power chord : die terz ist das herz

the third is the heart.
the tone in the middle - i.e.: inside - a triad
is a highly delicate and essential ingedient
distinguishing all music based on triad harmony.
it is the heart, the soul, the eye, the face
of any major or minor triad.

a power chord is an entity
in this harmonic system that is no triad:
it hides its heart. it denies its heart. does it have no heart?

a power chord behaves like a rocker in heavy leather clothes.
it does not open itself to the world. expressed complaisantly:
it protects its soft core behind its hard shell.

the hard & tough character of the power chord,
constituted by the lower frequencies of the tonal spectrum
- root - fifth - octave exists in any epoche and place on this crazy world.
to stay with europe the medieval organum is a power chord bacchanal.

in the apollonian sophistication of western music it becomes discharged:
an outcast, only domesticated by adding or opening its heart. the third.
or by an artificial voicing, guiding this archaic rudeness
into other well-balanced harmonic shapes…

the rocker goes with the power chord.
heavy metal means: moving the power chord
from this tune to that tune. it means:
walking with your closed leather jacket to everywhere.
without any change. without any development.

whoever wants to feel the profound reason
for the conservatism of rock music 
has to empathize with the moving power chord.
it is not moving. it has no change.
it says: i am what i am. i do not change.
i never change. i am alright.

personal - mental - psychic - freeze.