Episode 7: Timbre and the Importance of Tone Control

Hello and welcome back everyone to something more exciting than all the reviews I have been doing. If I have bored you from them, I'm sorry but some people were asking me to do some reviews, and if you have any request don't be afraid to ask me! I love doing reviews for people and helping people if they need help. Anyways, on the the lesson at hand: What is Timbre and why does it matter to me?

First off Timbre or tone color is the sound that an instruments produces. Every instrument has it's own sound that it produces and its the only type of sound that can produce it. For example, you listen to a piccolo and listen to a flute or bassoon you can tell that the qualities of the sound have a lot of similar qualities but they aren't the exact same. The piccolo is a higher and sounds more "whimsy" and "In air floating" feel than the flute or bassoon does, but they all have a feeling of a wind instrument. Now add a cello to the mix and you hear a new feel to the music, which is a more earthy feeling that is produced from the violins, violas, cellos and bass. Every instrument has its advantages and disadvantages revolving around tone color and it effects the overall feeling of the orchestra. That is one of many reasons symphonic music is written with so many instruments as well, the composer wants to fill in every gap that he wants to be filled in and cause the piece to sound complete. It makes the piece sound better, and that is also the art of composing; Knowing how to make a one lined melody fit into the best possible group of instruments.

So now you're asking; why do I need to know this? The answer is you need to be aware of the differences in all music in order to be a better musician. If you know how everything links together then you become a better musician. There are reason why Bach wrote the suites for cello and not violin, and why he wrote the violin concerto for violin and not cello.

Now Tone Color is a different, but very important thing to talk about. Tone color is the type of sound you are producing from the instrument. It is similar to timbre in the way that it is left to the composer to control, however this is controlled by the instrument. The easiest way to explain this is adding a mute to an instrument. It not only softens the music, but it changes the overall sound of the instrument from blocking some of the vibrations. This is crucial because sometime you need the soft, but broad sound from an instrument, or sometimes you need a loud, harsh sound. Strings players achieve that by several ways, first being the mute. We add on a mute to soften the sound and change the overall sound. 2nd we can change the position of the bow. If we play more up towards the fingerboard we get a softer sound; sul tasto, or up towards the bridge; ponticello. Finally changing fingerings for a run can change the overall tone of a piece. For band and choir, there are mutes or some kind of tone changing methods as well.

Review: Evah Pirazzi and Spirocore Strings

Hello everyone, welcome back to the music theory blog! I have a review for you guys, and I've been testing these products for a few months now to get you the best review I can give! Today I am reviewing Pirastro Evah Pirazzi Soloist A and D and Thomastik Infeld Spirocore G and C on my 1992 Spainhour cello.

To begin let's start with what I was starting with before I changed over. I was using Pirastro Chromcor, which is an ok set for someone starting out but beyond that the strings aren't good at all, not to mention my set was pretty old. Very bland tone, no volume or anything a professional cellist would need for his/her cello to sounds great. The only reason I had them on my cello is because it was what came with my cello when I got it at Christmas from my parents and I wasn't able to afford any new strings. However, with my graduation money I received, and after a lot of reviews, interviews with the professors at Winthrop and a rough decision I decided to go with them and I must say, they are amazing.

The first thing I noticed with the first time I played them on my cello was the amount of volume they produced. I was use to pushing and digging into my cello to get any type of volume from my cello and just keeping the dynamics at around a mezzoforte to what I was use to nearly blew me out of my seat when it came from the new strings. The other major difference is the amount of overall tone color and projection. The Evah's gave me a feeling of warmth and a lot of depth that I love hearing. They didn't overkill the higher register either. When you play most regular notes on a cello, some strings tend to thin out the tone and lead to nasty sounds from the notes. However, the Evahs don't do that, they make more of a rounder, thicker tone. The Spirocores are the same way, but they have a little less tone color than I would like but they make it up in the projection! Whenever you play a note on the C, you feel it! That's what makes Spirocores so popular among cellist; we like the feeling of making sure we are heard as far away as possible, especially on the lower registers!

However the main drawback from these are the price of each set. The Evah mediums are usually around $220 for a whole set, or around $60 for just A and D. The Soloist are about $235 a set or $75 for the two. As for Spirocore, they aren't as bad. A set of Spirocore Chrome is usually around $135 or $100 for the G and C, however the tungsten strings are about $240 for a set or $105 just for the C!

Overall, I say they are a must for a musician who wants to expand his sound quality and if they have already gone for cheaper stuff like Heliocore, I recommend they upgrade to this. The set up I have is a staple in professional orchestras around the world and if you can afford to try them, you should!

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.

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

Update: From the Eyes of College

Hello, and for all of those who have been checking on the page daily thank you so much! I have had a few of you email me about when the next episode will be up and my answer is... I don't know! I am working hard in college and I haven't been having much free time in school or outside of it, but I have a few ideas for you guys and I want all of you to give me your opinions! Here is what I was thinking... What if I created a big "fan supported music demonstration" sort of set that anyone can submit to. Say you wrote out a full song, or just a simple little melody it doesn't matter. Just submit it to me and I will put a link to it in the blog and have it shared. I had one person already submit me something and I will have it on here soon. It is a song for a starting out strings class and has a very driven feel to it that I like a lot. So, if you have any kind of song that you wrote and want advertised on here, then send it to my email and all of your responses to my question. If we get 200 responses, I will post something I've been writting on the side on here for you guys to review for me! So start sending those replies in, and use the header as "From The Eyes Of College" so I can tell why I am being flooded! Thanks, and keep checking in!

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.

How to Practice Episode 4: Practice the Basics

Welcome back everyone! Now I know it can get very annoying to practice scales over and over again but you have to know your basics. There are many reasons why you need to know them, such as:

1). The basic skills of your instrument is what makes you a musician. If you didn't know how to play simple stuff, then how could you play the more complicated? For example how can you play work by Bach and Beethoven when you don't know the simple stuff.

2). There are crucial skills you can practice on scales that makes your whole style of playing better if you practice them on scales. For example, vibrato is a great example that you should practice on scales. Vibrato adds so much tonal flare to music, and is probably the biggest divider between musicians. However, it can be a hassle at times to practice so remember that an hour a week of nothing but good practicing is better than 3 hours a day of bad practice.


3). Practicing the easy stuff helps you be able to do things like improvising from being able to tell the chord progression and scales in the music and being better acquainted with your instrument. That is a huge factor when it comes to improving, because the less you are close to your instrument the more nerve wracking it will be. Your instrument is like your best friend, especially when your alone on a stage that has been lighted up.  

Review: D'Addario Helicore Cello Strings

Now, for those of you who are new to my blog I am a intermediate cellist. I have been playing for almost 7 years, which to most people is just a drop in the bucket but the benefit from my perspective is I am going to college in a few short months (as of now 2 and a few days) so I know where the deals are and know what to get so you get bang for your buck.

Now, for years I've been taught from my teachers that just because you have a cheap cello doesn't mean you have to think it will always sound bad. For people who are just beginning and have a student instrument, there are several changes to your instrument that will improve the tone and overall characteristics of it. The first, and usually the most effective, way to get the sounds you want is to get new strings. For people starting out the best strings you can get for cheap are D'Addario's Helicore. They are made strong, and they are made to last for a long time. Before I changed cellos, they were the only ones I would use on my cello and I never had to worry about strings popping. I kept a set on there for a few years, which is not a good thing to do but when your on a budget it works out well.

This leads me into a lesson on strings, for my stringed musicians on here. The rule of thumb for us is you should change your strings once a year, however there are strings that will last longer. Just keep in mind the longer they stay on your instrument the more they will go "flat" and the more likely they will snap.

Now, what do I mean by a string going flat? Every string is constructed where they have a core, and the metal is wrapped around it. After a while the core will start to get worn out and it causes the string to vibrate less vividly and it gives a "flat" sound to the instrument. Another key feature to know about strings is that there is a break-in period that varies between the strings. The way it works for the Helicore strings is 5-7 days. That is a good time, but you need to remember that if you have a competition, audition, or a performance you need to be able to avoid getting stuck with spotty tuning.

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