Piano Chord Calculator If you are teaching people how to play the piano (or another keyboard instrument) then one thing that you will cover is chords. Now I know very little about music myself but with the kind assistance of Music Education Guide Espie Estrella I have managed to create a piano chord calculator script that allows all of the basic chords to be highlighted on a keyboard drawing on the web page either by selecting the chord to be displayed from a couple of selection lists or by entering the formula for the chord into a text input field. With a copy of this calculator on your music education web site your students and potential students will be able to check out which key to press to get the different chords directly from your site. Here's a complete working copy of the script: <div align="center"><b>The Piano Chord Calculator requires Javascript</b> You either have Javascript disabled or the browser you are using does not support Javascript.
Note names of musical notes keyboard piano frequencies = octave piano keys number tone tones 88 notes frequency names of all keys on a grand piano standard concert pitch tuning German English system MIDI 88 The English and American scientific system versus the German systemScientific Pitch Notation (SPN), also known as American Standard Pitch Notation Notes and keyboard The concert pitch A4 = a’ on the piano lies in the octave between C4 = c’ (middle C) and C5= c’’. The middle C note as octave C4 and the next octave C5. Numbers of the lowest c note for the respective musical octave. Ranges of some popular instruments All piano keys Comparing the Frequency Ratios for Equal Temperament and Pure Harmonic Series Size (Measure) of all Steinway Grand Pianos Interval conversions - Frequency ratio to cents and vice versa Frequency domain of musical instruments, singing voices (vocals), and keyboards Vocal range: ... and showing the keyboard, and the note names. Guitar Fret Board with Notes MIDI note numbers (midi files) Frequency to Musical Note ConverterFind out what musical note a given frequency is.
How to construct chords - Piano Clues: Free tips and lessons for playing piano, organ and electronic keyboard You don’t need a “1000 Chords Dictionary” to be able to read and play chords. You can learn how to form chords on your own, because chords are built using simple formulas. A chord is three or more notes played at the same time. It’s as simple as that. Of course, the trick is to know which three notes… Obviously, not all combinations of notes sound good. Of each chord type, there are 12 possible chords: one for each note. The note that names the chord is called the root note. What’s the difference between all these chord types? Chord formulas To form a chord you simply apply a formula to the major scale named by the root tone. So to build any type of chord, you need to know: the major scale for the root tone of that chord, andthe formula for that chord. I am assuming that you already can play the 12 major scales. Let’s put this knowledge into practice. The formula for major chords is: 1 – 3 – 5 We know that the scale for C major is: There are also formulas that contain the symbols b and #.
Lyric Writing Exercises: a 5-Day Workshop Guest post by Maria Rainier If you’re anything like most songwriters, you’re all too familiar with that frustrating sensation of being stuck in a rut. You know it’s important to write something – anything – every day, but there are times when that just seems impossible. Day 1: Research Mix & Match The first step is to give yourself something interesting to work with. Day 2: Collaborative Brainstorming Contact a friend by chat or email. Day 3: Titles & Nuggets Using what you’ve written from the previous two exercises (or relying on your notebook), construct some potential song titles. Day 4: Songwriting Surgery Now, pick a popular song that appeals to you and completely rewrite the lyrics. Day 5: Open Season Using the lyrics you wrote for the popular song, create your own work of art. In the end, you’ll have at least one song plus more notebook entries to inspire future songwriting, so you’ve got nothing to lose. Related Articles Maria Rainier is a freelance writer and blog junkie.
Woodwind and Brass Works Circle of Fifths for Jazz Guitar The Circle of Fifths displays in graphic form the foundation of harmonic movement in jazz music. This interactive diagram shows chords grouped according key. The colored arcs indicate chord type. The Roman numerals indicate the chord's scale degree. The guitar chord diagrams represent common fingerings for the given position on the fretboard. There are three keys that enharmonically equivalent. The looping arrow in the center of the diagram suggests the natural harmonic movement of each key. While these chord groupings in each key have been chosen for easy of playing, they are not the only possible shapes. Instructions Mouse over any of the key-note buttons below the main diagram to view the chords that belong to that key.
Harmonic Progressions | Learning and Loving Music Theory Kelvin, You actually caught a mistake on the roman numerals! Thanks, I’ll have to fix that. In the classical tradition, for the sake of stability, the first and last chords of a circle-of-fifths progression are usually triads, not 7th chords. Harmonic Sequences Part 2 In the jazz tradition all chords usually are 7ths, in which case the progression will start and end with 7th chords. Thanks again for your interest and input.
not_available Strings Woodwinds Brass Percussion Vocal Vocalist Jokes Folk/Rock/Popular Music and Instruments General Acknowledgement These jokes are a continually-growing collection, and unfortunately, I can no longer remember which jokes I heard from whom. Strings Violin Jokes What's the difference between a violin and a viola? There is no difference. What's the difference between a violin and a fiddle? A fiddle is fun to listen to. Why are viola jokes so short? So violinists can understand them. How do you tell the difference between a violinist and a dog? The dog knows when to stop scratching. How many second violinists does it take to change a light bulb? None. String players' motto: "It's better to be sharp than out of tune." Why is a violinist like a SCUD missile? Both are offensive and inaccurate. Why don't viola players suffer from piles (hæmorrhoids)? Because all the assholes are in the first violin section. What's the difference between a fiddle and a violin? No-one minds if you spill beer on a fiddle. Viola Jokes
VARIATIONS Prototype: Online Musical Scores The following selections lead to experimental prototypes of the ways in which musical scores and recording liner notes might be used in conjunction with sound recordings available online through VARIATIONS. We encourage interested users to send comments on usability to varia@dlib.indiana.edu to help us in our ongoing development of the project. Due to the early developmental status of this phase of VARIATIONS, we will not be able to guarantee continued availability of this resource or any of its components. We value comments for their help in future development, but will not necessarily be able to make changes to the prototype interfaces at this time. Online scores: Opera Literature Selected opera scores chosen from the Cook Music Library's holdings Scores are in the public domain Available from anywhere Designed to be viewed on a 17-inch monitor with a screen resolution of 1024 x 768 Designed primarily for online display, not for printing. Online scores: Song Literature Related links:
The Basics Of Guitar Music | 12bar Blues Guitar Part I: The physics of sound, your guitar and theory of music in a nutshell “…Stevie was right here with me, studying me as I studied the music. That’s how we both learned to play. Off the records. You don’t need to know all the following stuff, but maybe it helps you to understand your guitar and the music a bit better. Music theory can be very complex. Content The Guitar At first let’s take a short look at your guitar to name the main parts: Tones Back to the music. If you plot the intensity of pressure (P) versus time (t) you get a sine function: Two things of this wave are characteristic: The number of peaks per seconds and the peak height. The number of peaks per second gives the frequency or tone pitch. Remember:Frequency = tone pitch Amplitude = volume Now pick the A string and listen. Short exercise: What's the wavelength of the 440 HZ A tone? Frequencies Electric guitar The tone from an electric guitar is a little bit different. Harmonics Now it’s getting more complex. Guitar tuning Notes
Scales and emotions See also a post about making chords from scales. So maybe you want to write a song or an instrumental in a particular mood or style, and you’re feeling overwhelmed by all the scales. Here’s a handy guide to the commonly used scales in Western pop, rock, jazz, blues and so on. Click each image to play the scale right in your browser with the aQWERTYon. These scales have a major third (E in the key of C), which makes them feel happy or bright. Major scale Happy; can be majestic or sentimental when slow. Mixolydian mode Bluesy, rock; can also be exotic/modal. Lydian mode Ethereal, dreamy, futuristic. Lydian dominant mode Also known as the overtone scale or acoustic scale, because it is close to the first seven pitches in the natural overtone series. Phrygian dominant mode Exotic, Middle Eastern, Jewish. Harmonic major scale Majestic, mysterious. These scales have a flat third (E-flat in the key of C), which gives them a darker and more tragic feel. Natural minor scale (Aeolian mode) Dorian mode
The Virtual Theremin (Site under construction) The Virtual Theremin Copyright Edward Squires 2001 What is it? The Theremin is a musical instrument that uses the positions of the performers hands to create sound. Where can I get it? Installation New Version 7/03/2002. Download it here. You should now have a running copy of vt.exe if all goes well. The files are installed in a folder called VT on your main hard drive (C:\VT ). Minimum requirements 128MB RAM (the program requires 90MB). How do I use it? Initially you will be presented with a black window. To get things happening, select Capture Device... from the File menu, which should bring up a modal dialog box. The play, pause, step and stop buttons at the bottom of this dialog box control the video stream. Resize the vt window to your liking. Select Virtual Theremin... from the Settings menu. If your camera can not mirror video, you can select the Flip Video Vertically check box to rotate the video, this makes it much easier to play. Now for the difficult bit.
The Famous Circle of Fifths How the Circle of 5ths Works A very simple tool for musicians of all stripes. Think of a clock, with C occupying the 12:00 position. Everything starts from C, since C is the key in which there are NO sharps or flats. We move clockwise from C, each note is a fifth above the last. Spell out the key of C Major starting at it's 5th (G) G-A-B-C-D-E-F-G. The Circle of 5ths gives us a quick visual reference to a lot of information about all 12 keys in music. Circle of 4ths When we move counterclockwise from C, to the note that is a 5th lower than that of the prior note. The note that is a 5th lower than that of the prior note. To make this clearer. F is the fourth of C. Enharmonic Equivalents A single pitch can have more than one name, depending on the context in which it is being used - known as enharmonic equivalents. For example, there is a gap of 2 semitones between F and G. Chromatic scale The chromatic scale is a musical scale with twelve pitches, each a semitone or half step apart.