[HANASHIR:1632] Re: music theory

[Adrian A. Durlester <durleste...>]

OK Gang-here's a thought:

Many of us on this list (myself included) have background and training in
music theory (not meaning to brag, but I got 13 years of it, pre-college at
the Juilliard and Manhattan schools of music.)

In the spirit of the guidelines for songleaders done by Klepper and Kaye
which are posted on the hanashir web site, why not a "Music Theory for
Songleaders" section of the web site?

There are existing web resources (the best of which is the Boethius web site
of the Society for Music Theory at UC Santa Barbara) but none of them are
sport the sort of basic, graphically interesting outline I am imagining for
our site.

(BTW-for those with weak ear skills, check out
http://www.pageplus.com/~bigears/ the BigEars online ear trainer -requires a
Java enabled browser. Also, guitar players should check out "Intro to Music
Theory for Guitars" at
http://www.informatik.uni-muenchen.de/~dranidis/Music/ and it's parent site
"Music Theory" at http://english-www.hss.cmu.edu/music/theory.html .)

S0-who wants to help me put together a couple of web pages on music theory
for songleaders?

Adrian



-----Original Message-----
From: owner-hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org [mailto:owner-hanashir (at) 
shamash(dot)org]On
Behalf Of Rglauber (at) aol(dot)com
Sent: Wednesday, October 28, 1998 9:06 PM
To: hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org
Subject: [HANASHIR:1630] Re: music theory


I'm in agreement with those who favor developing one's music theory
abilities,
both in terms of reading, and harmony.  It doesn't make you a better person,
but what it will do is give you the ability to COMMUNICATE with other
musicians.  Quite simply, it is our language, and if you don't speak the
language, then you are limited in your ability to interact with those who
do.

One of the problems in learning music theory is the fact that it is usually
presented in a very traditional framework, one that is not really suited to
a
songleader's needs.  As this one author (I can't remember his name, sorry)
stated...."Learning music theory will prepare you to get a gig.....in
Germany
in the 18th century"

I'd be in favor of sharing some "practical music theory" ideas which are
specifically geared to the work that we do.  I could name a few areas that I
think people should have familiarity with, and I'd be interested to see
other
people's ideas.

For the purposes of being a Jewish music educator in 1998-99, one should
know
about these areas (among others)  :

The difference between major and minor  (scales and chords)
The concept of  "relative minor"   ie  A minor is the "relative minor" of C
major
Basic chord progressions in major and minor keys
Comfortable singing ranges for girls, boys, women, and men
How to describe and utilize musical dynamics
Reading melody lines
Rhythm skills, syncopation, ostinato patterns etc
Transposition

There could be quite a few more but this is where I would begin.  If there
is
interest in discussing these topics, I'm quite happy to share what I know.

Rich Glauber

PS to my "ii  V  I"  interest group.  I held off explaining that for the
time
being, because it didn't feel totally germane to the topic of Jewish Music.
It's more about American popular music.  But hey, I said that I would
explain
it, and I will do so tomorrow.  I just needed to focus on Jewish music
first....