Lessons with Impresario!

Alrighty then!

I need help please! I'm currently writing a piece for your august competition, and I'm trying to figure out chords that I should use.

I'm using the Key of Bb major, so what note would be the root, 1st inversion, octave 1 etc.

edit: Wow, look at the site I found: http://www.design-bysarah.co.uk/oulinks/courses/a214/chordcards/bflatmajor.htm

It shows 7 possible chords for each key, my writing is so much better now! Be prepared to be baffled by my contest entry XP I probably won't win tbh, but I'll do better than ever!

IN the one chord:

Bb is root.

D is the 3rd. But, if it was on the bottom it would be 1st inversion.

F is the 5th. if on the bottom: 2nd inversion.

Bb is the octave.

Okay, got it! Is it cheating if I ask you for help on the piece I'm entering?

As long as it's purely technical and about theory, then sure. But I won't guide you on how you write the piece.

Okay, I want to know if I'm using the chords right. This may be long and boring and repetitive for you, sorry.This is how I do it:

Let's use bar 14 as an example. I have a G and a Bb on the melody (trombone) and want to add a harmony of Eb. What I do is I put an Eb in the trombone section, than transpose it to the horn to make it in harmony. Is that right, or do I put it on the horn without transposing. It sounds right...

At bar 12, I have an A-C-Eb chord.

In thirteen I have a G-Bb-D chord - does it matter that the trombone melody has a C for a sixteenth note there? I don't think it does, but I could be wrong.

The second half of 13 is transposed, so that's fine right?

At 14, I have Eb-G-Bb

At 15, first beat is Eb-G-Bb, second beat is F-A-C-Eb, last two beats are D-G (Bb)

That's all, I don't want to kill you, but one question. At 16 I had a G and Bb in the melody, and there were two possible chords - G-Bb-D and G-Bb-Eb - so I tried them both together. Do you think that worked? I don't.

So those are my four trial bars, am I doing it right? Thanks so much!

By the way, it's labelled grief because I think I might switch because apparently pensive can't be dark...

Grief.mus

I want you to keep writing it. Everything you have NOW is fine.

THEORY LESSON II: BASIC VOCABULARY.

(Instructions... if you don't know a word on here, tell me and I will define it for you)

Accelerando*

Accent*

Accidental

Adagio*

Allegro*

Anacrusis*

Andante*

Articulation*

Bar Line

Bass Clef

Bass Staff

Clef

Coda*

Count-off

Crescendo*

D.C. (Da Capo)

D.C. al Coda

D.C. al Fine

Decrescendo*

Diminuendo*

Dot after a Note

Dotted half Note

Dotted Quarter Note

Double Bar line

D.S. (Dal Sengo)

D.S. al Coda

D.S. al FIne

Dynamic Signs

Eighth Note

Eighth Rest

Enharmonic Notes

Fermata*

Fine

1st and 2nd Endings

Flat*

Forte*

Fortissimo*

Grand Staff

Half Note*

Half Rest*

Half Step

Largo*

Ledger Line

Legato*

Measure

Mezzo*

Mezzo Forte*

Mezzo Piano

Middle C

Moderato*

Natural Sign*

Notes

Pianissimo*

Piano*

Pitch

Quaver

Quarter Rest*

Repeat Sign*

Ritardando*

Sforzando*

Sharp*

Slur*

Stacatto*

Staff

Tempo*

Tenuto*

Tie

Time Signature

Treble Clef

Treble Staff

Vivace*

Whole Note*

Whole Rest*

Whole Step

ASSIGNMENT:

1. Ask if you have any question about what ANY of the words mean.

2. Please take any word with a "*" and create a short story using at least TEN different words. An example of a sentence would be: ["He walked at a fast tempo, while I was closer to an adagio pace. I liked to tenuto on each note and smell the roses... my friend stopped for a whole note and waited for me...] That is what I am talking about. Have some fun with it! haha. At least ten words must be used. it should be a coherent story.

PART II: Major Scales/Solfege and Major Keys

MAJOR SCALES:

A Scale formula for the Major scale is WWHWWWH (where a W = whole step, and H= half step). This means that you can make a Major Scale starting on ANY FREAKIN' NOTE!! YAY!!! So, I want you to WRITE OUT on Finale EVERY MAJOR SCALE in existence. Go up the chromatic scale... it should be like this:

C Major, C# Major, D Major, D# Major, E Major, F Major, F# Major, G Major, G# Major, A Major, A# Major, B Major, Cb Major, Db Major, Eb Major, Fb Major, Gb Major, Ab Major, Bb Major.

Write EVERY SCALE Chromatically. If you do it with the formula, EVERYthing should BASICALLY be right.

Hint: Make sure that you DO NOT write ANY note more than once... for instance, the C Major Scale is: C D E F G A B. NOT, C D E E# G A B. (You see what I mean.. you want ALL 7 note names represented.)

Major Keys:

FOR EVERY Major Scale, a KEY SIGNATURE comes with it... Gander at this wheel:

You can see that EVERY KEY has one. Also, take a look at the Minor keys... are there any patterns you see?

I want you to NOW Write EVERY MAJOR SCALE with the Key Signature... so it should APPEAR that every Note is a white key.. but they are modified by the Key signature. FOR EXAMPLE:

SOLFEGE:

Here's what's cool! EVERY SOLFEGE is Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Ti Do. What does it mean for you? It means that you can start ANY MAJOR SCALE WITH Do.

In E Major:

E - Do.

F# - Re.

G# - Mi.

A - Fa.

B - Sol.

C# - La.

D# - Ti.

E - Do.

I want you to keep practicing your hand signs and put the Solfege UNDERNEATH ALL of your Major Scales you did from the first assignment. :D!!!

ASSIGNMENT:

1. Write EVERY MAJOR SCALE in existence.

2. Put Solfege under EACH scale.

3. Write EVERY MAJOR KEY SIGNATURE WITH ITS SCALE in existence.

4. Ask about ANY of your Vocab.

5. Write your short story with ten "*" vocab. words.

:D!!! YAY!!!!

Vocabulary:

Anacrusis* - Haven't even heard of it

Bass Staff - Is it just a staff in bass clef?

Count-off - Possibly the count down before you play (ex: 1-2-ready-go in 4/4)

Enharmonic Notes - Studied this I think, not the slightest idea though

Largo* - A speed right?

Quaver - Sort of like trill but on the same note?

Vivace* - Fast?

Story:

The monk made his way up the flat steps at an adagio pace. He was not eager to face off against the leader of the coda tribe. When he reached the top, he was attacker, not even given a quarer rest of time, but he had expected this. Using his sharp reflexes, he attacked, screaming fortissimo so as to scare the enemy. Accelerando went the fight, faster and faster, both monks being very worthy, one with the accent on offense, the other on defense. Then, as both monks got tired, the fight started to diminuendo and the enemy was getting weaker. Finally, the enemy stopped for a whole rest, enough time for the monk to knock him off the cliff and to his death.

:] Lovely story eh? This was hard to do grammatically, with Italien words and all XP

PART II: Major Scales/Solfege and Major Keys

MAJOR SCALES:

Seems pretty basic, but it will help me for sure. I'll get these done ASAP.

Edit: My finale doesn't have some of the keys you listed. It only has two sharps.

C#-F#-B-E-A-D-G-C-F-Bb-Eb-Ab-Db-Gb-Cb are the ones it gives me, from seven sharps to seven flats.

Well, do the best you can. At least build your own scales with all the sharps and flats.

I will do your vocabulary this afternoon.

I'm done, but it says 'upload of file failed' I'll make a PDF. One minute.

The pdf failed as fell >_<

I'm done, but it says 'upload of file failed' I'll make a PDF. One minute.

The pdf failed as fell >_<

Try uploading to an outside site. Box.net | Simple Online Collaboration: Online File Storage, FTP Replacement, Team Workspaces ~ Free Version perhaps?

scales.mus - File Shared from Box.net - Free Online File Storage

There you go! I already had an account, don't know why I didn't think of it, thanks.

Anacrusis* - is the beat that comes before the first measure. It's often called a "pick up" note.

Bass Staff - Is it just a staff in bass clef? mhmm

Count-off - Possibly the count down before you play (ex: 1-2-ready-go in 4/4) YES!

Enharmonic Notes - Just notes that are spelled differently but sound the same.

Largo* - It's VERY SLOW.

Quaver - No, it's a quarter note. In England. haha.

Vivace* - Yes, fast. But not as fast as presto.

Story:

The monk made his way up the flat steps at an adagio pace. He was not eager to face off against the leader of the coda tribe. When he reached the top, he was attacker, not even given a quarer rest of time, but he had expected this. Using his sharp reflexes, he attacked, screaming fortissimo so as to scare the enemy. Accelerando went the fight, faster and faster, both monks being very worthy, one with the accent on offense, the other on defense. Then, as both monks got tired, the fight started to diminuendo and the enemy was getting weaker. Finally, the enemy stopped for a whole rest, enough time for the monk to knock him off the cliff and to his death.

:] Lovely story eh? This was hard to do grammatically, with Italien words and all XP

PART II: Major Scales/Solfege and Major Keys

MAJOR SCALES:

Seems pretty basic, but it will help me for sure. I'll get these done ASAP.

Edit: My finale doesn't have some of the keys you listed. It only has two sharps.

C#-F#-B-E-A-D-G-C-F-Bb-Eb-Ab-Db-Gb-Cb are the ones it gives me, from seven sharps to seven flats.

Good job on your scales. :)

Darn, I definatly knew what enharmonic meant >_<

Which is slower - Largo or Adagio?

Darn, I definatly knew what enharmonic meant >_<

Which is slower - Largo or Adagio?

Largo is slower.

WALALALaLALALALAaLAlaLalalALALAlALALAlALaLALALA!

I fnished my song, it's in the august monthly competition. Could you tell me if you heard any wrong chords?

There was something else I had to say but I forget...

RANDOM RULE: Never write an augmented 2nd in purely "classical" music. It's awkward to sing and play. The exception is IN this this lesson.

Your next assignment is this:

You need to start working on working with harmony... but to do that, you need to know minor scales.

SO, here we go: this will be short, promise. I want you to look at ALL the major scales and look at what note they start on. THEN, go a minor 3rd down. (do you know what that is?) Once you go a minor third down, you will find that you are on the solfege symbol: la. the natural minor scales are ALL the Do based Major scales, but they go from La to La... so in C Major, it would be:

C D E F G A B C = MAJOR SCALE.

Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Ti Do

W W H W W W H

A B C D E F G A = Natural Minor Scale

La Ti Do Re Mi Fa Sol La

W H W W H W W

There are MORE minor scales... so, I will teach them.

The Melodic Minor Scale has the 6th degree and 7th degree RAISED on the way UP the scale, and the 6th and 7th degrees NATURAL-ed on the way down. Why is this? why don't you play it for yourself and find out. Tell me WHY you think the 6th and 7th degrees are BOTH raised. (give you a hint... play it with JUST the 7th raised up and down.)

A B C D E F#G#A = Melodic Minor Scale ASCENDING.

La Ti Do Re Mi Fi Si La

W H W W W W H

(note: Fi is Fa raised, Si is Sol raised. :D)

Descending... it's the Natural Minor Scale BACKWARDS. La Sol Fa Mi Re Do Ti La.

NOW, the harmonic minor scale is a cool diddy... you know by now that Sol wants to go to Do in a Major Scale, right? It's a V-I cadence, which is an authentic cadence (you will learn that). IN the minor keys, there is ALSO an Authentic Cadence. BUT, to do that... the V chord MUST be Major. For example... USUALLY, the V of a minor is:

E G B. (which is a MINOR chord).

BUT, we want to have a V-i cadence here... SO we make the G a G#. SO, it is:

E G# B. (a MAJOR chord).

So, that is your first taste of REAL harmony. Think about it, experiment with it in different keys. Cause next theory lesson is Intervals, Basic Chords, and Modes. So BE READY.

Harmonic Minor has the "G to G#" relationship DOWN. It raises the 7th both Up and Down. So, it looks like this:

A B C D E F G# A. = Harmonic Minor.

La Ti Do Re Mi Fa Si La.

W H W W H __ H

hmmm.... why the __? Think about what I said at the top, and tell me what YOU think. It's critical thinking time.

Assignment:

Write out ALL scales listed in D Minor. (Major (F Major), Natural Minor, Melodic Minor, Harmonic Minor.

Tell me WHY the Harmonic Minor is different (the exception?).

Tell me WHAT an Authentic Cadence is.

ALSO, please listen to some of the works by Carlo Gesualdo. I want a paragraph on HIM as a musician and what you think of his music. When you research and listen to him, I think you will understand WHY I am asking you to do this.

Sorry Morivou, I have visitors from afar, so this will be done in due time, wednesday maybe?

Sure sure!

Hey, I'm in montreal for the week, then have a soccer tournament on the weekend, and school monday. This may take longer than expected, sorry.

Could you explain what the pager thing is? A bit of topic, hope you don't mind.

RANDOM RULE: Never write an augmented 2nd in purely "classical" music. It's awkward to sing and play. The exception is IN this this lesson.

What's an augmented second? *searches* So inbetween la and ti on a major scale? Or three semitones up?

Your next assignment is this:

You need to start working on working with harmony... but to do that, you need to know minor scales.

SO, here we go: this will be short, promise. I want you to look at ALL the major scales and look at what note they start on. THEN, go a minor 3rd down. (do you know what that is?) Once you go a minor third down, you will find that you are on the solfege symbol: la. the natural minor scales are ALL the Do based Major scales, but they go from La to La... so in C Major, it would be:

C D E F G A B C = MAJOR SCALE.

Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Ti Do

W W H W W W H

A B C D E F G A = Natural Minor Scale

La Ti Do Re Mi Fa Sol La

W H W W H W W

There are MORE minor scales... so, I will teach them.

Got it, but I'll have to print it off to remember. Am I supposed to memorize all you're teaching me, or can I just have notes and look at them while writing?

The Melodic Minor Scale has the 6th degree and 7th degree RAISED on the way UP the scale, and the 6th and 7th degrees NATURAL-ed on the way down. Why is this? why don't you play it for yourself and find out. Tell me WHY you think the 6th and 7th degrees are BOTH raised. (give you a hint... play it with JUST the 7th raised up and down.)

A B C D E F#G#A = Melodic Minor Scale ASCENDING.

La Ti Do Re Mi Fi Si La

W H W W W W H

(note: Fi is Fa raised, Si is Sol raised. :D)

Descending... it's the Natural Minor Scale BACKWARDS. La Sol Fa Mi Re Do Ti La.

I have no idea why they're raised. It sounds the best though, raising those two as oppose to the first two for instance.

NOW, the harmonic minor scale is a cool diddy... you know by now that Sol wants to go to Do in a Major Scale, right? It's a V-I cadence, which is an authentic cadence (you will learn that). IN the minor keys, there is ALSO an Authentic Cadence. BUT, to do that... the V chord MUST be Major. For example... USUALLY, the V of a minor is:

E G B. (which is a MINOR chord).

BUT, we want to have a V-i cadence here... SO we make the G a G#. SO, it is:

E G# B. (a MAJOR chord).

So, that is your first taste of REAL harmony. Think about it, experiment with it in different keys. Cause next theory lesson is Intervals, Basic Chords, and Modes. So BE READY.

By V you mean the fifth note right? Why did you put V-I then V-i? And what's a cadence? Blah I'm terrible at this!

Harmonic Minor has the "G to G#" relationship DOWN. It raises the 7th both Up and Down. So, it looks like this:

A B C D E F G# A. = Harmonic Minor.

La Ti Do Re Mi Fa Si La.

W H W W H __ H

hmmm.... why the __? Think about what I said at the top, and tell me what YOU think. It's critical thinking time.

Is F to G# an augmented second?

Assignment:

Write out ALL scales listed in D Minor. (Major (F Major), Natural Minor, Melodic Minor, Harmonic Minor.

Tell me WHY the Harmonic Minor is different (the exception?).

Tell me WHAT an Authentic Cadence is.

This is really hard. I think I can get it though.

Awwww... crap. I had this ALLLL typed out then i failed and pressed backspace and it went to another page. Let me try this again:

Aug 2nd: RAISED upper note of a 2nd, or LOWERED bottom note of a 2nd. (ex. C-D = M2. Cb-D = Aug. 2nd)

I would have this stuff memorized. Some stuff... nobody has memorized. But the more you have memorized the more you can write well and use on the spur of the moment. It's definitely beneficial.

You are right on the melodic minor stuff... it's because it's avoiding the Aug. 2nd of the Harmonic minor that it sounds better and is easier to play on the piano.

Chords: ALL CHORDS HAVE A ROMAN NUMERAL SYMBOL ATTACHED TO THEM.

In a C Major Scale: (diatonic lettering... UPPER CASE IS MAJOR, lowercase is minor)

I = C E G

ii = D F A

iii = E G B

IV = F A C

V = G B D

vi = A C E

vii(dim) = B D F

This works for ANY major scale.

a V-I cadence in C Major is: G Major to C Major. It's a finality. That's what cadences are. They are the musical PERIODS. lol.

F-G# IS an aug.2nd. Good job.

It's not hard. It's just difficult to grasp. Keep trying and do the assignment. You will learn a lot from those couple of questions.

Yes, I did learn a lot from those questions, thanks :]

I'll have the assignement done asap, but probably not today, I have lots of chores.

mhmm. Well, I will be eagerly awaiting your responses.