MUSIC THEORY - 1

There is a theory behind everything. Theory is used to help us understand and learn things that might be complicated to understand at first. In music no different than other “complexed” subjects. If you understand these basics principals you will have a strong structure to build up you musicality. I’ll do my best to make music simple to you and I hope that you understand in a simple way what music is about. Of course talent is necessary, but musicality comes with hard work and discipline.

MUSIC

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    Music is a universal art. A unique form of communication. Was created by God. Is used by humankind since the beginning. It’s in us. It’s a way of expression. A way to memorize things and share our feelings. Some people say that “music makes us feel closer to God” and some makes is apart from Him.  Anyway whatever is your definition of music.. Music main elements are: Sound, Rhythm, Melody and Harmony.

Sound – It’s everything that makes our ears shake inside. It’s the result of the air in movement started by the vibration of materials (steal, glass, wood, water.. anything). We recognize the sound by: Pitch, Duration, Intensity and Timbre.

·  Pitch – Is divided into three groups: Low, Mid and High sounds. They are separated into groups of seven notes: C (do), D (re), E (mi), F (fa), G (sol), A (la), B (si) “That will bring us back to DO”. That’s why we call from C to C an octave (an octopus has eight legs that’s why we call it OCTOpus). Each group of 8 notes repeats from the lowest to the highest part of any instrument passing through the middle part of the instrument. This is PITCH. ·  Duration – It’s how long you can hear or play the sound or note, In music the sound duration is indicated by the type of note shown on the music sheet. We will see those figures later. Just remember this: Just like us every note has a time to live some of them will live longer, some will die sooner. ·  Intensity – It’s the volume of the sound. How much strength you hit to make the instrument (object) vibrates more or less. In music there is a representation for it: pp (Pianissimo) very soft, p (piano) soft, mp (mezzo piano) normal, f (forte) strong, ff (fortissimo) very strong and fff you hit as hard as you can! But do not break the instrument. ·  Timbre – Also known as Tone Color. It’s what makes each instrument sound different. For example when you play a C (do) on piano or on a flute, or on a guitar the same note will sound different, just because you are playing in different instruments. So the Timbre is the sound that each instrument makes. We also have Timbre in our voices, my voice is different than yours, correct?

Rhythm – Also known as MUSICAL CADENCE. Rhythm is everywhere, all the time, it’s in everything.. from our heart beat to a clock tic-tac, in a soldiers march up to the solar system. Rhythm exists without music but music cannot survive without rhythm. To make it clear just observe any clock or watch tic-tac. On a clock we can hear and see the second moving constantly and uniformly. Each second the clock moves precisely. Now try to follow the clock’s beat clapping your hands or snapping your fingers. As you do this exercise, for a whole minute, C’mon you can do 30 seconds! Ok this is Rhythm. You are following the clock’s rhythm.

Now rhythm can be slow, medium or fast. We call the rhythm speed as “beat”. For example     

The clock’s beat is 60 bpm (Beats Per Minute) this speed is considered slow in music. A normal song can be on 80 to 120 bpm and fast songs can go up to 200bpm. That is fast! In music we use a tool to measure the beat called Metronome.


MELODY – Is a group of sounds or notes executed in a sequence. When you sing “happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear …. Happy birthday to you!” you are singing a song MELODY.


HARMONY – Is a combination of sounds or notes played together, simultaneously at the same time (beat). This is called a CHORD. When you play on the piano keyboard a combination of three notes like C (do), E (mi) and G (sol) you got a C Major Chord. When you put you fingers on the C position on the guitar, you also got a C Major Chord and when you hit the Kick and a Cymbal on the drums at the same time.. it’s not a C chord but is a percussion chord makes HARMONY. So everything produces harmony when they are performed notes and sounds TOGETHER. 

Our next topic will be about Music Reading I wish to make it simple to understand.

See you all next chapter.

If you have any question please use my email pohgueirossob@gmail.com or send me a comment on this blogg.

Poh Gueiros
Family Ministry