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Post by Der Trommler on Mar 15, 2007 21:21:51 GMT -5
So, I decided to go to where my heart lies many hours of a day...Music! With that said, I feel I can help someone out here with some music lessons.
Music is comprised of 3 main categories: Dynamic (loud/soft), Melodic (the nice notes of a tune you hum), & Rhythmic (the beat).
Most music will use at least 2, good ones will use all 3. First, I will take a look at the Rhythmic (I'm a drummer after all!)
First part to knowing music is how to understand beats. Most rock music today is comprised of 4/4 time signatures. What does 4/4 mean? The first number is how many beats tere are in a measure (4)....The second is what note (quarter note as in 1/4) gets the beat...So, if you listen to a rock song, you will notice you can tap your foot 4 times (note: most drummers tend to play the snare on the 2 & 4 beats of a measure) So, what is a quarter note? This is an image of 2 quarter notes & a quarter note rest (We will get back to rests later...) As I stated above, since the quarter note gets one beat, you would tap 4 times to every measure. So, if the measure was all eighth notes, you would tap 8 times!!! So, mathematically, if you look at all the note values: (the quarter note is above) The eighth note: Or it may look like this: Sixteenth notes: OR: (note: this is the usual way of seeing the sixteenth note) The flags you see on each stem actually tells you which note it is. As you see above, the quarter note has no flag, the eighth note has 1, the sixteenth has 2, the thirty-second note has 3, the sixty-fourth note has four (although, it is hardly used as most composers will usually just double the speed & use the next note higher....due to ease of reading) Here is a quick notation of the 'duple' notes: I will explain the duple later... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirty_second_note
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Post by Der Trommler on Mar 15, 2007 21:56:35 GMT -5
Ok, time signatures: Here is a list of known time signatures that you might be able to catch on to well: 4/4 (rock), 3/4 (waltz), 6/8 (Irish jigs or blues tunes), 7/8 (progressive rock), 12/8 (relates to 6/8), 2/4 (same with 4/4). This is a list of time signatures most commonly found in many different types of music ranging from movie scores to jazz or anything in between: 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 5/4, 6/4, 7/4 (think of 'Money' by Pink Floyd...), 3/8, 5/8, 6/8, 7/8, 9/8, 11/8, 12/8, 13/8 As you can see the only limits of a time signature is the second number which is which note gets the beat. So, you will only see a 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128 (exponentially speaking). Also, I specifically left out a few...10/8 comes to mind...Here's the part that it becomes a little interesting: 5/4 & 10/8 are related! Mathematically as well as musically....there are 10 eighth notes in both time signatures! Now, if you take 3/4 & 6/8, it's the same thing yet a tiny bit different. See, in these time signatures the downbeat is in a different spot. This is how to count 3/4 in eighth notes: (1 & 2 & 3 &) now, 6/8 (1 2, 3 4 5, 6) Although, a little complex here, this is actually what a sample would look like. Now, here's the easy part of reading, all staves like the one above has a marker to what clef you are in: This example has a 'G' clef & an 'F' clef....the G clef is what everyone learns in school. The marker for this is the little spiral around the 'G' Note......Now the 'F' clef is for bass & lower range notes. The 'F' is marked off between the 2 dots This example uses a dotted note. Dotted notes are 1.5 longer in duration than the regular note. As above, the dotted quarter note accounts for 1 quarter note & an eighth note in length. So, the counting is thus: 1 & 2 & 3 e & AH (end of measure) The parts you would tap are marked in orange. Now, let me help counting the notes for you since this went further than I would've liked. Counting an eighth note in any 4 timing (we'll use 4/4) 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & Now, 16th notes: 1 e & ah, 2 e & ah, 3 e & ah, 4 e & ah So, if you notice, the 1,2,3,4 plus the &'s fall in the same place. So, in counting this is an easy place to find how each relate to each other. Now, the easiest thing I do for anything that has 32nd notes or more, is relate it to the notes from 16th notes up to the quarter note for ease of reading. More later! Please ask questions if you don't understand or I made a mistake somewhere
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Post by Der Trommler on Mar 15, 2007 22:00:35 GMT -5
Please highlight the previous missing example. It's there but apparently it doesn't like to come to the light!
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Post by ihrian on Mar 16, 2007 3:01:35 GMT -5
Ok, time signatures: Here is a list of known time signatures that you might be able to catch on to well: 4/4 (rock), 3/4 (waltz), 6/8 (Irish jigs or blues tunes), 7/8 (progressive rock), 12/8 (relates to 6/8), 2/4 (same with 4/4). This is a list of time signatures most commonly found in many different types of music ranging from movie scores to jazz or anything in between: 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 5/4, 6/4, 7/4 (think of 'Money' by Pink Floyd...), 3/8, 5/8, 6/8, 7/8, 9/8, 11/8, 12/8, 13/8
i just want to add one! 3/2 ... just because i hate it lots.. its not even that bad, but erin does not like it. its 3 minum beats per bar oooh david, i like this, i do i do, fantastic idea!
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Post by Der Trommler on Mar 16, 2007 7:11:01 GMT -5
Thank you much....chip in! I'm going to work on Music History. Albeit, it will be European...because that was the ONLY music that every existed until about 1850-1900! lol
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Post by Der Trommler on Mar 21, 2007 7:56:53 GMT -5
Ok, time signatures: Here is a list of known time signatures that you might be able to catch on to well: 4/4 (rock), 3/4 (waltz), 6/8 (Irish jigs or blues tunes), 7/8 (progressive rock), 12/8 (relates to 6/8), 2/4 (same with 4/4). This is a list of time signatures most commonly found in many different types of music ranging from movie scores to jazz or anything in between: 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 5/4, 6/4, 7/4 (think of 'Money' by Pink Floyd...), 3/8, 5/8, 6/8, 7/8, 9/8, 11/8, 12/8, 13/8
i just want to add one! 3/2 ... just because i hate it lots.. its not even that bad, but erin does not like it. its 3 minum beats per bar
oooh david, i like this, i do i do, fantastic idea! Remember, 3/2 is Breve time (or cut time). It's counted in half notes. So, if you think of the half note as a quarter note, you should be able to play it fairly easy. Now with any music, start slow & work up to the speed. That way, you get the understanding of the mechanics & counting. So with many different variations, you can understand why music is so difficult! If we take a simple example of 4/4 time....have a simple tap on the quarter notes (1,2,3,4) but focus on melody.... Melody is what most people focus on. It draws us in with beautiful & entrancing sounds. The notes: C,D,E,F,G,A,B,C (NOTE: if you notice, I started on C & the letters stop on G & begin again on C) This is because DO (sounds like the sound Homer Simpson makes) is C. If you look on a piano, it's all the white keys. To figure out where to start (if you don't know the Ebony/Ivory) there is a set of 3 black keys & a set of 2 black keys. Focus on the 2 black keys. The white key just before the first black key is C. This scale is called a Major scale. Noted for the sound it makes when you follow certain chord progressions (more on that later).
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Post by KittyLane on Mar 21, 2007 8:23:03 GMT -5
Do you know how long its been since I looked at music? Glad to say that I remember it all!
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Post by Der Trommler on Mar 21, 2007 20:46:10 GMT -5
I love it when things come back, don't you? I'm going to work on 3 sides of music (harmonic/melodic, dynamic, & rhythmic).... Dynamics...are easy to know but hard to describe. When you watch a scary movie & the girl is walking up to the door, the music gets very soft.....she opens the door and....A large ARM Grabs her!!!!
So, dynamics are emotive. It is like speaking as well. When you need to get your point across, you raise your voice. When you want to make sure the listener is the ONLY one listening, you make it soft. Due to the power of the Roman Catholic church when music was being translated to parchment, music has a lot of Italian words for description. Dynamics can attest to that! Most common: Piano (p) - soft, quiet Mezzo piano (mp)-moderately soft mezzo forte (mf)-moderately loud Forte (f)- loud Based off this, there are many others that show up: pianissimo (pp)-very soft, quiet moderato-moderate
Inside of this website's glossary of terms has some examples. Much easier! Ok, look up the above examples & listen: www.essentialsofmusic.com/glossary/glossary.html
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Post by Der Trommler on Mar 22, 2007 21:54:22 GMT -5
So, in rhythms, we have the simple 4/4 measure: 4 beats per measure quarter note gets the beat. If you break this down, a half note is worth 2 beats. IE: if you have 2 half notes, you'd clap on the 1 & the 3 of a measure (unless you're playing an instrument, then you'd be holding the note for thus long). If you notice, the relation of how everything is counted. A half note is 2 beats or half the time. A whole note is worth the whole enchilada...4 beats. Basically, the idea of 4/4 is how your heart beats. Even the counting of the speed (BPM) is in relation to the heart (this is how they count your pulse rate!). So, taking that into accord, let's look at an excercise: In basic 4/4, I want you to first count aloud 1,2,3,4. Clap along with this (start at your pace...be comfortable). The numbers 1 3 are called the downbeat (it's usually played by a bass drum in most music). Clap on the 1 then the 3. Once you got that, go for the upbeat or 2 and 4. Once you get that going then, start thinking of the &'s that are in between each count "1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &..." Clap to just the &'s.....After this, we will work on syncopation. This is a drummer's bread & butter. If it's done well, you get a 'groove' Most musicians will called it 'in the pocket' In the pocket, for drummers, is when the bass player & drummer (rhythm section) sync up & the groove is tight. (if anyone doesn't understand this, please let me know). That's all for now!
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Post by Der Trommler on Mar 23, 2007 7:51:04 GMT -5
How did everyone do so far? Everyone ok at figuring out how to tap? So, here's a list of different notes & their values:
Whole note: worth 4 quarter notes Half note: worth 2 quarter notes Quarter note: worth 4 quarter notes Eighth note: worth 1/2 quarter notes Sixteenth note: worth 1/4 quarter notes Thirty-second note: worth 1/8 quarter notes Sixty-fourth note: worth 1/16 quarter notes
Now for the dotted notes. As previously stated, the dotted notes are worth 1.5 times the regular note value. In other words, a dotted quarter note is worth a quarter note & an eighth note in length. Here is a look at some of the dotted notes & values: Dotted whole note: it's length is 6 quarter notes. Dotted half note: 3 quarter notes Dotted quarter note: 1 quarter note & an eighth note Dotted eighth note: 1 eighth note & a sixteenth note Dotted sixteenth note: 1 sixteenth note & a 32nd note Dotted thirty-second note: 1 32nd note & a 64th note
(this is the most used note values. Each can be used to help teach a more difficult passage. If I'm reading a difficult passage that has a ton of 32nd notes & 16th notes with loads of different dotted notes etc...I usually, exchange the 16th notes to become 8th notes & the 32nd notes to become 16th notes etc..That way, I can count it a little easier & then once I get the rhythm, I exchange it back. Does that make sense?)
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Post by Der Trommler on Apr 7, 2007 10:27:34 GMT -5
Ok, next is simple....The downbeat. The biggest downbeat of every measure should be on the 1. Subsequent downbeats usually will create a groove pattern that most people now enjoy. One of the most influential drummers of all time was famous for this. John Bonham had an incredible knack of letting you know where 1 was....Here's is an exerpt of an odd time signature in the second song called The Crunge. I think the time signature is 9/8 (again, there's 9 beats to a measure & the eighth note gets the beat) www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyQRf0rXQXQ
So, now that we've touched down on rock music, let's explore the 4/4 time signature & see what's there. First, as you notice about 90% of rock music is in 4/4 or will be within that song. This is due because many believe the heart to beat in 4/4. Hence, when you get your blood pressure taken, they note your BPM (beats per minute)...This is something that music has adopted a long time ago. For figuring out how fast a song is, they use a metronome. Most songs are at about 120 beats per minute or 2 beats per second. This is not to say that every rock song is at 120 BPM, rather it usually hovers around there. Some may have 118 BPM or others may have 134 BPM. It matters on the people writing the song & how it feels.
So, we will look at basic rhythms: (using 4/4) I want you to play the purple words only. This is only using quarter notes & eighth notes. If you can't figure it out, let me know & I'll help again..so count 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &1 & 2 & 3 & 4 Repeat this for a few to get the feel of it
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