[HANASHIR:1564] Re: reading music

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Rich:  I know what a tri-tone is, but I've never heard of a tri-tone
substitution.  Inquiring minds want to know.  Emily

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> From: Rglauber (at) aol(dot)com
> To: hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org
> Subject: [HANASHIR:1551] Re: reading music
> Date: Friday, October 23, 1998 9:47 AM
> 
> I definitely come down on the "by ear" end of the continuum, but I'm
aware
> that it's not a simple case of either-or.  It's a way of processing the
aural
> information that one hears.  For instance, when I hear a new song, I
> immediately tune into the chord structure first, and there's a lot of
> knowledge and "training" that goes into being able to recognize what a
> progression is doing.  Simple tunes are one thing, but the more
harmonically
> sophisticated the music is, the more of a knowledge base one needs to be
able
> to "hear" it.
> 
> For me the key is to how chords relate with one another, starting with
the
> most basic I  IV  V  progressions and going on from there.  (Note to
Steve
> Brodsky... when it comes to learning about transposition, this is where
to
> begin.  One has to be able to recognize what a I IV  V progression sounds
> like, and realize that it's the same in every key.  So rather than hoping
to
> hit on the correct chord, you use your 
> knowledge to know where the next chord is.  It's the IV chord or the V
chord. 
> 
> I realize that if you don't know what the IV chord means, than the
preceding
> will make no sense, so I am going to explain it for those who could use
this
> particular bit of information.
> 
> It all starts with the major scale  (do re mi fa sol la ti do)  everybody
> knows what it sounds like.  If we're in the key of C, the major scale
consists
> of C D E F G A B C.
> What we do is put a number with each letter.  C number becomes I, D
becomes
> II, 
> E is III etc.  (Note that we use Roman Numerals to denote the steps of
the
> scale).  The next step is to construct chords on each note of the scale. 
It's
> quite easy to see on the piano, to make the C chord (otherwise known as
the I
> Chord), we add the third and fifth notes of the scale to get C E G.  We
do the
> same thing beginning on D, we start on the second note, then add the
fourtth
> and six
> th notes to get a chord of D F A and that becomes our II chord, in this
case D
> minor.  Continuing up the scale, we get the III Chord which is EGB or E
minor.
> By going all the way up through the scale, we end up with the following:
> 
> The I chord is  C
> The II chord is D minor
> The III chord is E minor
> The IV chord is F
> The V chord is G
> The VI chord is A minor
> The VII chord is B diminished (don't worry about that for now)  then
we're
> back to the
> The I chord is C
> 
> This is the basic framework for the music that we are familiar with. The
> beauty of using numbers as opposed to letters is that we start to see
music as
> a series of relationships that are the same in any key.  If it's a
progression
> like "Heart and Soul" which goes  I  VI minor, II minor, V, we can play
it in
> any key (if we know the notes of the major scale for that key)  That's a
> different lesson, but also quite easy.....
> 
> I don't want to bore anyone with tons of information, but if there is
interest
> in this sort of musical knowledge, I would be happy to share what I know.
> (somebody ask me about the tri-tone substitution and you'll get a
mouthful)
> 
> Personally I feel that this stuff is extremely useful both for one's own
> development as a musician, and for one's ability to communicate and make
music
> with others.  It's our language and it can make for some easy and
successful
> communication.  
> 
> Rich G