User:Brylie/Music Theory

The Just-In-Tone Music Theory class distils music theory to small bits and offers only the necessary elements for the learner to progress. It is important to keep the learner interested and confident in their ability to learn and apply their new skills.

The lessons are designed to give a progressive understanding of the elements of melody and harmony.

Seven Letters
The musical alphabet consists of seven letters:
 * A, B, C, D, E, F, G

Each letter is a label that we apply to musical notes. Although the letters are seemingly arbitrary they convey very specific melodic and acoustic information to anyone who learns to use them. Our goal is to learn to use these letters and other symbols and devices to communicate our ideas.

When you travel from any of the letters backwards or forwards you will eventually end up back where you started.

For example: C -> D -> E -> F -> G -> A -> B -> C

This full circle travel is called an Octave. The Cs at either end of the octave might have a different sound to them. One might sound higher or lower than the other but their qualities are the same.

Exercise
Spell any number of words using only these letters (A,B,C,D,E,F,G). The words do not have to be English; we are writing in the language of Music. Put your musical phrases in a safe place, e.g. a journal, as we will be using them again soon.

Chromatic
The seven letter musical alphabet is part of a 12 letter sequence called the Chromatic scale. The octave is a repeating pattern that we will be exploring in detail.

There are 5 more notes in the octave (12 notes) than there are letters (7 letters) in the musical alphabet. In order to denote some of the notes in the octave it is necessary to use extra symbols. There are two symbols commonly used called sharp (#) and flat (♭). Here are the 12 notes of the octave represented as letters: Notice that the only letters that do not have a sharp (#) are B and E. Thus, there is no note between B and C or E and F.

{{Hide in print|

Quiz
{ How many letters are there in the musical alphabet? { 7 _3 }
 * type="{}"}

{ How many notes are there in an Octave? { 12 _3 }
 * type="{}"}

{ The { Chromatic|chromatic _10 } scale contains all of the natural (A-G) and enharmonic (sharp/flat) notes.
 * type="{}"}

{ Generally, there are no sharp (#) nodes directly after { B | b _2} and { E|e _2}.
 * type="{}"}

}}

Intervals
Musical intervals describe how many chromatic notes it takes to go from one note to another. For example, to move from the note of C to the note of E you pass through 4 notes:

C -> C#, D, D#, E

The interval, of 4 notes, from C to E is called a Major third. Lets look at some additional intervals and their names:


 * minor 2nd (m2) = 1
 * Major 2nd (M2) = 2
 * minor 3rd (m3) = 3
 * Major 3rd (M3) = 4
 * Perfect (Major) 4th (P4) = 5
 * Flatted 5th (b5) = 6
 * Perfect (Major) 5th (P5) = 7

Triads
Triads are created by combining three notes together. There are common triads that the learner will encounter as a foundation to more advanced chord theory. The triads covered initially are Major (M), Minor (m), and Diminished (dim).


 * m = 1, b3, 5 (1, m3, M3)
 * M =  1, 3, 5 (1, M3, m3)
 * dim = 1, b3, b5 (1, m3, m3)

Diatonic Progressions
The Major, Minor, and Diminished triads comprise the chords found when you create progressions using only diatonic scale tones. The sequence of chords that emerges is as follows:
 * M  m    m   M  M m    dim

Additional Intervals

 * minor 6th (m6) = 8
 * Major 6th (M6) = 9
 * minor 7th (m7) = 10 (Dominant 7th)
 * Major 7th (M7) = 11
 * Octave = 12
 * Unison = 0

Seventh Chords

 * Minor 7th (m7) = 1, b3, 5, b7
 * Major 7th (Maj7) = 1, 3, 5, 7
 * minor 7th flat 5th (m7b5) = 1, b3, b5, b7

Triads are the base of these seventh chords:
 * m (1, b3, 5)
 * m7 (1, b3, 5, b7)


 * M (1, 3, 5,)
 * M7 (1, 3, 5, 7)


 * dim (1, b3, b5)
 * m7b5 (1, b3, b5, b7)

Diatonic Sevenths
When you construct a progression of seventh chords using only tones from the diatonic scale, the following pattern emerges:
 * M7 m7 m7 M7 7 m7 m7b5

Modes
The Ionian and Aeolean modes, while being the same (just rotated), serve as the lenses that we use to analyze tonal music. It is important to explore these modes early and often in the course of study.
 * Ionian (221222 / WWhWWW)
 * Aeolean (222122 / WWWhWW)

Function

 * Numeric analysis
 * Transposition

Modulation

 * Changing chord function
 * Secondary dominants
 * m7b5 → Dom7