The January/February 2015 issue of Making Music revealed the magic of the circle of fifths—a visual way to learn the sharps and flats in each key signature, as well as the relationships between different keys. The circle of fifths is created by arranging pitches in intervals of ascending fifths, in a clock-like pattern. However, some […]
In just five short minutes you will learn basic music theory and trust us when we say it goes a long way to learning an instrument.
The circle of fifths is a visual diagram that arranges the 12 pitches and keys so that it’s easy to begin to recognize those relationships.
The Andalusian Cadence or Diatonic Phrygian Tetrachord, written I – bVII – bVI – V (A-G-F-E in the key of A), is the most frequently used musical sequence.
Have you ever played a song or a piece with a marking in the middle stating♩=♪ or something similar? If this puzzling marking left you scratching your head, you’re not alone! After all, since our days in elementary school music class, we’ve been taught that whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, eighth notes, and so on, all have distinct rhythmic values.
A scale is a collection of pitches that follows a set pattern of ascending or descending intervals. A major scale, for example, may start on any note, as long as the subsequent notes follow the appropriate pattern of whole steps and half steps. The same is true of minor scales—but with a different pattern of steps, of course.
Sometimes, musicians are so concerned with playing the right notes, that they put rhythmic accuracy on the backburner. Don’t let that be you! Rhythm is largely responsible for giving music its energy, and in ensemble playing, it’s essential to ensuring that everyone stays together.
Though it may be hard to describe exactly why music has the power that it does, the ability to analyze chords helps to unravel the mystery. That’s because chords and chord progressions have a great deal to do with the character of music.
Four different clefs are used in music today; the most common are the treble and bass clefs, and the less common are the alto and tenor clefs.
Some of the most powerful moments in music occur when the song or piece shifts from one key to another, or modulates. A modulation usually takes the melody higher, and the trip to the new key can be as brief or extended as the composer chooses. It is a tricky technique that will take a lot of practice to master.