End of the Quarter!

Greetings Everyone,

This was a great class. I really enjoyed it and I hope you all got something out of it. It was my first time teaching it so I was caught a little off guard but I think we all did quite well especially with the tools we had.

By the way, everyone got this one wrong so here it is:

Cross-rhythm

You have to start with

duple   a binary (duple) division of the basic meter (not the pulse)    i.e.   2/4

triple    an tertiary (triple) division of the meter (not the pulse)                    3/4

Additive:    adding a binary and a tertiary together as a linear meter to create an irregular meter (2 + 3)   i.e.    123   123  12 12 12   (two 3's followed by 3 2's. for a total of 12. Could be written in 12/8)


Now, a Cross-rhythm  is when one percussion section is playing in duple, and the other in tripe, at the same time. They take their cues from a "clave" ( of one kind or another, that's the Afro-Cuban name for it) that keeps the basic pulse and suggests where thee threes and the twos can be played on.

So it's not 3 plus 2, it's 3 AGAINST or OVER 2 (or visa versa)

It's not just two different rhythms played at the same time. That's just random. It's a very precise and a very sophisticated use of rhythm and it is characteristic of Sub-Saharan music, especially the sacred possession music.

HAVE A GREAT SUMMER!

Assignment Week 10

Greetings class. Hopefully you received the emails I sent out. As you know I am in Timbuk3 with a disabled vehicle. There is a group of  odd looking Star Wars "scavs" swarming all over my RV hopefully fixing it and not scavenging parts from it.

Go to the Terminology Tab.

Write at least 3 sentences to define, in your own words each term on the page. 

This will constitute part of your final exam and it is due this Wednesday, June 10th before class. That is, no later than 10:45 AM. Send it via email to the class email- not the Art Institute email.

On the day of the final we have additional terms. But this will shorten the Final Exam somewhat. 

For those of you who have consistently failed to deliver any chord progression work in class, this Wednesday and next Monday are your last opportunities. If you don't make any contributions to the class and demonstrate that you're at least on the same page with the rest of us, you're going to have a tough time passing the class. It is doubtful that the Final will pull you out.

Take advantage and do the assignment in class today and work on your progressions.

If you have extra time:

Practice with a partner hearing intervals and triads. One of you play the interval and triad while the other tries to identify them. Go to the Ear Training tab to make sure you cover what you'll have on the Final.

Remember that you also need to be able to take a simple melody and write that same melody in both duple and triple time signatures. Play around with it and make sure it makes sense to you. Create a very simple melody line and write it in both meters. It's a great exercise in musicality.

The Quarter's Final Stretch

Here is how the remaining two weeks will unfold:


Today, we will go through a few more student projects in progress.

The project we started is this:


Write your own melody and bass line.

Harmonize that bass/melody line any way you choose. 

• Make it in 4/4
• Make between 6 and 12 measures long
• Make it in a minor, or a harmonic minor, and if you choose to: modulate into the parallel Major (A Major)
• Make sure and include the following items at least one time:
• III+
• ii dim or vii dim
• V/V
• V7
• 2, 9. 4, suspension

By the end of the 11th week, the above should be well worked out, all 12 measures.

You will then re-write the 12 measures in 6/8 or 3/4 time. This will be an exercise in understanding rhythmic notation.

We will cover rhythmic notation in more depth in week 10.

On the last day of class, June 17th, you will come to class and turn in the above project. 

You will turn it in as you are called up for a 

Brief Ear Training Test.

 Very simple test, just look at the page on the blog to see what will be covered.

You will also turn in a very brief 

Terminology Quiz

The quiz will be on the board so you can just answer it on the back of your project.

The above will constitute your grade for the quarter!

Assignment Week 8

Write your own melody and bass line.

Harmonize that bass/melody line any way you choose.

• Make it in 4/4
• Make between 6 and 12 measures long
• Make it in a minor, or a harmonic minor, and if you choose to: modulate into the parallel Major (A Major)
• Make sure and include at least one of the following items:
• III+
• ii dim or vii dim
• V/V
• V7
• 2, 9. 4, suspension

Greetings Class,

As you know I've been having trouble with the posts for some reason. 

On Wednesday I put a melody up on the board. The exercise is the same as last week's except that I am giving you the melody.

First of all, don't confuse a melody with a "riff" or a "motive". A melody is generally sung, and it moves through a repetitive sequence that is predictable. To do that it must arrive at certain logical cadences, or "resting/pause" sections within the overall melody. These pauses are points of important harmonic tension or release.

Take the song "Yesterday" by the Beatles from the last century.


Yesterday.... (pause)

Life was such an easy game to play (.....)

Now I need a place to hide away  (....)

Oh I believe in yesterday....(...)


In the first line, if you listen to any original recording, you'll hear the harmony change AFTER the word "yesterday"

At the end of  line 2, you'll hear the harmonic tension rise. At the end of line 3 it resolves, but not completely. At line 4 there are chord changes, harmonic changes, on nearly every syllable that finally resolve to the Tonic I chord.

What I gave you was not really a melody, but a melodic idea, that could serve to build a melody around.

Harmonize the "melodicule" in at least two different ways. Look at harmonizing it as though it were  in Harmonic Minor (changing the next-to-last line in the melodicule to g#), or as in pure minor,(either leaving the note as g naatural, or using b above instead).

Explore the possibilities, it should be fun. It's short so you should be able to make several different versions. Keep the exercise in 6/8 and make sure and notate the chords rhythmically correct. 

Extra points taken off for any micro aggressions.

Making Sense of Chord Progressions

This is just a little introductory video to a more practical application of chord progression and scale/mode taken directly from the rock genre. We'll be actually spending more time with this next week.

Remember why the Tempered Tuning system came into being in the first place? Recall the old modal system versus the newer Diatonic system that we use?

Mode Versus Scale.

Intro to Harmonizing Melodies

Notice:

First, the progression from the extremely simplistic harmonizing strategies to the very sophisticated but practical approach of the gospel/jazz harmonizations.

Second, with what you have learned from the fundamentals we've covered, everything will make sense to you with a little thought. However, you will also notice that you have a great advantage over whoever might be learning from these tutorials; they don't actually get the "big picture" like you should by now.

Why all of this works should start to become apparent to you. Yet the way it is taught below, even to people who have obviously had years of playing (the Gospel tutorial audience), the approach is for actually playing the keyboard or writing voices, but without really understanding very well the background from which all this arose.

So even though most of you have little to no practical performing experience you should still be able to follow the tutorials below even the sophisticated gospel/jazz ones. You've come much further than you may realize.