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Music Theory for Beginners

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Re: Music Theory for Beginners

#91

Post by te_chris »

AndyKelley wrote: post #89
ThomPete wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So does Jazz to a virgin ear. That doesn't mean it is.

Jazz sounds awful. There's a reason pop music sticks to the four chords of victory - they sound great!

1. "Not sure if serious"

2. Jazz is barely a genre anymore there's so many different sub-genre's and movements within it that actually using the term how you did is disingenuous.

3. You did the same as above with about the same effect for "pop music". Seeing as you addressed harmony, you'll actually find that there are lots of common harmonic (chord) progressions that are shared between the two idioms. They reflect each other more than they are different to each other. If you really wanted to make the point you were trying to make I'd suggest looking for some form of obscure ethnic music (Pakistani throat singing or Indonesian Gamelan perhaps) that has not really had much chance to mix with western music and absorb its paradigms.

Re: Music Theory for Beginners

#92

Post by topynate »

ThomPete wrote: post #17
hasenj wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something to note: whole and half steps are not the only available type of steps, you can also move quarter steps. It's not common in Western music (if present at all) but very common in Middle Eastern music. Maqam world ( http://maqamworld.com ) provides a decent index of many Middle Eastern scales, some of them utilizing quarter tones. For instance: http://www.maqamworld.com/maqamat/rast.html http://www.maqamworld.…

There are many ways do divide an octave. Steve Vai created a scale called the Xavian scale wich is dividing the octave by 10. He used in on Deep Down Into The Pain http://www.guitarflame.com/2008/xavian-scale-steve-vais-own-...

Hey, why stick to octaves? The Bohlen-Pierce scale divides the tritave in 13 (a tritave interval is a 3:1 pitch ratio).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60SYLdMYvcE – check out the keyboards!

Re: Music Theory for Beginners

#93

Post by nitrogen »

icarus_drowning wrote: post #74
mycroftiv wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I think it would be worth doing with older students as a supplement to the curriculum. One of the bad things about my "major scale-centric" approach is that I never explain why a major scale is WWHWWWH, which is actually a barrier to some students, who are either curious or who need more context for their information. I teach mostly middle-school and high-school kids, and we barely have enough time to get through wha…

Do you ever tell them something like, "There's a bunch of cool stuff you can learn about this, if you go to the web site, or look for _____ on Wikipedia?"

Re: Music Theory for Beginners

#94

Post by nitrogen »

jonp wrote: post #6

This is great. Can anyone recommend a "DAW (Digital Audio Workstation)" for Windows? Preferably with at least a free trial version. Thanks.

In addition to (and duplicating some of) the other recommendations:

Sony ACID (I use ACID Pro extensively, free trial, free lite version)

Ableton Live

FL Studio

energyXT (Linux and Mac versions available)

Other stuff to check out: console.jp, Audiomulch

Re: Music Theory for Beginners

#95

Post by daydream »

jonp wrote: post #6

This is great. Can anyone recommend a "DAW (Digital Audio Workstation)" for Windows? Preferably with at least a free trial version. Thanks.

Don't overlook Audacity. I'm surprised no one has mentioned it:

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Free/open source, for Windows, OS X, and Linux.

Overall I'm not a fan, but I come from a background in more complex/full-featured DAW's like Logic and ProTools. I also find the UI lacking. That said, it's a great way to get off the ground when starting out with digital audio.

Re: Music Theory for Beginners

#96

Post by roryokane »

kranner wrote: post #9
mrspeaker wrote: post #5

I 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".

For those curious what a “portable piano” would be like, see the keytar (guitar with keys) – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keytar.

Re: Music Theory for Beginners

#97

Post by nandemo »

mycroftiv wrote: post #4
icarus_drowning wrote: post #3

I 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…

Although I'm not a music educator, in my opinion it's better to teach scales primarily by ear, without teaching too much theory at the beginning.

I've seen something like this elsewhere on the web: teach the C major scale until the student is familiar with it, can play the scale and its chords/arpeggios on their instrument, sing it given the tonic, etc. Then play the scale starting on G. G, A, B, C, D, E, will sound "right", that is, just like the C, D, E, F, G, A. Only the seventh (F) will sound "off". So we "fix" it by raising it a halftone. You can go all thru the circle of fifths this way.

If the student wants to know the reasons behind it you can teach it, but just like in math and CS I believe it's better to teach the concrete before the abstract.

Re: Music Theory for Beginners

#99

Post by AndyKelley »

ThomPete wrote: post #98
AndyKelley wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jazz sounds awful. There's a reason pop music sticks to the four chords of victory - they sound great!

To the virgin ear, yes.

Virgin? http://www.last.fm/user/superjoe30

According to this website I listen to 60 tracks every day.

Re: Music Theory for Beginners

#100

Post by ThomPete »

AndyKelley wrote: post #99
ThomPete wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To the virgin ear, yes.

Virgin? http://www.last.fm/user/superjoe30 According to this website I listen to 60 tracks every day.

60 Jazz tracks? That's what I mean with virgin ear.

You are not used to listen to Jazz so it's more likely to sound horrible to you since it's often rather complex.

Why do you think that parents of the 68' generation hated Beatles despite it being what we consider pop culture today.

You need to understand this in context rather than in absolute terms.

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