Training for the Wannabe Musician
Oh, my goodness…Have you ever looked at something and all you could think of was “huh”?! Yep, me too. That was exactly my reaction when I first looked at the circle of fifths. How could this crazy picture possibly make sense?
Well, it can make sense and this is just one of many tools musicians use for remembering scales and key signatures.
The main purpose of the circle of fifths is to show us the relationships between keys.
[Read more...]Learning how to create flat scales is a simple process. Before we get started, let’s review a few things about tetrachords and major scales.
A tetrachord is a 4-note scale that contains a specific pattern of half steps and whole steps. Tetrachords are used to build major scales and contain this pattern of whole steps and half steps: Whole Step – Whole Step – Half Step.
The 4 notes used to create a tetrachord must appear in alphabetical order using the musical alphabet (A-B-C-D-E-F-G, etc.).
In order to create a major scale, we take 2 tetrachords and join them together with a whole step. Now, our scales have a total of 8 notes instead of just 4.
Here’s the pattern of whole steps and half steps we must follow in order to create major scales:
Whole Step – Whole Step – Half Step – Whole Step – Whole Step – Whole Step – Half Step [Read more...]
If you already know some things about tetrachords and major scales, then learning how to build the sharp scales will be a breeze.
First, let’s review what a tetrachord is…
1) A tetrachord is a mini-scale containing 4 notes with a specific pattern of whole steps and half steps.
2) The pattern of a tetrachord used to create a major scale looks like this: Whole Step – Whole Step – Half Step.
3) The 4 notes of a tetrachord must be in alphabetical order following the musical alphabet (A-B-C-D-E-F-G, etc.). [Read more...]
It can be tricky trying to find a good fermata definition. In fact, many terms in music can have vague meanings, hard to understand definitions, or even worse, contain several different meanings for the same term.
Let’s take a look at how we can define this right now…
A fermata is a symbol placed over a note or rest telling us to hold it longer than its normal duration. Some people say it looks like a little “birds eye”…
Just as an example, a fermata placed over a quarter note means that you would hold the note longer than 1 count. [Read more...]
Just like the 2/4 time signature, the 3/4 time signature can also be found at the very beginning of your music right after the clef sign. This also happens to be true with all time signatures in music.
The top number and bottom numbers are important in giving us clues as to how to understand this time signature.
Go ahead and take a look at how this applies to 3/4 time… [Read more...]
The 2/4 time signature can be found at the very beginning of your music right after the clef sign. As with all time signatures in music, the top and bottom numbers each tell us two very specific things.
1) Top Number = How many beats (or counts) are in each measure.
2) Bottom Number = What type of note will receive 1 beat.
Let’s take a look at how this will work in 2/4 time… [Read more...]
There are so many choices in theory books today. I have used many and found most of them to be either: (1) too repetitive, (2) too long, or (3) too boring.
I really appreciate a good theory book that is accurate, to the point, and doesn’t treat you like a child. It is nice to be able to learn what you need to learn in a short amount of time and go on to the next lesson.
Alfred’s Essentials of Music Theory: A Complete Self-Study Course for All Musicians (Book & 2 CDs)
Here are 5 reasons why I think Alfred’s Essentials of Music Theory is the best music theory book on the market today: [Read more...]
A musical terms list in alphabetical order, continuing with the B’s.
A musical terms list in alphabetical order, starting with the A’s.
In general, music contains tones of varying lengths. Each of these tones can be captured on paper as notes.
Okay, but what are musical notes exactly?
A note is a symbol used in music writing to represent the duration of a sound. When the note is placed on a music staff, its pitch is also indicated.
This definition tells us there are two important elements of musical notes. They can:
Some people say the key of an instrument is also called a musical note. I disagree with this. [Read more...]
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