Music Theory for Beginners
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Music Theory for Beginners
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Re: Music Theory for Beginners
#2A friend of mine here in Tokyo owns a small music company and recently launched a series of games to help with music training. They are flash-based, but I have been quite impressed with them and have enjoyed them quite a bit! He is using a freemium model, and you can try out the games on his website without even registering. (Free registration gives you progress tracking, and subscription gives you access to all levels and games.) For anyone interested in music training, I highly recommend them!
Re: Music Theory for Beginners
#3I teach Music Theory (and piano) for a living-- this is an excellent introduction to the most practical concepts.
I was somewhat disappointed that the OP showed us a C Major scale without really explaining what a "major scale" is-- a collection of whole and half steps-- especially since they used a keyboard as an example, which is laid out in exactly the right pattern for teaching the major scale. (Notice that the black and white notes are arranged so that you skip some keys-- whole steps-- but sometimes you can't: half steps). I always teach how to build scales based on this pattern- WWHWWWH. Using this pattern, you can build any major scale beginning on any arbitrary note-- including notes that are sharped or flatted, which is neat. From here, you can figure out all of the scales, and thus all of the keys.
The advantage of learning in this fashion is that you can tackle intervals first, which are the distances between notes. (Note that major and minor intervals are named as such because they fit into our major or minor scales). Since a chord is simply collection of intervals, you end up with a more powerful understanding of them by learning which intervals (and which scale degrees) build which chords.
All the same, I really think the more "practical" approach here is really interesting, because you can start writing music earlier, albeit mostly in C Major.
Cool link, it really gives me insight as a fellow music educator.
Re: Music Theory for Beginners
#4I teach Music Theory (and piano) for a living-- this is an excellent introduction to the most practical concepts. I was somewhat disappointed that the OP showed us a C Major scale without really explaining what a "major scale" is-- a collection of whole and half steps-- especially since they used a keyboard as an example, which is laid out in exactly the right pattern for teaching the major scale. (Notice that the bl…
I'm also a music theorist and educator. I'm interested in your perspective on whether it is a good idea to try to introduce students to the acoustic/mathematical derivation of the scale. To provide context for non-technical readers, the physical basis of harmonic intervals is integer ratios of frequencies, and European tempered tuning systems create scales and chords as a pragmatic adjustment of mathematically pure tuning to the necessity of using a finite number of predetermined pitches for instruments such as the piano.
I am still unsure as to whether the deeper understanding of scales, chords, keys, tuning, and temperament is something I should push to make students study and understand. Many students have a negative reaction to even the simplest math, but other students get a lot of benefit from understanding exactly how and why a given set of pitches fit together to form chords and scales. In the context of group instruction, deciding how much time to devote to this material is a dilemma for me.
Re: Music Theory for Beginners
#5I recently had a short-term stay at a place which had a piano. It seemed like a waste to let it just sit there, so I did a bit o' googling and found this site: http://www.pianobychords.com/
The information on music theory is similar to the post - but it also shows you how to play a few common songs. If you follow the fingering guide and play the same chords with both hands it sounds damn great! I thought only the guitar had that "pick it up, learn a couple of chords and you're good to go..." attitude!
One of the songs on the site was "Let It Be". I remembered that that song was in the Axis Of Awesome song "Four Chords" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHBVnMf2t7w - now I know how to play hundreds of party-friendly songs on the piano. Damn satisfying for an outlay of just a few hours practice!
Re: Music Theory for Beginners
#6This is great. Can anyone recommend a "DAW (Digital Audio Workstation)" for Windows? Preferably with at least a free trial version. Thanks.
Re: Music Theory for Beginners
#7"To write a simple melody in ‘C’" has to be the singe most important sentence in the whole text.
Re: Music Theory for Beginners
#8I teach Music Theory (and piano) for a living-- this is an excellent introduction to the most practical concepts. I was somewhat disappointed that the OP showed us a C Major scale without really explaining what a "major scale" is-- a collection of whole and half steps-- especially since they used a keyboard as an example, which is laid out in exactly the right pattern for teaching the major scale. (Notice that the bl…
I'm also a music theorist and educator. I'm interested in your perspective on whether it is a good idea to try to introduce students to the acoustic/mathematical derivation of the scale. To provide context for non-technical readers, the physical basis of harmonic intervals is integer ratios of frequencies, and European tempered tuning systems create scales and chords as a pragmatic adjustment of mathematically pure t…
My guess is that it would lose and scare all of the many people for whom mathematics aren't a native language. Do it for mathematically minded people, I'd say with at least a A level in sciences, but avoid it for "normal" people.
There might be a non-mathy way to show that something fishy happens with Pythagorean scales, similar to the post, with well chosen computer-generated sounds; but this would mainly interest people with a couple years of musical practice.
Re: Music Theory for Beginners
#9I recently had a short-term stay at a place which had a piano. It seemed like a waste to let it just sit there, so I did a bit o' googling and found this site: http://www.pianobychords.com/ The information on music theory is similar to the post - but it also shows you how to play a few common songs. If you follow the fingering guide and play the same chords with both hands it sounds damn great! I thought only the gui…
> I thought only the guitar had that "pick it up, learn a couple of chords and you're good to go..." attitude!
Ralph Towner calls the guitar a "portable piano".
Re: Music Theory for Beginners
#10This is great. Can anyone recommend a "DAW (Digital Audio Workstation)" for Windows? Preferably with at least a free trial version. Thanks.
Ableton Live