What is Music
Music is sound and silence, Pitch which govern harmony, melody & rhythm (and its associated concepts tempo, meter, and articulation), dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture. The term music derives from the Greek Muses.
Music is an expression of one’s self weather you write, play or just listen to it. It can control your mood or you can just listen to what kind goes with your mood at the given moment.
Music is an important part of their way of life to many people in various cultures. Music itself is a culture; if you think about it and look at the different types of music there’s specific fashion, dancing, self expression and so on, whether it’s in the music itself, lyrics or just the music video.
Greek philosophers and ancient Indian philosophers defined music as tones ordered horizontally as melodies and vertically as harmonies. Common sayings such as “the harmony of the spheres” and “it is music to my ears” point to the notion that music is often ordered and pleasant to listen to.
20th-century composer John Cage thought that any sound can be music, saying, for example, “There is no noise, only sound.” Musicologist Jean-Jacques Nattiez summarizes the relativist, post-modern viewpoint: “The border between music and noise is always culturally defined-which implies that, even within a single society, this border does not always pass through the same place; in short, there is rarely a consensus … By all accounts there is no single and intercultural universal concept defining what music might be.”
Take the 50s for instance parents hated Rock-n-Roll & thought that was ‘noise’ now its the base from the Blaring car stereos from the rap & hip hop music I hear them complain about.
Caution Music….
Composing your masterpieces
How to read & play music
(Keep adding to when I find something)
Written music is called music notation. Music notation tells you which notes to play and how to play them. Many types of music notation have been invented; but this guide will focus on standard notation, also known as common notation. Get your equipment ready:
1.Sheet Music to Play (pick songs for beginners or songs you are familiar with)
or
BLANK sheet music to write… check out the selection at the far bottom of the page. If you don’t see the proper one, find and image on line please pass link along.
2. Pencil
3.Instrument (your voice is fine too)
For all the notes and symbols please check out the pages in the link section I mention below. Another great way to learn is ordering a Quamut binder reference guide. So you can learn on the go & during those boring lectures in class.
ORIGINS of Standard Notation Egyptians are believed by scholars as early as 300 B.C. to have used a form of musical notation but the inventor of what is now considered standard musical staff was Guido d’Arezzo an Italian Benedictine Monk that lived from 995-1050 A.D. Since around 1600 the present conventions of musical notation have been used.
Music Notes…(Parts) HEAD- the oval shape of a note can be open or closed (closed would be filled in black) can be placed on a line or space, or above or below a ledger line as well.
Stem- the vertical line that falls and rises from a note head. depending on what line or space you place a note, depends on what side you put the stem. The stems of notes that are above the middle line are placed on the left side, and those below the middle line are placed on the right, while either side is fine if its a note in the middle.
Flag- also called the hook or tail marks notes with durations less than a 1/4 note. Eighth note has one flag, and a sixteenth has 2. All flags are drawn to the right of the stem
Beam- horizontal beams that take the place of Flags when you multiple notes in a row the same
OCTAVES come from the Latin word for ‘Eight’ and represents the eight note span between two notes with the same name. The complete sets of notes are called Naturals, sharps, and flats. In that span is referred to as being in the same octave.
CLEF there’s the Treble Clef that looks like an ‘S’ in a way (need to find a pic) and the Bass clef which looks like the top of a 2. The treble clef is for High notes the bass for low notes. The Treble clef assigns the notes to each LINE as follows: E on the first line (bottom) , G, B, D, & the F on the fifth line (top) The Bass starts with G on the bottom line B,D,F,A. I remember in school we learned this as “Every Good Boy Does Fine’ for the Treble & for the Bass ‘Great Big Dogs Fights Animals”
as for the Spaces between the lines Treble starts F on the bottom first space A,C,E, (think FACE) The bass A c, E, G, or (all Cows eat grass)
common words and symbols
BPM= Beats Per Minute
SIGNATURE is the number that looks like a fraction near the clef on a music sheet. The TOP NUMBER indicates the number of beats that each measure should contain. The BOTTOM NUMBER denotes which type of note counts as one full beat. The Most popular signature in western music is 4/4 known as COMMON TIME. Sometimes you may find a graphic symbol of a ‘C’ instead for common time
Tempo and volume play an important role in music. A song’s tempo (how fast or slow it should be played) is written at the beginning in English or Italian. Here are the common terms in both languages:
METRONOME- used to play music at the proper tempo.
English ———Italian
Very slow —— Largo— 42-66 BPM
Slow & Steady—- Lento –52-108 BPM
Slow but lilting—-Adagio—-50-76 BPM
Walking pace ———Andante—56-88 BPM
Medium———— Moderato—-66-126 BPM
Fast ——————–Allegro—84-144 BPM
Lively ———————-Vivace 80-160 BPM
Very fast ——Presto; Molto Allegro 100-152 BPM
Common symbols indicating volume (how loud or soft a song should be played) are as follows:
Symbol ———-Italian ————English
ppp ————-Pianississimo ——As soft as possible
pp ————-Pianissimo ————-Very soft
P —————-Piano ——————–Soft
mp ————-Mezzo piano ————-Moderately soft
m —————-Mezzo ———————–Medium
mf ————-Mezzo-forte —————–Moderately loud
f —————–Forte —————————Loud
ff ————-Fortissimo ——————–Very loud
fff ———–Fortississimo ————-As loud as possible
pf———— Piu forte——————– Louder
fp ————Fortepiano ————-Quickly move from loud to soft
< Crescendo Gradually louder (this symbol will appear over several notes at once)
> Diminuendo Gradually softer (this symbol will appear over several notes at once)
The wikihow, Ehow & tutorials pages in the links section looks like the best pages to learn about the notes etc. at least for basics.
(I will include video at a later time.. the modules seems to have malfunctioned on me ;-(
lock up studio
That is where a band rents an empty room off you and brings their own gear in so they can rehearse with their own gear and whenever they like (providing it’s during opening hours). It works out much cheaper than hourly’s, and you tend to find it’s the more serious band that will have a lock up.
explained by my mate Jane N in Birmingham England)
Why Teach Music
Concert audience through the decades
How to write lyrics
First time with no idea?
Get a pencil or erasable pen this way you don’t have to keep crossing out once you reread if you want to revise something.
Get some scrap paper heck if you write small enough a napkin will do!
Now the question is, what to write about and how.
Do you want to be funny or serious maybe a bit of both?
do you want to write a love song or an upbeat song (weather pop-py, metal or hip hop or country etc)
You have to take that all into consideration
Think of a subject, maybe a friend for instance
you do not have to mention their name (actually you can give them another name in the song) but that’s not the important thing
write down the ways this person makes you feel
write what you like about the person
describe the person, tall short, charming, perky, or glum? what color eyes the feel of their hair? etc.
maybe something you saw them doing last and you can even incorporate a phrase or word they use allot. Include something they were that you like. Do they have a unique style, or do you just like the really awesome leather pants, or cowboy boots they’re wearing? Sports jersey or what?
Put the paper down & take a break & relax. Go back to it later,
when you are ready, re-read your list mull it around in your head. It may not come right to you but try and work all of the information you wrote down about the subject (weather it’s a person, or an object place or even about another song)
try to start to write with at least a sentence.
use one of your feelings for this subject with something they are wearing describing the colors texture and then some.
another thing I do as a writing exercise is write some song titles down of a particular band or the first song titles that pop into my mind & write a story about them. a song can be anything you want it to be. It can be a story (& they all are in ways some have a literally meaning others may seem so but it’s a metaphor for something else. Try reading some poems and other bands lyrics you can get ideas that way.
If you go to the MY Lenses down at the bottom… go to the Epic Ballad of Poetry for the Writers blog which might help, as well as other books.
Music as a weapon
The ‘ESSENTIALS’
Earworms
1. Those songs that all of a sudden seem to appear in your head for no reason
2. The songs you find yourself humming or singing weather you like them or not
and (usually) cannot get out of your head
‘cure’ – listen to at least part of the song
usual bandits- Grease Soundtrack, That song that seems to be played EVERY hour on the radio…..
(what’s your ear worm?)
Voicing your lyrics
singing voices
I wanted to get this section started off then I’ll come back to it & add in more information)
Female voices (based on American Pitch notation)
Soprano ~ Highest female voice, which lies between C4 and C6 (medium & high C)
there’s also 2 types that are between Soprano & mezzo-Soprano that are dear to the French called Dugazon and Falcon.
Mezzo-Soprano ~ middle range voice and lies between the Soprano and contralto voice. The range is between A3 & A5 they are also broken down into 3 other groups
Alto – see wiki link below
Contralto ~lowest female voice at a range between F3 & F5 but above a middle C some can sing from E below to middle C to the second B flat.
Male voices
Countertenor
Tenor
Baritone
Bass
See more in the Wiki link in the links section
What is the one song that no matter what mood you’re in will guarantee to reduce you to tears ? “
Audio Cassette
Cans= Headphones
Auto/biographies & memoirs) – by band, musician or other
by the bands & members
Don’t like my selections? Then Please add as many as you like
*note this list is ONLY for those by or about a Musician, or band
& Yes, Pop Rap etc are welcome as well, so feel free to include theirs
Musician Mugshots
Gene Kittens
Blank Music Sheet
Sheet Music with measures
Don’t know the band??
Blank GRAND staff Muisc Paper – Treble & Bass Staff
blank sheet tablature
Create Muisc & Chord tableture
Guitar Chords
Deminished Chords
Harmonizing C Major Scale
Guitar Chord Sheet
Eric Clapton’s “Tears in Heaven’ (makes me think of my pop-pop)
Audio Literacy
Auto/biographies & memoirs) – by band, musician or other
by the bands & members
Don’t like my selections? Then Please add as many as you like
*note this list is ONLY for those by or about a Musician, or band
& Yes, Pop Rap etc are welcome as well, so feel free to include theirs
Multiscreen MoTVision 