Post by ohaiduhg on Aug 22, 2011 0:10:51 GMT -5
Updates! I really should list what I'm updating; shouldn't I? Well that's what I'm doing now.
11/7/11 - Ch. 9 Now talks about Cadences!
11/8/11 - Added to Ch.12 about composing modal pieces. I worked pretty hard on making this as neat and understandable as possible. It's really worth looking at. If there are any typos or anything you'd like to ask about/discuss, tell me in the PZ Skype group.
11/8/11 - I've started something in the reserved space post. It is meant to be a forum composition everyone pitches ideas towards. I'd like to have as many people possible to be a part of it. If no one really cares to be a part of it, I'll just do it myself. The point is applying this stuff. It's fun to talk about it, but it's more fun to apply it. It really kills the fun of it if I do the whole process for everyone to see.
11/9/ - Added Deceptive Cadence to Cadences. I knew there was one missing! Anyways, if you don't know what that is, you better check it out!
11/10/11 - Added Table of Contents and organized the chapters a bit.
11/14/11 - Added Chapter 14: Tonicization vs Modulation. I still need to add an example and maybe arrange this chapter to be sooner, but it's there. I'd also like to elaborate more on it. The idea of it is there, and, if you don't know how to tonicize, you definitely should take a look at this chapter. Most definitely. It will really make your music more emphatic and it may cure your possible composer's block!
11/14/11 - Added an example of Tonicization to its chapter. I just remembered! PAPAGENO! You better watch the video I added for it!
11/14/11 - Added Phrygian Half Cadence to the list of cadences.
12/8/12 - Started the extremely needed revamping of Ch 13. It is better specified and has the augmented 6 chords added in.
Table of Contents
Preface
Chapter 1: Intervals
Chapter 2: Major Minor Scales
Chapter 3: Circle of Fifths
Chapter 4: Triads
Chapter 5: 7th Chords
Chapter 6: Music Theory Lingo
Chapter 7: Voice Leading
Chapter 8: Chord Progressions
Chapter 9: Cadences
Chapter 10: Modulation
Chapter 11: Mode Mixture
Chapter 12: Modal Composition
Chapter 13: Tritone Substitution
Chapter 14: Tonicization vs Modulation
Preface
I'm bored out of my mind and I know this will help. Everyone here knows how to read sheet music so we can skip that. Also, this may have small errors. Everyone makes them (every music teacher I've had has made them), and they are very humbling. Also, if you don't have a keyboard of some sort this is all really annoying to learn. Be at your keyboard if you are learning something here. This is something I consider fun to talk about so whether this thread is popular or not, I'm updating it. If you are familiar with the beginning of this skim through it until you get to something you don't know. Also, you can proof read this for me slave.
Chapter 1: Intervals
Let's start with intervals.
Here are the numbers for people who like numbers:
Half step/Semitone = C->C#
Whole step/Whole tone = C->D
Measured in Half Steps:
0 Perfect Unison C->C
1 minor 2nd C->C#
2 Major 2nd C->D
3 minor 3rd C->E♭
4 Major 3rd C->E
5 Perfect 4th C->F
6 Augmented 4th C->F# or Diminished 5th C->G♭
7 Perfect 5th C->G
8 minor 6th C->A♭
9 Major 6th C->A
10 minor 7th C->B♭
11 Major 7th C->B
12 Perfect Octave/Unison C->C
Anything beyond this isn't for you yet.
Something to mention is a little m is minor and a big M is Major.
Here is a picture for people who like those:
Chapter 2: Major and Minor Scales
There is only one Major scale. You can borrow a flat-6 from it's parallel minor and call it a Harmonic major, but let's just say there is only one.
C Major Scale:
Notice: If you start on C as 1, the rest follow as Perfect or Major intervals.
There are 3 minor scales to know. Natural, harmonic, and melodic. Then there is another way to label it: Parallel or Relative. If you start on C Major and you play C minor, you are in the parallel minor. If you start on C Major and you play A minor, you have gone to the relative minor.
A Natural Minor Scale:
A Harmonic minor Scale
Just raise ^7. This is the tonal minor. When you make chords from minor, this is what you use. It has the leading tone which makes for a Dominant chord. When it comes to playing this scale, you want to avoid playing the augmented 2nd interval between ^6 and ^7. It makes for bad voice leading. However, you can find examples of it.
Excerpt from "The Revolutionary" Etude by Chopin
A Melodic Minor
Raise ^6 and ^7. You are supposed to play melodic only going up. Going down you should play natural minor. You can find examples of it otherwise.
Excerpt from Toccata et Fugue by Bach
Let's look at the parallel minor of C major.
C natural Minor Scale:
Notice: If you start on C as 1, they are all Perfect or minor intervals except for C->D which is a Major 2nd.
How to build the Major Scale:
Start on a note then follow with this pattern of whole and half steps:
WWHWWWH
Ex:
C whole step to
D whole step to
E half step to
F whole step to
G whole step to
A whole step to
B half step to
C
That's all garbage teaching so I'm not going to continue with that. Pro's use key signatures.
Chapter 3: Circle of Fifths
This is the order you add sharps/flats to make a key signature.
Order of Sharps: F C G D A E B
Fat Cats Go Down Alleys Eating Bread
Fat Cats Go Dancing At Every Ball
Fat Cats Go Drinking At Every Bar
Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle
Order of Flats: B E A D G C F
BEAD Gum Candy Fruit
Battle Ends And Down Goes Charles' Father
Now for the keys they represent:
(wikipedia had such a nice neat picture of it)
Here's a term to learn: Enharmonic
If something is Enharmonic, that means it is the same note, but spelled a different way. F# and G♭ are enharmonic equivalents of each other. The spelling matters in a certain sense because of certain things. At a modern level of music, really, it starts to lose it's importance. People want to play things by sight. The flute player doesn't want to play in sharps so F# and G♭ are the same thing just make it a G♭ and everyone will just know it's purpose anyways. I should put this after intervals but I feel it was too confusing to put there. You need to read a couple minutes more before you get to earn this sort of thing.
With that in mind you need to be careful here. The way to get the relative minor scale is to start on ^6 as said above. The little ^ symbol is used to represent scale degree. You are supposed to put it over the number, but I can't do that typing.
I say ^6 because it is easier to think of than counting 3 half steps down. The relative minor of B is G# not A♭.
Chapter 4: Triads
Chords are built on 3rds. The kind of thirds it is built on determine the quality of the chord. Also, when you measure intervals you start on the lower note. Always measure from bottom to top.
A triad is three notes put together so they are separated by thirds. The bottom note is the Root. The note on top of the Root is called the Third. The note above the Third is the Fifth. If you measure them the names are obvious that it makes a third and a fifth interval from the Root.
There are 4 qualities for these. Major, minor, diminished, and augmented. Little m's for minor and big for Major.
Major Triad
M3-m3
C-E-G
D-F#-A
B-D#-F#
minor Triad
m3-M3
C-E♭-G
D-F-A
B-D-F#
Diminished Triad
m3-m3
C-E♭-G♭
D-F-A♭
B-D-F
Augmented Triad
M3-M3
C-E-G#
D-F#-A#
B-D#-Fx (double sharp looks like an x)
Regarding Inversions:
A first inversion is when you have the bottom note as the Third.
E-G-C is a C Major Triad in first inversion.
Second inversion is with the fifth as the bottom note.
G-C-E is a C Major Triad in second inversion.
Chapter 5: 7th Chords
From here I could go on to tell you about chord progressions, but I am going to go into 7th chords first. The reason it is called a 7th chord is that it has a 7th interval from the root to the top of the stack of thirds. Also, third inversion means the 7 is the bottom note.
Major Seventh Chord (Major 7th interval)
M3-m3-M3
C-E-G-B
D-F#-A-C#
B-D#-F#-A#
minor Seventh Chord (minor 7th interval)
m3-M3-m3
C-Eb-G-Bb
D-F-A-C
B-D-F#-A
Half Diminished Seventh Chord (diminished 5 from R-5th)
m3-m3-M3
C-Eb-Gb-Bb
D-F-Ab-C
B-D-F-A
Fully Diminished Seventh Chord (nothing but dimished and minor intervals)
m3-m3-m3
C-Eb-Gb-Bbb (double flat and A is the enharmonic)
D-F-Ab-Cb
B-D-F-Ab
Dominant Seventh Chord (This chord starts on ^5 of any tonal scale)
M3-m3-m3
C-E-G-Bb
D-F#-A-C
B-D#-F#-A
"m7(♭5)" means half diminished. There are a lot of chords. There is an Augmented 7th being M3-M3-m3 C-E-G#-B which would be Maj7(#5). Much easier to think of the chord at the speed of tempo that way. Also, that chord is pretty rare. If you build a 7th chord on ^6 of the Harmonic Major you get it.
Chapter 6: Music Theory Lingo
Everyone should know this set up: SATB. The Soprano and Bass are known as the outer voices and are the most obvious to the ear. The Alto and Tenor are the inner voices and they are pretty much filler. They (especially the tenor) get extremely boring musical lines most of the time.
--
Upper Case Roman Numerals indicate Major and lower case indicate minor.
I Tonic
ii Super Tonic
iii Mediant
IV Subdominant
V Dominant
vi Submediant
vii Leading Tone
And there is another called "Sub-Tonic" which is a lowered Leading Tone. In the key of C Major it would be a B-Flat.
Chapter 7: Voice Leading
This is where it all began. Classical people are ALL about the voice leading. In fact, the tonal system is largely based on voice leading. If you understand this, you understand a good amount of classical music. That and 4-part harmony. Bach could have some guy yell a quick melody at him and he would improvise 4-part harmony with legit voice leading ON THE SPOT. There is a reason people remember him. My teacher Dr. Price told me he didn't think in chords, though. That was something that happened after the Baroque. They started putting labels on things. Anyways, believe me, any argument can be resolved with a good voice leading argument.
Before I begin...
OK, big lesson on music learning here. There are lots of scholarly opinions on things. One book may say, "THIS AND THAT!" and another book says, "BUT! THIS AND THAT!" It's all about Appeal to Authority. Whoever went to the best music school has the best opinion, or you can say, "Beethoven did it here like this, so I did something similar." Make sure you pick a Classical composer though. That's what everything is based on. Debussy learned all of the Classical stuff before he started going crazy. Beethoven considered himself Classical. He did some thiiings...
*still need to be sorted and categorized*
Voice leading rules
#1. Avoid augmented intervals. Diminished are ok, but not augmented of any kind.
#2. Parallel Octaves and Fifths are banned. They take away the independence of a voice. The Fourth is apparently ok and used frequently even though it is essentially an inverted Fifth.
#3. Approach a leap in the melody from the opposite direction and resolve in the opposite direction. -going down leap up and go down- -going up leap down and go up-
#4. The interval between Soprano and Alto should not exceed an octave.
#5. The interval between Alto and Tenor should not exceed an octave.
#6. Those are known as spacing errors. There is no spacing error for Tenor and Bass.
#7. Scale degree 7 (Leading tone) is a tendency tone. It wants to go to Tonic. Unless you are descending or arpeggiating, it wants to resolve upwards. With an inner voice you can "frustrate" the leading tone and go straight to ^5.
#8. Chord 7th resolves downward
Here's something to know about melodies. Counterpoint came before chords and they wanted everything a certain way. They didn't want crossing voices and spacing errors. When you leap around in the melody, you risk crossing voices and getting spacing errors. However, with imitative counterpoint they might have a theme repeated from one voice to another and they might cross then or have small spacing errors, but it is okay then.
As you can see very... very clearly there are parallel fifths. What's worse, they involve the bass. Sometimes you can hide them if it's really fast or only involves the inner voices. When you do something involving the bass it brings it out more.
As you can see, it is in F Major. The leading tone is E and the chord 7th is the B♭. This is extremely important. If you can master this, you just got through the 2nd semester of music theory.
Chapter 8: Chord Progressions
Now, let's go on to chord progressions.
The reason why I put this here is 7th chords are what people expect now. Triads are sorta old-fashioned and classical sounding. 7th chords are easier to voice lead, which I haven't gotten into yet. I don't mean just the Dominant 7th chord which is in all classical music, but I mean Major 7th chords and the others. It's better to think in 4-note chord progressions. There's more sophistication. Triads fit certain styles, but we really want to be thinking in huge chords and such since it is the 21st century. Actually, we want to think of chords in scales. A Dominant chord would fit the mixolydian scale. You aren't ready for this yet.
In western, tonal, music there is this very strong pull with the dimished 5th (o5) and the augmented 4th (+4.) The o5 resolves inward and the +4 resolves outward. So a B and an F go to C and E and an F and a B move to E and C. I'll edit in a picture it will make sense.
This means you have a V7 move to I. You always have V7-I. It establishes your key and the V7 defines tonal music. You must have this in your music if you want it to be any bit tonal. If you are composing 20th century modern music you may very well avoid this, but then again you are composing modern music like:
or you could be composing modally which has to intentionally avoid the tritone to be modal like:
(That's another episode.)
Chord Progression
(the "-" just means minor)
You see there is the Tonic, Subdominant, and the Dominant. You want to make an arch of starting on Tonic going up to Subdominant and then get to Dominant to bring you back to home. It is very satisfying to listen to. Look at the substitution.
Tonic:
C-E-G-B, A-C-E-G and E-G-B-D share their notes.
Subdominant:
F-A-C-E and D-F-A-C share their notes.
Dominant:
G-B-D-F and B-D-F-A share their notes.
The chord groups represents their similar functions.
Chapter 9: Cadences
A cadence is the chord progression at the end of a phrase, sentence, section, etc. You can tell what key you are in by looking at the cadence. It is the goal. When you have music you start at a "home" you leave home and come back to home. You have goals you progress to. You don't just aimlessly throw out chords and hope they sound good.
We hear music in groups of 4. You can put a cadence somewhere else, but really you want to put it every 4 (maybe at a slow tempo with heavy chord changes every 2 or at a fast tempo that sounds like 4 but is really 8 you would put the cadence there.) Even in AABA 32bar you can have 2 cadences a phrase.
There are different types of cadences.
#1. PAC Perfect Authentic Cadence. This is is the strongest cadence. This is like saying "AND THAT'S THE END!" This is from going from V->I and the I has to have the root in the Soprano and in the Bass.
#2. IAC Imperfect Authentic Cadence. This is the same as Perfect, but it will have I in an inversion or something other than root in the soprano.
#3. HC Half Cadence. This means ending on dominant. It has the feeling of wanting to keep going since it didn't reach tonic.
#4. PC Plagal Cadence. This means going from IV->I. This is sometimes called the "amen" cadence since it has a church sound.
#5. DC Deceptive Cadence. This means going from V-> a substitute for I. Almost always means going to the relative minor. such as G7->Am instead of C. A Deceptive Progression would be the same chord changes but it would be in the middle of a phrase instead of being at a cadence.
#6. Phrygian Half Cadence. This means you are in minor. Your cadence is iv6 (first inversion 6 not add six) ->V.
Just to reinforce the whole plagal being the "amen" cadence.
Final thing I have to say on cadences (this chapter anyways) is that you can look at how a piece cadences to see what key signature you are in.
Chapter 10: Modulation
Modulation means to change key signatures. To modulate to another key you simply play a chord that functions in both keys.
G: Am7->D7->Gmaj7
ii7->V7->IM7
then look at the modulation
e: F#m7♭5->B7->Em
iiø7->V7->i
Look how he uses a common chord. In G Major, he plays the leading tone chord, which is the super tonic chord of the relative minor, then goes to the V of the relative minor. (e minor)
If you are playing in C Major and want to modulate to G Major, you can play a chord that appears in both keys and that's a smooth modulation. Since the keys are so close, an effective method would be to play a D Dominant 7 which is the Dominant of G Major. This would bring you directly to it. That would be called using a Secondary Dominant.
Where did you get the F#? I'm glad you asked me that.
Chapter 11: Mode Mixture
When it comes to scales, the Major scale is the... major scale. *instantrimshot.com* Let's start with that.
I already went over it, but let's elaborate and combine. And we'll derive everything from C. *needs pictures.*
C D E F G A B is the major scale.
C D Eb F G Ab Bb is the parallel minor
C D E F G Ab B is the harmonic major scale.
A B C D E F G is the relative minor scale
A B C D E F G# is the harmonic minor (raise ^7)
A B C D E F# G# is the melodic minor (raise ^6 and ^7)
There is a lot of borrowing going on between them. You can just take the F# from the Melodic minor.
The harmonic major scale (Chopin used it, believe it) borrows the lowered ^6 of the parallel minor. You also get a leading tone fully diminished 7th chord this way.
Chapter 12: Modal Composition
What makes music tonal, modal, or atonal?
One thing must be present to have tonal music. ^5 must make a dominant chord.
Modal cannot have a dominant chord.
Atonal you follow the only rule of only breaking rules.
Here are the modes as derived from the C Major scale.
C D E F G A B is the Ionian mode where you get your IMaj7
D E F G A B C is the Dorian mode where you get your ii-7
E F G A B C D is the Phrygian mode where you get your iii-7
F G A B C D E is the Lydian mode where you get your IVMaj7
G A B C D E F is the Mixolydian mode where you get your V7
A B C D E F G is the Aeolian mode where you get your vi-7
B C D E F G A is the Locrian mode where you get your viiø7
Ionian mode doesn't count as modal; has the ^5 dominant. Each mode has a characteristic scale degree.
Dorian mode #6
Phrygian mode ♭2
Locrian mode #4
Mixolydian mode ♭7
Aeolian mode ♭6
Locrian mode ♭5
Now here's the trick. Your primary chords are going to have the characteristic scale degree in either the root, 3rd or fifth. You are not allowed to have the tritone in any chord. The tritone is the driving force of tonal harmony. This is modal. You'll use 7th chords and if the tritone involves the 7 you can use the chord just don't play it with the 7.
So here are your chords (with no accidentals in the key signature):
Dorian mode #6
Primary: i-7, IV, ii-7 (Dm7, G, Em7)
Secondary: IIIMaj7, v-7, VIIMaj7 (FMaj7, Am7, CMaj7)
Forbidden: viø7 (Bø7)
Phrygian mode ♭2
Primary: i-7, IIMaj7, vii-7 (Em7, FMaj7, Dm7)
Secondary: III, iv-7, VIMaj7 (G, Am7, CMaj7)
Forbidden: vø7 (Bø7)
Locrian mode #4
Primary: IMaj7, II (FMaj7, G)
Secondary: vi-7, iii-7, VMaj7, (Dm7, Am7, CMaj7)
Forbidden: ivø7 (Bø7)
Mixolydian mode ♭7
Primary: I, VIIMaj7 (G, FMaj7)
Secondary: vi-7, ii-7, IVMaj7 (Em7, Am7, CMaj7)
Forbidden: iiiø7 (Bø7)
Aeolian mode ♭6
Primary: i-7, VIMaj7, vi-7 (Am7, FMaj7, Dm7)
Secondary: IIIMaj7, v-7, II (CMaj7, Em-7, G)
Forbidden: (Bø7)
Locrian mode ♭5
Primary: xxxxxxx
Sedondary:xxxxxxxx
Forbidden: iø7... wat
(locrian is unstable because the tritone exists from it's root to fifth writing in this mode makes no sense and never will so don't bother)
Composing music in a mode is something like this.
1.) Use your tonic chord A LOT.
2.) Use your characteristic scale degree A LOT.
3.) For cadences, use your primary chords.
3.) To vary things up try a pattern alternating the stong chords and weak chords in the bridge or something.
You really want to beat it into them that YOU ARE MODAL. THIS ISN'T MAJOR. THIS ISN'T MINOR. THIS IS MODAL. You really have to try to make this convincing.
Chapter 13: Neapolitan, Italian+6, French +6, German +6, and Tritone Substitution
Tritone Substitution is a very fun way to spice up your music. It works through enharmonics. The Jazz idea is to put a Dominant chord a half step above whatever chord you are going to and it will be the idea of V-I.
A simple example would be a chord progression such as:
C -> F -> Db7 -> C
The idea being Db-F-Ab-Cb enharmonically has an F and a B in it creating a Dominant sounding tritone resolving to tonic.
However, let's go farther back and explore more into this subject.
The Neapolitan chord is a chord involving bII as another chord to use for the Subdominant. A cadence being something like Db-G7-C instead of F-G7-C or D-G7-C. In a classical sense, this bII is to be used in 1st inversion, which gives us the name Neapolitan 6 chord.
This would be the general voice leading.
The Db goes to the B with a possible passing tone of a C. The Ab resolves to G. One F can stay while the other moves to the G in the bass. The best doubling of the N6 is the 3rd. The rest of the chord acts as tendency tones which could lead to parallel octaves. This doesn't always have to be in first inversion as later on composers demonstrate. You have to look to find it and I don't feel like looking at the moment.
The Italian +6 chord is another subdominant functioning chord. The idea for this chord is the Augmented 6 interval in it is like an enharmonic minor 7th resolving upwards. It is spelled in this sense:
Of the key it is in you have scale degrees b6, 1, and #4. The b6 goes down and the #4 goes up. Since b6 and #4 are tendency tones you may not double them in 4 part writing as you would be doing parallel octaves.
The French +6 chord is the same as the Italian +6, but you add scale degree 2 to the chord.
The German +6 chord is the same as the Italian +6, but you add scale degree b3 to the chord.
There is some more to come, but that is a general idea.
Chapter 14: Tonicization vs Modulation
Obvious questions come to mind when one reads this chapter title. What is a tonicization? And when one realizes what tonicization is... Why is this after modulation and such? Well, dear friend, that's because I'm doing this off the top of my head and maybe later I will organize them better. I actually like this being here, so whatever to you.
Tonicization is taking a not-tonic chord and making it sound like a tonic chord. It's not a modulation, but a quick 'this chord is special' feeling. You may not tonicize a diminished chord. So, the leading tone chord mostly, and it's a stretch to tonicize the ii of minor, since in the Harmonic Minor the ii is ii°. In Melodic Minor you get ii, though, so, you know, yeah.
In C Major:
C G7 C Dm G7 C
C G7 C A7 Dm G7 C.
You see it is clearly in C. You play I V I and suddenly A7 pops up. Clearly this chord doesn't belong to the key of C. You write it as V7/ii. You see it is a Dominant chord, but the target is the ii. It is so short as you can see that you are in D minor for only those 2 chords. Immediately after you have G7 pulling you back to C. The general idea is that if you see chords having chromatic notes there is some sort of idea that you are in a different key either temporarily or maybe long term. At any rate, we are talking about short term right now. The added chords are taken out. Really, it's a decoration on the next chord. You still have your arch of Tonic -> Subdominant -> Dominant -> Tonic, but you put in more decorations.
(I'll let you read that and figure it out yourself.)
You can also be deceptive with it. V->I instead is V->vi. Same idea. Possibly a little trickier. I don't have an example of this off the top of my head.
----------------------------------------End--------------------------------------
I should reference a bunch of stuff and have a collection down here.
Questions?
11/7/11 - Ch. 9 Now talks about Cadences!
11/8/11 - Added to Ch.12 about composing modal pieces. I worked pretty hard on making this as neat and understandable as possible. It's really worth looking at. If there are any typos or anything you'd like to ask about/discuss, tell me in the PZ Skype group.
11/8/11 - I've started something in the reserved space post. It is meant to be a forum composition everyone pitches ideas towards. I'd like to have as many people possible to be a part of it. If no one really cares to be a part of it, I'll just do it myself. The point is applying this stuff. It's fun to talk about it, but it's more fun to apply it. It really kills the fun of it if I do the whole process for everyone to see.
11/9/ - Added Deceptive Cadence to Cadences. I knew there was one missing! Anyways, if you don't know what that is, you better check it out!
11/10/11 - Added Table of Contents and organized the chapters a bit.
11/14/11 - Added Chapter 14: Tonicization vs Modulation. I still need to add an example and maybe arrange this chapter to be sooner, but it's there. I'd also like to elaborate more on it. The idea of it is there, and, if you don't know how to tonicize, you definitely should take a look at this chapter. Most definitely. It will really make your music more emphatic and it may cure your possible composer's block!
11/14/11 - Added an example of Tonicization to its chapter. I just remembered! PAPAGENO! You better watch the video I added for it!
11/14/11 - Added Phrygian Half Cadence to the list of cadences.
12/8/12 - Started the extremely needed revamping of Ch 13. It is better specified and has the augmented 6 chords added in.
Table of Contents
Preface
Chapter 1: Intervals
Chapter 2: Major Minor Scales
Chapter 3: Circle of Fifths
Chapter 4: Triads
Chapter 5: 7th Chords
Chapter 6: Music Theory Lingo
Chapter 7: Voice Leading
Chapter 8: Chord Progressions
Chapter 9: Cadences
Chapter 10: Modulation
Chapter 11: Mode Mixture
Chapter 12: Modal Composition
Chapter 13: Tritone Substitution
Chapter 14: Tonicization vs Modulation
Preface
I'm bored out of my mind and I know this will help. Everyone here knows how to read sheet music so we can skip that. Also, this may have small errors. Everyone makes them (every music teacher I've had has made them), and they are very humbling. Also, if you don't have a keyboard of some sort this is all really annoying to learn. Be at your keyboard if you are learning something here. This is something I consider fun to talk about so whether this thread is popular or not, I'm updating it. If you are familiar with the beginning of this skim through it until you get to something you don't know. Also, you can proof read this for me slave.
Chapter 1: Intervals
Let's start with intervals.
Here are the numbers for people who like numbers:
Half step/Semitone = C->C#
Whole step/Whole tone = C->D
Measured in Half Steps:
0 Perfect Unison C->C
1 minor 2nd C->C#
2 Major 2nd C->D
3 minor 3rd C->E♭
4 Major 3rd C->E
5 Perfect 4th C->F
6 Augmented 4th C->F# or Diminished 5th C->G♭
7 Perfect 5th C->G
8 minor 6th C->A♭
9 Major 6th C->A
10 minor 7th C->B♭
11 Major 7th C->B
12 Perfect Octave/Unison C->C
Anything beyond this isn't for you yet.
Something to mention is a little m is minor and a big M is Major.
Here is a picture for people who like those:
Chapter 2: Major and Minor Scales
There is only one Major scale. You can borrow a flat-6 from it's parallel minor and call it a Harmonic major, but let's just say there is only one.
C Major Scale:
Notice: If you start on C as 1, the rest follow as Perfect or Major intervals.
There are 3 minor scales to know. Natural, harmonic, and melodic. Then there is another way to label it: Parallel or Relative. If you start on C Major and you play C minor, you are in the parallel minor. If you start on C Major and you play A minor, you have gone to the relative minor.
A Natural Minor Scale:
A Harmonic minor Scale
Just raise ^7. This is the tonal minor. When you make chords from minor, this is what you use. It has the leading tone which makes for a Dominant chord. When it comes to playing this scale, you want to avoid playing the augmented 2nd interval between ^6 and ^7. It makes for bad voice leading. However, you can find examples of it.
Excerpt from "The Revolutionary" Etude by Chopin
A Melodic Minor
Raise ^6 and ^7. You are supposed to play melodic only going up. Going down you should play natural minor. You can find examples of it otherwise.
Excerpt from Toccata et Fugue by Bach
Let's look at the parallel minor of C major.
C natural Minor Scale:
Notice: If you start on C as 1, they are all Perfect or minor intervals except for C->D which is a Major 2nd.
Start on a note then follow with this pattern of whole and half steps:
WWHWWWH
Ex:
C whole step to
D whole step to
E half step to
F whole step to
G whole step to
A whole step to
B half step to
C
That's all garbage teaching so I'm not going to continue with that. Pro's use key signatures.
Chapter 3: Circle of Fifths
This is the order you add sharps/flats to make a key signature.
Order of Sharps: F C G D A E B
Fat Cats Go Down Alleys Eating Bread
Fat Cats Go Dancing At Every Ball
Fat Cats Go Drinking At Every Bar
Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle
Order of Flats: B E A D G C F
BEAD Gum Candy Fruit
Battle Ends And Down Goes Charles' Father
Now for the keys they represent:
(wikipedia had such a nice neat picture of it)
Here's a term to learn: Enharmonic
If something is Enharmonic, that means it is the same note, but spelled a different way. F# and G♭ are enharmonic equivalents of each other. The spelling matters in a certain sense because of certain things. At a modern level of music, really, it starts to lose it's importance. People want to play things by sight. The flute player doesn't want to play in sharps so F# and G♭ are the same thing just make it a G♭ and everyone will just know it's purpose anyways. I should put this after intervals but I feel it was too confusing to put there. You need to read a couple minutes more before you get to earn this sort of thing.
With that in mind you need to be careful here. The way to get the relative minor scale is to start on ^6 as said above. The little ^ symbol is used to represent scale degree. You are supposed to put it over the number, but I can't do that typing.
I say ^6 because it is easier to think of than counting 3 half steps down. The relative minor of B is G# not A♭.
Chapter 4: Triads
Chords are built on 3rds. The kind of thirds it is built on determine the quality of the chord. Also, when you measure intervals you start on the lower note. Always measure from bottom to top.
A triad is three notes put together so they are separated by thirds. The bottom note is the Root. The note on top of the Root is called the Third. The note above the Third is the Fifth. If you measure them the names are obvious that it makes a third and a fifth interval from the Root.
There are 4 qualities for these. Major, minor, diminished, and augmented. Little m's for minor and big for Major.
Major Triad
M3-m3
C-E-G
D-F#-A
B-D#-F#
minor Triad
m3-M3
C-E♭-G
D-F-A
B-D-F#
Diminished Triad
m3-m3
C-E♭-G♭
D-F-A♭
B-D-F
Augmented Triad
M3-M3
C-E-G#
D-F#-A#
B-D#-Fx (double sharp looks like an x)
Regarding Inversions:
A first inversion is when you have the bottom note as the Third.
E-G-C is a C Major Triad in first inversion.
Second inversion is with the fifth as the bottom note.
G-C-E is a C Major Triad in second inversion.
Chapter 5: 7th Chords
From here I could go on to tell you about chord progressions, but I am going to go into 7th chords first. The reason it is called a 7th chord is that it has a 7th interval from the root to the top of the stack of thirds. Also, third inversion means the 7 is the bottom note.
Major Seventh Chord (Major 7th interval)
M3-m3-M3
C-E-G-B
D-F#-A-C#
B-D#-F#-A#
minor Seventh Chord (minor 7th interval)
m3-M3-m3
C-Eb-G-Bb
D-F-A-C
B-D-F#-A
Half Diminished Seventh Chord (diminished 5 from R-5th)
m3-m3-M3
C-Eb-Gb-Bb
D-F-Ab-C
B-D-F-A
Fully Diminished Seventh Chord (nothing but dimished and minor intervals)
m3-m3-m3
C-Eb-Gb-Bbb (double flat and A is the enharmonic)
D-F-Ab-Cb
B-D-F-Ab
Dominant Seventh Chord (This chord starts on ^5 of any tonal scale)
M3-m3-m3
C-E-G-Bb
D-F#-A-C
B-D#-F#-A
"m7(♭5)" means half diminished. There are a lot of chords. There is an Augmented 7th being M3-M3-m3 C-E-G#-B which would be Maj7(#5). Much easier to think of the chord at the speed of tempo that way. Also, that chord is pretty rare. If you build a 7th chord on ^6 of the Harmonic Major you get it.
Chapter 6: Music Theory Lingo
Everyone should know this set up: SATB. The Soprano and Bass are known as the outer voices and are the most obvious to the ear. The Alto and Tenor are the inner voices and they are pretty much filler. They (especially the tenor) get extremely boring musical lines most of the time.
--
Upper Case Roman Numerals indicate Major and lower case indicate minor.
I Tonic
ii Super Tonic
iii Mediant
IV Subdominant
V Dominant
vi Submediant
vii Leading Tone
And there is another called "Sub-Tonic" which is a lowered Leading Tone. In the key of C Major it would be a B-Flat.
Chapter 7: Voice Leading
This is where it all began. Classical people are ALL about the voice leading. In fact, the tonal system is largely based on voice leading. If you understand this, you understand a good amount of classical music. That and 4-part harmony. Bach could have some guy yell a quick melody at him and he would improvise 4-part harmony with legit voice leading ON THE SPOT. There is a reason people remember him. My teacher Dr. Price told me he didn't think in chords, though. That was something that happened after the Baroque. They started putting labels on things. Anyways, believe me, any argument can be resolved with a good voice leading argument.
Before I begin...
OK, big lesson on music learning here. There are lots of scholarly opinions on things. One book may say, "THIS AND THAT!" and another book says, "BUT! THIS AND THAT!" It's all about Appeal to Authority. Whoever went to the best music school has the best opinion, or you can say, "Beethoven did it here like this, so I did something similar." Make sure you pick a Classical composer though. That's what everything is based on. Debussy learned all of the Classical stuff before he started going crazy. Beethoven considered himself Classical. He did some thiiings...
*still need to be sorted and categorized*
Voice leading rules
#1. Avoid augmented intervals. Diminished are ok, but not augmented of any kind.
#2. Parallel Octaves and Fifths are banned. They take away the independence of a voice. The Fourth is apparently ok and used frequently even though it is essentially an inverted Fifth.
#3. Approach a leap in the melody from the opposite direction and resolve in the opposite direction. -going down leap up and go down- -going up leap down and go up-
#4. The interval between Soprano and Alto should not exceed an octave.
#5. The interval between Alto and Tenor should not exceed an octave.
#6. Those are known as spacing errors. There is no spacing error for Tenor and Bass.
#7. Scale degree 7 (Leading tone) is a tendency tone. It wants to go to Tonic. Unless you are descending or arpeggiating, it wants to resolve upwards. With an inner voice you can "frustrate" the leading tone and go straight to ^5.
#8. Chord 7th resolves downward
Here's something to know about melodies. Counterpoint came before chords and they wanted everything a certain way. They didn't want crossing voices and spacing errors. When you leap around in the melody, you risk crossing voices and getting spacing errors. However, with imitative counterpoint they might have a theme repeated from one voice to another and they might cross then or have small spacing errors, but it is okay then.
As you can see very... very clearly there are parallel fifths. What's worse, they involve the bass. Sometimes you can hide them if it's really fast or only involves the inner voices. When you do something involving the bass it brings it out more.
As you can see, it is in F Major. The leading tone is E and the chord 7th is the B♭. This is extremely important. If you can master this, you just got through the 2nd semester of music theory.
Chapter 8: Chord Progressions
Now, let's go on to chord progressions.
The reason why I put this here is 7th chords are what people expect now. Triads are sorta old-fashioned and classical sounding. 7th chords are easier to voice lead, which I haven't gotten into yet. I don't mean just the Dominant 7th chord which is in all classical music, but I mean Major 7th chords and the others. It's better to think in 4-note chord progressions. There's more sophistication. Triads fit certain styles, but we really want to be thinking in huge chords and such since it is the 21st century. Actually, we want to think of chords in scales. A Dominant chord would fit the mixolydian scale. You aren't ready for this yet.
In western, tonal, music there is this very strong pull with the dimished 5th (o5) and the augmented 4th (+4.) The o5 resolves inward and the +4 resolves outward. So a B and an F go to C and E and an F and a B move to E and C. I'll edit in a picture it will make sense.
This means you have a V7 move to I. You always have V7-I. It establishes your key and the V7 defines tonal music. You must have this in your music if you want it to be any bit tonal. If you are composing 20th century modern music you may very well avoid this, but then again you are composing modern music like:
or you could be composing modally which has to intentionally avoid the tritone to be modal like:
(That's another episode.)
Chord Progression
(the "-" just means minor)
You see there is the Tonic, Subdominant, and the Dominant. You want to make an arch of starting on Tonic going up to Subdominant and then get to Dominant to bring you back to home. It is very satisfying to listen to. Look at the substitution.
Tonic:
C-E-G-B, A-C-E-G and E-G-B-D share their notes.
Subdominant:
F-A-C-E and D-F-A-C share their notes.
Dominant:
G-B-D-F and B-D-F-A share their notes.
The chord groups represents their similar functions.
Chapter 9: Cadences
A cadence is the chord progression at the end of a phrase, sentence, section, etc. You can tell what key you are in by looking at the cadence. It is the goal. When you have music you start at a "home" you leave home and come back to home. You have goals you progress to. You don't just aimlessly throw out chords and hope they sound good.
We hear music in groups of 4. You can put a cadence somewhere else, but really you want to put it every 4 (maybe at a slow tempo with heavy chord changes every 2 or at a fast tempo that sounds like 4 but is really 8 you would put the cadence there.) Even in AABA 32bar you can have 2 cadences a phrase.
There are different types of cadences.
#1. PAC Perfect Authentic Cadence. This is is the strongest cadence. This is like saying "AND THAT'S THE END!" This is from going from V->I and the I has to have the root in the Soprano and in the Bass.
#2. IAC Imperfect Authentic Cadence. This is the same as Perfect, but it will have I in an inversion or something other than root in the soprano.
#3. HC Half Cadence. This means ending on dominant. It has the feeling of wanting to keep going since it didn't reach tonic.
#4. PC Plagal Cadence. This means going from IV->I. This is sometimes called the "amen" cadence since it has a church sound.
#5. DC Deceptive Cadence. This means going from V-> a substitute for I. Almost always means going to the relative minor. such as G7->Am instead of C. A Deceptive Progression would be the same chord changes but it would be in the middle of a phrase instead of being at a cadence.
#6. Phrygian Half Cadence. This means you are in minor. Your cadence is iv6 (first inversion 6 not add six) ->V.
Just to reinforce the whole plagal being the "amen" cadence.
Final thing I have to say on cadences (this chapter anyways) is that you can look at how a piece cadences to see what key signature you are in.
Chapter 10: Modulation
Modulation means to change key signatures. To modulate to another key you simply play a chord that functions in both keys.
G: Am7->D7->Gmaj7
ii7->V7->IM7
then look at the modulation
e: F#m7♭5->B7->Em
iiø7->V7->i
Look how he uses a common chord. In G Major, he plays the leading tone chord, which is the super tonic chord of the relative minor, then goes to the V of the relative minor. (e minor)
If you are playing in C Major and want to modulate to G Major, you can play a chord that appears in both keys and that's a smooth modulation. Since the keys are so close, an effective method would be to play a D Dominant 7 which is the Dominant of G Major. This would bring you directly to it. That would be called using a Secondary Dominant.
Where did you get the F#? I'm glad you asked me that.
Chapter 11: Mode Mixture
When it comes to scales, the Major scale is the... major scale. *instantrimshot.com* Let's start with that.
I already went over it, but let's elaborate and combine. And we'll derive everything from C. *needs pictures.*
C D E F G A B is the major scale.
C D Eb F G Ab Bb is the parallel minor
C D E F G Ab B is the harmonic major scale.
A B C D E F G is the relative minor scale
A B C D E F G# is the harmonic minor (raise ^7)
A B C D E F# G# is the melodic minor (raise ^6 and ^7)
There is a lot of borrowing going on between them. You can just take the F# from the Melodic minor.
The harmonic major scale (Chopin used it, believe it) borrows the lowered ^6 of the parallel minor. You also get a leading tone fully diminished 7th chord this way.
Chapter 12: Modal Composition
What makes music tonal, modal, or atonal?
One thing must be present to have tonal music. ^5 must make a dominant chord.
Modal cannot have a dominant chord.
Atonal you follow the only rule of only breaking rules.
Here are the modes as derived from the C Major scale.
C D E F G A B is the Ionian mode where you get your IMaj7
D E F G A B C is the Dorian mode where you get your ii-7
E F G A B C D is the Phrygian mode where you get your iii-7
F G A B C D E is the Lydian mode where you get your IVMaj7
G A B C D E F is the Mixolydian mode where you get your V7
A B C D E F G is the Aeolian mode where you get your vi-7
B C D E F G A is the Locrian mode where you get your viiø7
Ionian mode doesn't count as modal; has the ^5 dominant. Each mode has a characteristic scale degree.
Dorian mode #6
Phrygian mode ♭2
Locrian mode #4
Mixolydian mode ♭7
Aeolian mode ♭6
Locrian mode ♭5
Now here's the trick. Your primary chords are going to have the characteristic scale degree in either the root, 3rd or fifth. You are not allowed to have the tritone in any chord. The tritone is the driving force of tonal harmony. This is modal. You'll use 7th chords and if the tritone involves the 7 you can use the chord just don't play it with the 7.
So here are your chords (with no accidentals in the key signature):
Dorian mode #6
Primary: i-7, IV, ii-7 (Dm7, G, Em7)
Secondary: IIIMaj7, v-7, VIIMaj7 (FMaj7, Am7, CMaj7)
Forbidden: viø7 (Bø7)
Phrygian mode ♭2
Primary: i-7, IIMaj7, vii-7 (Em7, FMaj7, Dm7)
Secondary: III, iv-7, VIMaj7 (G, Am7, CMaj7)
Forbidden: vø7 (Bø7)
Locrian mode #4
Primary: IMaj7, II (FMaj7, G)
Secondary: vi-7, iii-7, VMaj7, (Dm7, Am7, CMaj7)
Forbidden: ivø7 (Bø7)
Mixolydian mode ♭7
Primary: I, VIIMaj7 (G, FMaj7)
Secondary: vi-7, ii-7, IVMaj7 (Em7, Am7, CMaj7)
Forbidden: iiiø7 (Bø7)
Aeolian mode ♭6
Primary: i-7, VIMaj7, vi-7 (Am7, FMaj7, Dm7)
Secondary: IIIMaj7, v-7, II (CMaj7, Em-7, G)
Forbidden: (Bø7)
Locrian mode ♭5
Primary: xxxxxxx
Sedondary:xxxxxxxx
Forbidden: iø7... wat
(locrian is unstable because the tritone exists from it's root to fifth writing in this mode makes no sense and never will so don't bother)
Composing music in a mode is something like this.
1.) Use your tonic chord A LOT.
2.) Use your characteristic scale degree A LOT.
3.) For cadences, use your primary chords.
3.) To vary things up try a pattern alternating the stong chords and weak chords in the bridge or something.
You really want to beat it into them that YOU ARE MODAL. THIS ISN'T MAJOR. THIS ISN'T MINOR. THIS IS MODAL. You really have to try to make this convincing.
Chapter 13: Neapolitan, Italian+6, French +6, German +6, and Tritone Substitution
Tritone Substitution is a very fun way to spice up your music. It works through enharmonics. The Jazz idea is to put a Dominant chord a half step above whatever chord you are going to and it will be the idea of V-I.
A simple example would be a chord progression such as:
C -> F -> Db7 -> C
The idea being Db-F-Ab-Cb enharmonically has an F and a B in it creating a Dominant sounding tritone resolving to tonic.
However, let's go farther back and explore more into this subject.
The Neapolitan chord is a chord involving bII as another chord to use for the Subdominant. A cadence being something like Db-G7-C instead of F-G7-C or D-G7-C. In a classical sense, this bII is to be used in 1st inversion, which gives us the name Neapolitan 6 chord.
This would be the general voice leading.
The Db goes to the B with a possible passing tone of a C. The Ab resolves to G. One F can stay while the other moves to the G in the bass. The best doubling of the N6 is the 3rd. The rest of the chord acts as tendency tones which could lead to parallel octaves. This doesn't always have to be in first inversion as later on composers demonstrate. You have to look to find it and I don't feel like looking at the moment.
The Italian +6 chord is another subdominant functioning chord. The idea for this chord is the Augmented 6 interval in it is like an enharmonic minor 7th resolving upwards. It is spelled in this sense:
Of the key it is in you have scale degrees b6, 1, and #4. The b6 goes down and the #4 goes up. Since b6 and #4 are tendency tones you may not double them in 4 part writing as you would be doing parallel octaves.
The French +6 chord is the same as the Italian +6, but you add scale degree 2 to the chord.
The German +6 chord is the same as the Italian +6, but you add scale degree b3 to the chord.
There is some more to come, but that is a general idea.
Chapter 14: Tonicization vs Modulation
Obvious questions come to mind when one reads this chapter title. What is a tonicization? And when one realizes what tonicization is... Why is this after modulation and such? Well, dear friend, that's because I'm doing this off the top of my head and maybe later I will organize them better. I actually like this being here, so whatever to you.
Tonicization is taking a not-tonic chord and making it sound like a tonic chord. It's not a modulation, but a quick 'this chord is special' feeling. You may not tonicize a diminished chord. So, the leading tone chord mostly, and it's a stretch to tonicize the ii of minor, since in the Harmonic Minor the ii is ii°. In Melodic Minor you get ii, though, so, you know, yeah.
In C Major:
C G7 C Dm G7 C
C G7 C A7 Dm G7 C.
You see it is clearly in C. You play I V I and suddenly A7 pops up. Clearly this chord doesn't belong to the key of C. You write it as V7/ii. You see it is a Dominant chord, but the target is the ii. It is so short as you can see that you are in D minor for only those 2 chords. Immediately after you have G7 pulling you back to C. The general idea is that if you see chords having chromatic notes there is some sort of idea that you are in a different key either temporarily or maybe long term. At any rate, we are talking about short term right now. The added chords are taken out. Really, it's a decoration on the next chord. You still have your arch of Tonic -> Subdominant -> Dominant -> Tonic, but you put in more decorations.
(I'll let you read that and figure it out yourself.)
You can also be deceptive with it. V->I instead is V->vi. Same idea. Possibly a little trickier. I don't have an example of this off the top of my head.
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I should reference a bunch of stuff and have a collection down here.
Questions?