Episode 6: Simple and Compound Meter

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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.

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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.