BFMracing
General Category => General Board => Cogitative Corner => Topic started by: Marty on October 31, 2009, 07:02:44 AM
-
Hi! Who would be interested in reading music lessons online here - largely theory-based, probably. Possibly about Jazz, which has some of the best creativity in the musical world. Anyone interested? If so, give me a mo, and I'll give it a go!
-
I would, seeing that I have almost 20 years of experience in music. Would be nice to get some more instruction.
-
I wanna learn how to play the...
Violin
Piano
Guitar
Saxophone
Flute
Clarinet
Organ
Kazoo
Bells
Various percussion instruments
Trumpet
but I don't want it to take too long. And I want it to be easy.
-
Marty said that it would be mostly theory. I could help you with the piano, percussion, and brass instruments, but that's it. Talk to me about strings and I go nowhere.
-
I'd like to sign myself up.
And Miser, I iz percussion Queen :D
I can prolly help you with guitar and strings if you need it.
-Spfd
-
Oh, goody. I think I may post with a combination of videos and writing, as some things take a while to type out or are simply too tricky to type. Watch this space...
-
Oh dear...
Well, unless I can make those instruments I don't think I can play them :P
I do have a drum set though, I just haven't had too many lessons.
-
Just to get an idea, what sort of Music lessons are you guys interested in? Rock? Blues? Jazz? Classical? Pop? I'd be better at Rock / Blues / Jazz, but I could manage the others for a while at least...
-
I'd be interesting in Rock, Jazz and Blues, since I've heard we do Jazz & Blues in elective music next year (which I am taking :D) so any headstarts are good :D
As for written music, or videos, if anyone needs something written out, if you just have the names of the notes and the key etc. I'd be happy to write it out for you. Although I'm not that good at transposing.
Drummers FTW.
-Spfd
-
I thought we’d start really simply and look at Chords and Scales.
Chords
Very few people look at chords properly. You just play and listen to them, and think, “Ah”. But if you don’t actually look at them, you’re missing a LOT of theory right there.
First off, what is a chord? Put simply, it’s a collection of notes played together. Most chords are made from stacking thirds from a scale on top of each other. Thirds are as simple as they sound – it’s the third note. So in C major ( C D E F G A B ) the C major chord has a C, an E and a G – the first, third and fifth of the C major scale. This is called a C Major Triad. A Triad is a collection of three notes stacked in thirds.
If we use the same scale, but start from an A, we get A, C, E – an A Minor Triad. The other Triad that you can get from the major scale is a Diminished Triad, and in C Major it starts on B – giving us B-D-F.
There’s something different about that Diminished Triad, isn’t there? To find out what, we need to look at the distances between the notes – known as the intervals.
Let’s look at a C Major Triad – C-E-G. If we count the number of Semitones (the distance between a B and a C, very reminiscent of the Jaws Theme) from the C to the E, we get four semitones. This is called a Major Third. If we count the distance from an E to a G, we get three semitones. This is a Minor Third. So a Major Triad has a Major Third followed by a Minor Third.
Now, let’s look at an A Minor Triad – A-C-E. Counting Semitones again, we get three semitones between A and C (a Minor Third) and four semitones between C and E (a Major Triad). So a Minor Triad is made from a Minor Third followed by a Major Third.
Looking at both Minor and Major Triads, they have something in common. They Both have a Major and a Minor Third in, although in different orders. This means that the distance between the First (C / A) and Fifth (E / G) notes is the same – seven semitones. This interval is called a Perfect Fifth, and it’s a very distinctive, pure sound.
However, if we now look at the B Diminished Triad - B-D-F - and count in semitones, you find that there are three semitones between B and D (a Minor Third), and three semitones between the D and F (another minor third). So that means that, between the first (B) and the fifth (F) there are only six semitones. This makes the Diminished Triad sound VERY evil.
Scales
What is a Scale? A Scale is a series of notes stretching over an octave. More simply, if you play any number of notes from a note to the same note higher up, that’s a scale. But the most used scales are the Major and Minor Scales.
A Major Scale is very simple to play if you have a piano – if you play all the white notes from a C to another C, you’ve just played the C Major Scale. It goes ( C D E F G A B C ) and sounds quite pretty and happy. If we play the white notes on a keyboard but starting from an A, which is three white notes lower than a C, we get the A Minor Scale, which goes ( A B C D E F G A ). It sounds fairly dark and menacing.
Look at that series of notes again, put next to each other, and spread across two octaves
C Major: C D E F G A B C D E F G A B C
A Minor: A B C D E F G A B C D E F G A
Looking at them there, you see clearly how the order of notes is common to both the scales. Why, then, do they sound so different? Once again, it’s all down to the distances between the notes – the intervals.
Intervals are all related to the major scale. As far as Intervals are concerned, the Major Scale is Perfect.
C Root
D Major Second -- Two Semitones
E Major Third ---- Four Semitones
F Perfect Fourth - Five Semitones
G Perfect Fifth --- Seven Semitones
A Major Sixth ---- Nine Semitones
B Major Seventh - Eleven Semitones
C Octave -------- Twelve Semitones
This is more simply written as 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
The Minor Scale, however, has various notes flattened, or lowered.
A Root
B Major Second -- Two Semitones
C Minor Third ---- Three Semitones - Flattened
D Perfect Fourth - Five Semitones
E Perfect Fifth --- Seven Semitones
F Minor Sixth ---- Eight Semitones - Flattened
G Minor Seventh - Ten Semitones - Flattened
A Octave ------- Twelve Semitones
If we express the Minor Scale in relation to the Major Scale then, we see that it follows this pattern:
1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7. Just in case you don’t know, the ‘b’ means flattened.
It is those three flattened notes – the third, sixth and seventh – that make the minor scale sound so different. In particular, it is the Third and Seventh that affect the sound – more about this later!
Obviously there are lots more scales to choose from, but these form the bulk of almost every tune you’ll know.
Next Time: Extending the Chords
-
What did you change?
Cause I hope you don't mind, but I'm saving this stuff in a word document, so I can revise later and stuff.
this is cool btw.
-Spfd
-
I just moved 'Scales' to below 'Chords' - as it was supposed to be that way. And thanks, Spood! No-one replied, so I though no-one liked it...and of course you can save it, it's supposed to help you!
-
I don't usually post unless I have something constructive to say. Saying "kool" or "good work!" only makes it look like spam, and I hate spam. It tastes gross.
This is definitely a different way of looking at things music majors take for granted. Granted, I'm not a music major, but I have had some experience in music. I still play for fun.
I'm wondering if along with the different styles of music that you will be going over, possibly go a little farther? As in, I would like to see a section talking about the different styles of singing. I know of a few, such as my mom sings barbershop (a capella), but there's also jazz, skat, opera, traditional, and more. Could possibly go even farther and talk about the different families of instruments, which I could help out in.
As for written music, or videos, if anyone needs something written out, if you just have the names of the notes and the key etc. I'd be happy to write it out for you. Although I'm not that good at transposing.
-Spfd
Heh, my french horn teacher made me transpose almost every lesson. Main reason was cause some music is still written for Eb Horn and not the standard F Horn. That's not a bad idea for a lesson as well: Transposing. I could probably draw that out too, if you'd like.
-
I'm wondering if along with the different styles of music that you will be going over, possibly go a little farther? As in, I would like to see a section talking about the different styles of singing. I know of a few, such as my mom sings barbershop (a capella), but there's also jazz, skat, opera, traditional, and more. Could possibly go even farther and talk about the different families of instruments, which I could help out in.
Regarding Singing...hmm...scat would definitely be a sub-genre of Jazz Singing. For those unfamiliar, with scat, it is singing without words, but using sounds. Instead of doing, say...
O - oh, say can you see...
You'd do...
Sha-badee, bo, ba-bo bo bow...
But singing's not my Forte, I don't think I could help there much...
-
Extending the Chords
Last time on chords we were only looking at Triads (see above). Just to Summarise, there are three types of triad that we looked at: Major (1-3-5) Minor (1-b3-5) and Diminished (1-b3-b5). This time, we’re going to look at advancing chords with extensions and alterations. Those words both sound long, but they just mean adding or changing notes.
The simplest type of extension is the seventh chord. In the triads, you see we’re looking at every other note. If we go past the fifth, this gives us the seventh note of the scale. Let’s look at these in C Major.
Starting on C, we get C-E-G-B or a C Major Seventh chord (often shortened to Cmaj7 or CΔ). This is spelt 1-3-5-7 and that major seventh interval is 11 semitones away from the root, or just one semitone below the octave. This gives the major seventh interval a fairly unresolved sound at times, meaning that it doesn’t feel finished – it wants to go somewhere. The actual major seventh chord (ie all the notes played at the same time) sounds finished and is, in fact, often used as a finishing chord – most often in Jazz.
Starting on A, which you’ll remember was a minor triad, we get A-C-E-G, or an A Minor Seventh (Am7 or A-7). This is spelt 1-b3-5-b7 and that minor seventh interval is 10 semitones from the root (1 semitone below a major seventh). The minor seventh chord sound fairly resolved – it doesn’t really sound like it needs to go somewhere else. It also sounds fairly sad.
When adding seventh notes, we also get another type of seventh from the major triad. If we start at G (the triad there is G-B-D), it's a major triad (1-3-5). But if we add the seventh, we get G-B-D-F, spelt 1-3-5-b7. So that’s a major third and a minor seventh. Whoa. Interesting. If you play this chord, it sounds very unresolved and slightly discordant – it doesn’t sounds very pleasant. This is one of the most important chords in music – it’s called the Dominant Seventh Chord (or G7) and it is mainly used to go lead to the ‘home’ chord – ie the first major chord of a scale. In this case, G7 wants to go to Cmaj7. Play it – it sounds very finished, and is used a LOT in classical music. The dominant chord itself is used largely in blues (you can hear that bluesy sound to it).
Finally, starting on B we get B-D-F-A. This chord has several names – you can call it either a Half-Diminished Chord (Bø) or a Minor Seventh Flat Five (Bm7b5). It is spelt 1-b3-b5-b7. It sounds very unfinished and evil, due to it having so many ‘wrong’ intervals – minor thirds, fifths and sevenths.
You’ll probably have looked at that Half-Diminished Chord and thought, “Half-Diminished? Well, what’s a full diminished then?”. If you remember with the diminished triad, it had stacked minor thirds (1-b3-b5). Well, so does a Diminished Seventh Chord (C°). This gives us, in spelling, 1-b3-b5-bb7 (bb7 means Double-Flattened Seventh) and, starting from C gives us C-Eb-Gb-Bbb. Bbb is the same pitch as an A, but that’s not how a Diminished Seventh Chord is spelt – it’s just a way of distinguishing it. For those who really want to know what a C-Eb-Gb-A chord is, it’s a Cm6 (b5). You didn’t want to know, did you?
So that gives us the main Seventh chords. But you can also do things to chords called ‘alterations’.
The simplest type of alteration is the Suspension, or ‘Sus’. In these chords, the third note of a triad is ‘Suspended’ in favour of another note – the one above (the fourth) or below (the second). If you use the note above, it’s called a sus4 chord; if you use the note below, it’s called a sus2.
These chords sound very ambiguous when used on the major and minor triads. Let’s have a look at why. All the chords below are from C Major, using suspensions on both C major and A minor triads.
Csus4 : C-F-G (Spelt 1-4-5)
Asus4 : A-D-E (Spelt 1-4-5)
Csus2 : C-D-G (Spelt 1-2-5)
Asus2 : A-B-E (Spelt 1-2-5)
See? The note that defines the sound of a triad – the third – is missing. You can’t tell whether it’s major or minor, because there are no major or minor notes in there.
Suspended chords are normally used to lead onto the chord that they’re taken from (i.e. a Dsus4 leads onto a D major triad). Just as a point of interest, that sequence (Dsus4 leading to a D) is used repeatedly for Queen’s Crazy Little Thing Called Love.
Extensions and alterations are far more extensive than Sevenths and Suspensions – you get Sixths, Ninths, Tenths, Elevenths and Thirteenths. All of which can be flattened or sharpened. But let’s look at that another time, shall we?
Next Time: 12-Bar Blues.
-
Yay! More!!!
Oooh 12-Bar-Blues, we did that in music this year, I think we do some more in elective next year.
Singing... hmm....
-Spfd
-
Oooh 12-Bar-Blues, we did that in music this year, I think we do some more in elective next year.
Don't worry; I'll be going FAR past what you'll have learnt, most likely...there's a lot happening there and how to play over it...
-
The 12-Bar Blues
Finally, I get around to doing the promised piece on the twelve-bar blues. This is going to cover everything from the simplest blues to the Jazz blues, which gets a wee bit more complicated. Much as the history of blues is fascinating, it’s kinda irrelevant for the actual playing of it.
The most important chord in a blues sequence is the Dominant Seventh chord, which we saw last lesson as being spelt 1-3-5-b7 (eg C-E-G-Bb). In the 12-Bar Blues, the most common type of blues and the one we’re looking at, this chord is used EVERYWHERE. The 12-Bar Blues in C goes like this:
C7 | C7 | C7 | C7|
F7 | F7 | C7 | C7|
G7 | F7 | C7 | C7|
What we have here is the basic sequence. It has the home chord (C7) for four bars, then the fourth (F7) for two bars, then back to the home (C7) for another two bars, then the fifth (G7) for a bar, then the fourth for a bar (F7), then the home (C7) for another two bars.
A key point in the Blues is called the Turnaround. This is a way of bringing the sequence back to the home chord – in our example, this is C7. The most common way of bringing a sequence back to the home chord is by going to the fifth (G7) and then back. If you have an instrument, play this – you can hear that it sounds finished. If we add this at the end of our sequence, we get…
C7 | C7 | C7 | C7|
F7 | F7 | C7 | C7|
G7 | F7 | C7 | G7|
Or written in roman numerals, like this…
I7 | I7 | I7 | I7|
IV7 | IV7 | I7 | I7|
V7 | IV7 | I7 | V7|
Looking again at that chord sequence, let’s see what is actually happening here in terms of notes. We don’t need to bother about how many bars for this, it’s just the notes we’re looking at.
C7 – C-E-G-Bb
F7 – F-A-C-Eb
C7 – C-E-G-Bb
G7 – G-B-D-F
F7 – F-A-C-Eb
C7 – C-E-G-Bb
G7 – G-B-D-F
The most important notes in a chord are the third and seventh (in C7 these are E and Bb) because they define whether the chord is major (1-3-5-7), minor (1-b3-5-b7) or dominant (1-3-5-b7). So let’s just look at those notes…
C7 – E-Bb
F7 – A-Eb
C7 –E- Bb
G7 – B-F
F7 – A-Eb
C7 – E-Bb
G7 – B-F
If you look carefully, there’s not much movement there – only semitones (eg Bb to A in C7 to F7). So the whole sound of the blues sequence can be played using just six notes that are right next to each other – Eb, E, F and A, Bb, B. an if you just use those notes, you can get the sound of the blues sequence – try it.
As the blues has been played for more than 100 years, you can’t expect people to just use those simple movements all the time. So people have added to it and changed bits so that it’s more interesting. The first, very simple change is to add an F7 in the second bar to give this…
C7 | F7 | C7 | C7|
F7 | F7 | C7 | C7|
G7 | F7 | C7 | G7|
Or written in roman numerals, like this…
I7 | IV7 | I7 | I7|
IV7 | IV7 | I7 | I7|
V7 | IV7 | I7 | V7|
This breaks up the four solid bars of C7. The next change is more Jazz-influenced. The most common chord sequence in Jazz is the ii-V-I (eg Dm7 G7 Cmaj7), so they added this in bars 8 through 10 to give this…
C7 | F7 | C7 | C7|
F7 | F7 | C7 | A7|
Dm7 | G7 | C7 | G7|
Or written in roman numerals, like this…
I7 | IV7 | I7 | I7|
IV7 | IV7 | I7 | VI7|
IIm7 | V7 | I7 | V7|
Notice that there is also a turnaround (V-I) in bars 8 and 9, making this a IV-ii-V-I really. This sounds complicated, but it’s just treating the ‘ii’ (Dm7) as a ‘I’ and therefore doing a turnaround onto it.
The next variation adds even more movement into the sequence, with (Shock! Horror!) more than two chords in a single bar at times.
C7 | F7 | C7 | Gm7 C7|
F7 | F7 | C7 | Em7b5 A7|
Dm7 | G7 | C7 A7 | Dm7 G7|
Or written in roman numerals, like this…
I7 | IV7 | I7 | IIm7 V7|
IV7 | IV7 | I7 | IIm7b5 VI7|
IIm7 | V7 | I7 VI7 | | IIm7 V7|
Remember that Em7b5 chord from last lesson? It’s spelt 1-b3-b5-b7, or E-G-Bb-D.
This is adding a lot of what is called ‘Diatonic Harmony’. Those are scary words! What it means is that, although in the strictest sense the blues sequence has no key, we are adding harmony as if there were keys at some points. For example, bar 8 treats the key as D, and bars 9-12 treat the key as C, whereas bar 4 treats the key as F. Diatonic just means ‘belonging to the key’.
The next variation gets EVEN MORE complicated. It adds a diminished chord (shown by the symbol º) in bar 6 as well as adding more of that crazy Diatonic Movement, as well as some even crazier Chromatic Movement.
C7 | F7 | C7 | Gm7 C7|
F7 | F#º | C7 Dm7 | Em7 Ebm7|
Dm7 | G7 | C7 A7 | Dm7 G7|
Or written in roman numerals, like this…
I7 | IV7 | I7 | IIm7 V7|
IV7 | IV# º | I7 Iim7 | IIIm7 IIIbm7|
IIm7 | V7 | I7 VI7 | | IIm7 V7|
The Diminished Chord is Spelt 1-b3-b5-bb7 which from F# gives F#-A-C-Eb. If we look at the chord it’s replacing (F7) you get F-A-C-Eb, so only one note is being changed – simplicity again.
In bars 7-8 we get some Chromatic Movement. Chromatic means that the gap between each note is a semitone, so here we get D-E-Eb which is just a cluster of semitones next to each other.
The greatest thing about all this movement is that the sound of the Blues Sequence is still there. We’ve gone from…
C7 | C7 | C7 | C7|
F7 | F7 | C7 | C7|
G7 | F7 | C7 | C7|
…to…
C7 | F7 | C7 | Gm7 C7|
F7 | F#º | C7 Dm7 | Em7 Ebm7|
Dm7 | G7 | C7 A7 | Dm7 G7|
…and it still preserves the basic sound, and so can be played over in much the same way. And that is what I’ll be showing you next time. See you then!