2026-07-07T21:10:44Z

Marseraph: Bolded acronym for consistency with Wikipedia formatting (i think)

A '''Utility Monster Track''' '''(UMT)''' is a released song that is orders of magnitude better, more enjoyed, or higher in [[The Thing|Thingonium]] than the vast majority, or even the entire rest of the discography of the artist(s) or band that released it. One of the most interesting things about UMTs is that they tend to be some of one's favorite songs of all time. Many people have at least one UMT they love, with the rest of the writer's discography being only glanced over, usually in disappointment when you realize that pales in comparison to the UMT, and doesn't even sound like it. UMTs are usually one-ofs, especially in the case of a mainstream pop artist that has that one completely ingenious banger you could deep listen to for 100 hours, but sometimes an artist or band will have several of them. A utility monster track is different from just a stand out song, where the difference is less extreme.

This concept can also apply to improvised solos, where a musician has a stroke of total genius and plays [https://youtu.be/L_XJ_s5IsQc?si=C9XzS_pCpJKumAc9&t=263 a solo out of no where seems to transcend reality itself with how incredible it is], though Michael League might [https://youtu.be/t7ZlZAGxgyg?si=z3dUrBiQgjVQzKRb&t=51 disagree with this].

It is unknown how or why Utility Monster Tracks happen, but their implications could reveal important insights into how the human and specifically the artists' brain functions. Artistic output and how it works is still largely a mystery. It's easy to make fun of someone going full Rick Rubin about one of their tracks and going off about how they had no idea what they were doing when they were making it, but there is a lot of truth to that. There seems to be some stars alignment moments that allow artists to output ingenious works, even if that isn't something they are regularly able to do reliably. "Ingenious" in this context is less likely to refer to technical facility (so not just someone suddenly and magically gaining 10 years of technical ability and specified musical vocabulary internalization overnight only to have it disappear into the void once the song or solo is over) and more likely to refer to internal structural consistency or cleverness of the ideas executed. Or if you're a Fizzhead: "it has [[The Thing]]".

One of the proposed reasons why this phenomenon happens is due to the hypothesis that artists are divided into two general groups: Those that cultivate inspiration (could be referred to affectionately as "right brained musicians"), and those have developed a reliable method for outputting music, even when not inspired (could be referred to affectionately as "left brained musicians"). Inspiration is that mystery thing no one fully understands, where artistic output just happens at a level beyond conscious knowledge via some crazy [[wikipedia:Dual_process_theory#System_1|system 1]] magic, or divine intervention, or whatever you believe in. A reliable method is a personal developed method of writing music formed through thousands of hours of consistent practice and [[Fizz De Novism|forcing of output]]. Because inspiration/divine intervention/neurological-magic is of limited supply and is something that comes and goes without warning (or [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxR6Zi1euvc when you turn 30] if you are a doomer about this sort of thing), musicians that rely entirely on it only hit lightning in a bottle a few times in their life, thus resulting in these musical utility monsters. But this is just one hypothesis.

It should be noted that utility monster tracks are not to be ashamed of. By their very name and nature they make an artists entire career worth it. It is difficult to spell out just how good some UMTs actually are. One UMT is worth 20 mediocre tracks having to be made just to get to it. The non-UMTs of a musican with UMTs in their library aren't definitionally bad either, they can be really good. It's just about relative difference.

The name "Utility Monster Track" is in reference to the philosophical idea of a [[wikipedia:Utility_monster|utility monster]], which is a hypothetical being that experiences orders of magnitude higher levels of pain or pleasure than all other agents in a system. Thought experiments around utility monsters ask us to think about to what degree do we give extra ethical weight to a single moral patient that is experiencing these logarithmically extreme valance (the intrinsic felt goodness or badness of a moment of experience or part of experience) states when looking at an entire population of moral patients and agents. Utility Monsters are usually used in reductio ad absurdum against [[wikipedia:Utilitarianism|classical utilitarianism]], in which a hypothetical is raised such as "if there was a single person in the world named Georgo (Jor-joh) that received 40 trillion pleasure units when he listened to a new fizz track, does that mean we should enslave every single musician on earth and just force them to make fizz all day so that Georgo could experience his 40 trillion pleasure units per fizz song, which would bring the net happiness in the universe up by an order of magnitude? I mean surely we must, given that Georgo's happiness would dwarf the net suffering of our brunt out fizz musicians we're holding at gunpoint and forcing to mine thingonium all day".

The analogy to UMTs is just referencing that logarithmic difference of goodness in a population or set of things where a small percentage of those things have way more "good unites" than the others do. The name however was mostly selected because it's funny above any other reason.
[[Category:Music Theory]]

Chlamydian Scale

2026-07-04T03:21:29Z

Marseraph: Added image and more opinionated bullshit. Do we need to format citations? I haven't seen this mentioned anywhere on the wikiw

[[File:Chlamydian scale in C.png|thumb|Looking at this image will not result in the contraction of chlamydia.<ref>https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/4023-chlamydia</ref>]]
The Chlamydian Scale 1 b2 b3 4 5 6 7 (Aka Neapolitan Major, Cappadocian natural 7) is a scale that no one uses (because it sucks). The Chlamydian scale is so useless that the Fizz community decided it needed an aptly bad nickname. Not that it's other name is any better. It's not even a major scale. Both the Chlamydian scale and the neap. minor have b3s. The difference is in whether the 6 is a b6 or not. Everyone of any point of view at all with any sort of music theory knowledge would agree that this is stupid.

File:Chlamydian scale in C.png

2026-07-04T03:16:39Z

Marseraph:

Chlamydian/neap. maj scale. I made this myself in Flat.io because this article sucks right now.

The Thing

2026-07-04T03:01:24Z

Marseraph: Included that the symbol for the Thing is the Latin letter thorn in the caption for the first image

[[File:The thing symbol.jpg|thumb|The "thing" symbol, the Latin letter thorn. (Þ þ)]]
The "thing" is an idea in the [[Fizz]] community inspired by rhetoric from Pat Metheny. There's an ongoing debate about what the nature of the thing truly is, but it's widely understood to be this mystical essence that can be found in "definitive" musical ideas. Those moments when a buildup goes perfectly into the drop, when a perfectly subversive moment happens during a solo, or when a melody just "makes sense". All of these are examples of peak artistic human intention, thereby achieving the thing.

Believers in the thing will insist that they can recognize it, even in music that they don't personally like. They'll say stuff like "This music isn't even my cup of tea, but that moment right there was super definitive. It has the thing."
[[File:Dark Torus of Fizzosophy.jpg|thumb|The "thing" mentioned in the Dark Torus of Fizzosophy]]
You just kind of know the thing when you see it. The melodies of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Hot Cross Buns clearly have the thing. There's a deep order to them, and they sound like an ultimate, maximized "steelmanned" version of themselves. The polar opposite of AI generated background music slop where there's no melody and the chords go all over the place but end up nowhere.

In dark fizz, the mass awareness and pursuit of the thing is seen as the only antidote to the threatening rise of slop. Something cannot be slop if it contains the thing. An idea can have a good "vibe" but still be slop, slop can even sound good, but slop can never achieve the thing.

=== Origin ===
In the Pat Metheny interview on Rick Beato's YouTube channel, Metheny uses the phrase "the thing" to describe this mystical, cosmically important musical objective.

"Our lives went in wildly different directions, but to the very end, I was somebody he would call when stuff would get serious, because he knew I wouldn't bullshit him and also that my point of view was not too influenced by you know... the stuff. It was more about the thing." - Pat Metheny on making music with Jaco Pastorious

"I've run across guys who can play all this stuff but it's like... You know... That feel thing isn't there, and the feel is the thing" - Pat Metheny

=== Thing Anti-Realism ===
The belief that the thing isn't real, and is just something a bunch of people made up.

=== Thing Non-Cognitivism ===
The belief that the term "the thing" doesn't describe a mystical phenomenon, but still vaguely refers to a specific musical property that is yet to be properly defined.

=== Thing Subjectivism ===
The belief that the thing is the essence of one's personal taste, and that each individual has their own thing.

[[Category:Fizz Lore]]

Accent

2026-07-04T02:43:32Z

Marseraph: Removed redundant (i think) parenthetical and included other ways of notating agogic accent.

When a beat is accented, it carries a particular emphasis. There are three different types of rhythmic accent, all of which interact with each other.

== Accent Types ==

=== Metric Accent ===
Metric accent is the emphasis intuitively felt in certain time signatures. For example, a measure of 4/4 often has emphases on the 1 and 3, so these would be called the "strong beats" or "on-beats". The metric accent is placed on them. The strongest beat of a measure (almost always the 1) is called the "crusis" or "downbeat", however the term "downbeat" has been used increasingly often to describe any strong beat.

Meanwhile, beats 2 and 4 are often considered "weak" beats. A weak beat is also called the "off-beat", and the weakest part of the beat is called the "anacrusis" or "upbeat" (however, "upbeat" is also used often to describe any weak beat). Many grooves start on the one-beat anacrusis and lead into the crusis. In this case, the anacrusis is referred to as a "pickup". For more information on why certain beats feel naturally accented, see [https://online.ucpress.edu/mp/article-abstract/33/2/244/62754/Subjective-RhythmizationA-Replication-and-an?redirectedFrom=fulltext this article on subjective rhythmization].

=== Dynamic Accent ===
Dynamic accent is the emphasis created by playing certain beats at louder volumes. Often, weak beats are dynamically accented (for example, the 2 and 4 in 4/4). When this occurs, the beat is called a backbeat. Dynamic accent is sometimes also referred to as "stress accent". Conversely, beats that are not dynamically accented are sometimes referred to as "unstressed".

=== Agogic Accent ===
Agogic accent is emphasis created by holding out a note for a longer period of time. Thus, it is not a purely ''rhythmic'' type of accent. It is also created by temporarily slowing down the tempo on a note, or pausing and playing the note late. For a more detailed description of the different types of agogic accent, visit [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accent_(music)#Agogic this Wikipedia article].

=== Tonic Accent ===
Tonic accent is emphasis created by higher pitch. This type of accent is far more related to melody than rhythm, however there are still situations in grooves where it applies: For example, a triangle hit would have a tonic accent due to it's high pitch.

== Notation ==
Since metric accent is intuitive, it is not notated. Tonic accent is just pitch, so it doesn't require any extra notation. Agogic accent is often represented by the length of a note, (Fermatas and caesuras can also be used) but it can also be used with dynamic accent in the symbols below:
[[File:Accent Types in Music Notation.jpg|right|thumb|520x520px]]

Each of the above symbols carries a different meaning. From left to right:

* Staccato dot / staccato mark: This utilizes a mix of agogic and dynamic accent and signifies that the note should be played abruptly and short. Multiple staccato beats/notes should feel "disconnected". In jazz articulation, staccato is called "dit".
* Staccatissimo mark: This is an extreme version of staccato, meaning the beat/note should be played very abruptly and short.
* Marcato accent: A marcato beat/note is played short like staccato, but loudly like an accent mark. In jazz articulation, it is often called "daht".
* Accent mark: This utilizes dynamic accent and means that the note/beat should be played loudly, then taper off (as per the symbol shape). It does not alter the length of the note. In jazz articulation, it is called "dah".
* Tenuto mark: this uses agogic accent and means that the note should be smoothly held for its full length, or slightly longer, possibly even slowing the tempo (rubato). This is more related to notes than beats.

[[Category:Music Theory]]

Arcadian Scale

2026-07-04T02:34:31Z

Marseraph: added "Acoustic" and "Overtone" to the a.k.a. list. Because, you know, acoustic is either the most or second-most common way of referring to this scale

The Arcadian Scale 1 2 3 ♯4 5 6 ♭7 (Aka. Lydian Dominant, Lydian b7, Mixolydian #4, Acoustic, Overtone) is the fourth [[Melodic Minor Modes (Alternate Names)|mode of Melodic Minor]].
[[File:Arcadian Scale.png|thumb|Arcadian Scale]]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HSDgoedjDY Arcadian Scale sound example]