I reference “key” and “major scale” in the post on solfège https://functionalanalysis.blog/2017/06/13/solfege/ , but now we’re going to go into it a little bit more. A key is a framework for organizing notes in a tonal hierarchy. Read about tonality here: https://functionalanalysis.blog/2017/09/26/tonality/ Keys are centered around a tonic pitch and tonic chord. This chord/note…
so, I’ve moved cities and jobs. I’m now working what amounts to full time (6.5 hr days) and with the stress of moving and unpacking and getting acclimated to the new schedule (early mornings!) I have had no energy/brain power to write the last couple weeks. Hopefully I’ll be able to write next week, as…
Meter is how we describe how individual beats act in groups. This is often conflated with time signatures (briefly covered here: https://functionalanalysis.blog/2017/07/02/basic-rhythm-reading/ ) but it is slightly different. Time signatures are a purely visual phenomenon – how we write music out on a page. Meter is aural – how you hear it. Generally, these two…
So far I’ve only made one, but I can make more as I make posts about various types of meter. This one is primarily in 4/4 (common), but there is also a line of 3/4 and one of 6/8 for a challenge. Start by clapping or counting just the rhythm, without worrying about the notes.…
The following ideas are not a complete list and are only food for thought. They are based on a multitude of such similar suggestions for dealing with trans people in general and my personal experience. The main tenets for the tl/dr crowd: speak carefully and amplify trans voices/stories/art. ~~~ I attended a talk…
Tonality is a common hierarchical framework in use in western music from approximately 1600 CE or so. For some of western music history, tonality is the best way to describe pitch relationships in music. Starting toward the end of the 19th Century and the beginning of the 20th, tonality became less straightforward, and eventually multiple…
Reading through Intervals 1 & 2 earlier made me realize that I left out a very important part of learning intervals: consonance and dissonance. These are loosely defined at the most basic level as “sweet” sounding or “harsh” sounding. I also like to use analogies like blending vs. clashing or restful vs. tense or stable…
Here’s the first two: note reading worksheets note reading worksheets2 These includes practice reading treble and bass clef, and can be used to practice reading melodic intervals between notes, as well as harmonic intervals between the bass and treble staves. Time yourself to see how fast you can do it! Another good way to practice…
I’ve been lazy this summer and not written as often. However, now school started again, and I’m trying to get back in the habit. Today I updated several of the Music Fundamentals posts, some just missing commas, but most substantially Intervals 1 and 2. I’m planning to make some further practice/worksheets for treble and bass…
Treble clef is the clef used for higher notes, generally speaking. It looks like this: Treble clef is also sometimes called the “G” clef, because the curly part circles around the G above middle C. Each line and space is it’s own note name. Many people use mnemonics to memorize the lines or the spaces.…
