silverstar

Mr. EC,

I thought that you might be able to help me with my question, which is pretty simple. I'm in a class called "Fundamentals of Music". We're basically going over all the basic stuff of music theory-starting out with "This is called a staff, it has five lines and four spaces". It's a good beginner class, and I thought it was pretty easy until about two weeks ago when we started to delve into the realm of intervals (and their major/minor/diminished/augmented counterparts), chords, triads, and seventh chords. I'm competely confused at this stage in my class...I do not like the professor or how he teaches the class (it seems like 3 hours of him standing in front of the class and going off on tangents...he doesn't stay on topic very well, and everything gets complicated).

Do you have any suggestions on how I should try to memorize things like intervals and, for example, what makes a minor third minor? Are there any self-teaching books or online resources that I could use to help me memorize things like that? I really want to learn music theory and understand it, but it's (pardon my expression please) kicking my butt.

Thank you for your help! I hope that this was easy enough to understand!
Lara

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ecarroll

Lara,

I believe that music theory is very important (everything about music is important). . .but that it all starts with your ear, not your eye.

Start by learning all of your major, minor, diminished, and augmented scales, ascending and descending. It's not hard to do, and scales are the building blocks of music. Al Vizzutti's book will introduce you to patterns within these scales and can be used as good flow studies as well (why not kill 2 birds with 1 stone?). Play them over and over, concentrating on flow and resonance. Listen carefully to the center of your line and if you repeat these enough times mindfully you will suddenly be able to move off the page and play them by memory.

Pay attention in your class, even if you think your teacher is a bore. The material isn't (!) There is some music theory software out there--I know that it's used at Interlochen. Stay tuned and I'll send details.

Best,
EC

Hags888

Lara,

Interestingly enough I taught a "Music Fundamentals" course at UMN last year. If you're looking for an online site to "quiz yourself" on intervals and chords, check out this site:

http://www.musictheory.net/

My advice for intervals is to use a "tune" to help you remember them. Associate the beginning of a familiar melody with all the interval types. For example:

Unison: obvious...it's the same note
m2: Jaws
M2: start of scale, or "Happy Birthday"
m3: "Greensleeves"
M3: Sounds like the start of a major triad, no good tune here.
P4: "Here Comes the Bride"
TT: "Maria, from West Side Story"
P5: Star Wars, Thus Spake Zarathustra (or 2001: Space Odyssey)
m6: don't have a good one, but the old Tim Burton Batman Theme sort of works
M6: "NBC Theme, My Body Lies Over the Ocean...
m7: Ford Theme (Have you Driven a Ford Lately?)
M7: sounds like it has to resolve up to the octave

Ultimately, pick tunes that YOU like and can remember. And this would work a lot better if I were actually at a piano and could play the melodies and show you what I mean. But, the bottom lineis, quiz yourself...a lot.

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mattdalton

Lara -
The advice you've received so far is great. I agree with Ed that it starts with the ear. I'll bet that you can actually already hear more than you think you can, and that with a little practice things will open up for you.

I found that if I can see the notes in my mind and hear them in my ear at the same time it's easier. A free resource to help you both see and hear the intervals can be found at the GNU Solfege site. Of course the site Hags referred you also looks like it could help you too.

Hags gave a good list of songs that highlight intervals. If you want a whole bunch more, so that you might find the ones you can most easily remember, take a look here.

Keep after this - it will be worth the effort and you'll get it in short order!

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Dave

There is a good self-instructing book by John Clough.

http://www.amazon.com/Scales-Interva...264127?ie=UTF8

Music software that you could check out is Practica Musica for Aural Skills:

http://www.academicsuperstore.com/it...ocode=0D0L01XX

and Alfred's Essentials of Music Theory:

http://www.academicsuperstore.com/ma...?PartNo=715269

Dave

silverstar

Thank you all for your help! I'll be sure to look up those resources ya'll pointed me toward.

Right now I'm just doing the homework that's been assigned out of the book...and we're learning about Triads in Inversion...I'm so lost, it doesn't make any sense to me at all.

About hearing things, I can pretty much look at a page of music and sing the notes right. I can hear them in my head, but I couldn't tell you if they were a second or a minor second apart. I'm really good at sight singing, it's something that I've had to learn to do since I'm a second alto and I used to sit with all the sopranos.

I just don't understand all this stuff about triads in 5/3 position vs. 6/3 vs. 6/4. It's all gibberish to me.

Lara

EDIT: I just checked out that website and, in about 2 minutes it explained the whole triad thing to me...why can't my prof do that? WHY? The website made it make sense...though, I still have a lot of work to do...2 1/2 more pages of it...but it will have to wait until tomorrow, er, later today. I need to get to bed...I have a job interview at 9:30!

La

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tpter1

Lara- I'm teaching triads in music theory right now!!! How odd of a coincidence is this?

I started writing an explanation, but if I'm not right there with a staff and a piano..well, it could be more confusing than it needs to be.

Those numbers indicate chord inversions. You can use the numbers to harmonize a bass line by simply adding the requestedd number over the note provided. So if you have a bass line and there's a 2nd space C there, below the C yoou have 6-4, then add an A and an F (a 6th and a 4th) above the C.

The other way this is used is to indicate chord inversions (revoicings).
6 (AKA 6-3) is first inversion (the 3rd of the triad sounds the lowest)
6-4 (the fifth sounds lowest)

7th chords can be scary because there are 3 inversions:
6-5(3) (first inversion: 3rd sounds lowest)
4-3 (2nd inversion: 5th sounds lowest)
4-2 (3rd inversion: 7th sounds lowest)

An easy way to see this is to take a C triad and play it on a piano moving the bottom note up an octave each time.

Hope you find that helpful. I am out of time, so I can't really delve too much more...

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ilikethetrumpet

Lara,
I don't know if we've run into each other yet but I'm a grad student in Greenhoe's studio. Are you taking lessons from him, or Brian? If you are, intervals can be really important things to bring into lessons. Arban's can teach you, sometimes, better than a class can.

I find that when I miss notes, 25 percent of the time it's because I'm not exhaling steadily; 25 percent of the time it's because I'm out of position; and about half the time it's simply a matter of hearing the intervals more clearly.

At any rate, if you want, PM me, I really like ear training, and if you wanted help sometime, I'm pretty much around from 8 AM to 8 PM most days. (cue commercial music: Trumpetmaster.com: bringing trumpet players together for the common musical good.)

ecarroll

Practica Musica is the softwear used at Interlochen. Thanks, Dave.

Ilike. . .hi to Dave (also Meagan and Castor)
EC

Jimi Michiel

Scott-

M3- Violent Femmes-Blister in the Sun

Jimi

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