Music Theory

Lesson 1 Music Theory and Musical Dynamics

- music theory is the study of the structure of constructed music

Lesson 2 Pitch in Music

- pitch is the rate at which these variations occur

- the rate is called the frequency of the sound

- if the pattern repeats 440 times per second, the perceived pitch is A above middle C (most or-chestras tuned)

Lesson 3 Time in Music

Lesson 4 Notes

Lesson 5 Rests

Lesson 6 The Music Keyboard

Lesson 7 Musical Staves

- a musical staff is made up of five lines and four spaces

Lesson 8 Treble Clef and Staff

- treble clef is a symbol from a very old way to write a G

Lesson 9 Bass Clef and Staff

- bass clef is a symbol from a very old way to write a F

Lesson 10 The Grand Staff

- the bass clef and treble clef…combined

Lesson 11 Meter in Music

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Music Theory

Lesson 12 Measures and Bar Lines

Lesson 13 Time Signatures

- Bottom number refers to the type of note that will get a beat

- Top number refers to the amount of those notes per measure

- Cut time aka alla breve

- Simple meter refers to a meter in which each beat is subdivided into two equal note values

- Simple meter: top number always indicates the number of beats in the measure and the bot-tom number indicates the type of note that takes one beat

Lesson 14 Tempo

- largo-broad= extremely slow

- larghetto= slightly faster than largo

- lento= very slow

- adagio= slow (at ease)

- andante= walking

- moderato= moderate

- allegretto= fast, but not too fast

- allegro= fast (cheerful)

- presto= very fast

- prestissimo= as fast as possible

- varying the tempo throughout a piece of music is called rubato

Lesson 15 Rhythm

Lesson 16 Intervals: Numeric Size

- musical interval= the distance between two notes

- each line and space is counted until you reach the other note

- A to C is a third

- C to E is a third

- second interval=step

Lesson 17 Intervals: Major and Minor Seconds

- white keys that are side by side and do not have a black key between them are half steps or minor 2nd

- Minor seconds on the white keys are between B and C and E and F

- whole steps are all the other white keys that do not have a black key between them aka major seconds

- major seconds are always two half steps

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Music Theory

- white-key major seconds include: C to D, D to E, F to G, G to A, and A to B

- all can be written on the grand staff

- Frere Jacques starts with ascending major seconds

Lesson 18 Intervals: Octaves

- an octave is an interval between a note and the next note with the same letter name

- “oct” means 8- octaves are eighths

- frequency is the rate of vibration of the sound pressure waves that produce the sense of pitch

- ratio of two notes that are an octave apart is 2:1

- unison is 1:1

Lesson 19 Accidentals: Sharps

Lesson 20 Accidentals: Flats

Lesson 21 More Accidentals

- enharmonic notes are two notes of the same pitch written differently like E double flat and D sharp are enharmonic

Lesson 22 The C Major and G Major Scales

- a scale in music is a group of notes that are an ordered set

- scales are used for melodies and harmonies in music

- scales tend to vary with the different time periods

- different cultures also tend to use different scales in their styles of music

- in our western culture, the most common scale is the major scale

- major steps= whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half

- G Scale is G, A, B, C, D, E, F#, G

Lesson 23 The F Major and B-flat Major Scales

- F major scale has one flat, B flat

- B flat major scale has two flats

Lesson 24 More Major Scales in Sharps

- D Major: D, E, F#, G, A, B, C#, D

- A Major: A, B, C#, D, E, F#, G#, A

- E Major: E, F#, G#, A, B, C#, D#, E

- B Major: B, C#, D#, E, F#, G#, A#, B

- F# Major: F#, G#, A#, B, C#, D#, E#, F#

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Music Theory

Lesson 25 More Major Scales in Flats

- Eb Major: Eb, F, G, Ab, Bb, C, D Eb

- Ab Major: Ab, Bb, C, Db, E, F, G, Ab

- Db Major: Db, Eb, F, Gb, Ab, Bb, C, Db

- Gb Major: Gb, Ab, Bb, Cb, Db, Eb, F, Gb

- Cb Major: Cb, Db, Eb, Fb, Gb, Ab, Bb, Cb

- when 2 scales are enharmonic it is usually best to use the one that has the least amount of sharps or flats

Lesson 26 Naming Scale Degrees

- a scale degree is the name of a particular note

- tonic, supertonic, mediant, subdominant, dominant, submediant, leading tone, tonic

- solfege or the movable do system

Lesson 27 Introduction to Key Signatures

- the key of a piece of music comes from the sense that a particular note is emphasized throughout a piece of music

- there are different styles of music varying from culture to culture, periods in history and even musical composers

- tonal music is one of the styles with Western influence

- it has been around since about the 16th century

- this style of music emphasizes a particular note, and usually a particular scale

- this sense of a particular emphasize note is where the key of the piece comes from

- a piece of music then has a major or minor scale built on this tone and then we will say that this piece is written in a certain key

- a musical piece that is written in a key can be altered by using accidentals, sharps, or flats

- if a composition is written in the key of G, and the composer wants the F to be sharp, he/she could put the sharp just after the clef and it would hold true not just for one measure but for the whole piece of music

Lesson 28 Perfect Fifths and Perfect Fourths

- a perfect 5th always has 3 whole steps and one half step or seven half steps

- G to A-whole, A-B-whole, B-C-half, C to D-whole

- every 5th is not a perfect 5th

- a perfect 4th always has 2 whole steps and 1 half step or five half steps

- D to E-whole, E to F-half, F-G-whole

- not every 4th is perfect

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Music Theory

Lesson 29 All Major Key Signatures in Sharps/Flats

- key signatures are written on bass and treble staves just after the clef symbol, before the time signatures

- each key’s tonic note is up a P5th from the one right before it- when a new sharp is added it is written up a 5th or down a 4th from the one before it

- C Major=no sharps

- G Major=E#

- D Major=E#, C#

- A Major=E#, C#, G#

- E Major=E#, C#, G#, D#

- B Major=E#, C#, G#, D#, F#

- F# Major=E#, C#, G#, D#, F#, A#

- C# Major=E#, C#, G#, D#, F#, A#, B#

- sharps are written down a 4th or up a 5th

- clean and clear is C Major

- to find the name of the key when you have a sharp in the key signature, go a half step up from the last sharp to the right

- F Major=Bb

- Bb Major=Bb, Eb

- Eb Major=Bb, Eb, Ab

- Ab Major=Bb, Eb, Ab, Db

- Db Major=Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb

- Gb Major=Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, Cb

- Cb Major=Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, Cb, Fb

- flats are written up a 4th or down a 5th

- to find the major key look find the second to last flat

- one fabulous flat is F major

Lesson 30 The Circle of Fifths: Enharmonic Keys

- circle of fifths shows the relationship between the major keys

- clockwise each tonic is up a P5th, you will add a sharp or remove a flat

- enharmonic keys are keys that sound exactly the same but spelled differently

Lesson 31 Ties

- a tie in music is a curved line that connects the head of two notes of the same pitch

- tie is used when you would like to hold a note over to the next measure

- 2 ties in Cole Porter’s “Ive Got You Under My Skin”- Scott Joplin’s “The Entertainer” uses ties within a measure

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Music Theory

Lesson 32 Dotted Notes

- dots are placed after note heads to change the duration of the note

- dot adds half the duration of whichever note it follows

Lesson 33 General Articulations

- articulations in music are notations that tell a performer to produce a certain effect by the way a tone or group of tones is produced

- accent, slur, staccato, trill, fermata

- an accent is placed over or under the note that is supposed to be accented

- the symbol > tells the performer to put a special emphasis on a note

- legato is another name for slur

- legato is Italian for smoothly so when a slur is placed over notes, they should be played smoothly

- slurs connect notes of different pitches

- staccato is Italian that means detach

- staccato is a dot above or below the note and is written so that a musician will play the note crisply and distinctly

- Mozart’s Twinkle Twinkle Little Star starts with staccato- trill (tr) tells a performer to play the written note and the one just a step above it alternating

rapidly

- trill in Minuet by Paderewski

- fermata is a symbol that tells an instrument to play a note longer than it is written

Lesson 34 Specific Articulations

- pizzicato/arco, down bow/up bow, tremolo, pedal

- pizzicato and arco relate to bowed stringed instruments

- pizzicato means to pluck the string and arco tells an instrumentalist to go back to using the bow

- down bow and up bow apply to stringed instruments that use a bow

- down bow looks like a flag with two poles, up bow V, drags bow upward or downward

- tremolo used for stringed instruments, quickly using a succession of down and up bows, a note with 3 dashes on stem

Lesson 35 Interval Size

- an interval in music is the distance between pitches

Lesson 36 Perfect Intervals

- there are 4 perfect intervals, unison, P4, P5, and P8

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Music Theory

- P8 aka perfect octave, 5 whole steps and 2 half steps, 12 half steps or 6 whole steps

- G-A whole, A-B whole, B-C half, C-D whole, D-E whole, E-F half, F-G whole

- famous example of P8 beginning of “Over the Rainbow” by Harold Arlen- P5 contains 3 whole steps and 1 half step or 7 half steps

- Twinkle Twinkle Little Star has a P5 in beginning

- P4 contains 2 whole steps and 1 half step or 5 half steps

- Here Comes the Bride has a P4

- unison is two notes of the same pitch written on the same line or space

- unison 1:1, octave 2:1, P5 3:2, P4 4:3,

- rations come from Classic Greek period and todays ratios are very close to the older ones

- change came about so that musicians could play a selection that changed keys without hav-ing to tune their instruments in the middle of the piece

Lesson 37 Major and Minor Intervals

- minor thirds have 1.5 steps between them

- major thirds contain 2 whole steps

- a major sixth has 4.5 steps, a whole step wider than a P5th

- minor sixth has 3 whole steps and 2 half steps or 8 half steps

- major seventh has 11 half steps

- minor seventh contains 10 half steps

- octave has 12 half steps so a major seventh is just one half step smaller than an octave

- minor 7th is one whole step smaller than an octave

Lesson 38 The Diminished Fifth and Augmented Fourth

- a tritone is an interval of 3 whole steps

- tritone is also called a diminished fifth because it is a half step smaller than a perfect fifth

- to make a diminished fifth the top note can move down or the bottom note can move up

- an augmented fourth is created by enlarging a perfect fourth by one half step

- moving the top note up or the bottom note down

- dim5 and +4, both called tritones

Lesson 39 More Augmented and Diminished Intervals

- all perfect or major intervals can be augmented without changing their numeric size

- all perfect or minor intervals can be diminished

Lesson 40 Inverted and Compound Intervals

- 12 pitch classes matching the 12 keys that are within an octave

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Music Theory

- an interval is inverted when you move one of the two notes from the original interval an oc-tave up or down, passing the other note

- inverted 2nd becomes a 7th

- inverted 3rd becomes a 6th

- inverted 4th becomes a 5th

- numeric sizes add up to 9 because you start counting intervals with 1

- invert a minor it becomes major

- invert a perfect interval you will get a perfect interval

- inverting a diminished interval gives you an augmented interval

- m2, M7, M2, m7, m3, M6, M3, m6, P4, P5, +4, 05, 03, +6, 04, +5

- octave plus a 2nd is a 9th, octave plus a 3rd is a 10th

- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, M10th=P8+M3

- any interval larger than an 8th is a compound interval

Lesson 41 The Structure of Major Scales

- half steps are between scale degrees 3 and 4, 7 and 8

- 5th scale degree is called dominant and is a perfect 5th from the first note, scale degree 1, also called tonic

- 3rd scale degree is called mediant, and is a major third above the first degree

- transposing a scale happens when the scale is started on a different pitch

- Bb scale is up a major second from C and transposed from it

Lesson 42 The Natural Minor Scale

- half steps between 2-3, 5-6

- 5th scale degree is a P5th above the first note (tonic)

- 3rd scale degree is a a minor 3rd above tonic

- C natural minor, C, D, Eb, F, G, Ab, Bb, C

- 7th scale degree is a whole step down from 8 and is not as strong as when it is a half step away so it is called “subtonic” instead of leading tone

Lesson 43 The Harmonic Minor Scale

- harmonic minor scale occurs when the 7th scale degree of a natural minor scale is raised, making the interval from 7 to 8 a half step

- now, this minor scale has 3 half steps instead of 2

- interval between 6 and 7 is augmented 2nd, whole, half, whole, whole, half, augmented half

- C harmonic scale, C, D, Eb, F, G, Ab, B natural, C

- diatonic scale is one in which all the notes, in one transposition, can be played on the white notes of the keyboard

- natural minor scale is an example of this, because if you begin on A, all the notes can be played on the white keys

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Music Theory

- harmonic minor scale has to have one black key so it is said to be non-diatonic

Lesson 44 Forms of the Melodic Minor Scale

- melodic minor scales have 2 forms, ascending and descending

- many times in a melodic minor passage, the 6th and 7th scale degrees will be sharped when ascending

- on the way back down the scale reverts back to a natural minor scale

- if the passage is ascending, then descending and going right back up, it will stay in the as-cending melodic minor mode

- it is more likely to use the natural minor on the way back down if it goes on down to 5 or lower after going up to 8

- whole, half, whole, whole, whole, whole, half and revert back down to whole, whole, half, whole, whole, half, whole

- C melodic minor scale up, C, D, Eb, F, G, A natural, B natural, C

- C melodic minor scale down, C, Bb, Ab, G, F, Eb, D, C

- when the 7th scale degree is a half step away from the 8th, it is referred to as leading tone

- happens in both harmonic minor scale and the ascending melodic minor scale

- when there is a whole step between 7 and 8, the 7th scale degree is called the subtopic

- tonic, supertonic, mediant, subdominant, dominant, submediant

Lesson 45 Minor Keys

- interval pattern is different for major and minor scales, but each major key has a relative mi-nor key

- music written in a minor key has a different sound and mood, and a composer might choose it to create a more solemn or moody piece

- Major C=Minor A, Major G=Minor E, Major D= Minor B, Major A=Minor F#, Major E=Minor C#, Major B=G#, Major F#=Minor D#, Major C#=Minor A#

- Major C=Minor A, Major F=Minor D, Major Bb=Minor G, Major Eb=Minor C, Major Ab=Minor F, Major Db=Minor Bb, Major Gb=Minor Eb, Major Cb=Minor Ab

- major key is a minor third above its relative minor key, another way to look at that is the tonic note for any minor key is a minor third below the tonic for its relative major

- major and minor key that has the same tonic note, not the same key signature, are called par-allel keys (C major and C minor)

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