First day of AP- I did not have a full thought of what to think. Music theory in general I didn't know what to think. I knew it dealt with music in a technical degree and really got into what band just couldn't cover. I was excited to tackle the challenge of an AP class as well. Coming into this class, I thought I was going to be able to read treble and bass clef, understand doubles (sharp or flat), compose and transpose different notes, and learn the history of music and how it came to be. My experiences with knowing music comes from band for now my 7th year. I had a basic knowledge about music, notes, markings for tempo, dynamics, and accidentals. I only had a few questions at the beginning, How important is theory to daily music, and do artists/recorders/producers use it or understand it? I was excited for the class to start and really dive in. For the first day of introductions and going over basic note names, I felt pretty comfortable and ready to see what else we would learn about. The speed of the class was something I could keep up with and stay in tune for the entirety.
Chapter 1: Pitch & Pitch Class
~~The chapter of pitch was a light thing to start on, from my knowledge of band pitch. The word pitch means how high or low a note/sound is. The sound of pitch differs from the instrument playing and the key it is playing in. Pitch between instruments is usually defined by the keyboard. First treble and bass clef play different sounds. Then the instrument groups play different pitches to match the keyboard. For example, Clarinets(Bb) go up a half step and flutes(C) don't have to transpose, depending on what your instrument key is, that's the way you transpose. (Summary)
Enharmonic Equivalents- Enharmonic pitches, with the same sound but different name (Bb=A#) belong to the same pitch class.
Interval- Distance between any two notes. (C-D, Eb-Db) Includes Whole and Half Steps
Sharps- Raises a pitch by half a step Flats- Lowers a pitch by half a step
Double Sharp- Raises a pitch two half steps (or one whole step) above its letter name, shown by a little 'x' (Fx- G) (Bx-C#)
Double Flats- Lowers a pitch two half steps (or one whole step) below its letter name, shown by two flats (Ebb-D) (Gbb-F)
Clefs- Treble (Figure 1.1), Bass (Figure 1.2), Alto (Figure 1.3), Tenor (Figure 1.3)
Interval- Distance between any two notes. (C-D, Eb-Db) Includes Whole and Half Steps
Sharps- Raises a pitch by half a step Flats- Lowers a pitch by half a step
Double Sharp- Raises a pitch two half steps (or one whole step) above its letter name, shown by a little 'x' (Fx- G) (Bx-C#)
Double Flats- Lowers a pitch two half steps (or one whole step) below its letter name, shown by two flats (Ebb-D) (Gbb-F)
Clefs- Treble (Figure 1.1), Bass (Figure 1.2), Alto (Figure 1.3), Tenor (Figure 1.3)
Chapter 2: Simple Meters
~~Simple meter is more of the meter that I am familiar with, easier times to play with and to follow along. Meters that are simple I assume are like 3/4, 4/4, 2/4, C time and cut time. They are times easily divided by quarter notes. The first number, or the top number, like three, for example, is how many beats are in a measure. The bottom number, in this case is four, signifies what kind of note is the base note. So because it is four, that means its a quarter note. For 3/4 time, it means there are 3 beats of quarter notes for each measure.
Musical meters are defined by the way the beats are divided and the way beats are grouped into large recurring units.
Two Meter Types- Simple Meter- Have beats that divide into two
Compound Meter- Have beats that divide into three
Duple- when the beat group is units of two
Triple- when the beat group is units of three
Quadruple- when the beat group is units of four
Downbeat- The motion of the hand down on beat one of the pattern
Upbeat- The upward lift of the hand for the final beat
*Note in an incomplete measure is called a pickup note or anacrusis
Tempo- Helps convey the character or mood of the piece. It is often indicated on a musical score with words or Italian or other languages
Rests- Durations of silence
Meter/Time signature- At the beginning of the score establishes the meter type and beat unit.
Beat unit- The note value that gets one beat
Dot- Adds half the value to the note
Slurs- Connects two or more different pitches
Ties- Connects two or more of the same pitch
Syncopation- When an expected accent is moved or placed onto another beat
Two Meter Types- Simple Meter- Have beats that divide into two
Compound Meter- Have beats that divide into three
Duple- when the beat group is units of two
Triple- when the beat group is units of three
Quadruple- when the beat group is units of four
Downbeat- The motion of the hand down on beat one of the pattern
Upbeat- The upward lift of the hand for the final beat
*Note in an incomplete measure is called a pickup note or anacrusis
Tempo- Helps convey the character or mood of the piece. It is often indicated on a musical score with words or Italian or other languages
Rests- Durations of silence
Meter/Time signature- At the beginning of the score establishes the meter type and beat unit.
Beat unit- The note value that gets one beat
Dot- Adds half the value to the note
Slurs- Connects two or more different pitches
Ties- Connects two or more of the same pitch
Syncopation- When an expected accent is moved or placed onto another beat
Chap. 3: Pitch Collection, Scales, & Major Keys
~~So I wasn't quite sure what pitch collection meant, only thinking it had to deal with several of the same sounds. Scales were something I knew very well, as I had been learning them in band ever since I started. I didn't know them very well, as I hadn't really used them since last spring. The difference about scales in band and scales in AP theory is the transposition In band, I have to transpose up two half steps, or one whole step, to get my key. In AP, we don't have to transpose at all, since we are already in that said key. Major keys I was also more familiar with. The scales that we play deal with major keys. Depending on what key you're in, decides what sharps or flats you have and how many.
Pitch-class collection- The letter names of each pitch class, writing them only once, in the correct order.
Diatonic- Seven different letter names in a particular arrangement, subset of chromatic
Scales- Beginning pitch and an order of notes that corresponds to the musical alphabet, Formula (C Major- C D E F G A B C)
Chromatic (scale)- "color" Consists of every half step to be played (F F# G G# A# B C C# D D# E F)
Scale Degree- Each pitch of the scale
Tonic- Starting note of key/scale
Tetrachord- four notes of major scale, consists of a W-W-H pattern (1-2-3-4) (5-6-7-8)
*When writing scales, beware the key signature and how the notes would go (Bb C D ((D# is wrong)) Eb E F G A Bb)
Key Signature- shows which pitches are to be flattened or sharpened throughout a piece. Appears after the clef, before the time signature.
Diatonic- Seven different letter names in a particular arrangement, subset of chromatic
Scales- Beginning pitch and an order of notes that corresponds to the musical alphabet, Formula (C Major- C D E F G A B C)
Chromatic (scale)- "color" Consists of every half step to be played (F F# G G# A# B C C# D D# E F)
Scale Degree- Each pitch of the scale
Tonic- Starting note of key/scale
Tetrachord- four notes of major scale, consists of a W-W-H pattern (1-2-3-4) (5-6-7-8)
*When writing scales, beware the key signature and how the notes would go (Bb C D ((D# is wrong)) Eb E F G A Bb)
Key Signature- shows which pitches are to be flattened or sharpened throughout a piece. Appears after the clef, before the time signature.
Chapter 4: Compound Meters
~~Compound meters were not something I was very familiar with at all. I had seen them before, and played a song with 6/8 time, but never really got into detail behind it. I was slightly nervous and scared to deal with it. I had no idea how I would be able to understand it, comparing to simple meter, where the numbers spell things out for you, there's an extra step when dealing with compound meter.
Compound Meter- The top number meter signature is 6, 9, or 12, representing duple, triple, and quadruple meter. Divide this number by three to get the beats per measure.
Bottom number represents beat DIVISION rather than beat unit
***Beat unit will always be a dotted note
Compound Meter- The top number meter signature is 6, 9, or 12, representing duple, triple, and quadruple meter. Divide this number by three to get the beats per measure.
Bottom number represents beat DIVISION rather than beat unit
***Beat unit will always be a dotted note
Chapter 5: Minor Keys & Diatonic Modes
~~I remembered vaguely learning about the minor keys when we were learning about major scales last year. It find the tonic of your minor key, you needed the seventh note of the major scale and go up from there. They shared the same key signature, so it was weird to remember two sets of notes. There also was two sets of minor we played, harmonic & natural. Harmonic meant to raise the seventh note of the scale, and natural was to keep the key signature of the major scale and play all the way through. We didn't get into as much detail as we learned now but it was easier to understand from my previous knowledge and not having to transpose every single time. I had no idea what diatonic meant, and hopefully thought it wouldn't affect anything to complicated. To remember the different kinds of every little thing was also more challenging than normal.
Parallel Keys- Shares the same Tonic, but NOT the same key signature (C Major & c minor)
--Add 3b's or subtract 3#s
Relative Keys- Shares the same Key Signature, but NOT the same tonic (G Major & e minor)
**To find the relative minor of any major key, identify scale degree 6 of the major skill, which becomes the tonic of the minor
** To find the relative major of any minor key, find the FLAT scale degree 3 of the minor skill, which is the tonic of major
Minor Keys- natural, melodic, & harmonic keys
Natural- Scale whose key signature matches the relative major
Harmonic- Raises the seventh scale degree to create a leading tone (Bb -> B // C -> C#)
*Sound is distinctive, distance between ^7 & ^6 is larger than W, it becomes an Augmented 2nd (W + H)
Melodic- Differs in ascending and descending forms.
1) Ascending- Scale degrees 6 & 7 are raised corresponding to major scale (key)
2) Descending- Becomes identical to natural minor, lowered 6 & 7 scale degrees
Minor Scales- accidentals may be mixed (F#, Bb) or even double sharps (Fx)
Minor key in Music- Identify key signature, associate to both Major & minor {1}
Look at beginning, end, & bass line for motion to/from the major & minor key tonic {2}
Look for accidentals that might indicate the leading tone in minor {3}
Pentatonic minor chord- ^1 ^b3 ^4 ^6 ^7
Parallel Keys- Shares the same Tonic, but NOT the same key signature (C Major & c minor)
--Add 3b's or subtract 3#s
Relative Keys- Shares the same Key Signature, but NOT the same tonic (G Major & e minor)
**To find the relative minor of any major key, identify scale degree 6 of the major skill, which becomes the tonic of the minor
** To find the relative major of any minor key, find the FLAT scale degree 3 of the minor skill, which is the tonic of major
Minor Keys- natural, melodic, & harmonic keys
Natural- Scale whose key signature matches the relative major
Harmonic- Raises the seventh scale degree to create a leading tone (Bb -> B // C -> C#)
*Sound is distinctive, distance between ^7 & ^6 is larger than W, it becomes an Augmented 2nd (W + H)
Melodic- Differs in ascending and descending forms.
1) Ascending- Scale degrees 6 & 7 are raised corresponding to major scale (key)
2) Descending- Becomes identical to natural minor, lowered 6 & 7 scale degrees
Minor Scales- accidentals may be mixed (F#, Bb) or even double sharps (Fx)
Minor key in Music- Identify key signature, associate to both Major & minor {1}
Look at beginning, end, & bass line for motion to/from the major & minor key tonic {2}
Look for accidentals that might indicate the leading tone in minor {3}
Pentatonic minor chord- ^1 ^b3 ^4 ^6 ^7
Chapter 6: Intervals
~~I really didn't understand what the word interval meant. I knew that the lower instruments played it when they were warming up, but other than that, I had no sense of it. When they played it, it skipped notes like C-E-G-B and so forth. The other thing I knew about intervals came from scale playing. We would play the intervals of certain scales, which meant we would play the 1st, 3rd, 5th, or 7th note in that scale. I definitely did not know how intervals could get into complicated things, where if one note has an accidental, the entire idea gets changed. The intervals themselves were easier to remember based off the scale playing, but at the same time, wasn't sure how to apply them.
Interval- Measures the musical space between two pitches.
Unison- When any two parts play the exact same pitch, the interval has no steps in between
Harmonic Intervals- intervals between to pitches simultaneously
***Melodic intervals are formed between two successive pitches in a melodic line. Harmonic intervals are formed between two pitches sounding at the same time.
Quality- The number of half steps between the intervals
***When two intervals share the same interval size but not the same number of half steps, they differ in quality. (m3 & M3)
Perfect intervals- Share identical pitches in parallel major and in minor keys, but are never major or minor. (P4, P5, P8)
Inverted intervals- Major to Minor Perfect remains perfect 9 - ___ = inversed number (Ex. 9 - 2 = 7)
When writing intervals; 1~ Write the note heads for the correct interval size on the staff without the accidentals
2~ If quality of the interval is not correct, adjust by adding a flat, sharp, or natural to raise or lower the upper note
3~ Either note can be adjusted
Augmented Interval- A chromatic half step raised above the major/minor
Diminished Interval- A chromatic half step lowered below the major/minor
***When a augmented interval becomes inverted, it turns into diminished & vise versa.
Tritone- 'Mystery six' not Major or minor, but Augmented fourth or diminished fifth
Consonant- Sounds pleasing to the ear or tonally stable (uni3rd, 5th, 6th, 8th)
Dissonant- Sounds jarring or clashing or if needs to move somewhere else (2nd, 7th, Augmented or diminished)
Interval- Measures the musical space between two pitches.
Unison- When any two parts play the exact same pitch, the interval has no steps in between
Harmonic Intervals- intervals between to pitches simultaneously
***Melodic intervals are formed between two successive pitches in a melodic line. Harmonic intervals are formed between two pitches sounding at the same time.
Quality- The number of half steps between the intervals
***When two intervals share the same interval size but not the same number of half steps, they differ in quality. (m3 & M3)
Perfect intervals- Share identical pitches in parallel major and in minor keys, but are never major or minor. (P4, P5, P8)
Inverted intervals- Major to Minor Perfect remains perfect 9 - ___ = inversed number (Ex. 9 - 2 = 7)
When writing intervals; 1~ Write the note heads for the correct interval size on the staff without the accidentals
2~ If quality of the interval is not correct, adjust by adding a flat, sharp, or natural to raise or lower the upper note
3~ Either note can be adjusted
Augmented Interval- A chromatic half step raised above the major/minor
Diminished Interval- A chromatic half step lowered below the major/minor
***When a augmented interval becomes inverted, it turns into diminished & vise versa.
Tritone- 'Mystery six' not Major or minor, but Augmented fourth or diminished fifth
Consonant- Sounds pleasing to the ear or tonally stable (uni3rd, 5th, 6th, 8th)
Dissonant- Sounds jarring or clashing or if needs to move somewhere else (2nd, 7th, Augmented or diminished)
Chapter 7: Triads
Chord- Two or more intervals sounding together
Triad- Three note chords represented by one above the other
Arpeggiated- Spread out notes of a triad
Building Triads- Notes drawn by thirds
lowest pitch- Root
middle pitch- 3rd
highest pitch- 5th
**When root is the lowest note, shown in root position (SNOWMAN)
Four Triad Quality- Major minor Augmented diminished
M3 m3 P5 m3 M3 P5 M3 M3 A5 m3 m3 D5
Roman Numerals- Way to show triad scale degree & quality
Capital means Major triad ( I IV V )
Lowercase means minor triad ( ii iii vi )
Diminished adds subscript ( vii⁰ )
Augmented adds plus ( III+ But its never used)
***UPPERcase for Major lowercase for minor roman numerals
1. For a Major triad, think of the root's major key signature and write ^1, ^3, & ^5
2. For a minor triad, think of the root's minor key signature and write ^1, ^b3 & ^5
3. Spell a diminished triad by lowering the fifth of a minor triad by a chromatic half step
4. Spell an Augmented triad by raising the fifth of a major triad by a chromatic half step
When the triad is in snowman form, its in ROOT position
If the third is in the bass, it is 1ST inversion
If the fifth is in the bass, it is 2ND inversion
-> To identify the root of an inverted chord, look for the interval of a fourth. Upper note on the root is the fourth.
Figured Bass- Consists of a bass line with numbers written under/over it; the numbers represent the intervals to be played above the bass to make the chords.
Triad- Three note chords represented by one above the other
Arpeggiated- Spread out notes of a triad
Building Triads- Notes drawn by thirds
lowest pitch- Root
middle pitch- 3rd
highest pitch- 5th
**When root is the lowest note, shown in root position (SNOWMAN)
Four Triad Quality- Major minor Augmented diminished
M3 m3 P5 m3 M3 P5 M3 M3 A5 m3 m3 D5
Roman Numerals- Way to show triad scale degree & quality
Capital means Major triad ( I IV V )
Lowercase means minor triad ( ii iii vi )
Diminished adds subscript ( vii⁰ )
Augmented adds plus ( III+ But its never used)
***UPPERcase for Major lowercase for minor roman numerals
1. For a Major triad, think of the root's major key signature and write ^1, ^3, & ^5
2. For a minor triad, think of the root's minor key signature and write ^1, ^b3 & ^5
3. Spell a diminished triad by lowering the fifth of a minor triad by a chromatic half step
4. Spell an Augmented triad by raising the fifth of a major triad by a chromatic half step
When the triad is in snowman form, its in ROOT position
If the third is in the bass, it is 1ST inversion
If the fifth is in the bass, it is 2ND inversion
-> To identify the root of an inverted chord, look for the interval of a fourth. Upper note on the root is the fourth.
Figured Bass- Consists of a bass line with numbers written under/over it; the numbers represent the intervals to be played above the bass to make the chords.
Chapter 8: Seventh Chords
7th Chords- consists of a root, third, fifth, and seventh.
-> Named by the triad quality and the quality of the seventh (measured from the root)
Major Keys~
-> Seventh chords on ^1 and ^4 are major sevenths (MM7) I7 and IV7
--> Seventh chords on ^2, ^3, ^6 are minor sevenths (mm7) ii7, iii7, vi7
---> Seventh chords on ^5 is a dominant seventh (Mm7) V7
----> Seventh chords on ^7 is half diminished (ø7) viiø7
Fully Diminished- Diminished triad AND a dimished seventh
Half Diminished- Dimished triad
Minor Keys~ (in which leading tones are ^5 and ^7)
-> Seventh chords on ^1 and ^4 are minor sevenths (mm7)
--> Seventh chords on b^3 and b^6 are major sevenths (MM7)
---> Seventh chords on ^5 is a dominant seventh (Mm7)
----> Seventh chords on ^2 is half diminished (ø7)
-----> Seventh chords on ^7 is fully diminished (°7)
To spell out seventh chords-
1. Spell the correct triad then add the seventh (Example, mm7 above F)
2. Spell minor triad (F Ab C)
3. Add the seventh about the triad's fifth (E)
4. Check the interval quality, F-E is M7, add a flat to E for m7
-> Named by the triad quality and the quality of the seventh (measured from the root)
Major Keys~
-> Seventh chords on ^1 and ^4 are major sevenths (MM7) I7 and IV7
--> Seventh chords on ^2, ^3, ^6 are minor sevenths (mm7) ii7, iii7, vi7
---> Seventh chords on ^5 is a dominant seventh (Mm7) V7
----> Seventh chords on ^7 is half diminished (ø7) viiø7
Fully Diminished- Diminished triad AND a dimished seventh
Half Diminished- Dimished triad
Minor Keys~ (in which leading tones are ^5 and ^7)
-> Seventh chords on ^1 and ^4 are minor sevenths (mm7)
--> Seventh chords on b^3 and b^6 are major sevenths (MM7)
---> Seventh chords on ^5 is a dominant seventh (Mm7)
----> Seventh chords on ^2 is half diminished (ø7)
-----> Seventh chords on ^7 is fully diminished (°7)
To spell out seventh chords-
1. Spell the correct triad then add the seventh (Example, mm7 above F)
2. Spell minor triad (F Ab C)
3. Add the seventh about the triad's fifth (E)
4. Check the interval quality, F-E is M7, add a flat to E for m7