Taking it a step further

Does it makes sense to say that if the major scale is a specific pattern of notes, then that pattern of notes would also create a pattern of chords?

• The chord pattern is as follows:  Major, minor, minor, Major, Major, minor, diminished.  This can be written as I, ii, iii, IV, V, vi, viiº, where chords I, IV, and V (1, 4, and 5) are major, chords ii, iii, and vi (2, 3, and 6) are minor, and chord viiº (7) is diminished.  This gives us a total of seven different chords, each one starting on one of the seven notes in the scale.

• If we take the E major scale we looked at before, we can write the chords as E, F#m, G#m, A, B, C#m, and D#º.  Notice that if a chord is major, nothing is written beyond the name of the root note.

Just in case....  

Writing out the scale, and writing out the chords in a key may look quite similar, but they are significantly different!

When talking about "E", or any other letter name, pay attention to the context to know whether the individual note is being discussed, or if the letter refers to the three-note major triad. 

A couple of things to notice:  

• Keys with sharps in their signature are ordered in ascending intervals of a fifth.  Keys with flats in their signature are in descending fifths.

• A major key's relative minor starts on the sixth (vi) note of the major scale.  For example, A minor is the sixth of C.  These keys are relative.

Understanding our music

When you feel the music you are listening to and start to tap your foot, or perhaps snap, along with what you are hearing, you are following the beat of the song.  You know that we group beats into measures and write a time signature, such as 3/4 or 4/4.  In this way, as soon as you see a time signature, you immediately understand rhythmic aspects of what music you will be playing or listening to.  

One of these aspects is whether each beat will be divided into twos or threes.  This difference is what we call either simple meter or compound meter.

Since the beginning of the school year we have looked at a variety of aspects of music.  Now, in order to maintain a rich understanding of music that will enable you to enjoy, analyse and perform music to a greater degree, we will use our next several classes to reflect on what we have learned, as well as to prepare for our Christmas performance.

Musical genres

Over the past several years you have been exposed to a variety of litterary genres, such as biography, realistic fiction, fantasy, etc.  In the same way music is classified into many different genres.  In the upcoming classes, we will be taking a closer look at movements in North American music that developed into a variety of genres, and that have had a significant impact on modern popular music.

Improvisation  

One fairly common characteristic of spirituals was the inclusion of an improvised singing part.  There are though many more ways in which musical elements can be, and often are, improvised to generate fresh feeling or certain perspective on any given song.  These include melodic, harmonic, rhythmic, lyrical, stylistic (technique), and dynamic improvisation.  

> How many of these types improvisation can you give an example for?

Let's start this lesson by closing our eyes and listening to the bluegrass music piece Teardrops Will Kiss the Morning Dew by Alison Krauss: 

https://open.spotify.com/track/01m0kOmTMUDbmAkl4V0eCo?si=G4oLy0AqS9uPCwES1j-iNg  

> How does it make you feel?  Have you ever heard this type of music before?  Where?  What instruments are being played?

Once we are playing one of these triads, if we then skip another note and add this to our triad, we are now playing a 7th chord (major or minor depending on what note we have started with), called a 7th because the note we have added is the seventh note in the scale:

What rhythmic technique is used to express emotion in blues music?

When did blues originate?

What musical influences do blues and jazz share?

Blues, Jazz, and Rock Fundamentals

As we have talked about before, music is a language by which we are able to express ourselves and communicate with others.  Just as to learn a language we listen to others who speak the language, we also learn music by listening to others perform.  Similarly, in order to improve our skill, we can study the different components that make up a language (phonics, grammar, vocabulary, etc.) or music (tempo, dynamics, scales, etc.). 

This week we are going to revisit the pentatonic scale.  As the name suggests, this scale is comprised of five (penta) tones (tonic).  An easy way to think of the pentatonic scale is to start from a major scale.  If we take the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 6th notes, we have our pentatonic scale.  Let's look at the C major scale to get C major pentatonic:  C - D - E - F - G - A - B.  

If you would like to see more written rhythms to practice, the Samuel Stokes Music website includes the above sheet and several others according to level and time signature.

Now with a melody!

One of the most well-known folk songs of the American West is Home on the Range.  This song is the anthem of the state of Kansas, and has been interpreted by artists such as Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra.

Follow the written rhythm of the song as you listen :

Last week we explored the idea of timbre.  This week we will be looking at another property of music, namely pitch.  

When we think of pitch, we think of the various high and low notes heared when playing instruments.  The pitches that we perceive can be altered by various factors.  These factors are: length, thickness, density and tension.  With stringed instruments, such as the violin or the guitar, we can observe that when the string is pressed against the board, its length is shortened, and the pitch is raised.  If we want a lower pitch, one possible way is to look for an object with a greater density.    The more "stuff" (matter) is packed into a space the lower the pitch will be!

Experimenting with pitch

For the following week, think of any song that you believe your classmate might know.  Using differing levels of water, fill enough glasses (about 3-6) with the just the right amount of water to create the pitches you need to play a short line of your song.  Be prepared to play this portion for next week's class.  You will play it first to see if your classmates recognize the song.

This week you will write your own rhythm to be performed for your classmates the following week.

For this week's project, you are going to select three objects in your house that you find to have an interesting timbre.  These could be anything: your kitchen counter, a cooking pot, an empty yogurt container, a glass jar, a bucket, ...., and will be what you will use to create your own unique perucussion sound.

> Describe: For each of the three objects you have selected for your rhythm, write down two adjectives that you feel describe what your instruments sound like.  You are describing your instruments' timbre! 

The next step is for you to write down the rhythm you will play.  Your rhythm needs to last four measures, and you should be able to play it three times in a row.

Even when rhythm and melody are perfectly executed, there remain other aspects of music that are essential to making a piece "magic" or "intense".  One main characteristic of music that attracts, excites, and inspires is the interpretation of a music piece through a range of differing dynamics. 

What is folk music?  To answer this it is helpful to understand the word "folk," which means quite simply "people."  In this way folk music can be understood as the music of a certain people.  Every country, and often smaller regions as well, has its own folk music.

The origins of folk music lie in the music created to make daily work less of a burden, or as a form of entertainment at home in the evenings.  Many folk songs were passed down orally from one generation to the next, and therefore have no known author.  These origins, in fields and homes, stand in stark contrast to classical music that was birthed in courts for kings.  

Many forms of folk music also had particular folk dances associated with them.  It was the interest in folk dancing that in 1940s New York sparked what is known as the American folk music revival.

Cumulative test review

Can you match these terms with their corresponding time signature?