[HANASHIR:1567] Re: reading music

[Carol Leon <cbleon...>]

How about Lesson #2?  Thanks!  -- Carol


>From: Rglauber (at) aol(dot)com
>Date: Fri, 23 Oct 1998 10:47:15 EDT
>To: hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org
>Subject: [HANASHIR:1551] Re: reading music
>Reply-To: hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org
>
>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
>


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