Forums : Off-topic Discussion : Music Theory- The basics updated V7 Introduction Hello there, you may have seen me around The Escapist and most know me as The Rockerfly, I am a musician. I have been playing music for about 10 years and have been writing for 3 years. I have an A level in music, grade 7 guitar, grade 5 in tuba, play the drums part time and sing for a group as well. Now to write music it is useful to have theory however it is NOT essential to writing music however it is useful if you to progress and write things out of your comfort zoneI know it is hard to know where to start with the theory and I find writing this article very difficult so please excuse me if you feel that I have not written it to your standards, every musician has been taught differently so their theory will be different Now introductions are over here are the basics of writing the harmony of a music piece and how to write the lyrics Reading Sheet Music I believe I may have missed out some content. An example of these diatonic notes is the C note. Intervals 1. Basics Cadences
Circle of fifths Circle of fifths showing major and minor keys Nikolay Diletsky's circle of fifths in Idea grammatiki musikiyskoy (Moscow, 1679) In music theory, the circle of fifths (or circle of fourths) is a visual representation of the relationships among the 12 tones of the chromatic scale, their corresponding key signatures, and the associated major and minor keys. More specifically, it is a geometrical representation of relationships among the 12 pitch classes of the chromatic scale in pitch class space. Definition[edit] Structure and use[edit] Pitches within the chromatic scale are related not only by the number of semitones between them within the chromatic scale, but also related harmonically within the circle of fifths. Octaves (7 × 1200 = 8400) versus fifths (12 × 700 = 8400), depicted as with Cuisenaire rods (red (2) is used for 1200, black (7) is used for 700). Diatonic key signatures[edit] The circle is commonly used to represent the relationship between diatonic scales. Play . History[edit] .
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
Early Music Notation Tidbits For thousands of year people sang and played instruments, but they had no way to write down the music. How did they learn new tunes or songs? Someone taught it by "word of mouth". That means that one person sang/played the piece and the other person listened and memorized it from hearing it. As people learned more and more songs, they really wanted a way to write down the music. Many different cultures came up with ways of writing down the music, but most were based on somehow showing whether the notes went up or down. Our modern music notation that we use in the United States comes from the monks of the early Christian church. This kind of notation system was called, "Neumes". Then someone got smart and started making the neumes higher or lower depending on whether or not the melody went up or down. The next improvement was to put one red line in the middle of the notation to indicate where an F was. In Italy, they used a six line staff for a while. it would be performed like this:
Music Theory For Songwriters Gregorian Chant Notation This is a description of the traditional Gregorian Chant notation, so that anyone will be able to read the notation and sing it. Chant is written in neumes, which are notes sung on a single syllable. Gregorian Chant has no meter at all, though it does have a rhythm of groups of 2 or 3 notes. Vertical lines separate musical phrases and may sometimes allow a pause for taking a breath, like Chant is not in a major key or a minor key, but in modes (though there are some modes which can sound like a modern scale). Chant is written on a 4-line staff, instead of 5 lines as music is written on now. marks where Do is on the staff. would mean that Do is on the top line, so if Do is on C the notes on the lines would be D-F-A-C. is a Fah Clef, and indicates where Fah is on the staff. Chant notation is on the left. These are other ways of showing that a note is held: One is by putting a dot (punctum-mora) after the note. It is a little bit like a dotted note in modern music. The payment goes to
Musical Notation - The Method Behind the Music All music must be written before it can be read, understood, and played by musicians. To do this, a system of notation has been developed that gives musicians the information they need to play music as the composer intended it. Here is a list of topics discussed on this page: The Staff The staff is the basis of written music. It is what the notes are presented on. Clefs This is the treble staff. This is the bass (pronounced 'base' ) staff. This is a C clef. The Grand Staff When the bass and treble clef are combined and connected by a brace (left) and lines, they become the grand staff. Measures The vertical lines on the staff mark the measures. Notes Different pitches are named by letters. Notes Written on the Staff Notes are centered on the lines or in the spaces between the lines. Ledger Lines Ledger lines extend above and below the staff, allowing for higher or lower notes to be shown than would otherwise fit on the staff. Note Durations All notes have length. At the top is a whole note (1).
The Tonal Centre - Tonality eMusicTheory.com: teach and learn music theory from anywhere Top 10 Free Music Theory Websites | Learn How to Read Music at the One Minute Music Lesson with Leon Harrell Hi One Minute Music Lesson Fans, Here is a list of 10 of the best sites online for free music theory lessons and materials. My two personal favorites are OneMinuteMusicLesson.com, a site for teaching music theory from the most basic concepts by using short video lessons and MusicTheory.net which has interactive flash-based music theory tools. Most of the sites in the list contain information about music theory and worksheets or interactive tools for learning concepts of music theory. Also, before you go, if you are looking for more detailed music theory courses and information than these sites provide, check out my post on the Top 10 Music Theory Books. If you have any favorite free music theory sites you like that you don’t see in this list, let me know about them in the comments below. Finally, if you have struggled to learn music theory concepts in the past simply email me any questions you have and I will happy to help you find the answers you have been searching for. Until next time,