Practical Music Theory
Published on Nov 20, 2015
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PRESENTATION OUTLINE
PRACTICAL MUSIC THEORY
HOW MUSIC IS PUT TOGETHER FROM BACH TO ROCK
A- augmented
1) Denoting or containing an interval that is one semitone greater than the corresponding major or perfect interval.
2) An interval is augmented if it is widened by a chromatic semitone
3) The abbreviation for augmented is A (For example A5 for augmented fifth)
B- Bass Clef
1) The bass clef can also be known as the F clef because it is placed on the f line of the bass staff.
2) The bass clef is on the bottom of a grand staff and has lower notes.
3) In order starting on the bottom line, the bass staff has the notes, G,A,B,C,D,E,F,A,G, etc.
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
C- chromatic
1) The chromatic scale consists of all sharp, flat, and natural notes.
2) One octave of a chromatic scale has 12 notes.
3) A chromatic scale can be notated in two main ways, sharps or flats. For example, because C# and Db are the same note, the chromatic scale can be written with either.
D- dissonance
1) Dissonant intervals are made of notes that seem to sound against each other.
2) Dissonance is not discord, way to describe sounds which are distinctly unpleasant.
3) Dissonance is a good way to give the audience an eerie unsettling feeling.
E- emphasis
1) Changing the emphasis on notes and where you put them can easily change the type of music you are playing.
2) Putting an emphasis on beats one and three (in 4/4 time) can change it to swing or shuffle.
3) Using an accent as an emphasis makes the music more aggressive.
F- flat
1) Flat notes are notes that are half a step down from its natural twin.
2) When an instrument is flat, it sounds lower than concert pitch.
3) The symbol for flat is a lower case b.
G- Guitar
1) The guitar is one of the main chord instruments next to piano.
2) Guitars can be used to play melody in instrumental ensembles but it usually is an accompaniment to a singer in a band.
3) The guitar originated in Spain around the 16th century.
Photo by tawalker
H- harmony
1) Approximately 11 hundred years ago, musicians began duplicating melodies a 4th or 5th away.
2) This simple step immediately opened up many harmonic possibilities.
3) Harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches or chords.
I- interval
1) An interval is the distance from one note to another.
2) There are 88 keys on a piano; the top note is an interval of 87 half step from the bottom.
3) An interval may be described as horizontal, linear, or melodic if it refers to successively sounding tones.
J -jazz
1)Jazz is a genre of music that originated in African American communities during the late 19th and early 20th century.
2) Jazz spans a time period of over 100 years ranging from ragtime to current day jazz.
3)Jazz is nearly impossible to define because the jazz style has varied because of time and culture.
K- key signature
1) The sharps and flats at the very beginning at the song will indicate the key the song is played in. This is called the key signature.
2) The key signature can change multiple time in a piece.
3) There are notes that can be flat, sharp, or natural outside of the key signature. These notes are called accidentals.
L- legato
1) Legato is a term used to make the music smooth and connected.
2) Opposite of legato (staccato) makes the music short and separate.
3) Legato is usually used in slow songs like the National Anthem.
M- music theory
1) Music theory is a way of thinking about music that helps composers and musicians to understand how it works.
2) The term describes the academic study and analysis of fundamental elements of music.
3) Music theory is a field of musicology which is a field of the arts.
N- notation
1) Notation is the symbols used to make music more interesting.
2) Staccatos, accents, marcatos, and slurs are all notations used to change the style of the music.
3) Notation is the most important part of style.
O- octave
1) In the Western Hemisphere, octaves have 12 pitches (7 natural notes 5 flats/sharps)
2) In the Eastern Hemisphere, octaves are divided into about 25 pitches.
3) The abbreviation for an octave is P8, for perfect eighth.
P- piano
1) A piano is a musical instrument that has 88 keys.
2) The white keys are natural and the black keys are flat/sharp.
3) A standard piano has 11 octaves.
Photo by Luz Adriana Villa A.
Q- quintet
1) A quintet is a group of 5 players, singers, or instrumentalists.
2) Some famous quintets include Pussycat Dolls, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, and Paramore.
3) Jazz quintets were very common in the late 19th century.
R- range
1) The difference between the highest and lowest note an instrument can play.
2) Notes lower than a brass players normal range are called pedal tones.
3) Classical arrangements seldom make woodwind or brass players go beyond their normal range.
S- scale
1) A scale ordered by increasing pitch is an ascending scale. A scale ordered by decreasing pitch is a discending scale.
2) Part or all of a piece are usually based off of the notes in a single scale.
3) Scales are generally written in one octave with higher and lower octaves following the same pattern.
T- triad
1) By taking the first, third, and fifth nite of a scale and stacking them up, you will get a chord called a triad.
2) From a minor scale, if you take the first, third, and fifth note you will get a minor triad.
3) There are 48 triads in a chromatic scale.
U- unison
1) When two or more parts are on the same pitch or at an octave interval.
2) In orchestral music, unison can mean the simultaneous playing of a note.
3) In a chorus, the easiest way to sound like one voice is in unison.
V- vibrato
1) A musical effect consisting of a regular change of pitch.
2) In singing, it occurs spontaneously through a nervous tremor in the diaphragm.
3) It can be done the same way on a woodwind instrument.
W- whole
1) In music, notes vary in length
2) Whole notes are held out for four beats.
3) Whole rests act the same way except you are not making any sound for four beats.
X- xylophone
1) The xylophone acts the same way as a piano with the key structure.
2) A xylophone is played by hitting the keys with mallets.
3) Using hard plastic mallets gets a louder sharper sound. Using soft yarn mallets gives the sound a soft feel.
Photo by IllinoisLibrary
