Music Theory 101 #2: The Basic Skills of Music; Pitch Pt. 1

Hello and welcome back everyone! In the previous post from this series, I explained the basic principles of sound and how they transfer to music. I talked about the difference between Frequency, Amplitude, Duration and Timbre and how they affected the sound wave. This now leads me towards our next discussion and the one that will fuel the first part of this series: Why does all the science "mumbo jumbo" matters in a lesson series on music? I will begin to go into depth on each of the topics from an introduction to music sort of manner.

Just as a heads, this will probably take a few posts because I am putting a lot of detail in explaining everything. Just be aware that it appears dense but in actuality, it is just detail. I'm going to test out this system of highlighting key terms and listing them at the beginning of the post and see how they go. Let me know what you think of this method because I may keep using it for a while. Also, don't forget to subscribe! We love everyone who reads our posts but we need people to subscribe to our posts! All you have to do is submit your email in the box to the right and check confirm from a confirmation email. You will get emails of when we post an article and it helps us keep track of who all is reading our work regularly. Also, in the near future there will be a bio page and a link to creating a master list of our posts for your convenience. So without further ado, let's head on over to start explaining pitch!

Key terms:
-Pitch (Frequency)
-Musical Alphabet
-Octave
-Accidentals
-Sharp
-Flat
-Enharmonic

If you are going to learn to read, play or write music, you need to understand the six basic principles of every language: Pitch, Timbre, Articulations, Dynamics, Rhythm and Form (though not in this order). Now, this goes with saying that there are many different opinions and many different interpretation of how to classify basic musical concepts. Books will take several different approaches towards explaining this information. Consider this my way of saying if someone tells you something different or they teach it to you in a different way then that is ok. As long as you understand the general idea then they are allowed to do that. So then, let us head on and take a look at half of these and apply them to music!

Let us start with Pitch, or as it was called in the last episode, frequency. This is the most commonly seen parts of music even if people do not realize it. As we discussed previously, frequency was defined as the amount of waves that travel over a point during a certain time. This is read in Hertz or waves per second. Using that same 440 example as in the last post, there are four hundred and forty sound waves that go to our ear drums per second. Same for any other example you can think of from 1 to infinity. The average person can hear from 20 to 20k (20,000) hertz. As far of a spectrum as this is, music is not a random assortment of pitches. In fact, it follows a pattern of twelve (12) notes in a specific order starting with the musical alphabet.

The musical alphabet is generally defined as the first seven (7) letters of the English alphabet; A, B, C, D, E, F, G. The placement of these notes all vary in different ways depending on the clef and the location on the staff in general and changes, but let us keep it simple, seeing there is a lot of information for one page.

Picture from NetPlaces.com post on The Language of Music

Traditionally, the pitches will fall under the same way a piano is laid out, such as the picture to the left. It is traditionally seen starting on C, however we will use the example in the picture. The bracket starts on A and by going up or down, depending on how the music is written, but you wind back up on A. The genius behind the system is the notes are not the same pitch, but sound higher or lower. The far left C is higher than the C on the far right. The range of eight notes in a row is called an octave. So from the A on the left to the middle A, you have traveled an octave. Same for going from this middle A to the right most A, or any range of notes, as long as they travel to the same letter.

Picture from Penn State's Virtual Piano
Click to expand 

You may be wondering "If he said there was 12 notes, why has he only listed 7"? There is a simple answer to this question: Accidentals, or in the case of the piano all of the black keys between the white keys. They make up accidentals, or pitches that are not within a given key signature. Before we go completely off tangent, I will explain key signatures later but accidentals are important to understand now. Accidentals show to the person reading the music if you should make the original note sharp (#; raise the note up a step) or make the note flat (b; lower the note a step). So for example, we see an F on the keyboard and to the right of it is a black key. If you went up to the black key from F, you went from F up to F sharp (F#). However, looking at the G, there are black keys on both sides of it. You can go from G up to G sharp (G#) or from G down to G flat (Gb). An important concept to understand would be enharmonic spelling, or notes that are the same pitch, but spelled differently. So, as stated before, F# and Gb are the same pitch but they are spelled differently. This will be an important concept soon, however we need to move on from here.

Before I drag this post on for too long, I feel I should split it up into two posts. As always, if you like the post then subscribe and let us know! We love feedback as much as we love subscriptions! Also, for those whom have visited the page have noticed, I have a donation button up. I have a couple of projects I am trying to start up (one being a full video series for these articles and the other being donating custom rosin to the group of students I volunteer/intern with) but I need everyone's help! The more money we can raise, the better we can fund things like this to help benefit arts programs and arts education. I am considering a kick starter but I haven't completely decided on if I'm going to go about it that way. We will have to wait and see.

Episode 8: Understanding Intervals Part 1

Hello and welcome back to those who are returning, and welcome aboard for those of you who are new to the series! Sorry this took me so long to post but I've been loaded down with stuff and I sort of forgot about this episode. So after I made the episode for last week I read over it and found out you were suppose to read this a few months ago... So, here we are! We need to start getting down towards the heart of music, and start learning about intervals and why they are important to music. If you like this post is great then please share this by clicking the Facebook, Twitter or Google+ buttons at the bottom!

First off you need to know what an interval is. An interval is the distance between two notes. There are 8 basic intervals: A Unison (same note or C to C), a 2nd (C to D),  3rd (C to E), 4th (C to F), 5th (C to G) 6th (C to A), 7th (C to B) and an octave or 8th (C to higher C). This distance will work between any series of notes but I was using those as an example. A to F is still a 6th just like a G to an A is a 2nd.

There are three main qualities of intervals: Major, Minor, and Perfect. The best way to see this is to separate the different qualities into their own section and learn them individually. First is the Perfects, which are only used to describe a perfect unison, perfect fourth, perfect 5th or perfect octave. As the perfect unison is the same note being repeated, and a perfect octave is the same note being played back to back but one is higher than the other. The perfect fourth and fifth are special because as it says, they are an important part of music. A perfect 4th is 5 half steps from the tonic note. The tonic is the note that starts the comparison or chords as we will get to later. If you need to review half steps and whole steps, please refer to episode 2 (click here). A perfect 5th is 7 half steps from the tonic note. Think about it from the layout of a keyboard. If we start on C, a perfect forth above would be an F (C#-D-D#-E-F) and C to G would be a G (C#-D-D#-E-F-F#-G). A forth above G would be a D (G#-A-A#-B-C-C#-D) and a forth above F would be a Bb (F#-G-G#-A-Bb).

Now major and minor intervals work in the same way. They include 2nd, 3rd, 6th, and 7th. A major 2nd is 2 half steps, which is a whole step, or another way to say it is from C to D. A minor 2nd is only a half step or from C to C#. A minor 3rd is 3 half steps or from C to Eb. A major 3rd is 4 half step or C to E. A minor 6th is a 8 half steps or a C to Ab and a major 6th is one half step higher, C to A. Finally A minor 7th is 10 half steps or C to Bb and a major 7th is one higher C to B.


For those who this is just too much information then, I have a chart to help you comprehend this a little better. The numbers is the number of half steps from tonic to the note.

       Minor         Major        Perfect
1                                                    0
2        1                 2
3        3                 4
4                                                    5
5                                                    7
6        8                 9
7        10              11
8                            12

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Episode 6: Simple and Compound Meter

Alfred 00-16643 Essential Dictionary of Music Theory - Music Book (Google Affiliate Ad)

Hello and welcome back to the Music Theory Blog! Today's long awaited episode is about the difference between Simple and Compound Meter. I am here to help you along with understanding the material better by showing examples of what I am explaining and we'll see if this makes it better to understand!

 Now first, for those who are new comers, you must understand what the time signature is. The Time Signature is the symbol that shows musicians how many notes are in a measure and what note value gets the beat. For Example, 4/4 time means there are 4 notes in a measure that a quarter note gets the beat. If you need more help with understanding this, refer back to episode 4.

In order to understand why the two types of time signatures are important, you must understand what they are. A Simple Meter is a meter that's time signature breaks down into two parts. For example, you can divide a whole note into two half notes, a half note into two quarter notes, and so on. This is what most music is written as, which are 4/4, 3/4, and 2/4. Any variation of the signature will work, for example you can say 2/8, 3/2, or 2.16 as long as the measure breaks down into two parts anything is possible. Here is an example of a piece that is in 4/4, "Prelude" from Bach's Cello Suite No. 1. Some other examples of music you might see with a simple meter is Common Time and Cut Time. Common time () is simply another way to write out 4/4 and Cut time () is a simpler way to write 2/2.

Now, the difference from a simple meter to a compound meter is a Compound Meter divides the beat into 3 parts rather than 2. For example a commonly seen compound meter you may rn into is 6/8. There are 6 beats in a measure but most of the time it is felt in two parts and is conducted the same. The most common types of compound meter are 6/8, 9/8 and 12/8 but changing the lower number would work the same. Here is an audible example of "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" which is written in 9/8.

If you like the new way I constructed the lessons, let me know by sending me an email, or message me on Twitter.

Episode Recap 1: Episodes 1-5 Part 1

Hello and welcome back! Now before I begin the recap let's go over a few things. 1st off, you may have noticed the button above me. Finances are really low, especially if you want more reviews so please donate anything you feel comfortable donating to me. I am wanting to do more reviews and if you want to see more, then any money is good money! With that said, I promise I WILL NOT go crazy with the button! The only time I will post it is on general recaps (like such), and reviews. I want to provide everyone with a few service to learn music theory, tricks from professionals, and reviews so you aren't wasting your money on pointless or terrible stuff for your instruments (and yes, I have used some terrible stuff, and amazing stuff so I know what's good and what's not).

With that out of the way, I bet you're wondering "What's an 'Episode Recap'?". I feel after so many episodes on all my topics, I will post one giant summery for you on what is in that section. For today, this episode recap is on episodes 1-5, which are:

-Episode 1: Musical Alphabet and Note Values

-Episode 2: Sharps and Flats

-Episode 3: Treble and Bass Clef

-Episode 4: Defining the Signatures

-Episode 5: Dynamic Contrast

Now how this is going to work is like a review over the selections, and explain some harder to explain things.

Episode 1:

This was a presentation-Only entry so most people didn't read this entry, so I will count this as the actual lesson. There are two main elements when reading music: a Note and a Tone. A note is the visual representation of a sound (♪). The actual sound that goes with it is the tone. We could say that the note is an A, or a C but we don't see that when we are watching a group play: We hear the tones of the chord(s) the person or people playing make but we don't see the (♪) in front of us unless you brought sheet music with you.

When you link them together in any pattern going up or down until you repeat the first note, you get a Scale. There is no simple number of notes in a scale, because there are so many different types of scales. However, there is a "Western" standard of scales, which has 8 tones in a repeating pattern. I will discuss this more later on in the episode review. 

Now we have to discuss the Musical Alphabet. This is the way musicians learn their notes, and it is always repeating: A, B, C, D, E, F, G. 

A standard Octave or simply the "Western" style of 8 note scales, is the repetition of one note. For example take a C scale. If we wrote it out we would have C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C. The bold C is an octave higher than the one we started on. This works out on the entire musical alphabet.

Now, we talk about basic note values. They work the same was as fractions, which is they break down and are seen as fractions, like for example ♪ is an eighth note while ♫ is two eighth notes or a quarter note. The way the notes flow is demonstrated in the following picture:

The top note is a whole note, and it breaks down into two half notes. each half note breaks down into two quarter notes and so on all the way down the line. This is the proper way to subdivide notes. Now we must figure out how this fits into a staff. A Staff is a bar with 5 lines and 4 spaces that fit together and are split to make Measures. This will be further explained in a later chapter.

Episode 2:

Going back to notes on a staff, you can have either Sharps, Flats, or Naturals. Naturals are notes that haven't been altered and these are the white keys on a piano. Then if you take that note and go up a half step (going from a white key UP to a black key) your going from a natural to a sharp. When you go down a half step (going from a white key DOWN to a black key) your going from a natural to a flat. *Editor's Note* I just realized there was a glitch in the episode, and I fixed it so it's legible.

Episode 3:

There are 2 major clefts to playing most instruments. You have Treble, or the G cleft, which is the higher side and you have the Bass, or the F cleft, uses the lower side. Back to the discussion on scales. The "western" or non-asian countries use a standard for scales which goes with the "standard" of 8 notes that repeat at the base note but at a distance of an octave. For example: C Major is C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C.

Episode 10: Scale Theory

Hello and welcome back!

Sorry I haven't posted in the actual episodes in a while, but college seems to keep me busy no matter which way I turn. But today, our lesson is to explain what a scale is and give you some to practice!

First off, we need to figure out how to define a scale. A scale is a series of notes in an ascending or descending pattern. For example, let's start with the note C. There are many different scale involving the letter C but they have to follow some kind of pattern. As I said before there are many different types of scales, but the over all feel is there are two basic scales: a major and a minor. Just like they sound, the major scale sounds brighter than the minor. The whole understanding of scales goes back to understanding intervals, which was the topic of the last two episodes (episode 8 episode 9).

The basic progression of a Major scale is W W H W W W H, where W is a whole step and H is a half step. Now let's apply this to a scale, and since the basis of all music is C let's develop a C major scale. It starts on C, then a whole step up would lead to a D (C#- D), followed by a whole step to an E (D#- E) but then we hit the half step in which we get an F. A whole step to G (F#- G), then an A (G#- A), followed by another whole step to B (A#- B) and then we have our last half step back to C. So a C major scale is C D E F G A B C. Now, let's do another example with F. Start with the note given, and follow the intervals above. So a whole step above would be G, another whole step to A but then we get to the half step which we use Bb. Now we need another whole step to C, another whole step to D a final whole step to E and then the half step back to F. So the scale is F G A Bb C D E F. Ok, let do one last example with G. Follow the guide and you should get G A B C D E F# G. The F# in this example and the Bb in the previous one are ways to indicate a key. F# is the only sharp and the rule of key signatures is take the last sharp and raise it a half step. The trick to flat key signatures is take the second to last flat and that is your key, however the key of F is the only key that doesn't follow this rule. So if we went up to the next flat in the order of sharps and flats, it would be Eb but the key would be Bb.

Now the trick to minor scales is moving the pattern above back two spots. For example, the natural minor of C is A minor, and is played like C but starting on A. The same is true for the other scale above; the natural minor of F is D minor and the natural minor of G is E minor. The pattern is W H W W H W W. A minor would be  A B C D E F G A, D minor would be D E F G A Bb C D, and finally E minor would be E F# G A B C D E.

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May Video Contest: No winner yet!

There isn't a winner for this months video submission yet so please, submit now while there is still time!

The contest is a video contest on musicians who want to show off their skills on camera. I will select a video and post it on here, Facebook, and Twitter with links back to your page. So if you want to be advertised, then come on a post a video of you playing your instrument!

Episode 4: Defining the Signatures

Hello, and welcome back to this week's episode on Sulliadm's Music Theory Blog! This week's lesson is explaining the two signatures: Time and Key signatures.


First, we will start with the key signature. The Key Signature of music is what we use to tell  what sharps or flats should be used in the piece. For example, we can have 2 sharps in the key of D, or the key of F has 1 flat. The way to know what key we are in is by learning The Order of Sharps and The Order of Flats. The Order of Sharps are F#, C#, G#, D#, A#, E#, B#, and the easiest way to remember the keys is to go up a half step from the sharp. Using my example above, the key of D uses 2 sharps: F# and C#. Another common key to use is G, and it has one sharp: F#. In order to find the Order of flats, it is simply reversing that order. They are Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, Cb, and Fb. The way to remember the keys here is to go back one letter in the line. So, using the example above, the key of F has only one flat, Bb. The key of Eb major has 3 flats: Bb, Eb and Ab.

Now, we will discuss time signatures. The Time Signature is the division of music that divides the number of beats by what note value gets the beat. As previously stated, every note can be subdivided. A quarter note can be split into 2 eighth notes, and similarly two quarter notes can be combined into a half note. Now the time signature tells you how many of what note can go within a measure. Commonly used time signatures are 4/4, 3/4. and 6/8. To simplify that, 4/4 time means there are four notes in a measure and the quarter note gets the beat. 6/8 means there are 6 notes in each measure while the eighth note gets the beat. There are unusual time signatures as well, such as 5/8, 7/4, and 2.5/4. Those are very rare to come by however it is just as simple to understand how to count.

Episode 2: Sharps and Flats

Hello, and welcome back to my blog! The first thing we need to discuss is intervals. An Interval is the distance between two notes. In most cases on a piano, the space between any two white keys or between any two black keys is considered a whole step. Let's take this piano for instance...

Look to the left and you see there is a black key between each white key EXCEPT between B-C and E-F. Those spaces between white keys with a black key in between them are called Whole Steps. The spaces in which there isn't a key in between them, for example B-C or E-F are called Half Steps.

Now, you may be wondering what are the black keys are called. They are called Accidentals. They are listed as a Sharp (#) or Flat (b). If you need to, you can also make the note a Natural but we will discuss that later. All white keys are considered naturals, for example the C's are read as "C Natural", but when you hit the key between C and D, you have a C sharp (C#) and enharmonically a D flat (Db). Enharmonics are notes that are read in different ways. A good way to practice that is going up the octave (from left to right) make everything sharp (C, C#, D, D#, E, etc.) until you get to the next C. Then go back down and say everything with flats (C, B, Bb, A, Ab, G, etc.)