clarinetist
July 28th, 2011, 05:30 pm
Thanks to Porsche for letting me take over on this! I'm currently teaching a Music Theory course and a Rudiments course and will be putting them both out here, since I know that most on here have very differing backgrounds. :) I'd appreciate any feedback that I can get from people on my lessons, and I hope you guys can get a lot out of this.
Prerequisites (what you are expected to know/have before you take this course):
You should have...
1) a firm grasp of rudiments (i.e. notation, vocabulary (e.g. dynamics, tempo markings, metronome markings, etc.)).
2) your key signatures memorized (order of flats, sharps) and the relation of these with the major/minor scales (natural, harmonic, melodic).
3) a rudimentary understanding of rhythm and be able to dictate basic rhythms with syncopation.
4) a very basic knowledge of intervals (whole step, half step).
5) a knowledge of enharmonic equivalents (e.g. B# = C, Bb = A#, etc.).
5) a visual (i.e. identification by keyboard, notational aspects) grasp of all of the above.
Suggested Skills (not required at this point, but will definitely be helpful):
1) A (basic) understanding of the formation of triads (M, m, + , º) and 7th chords (M7, Mm7, mm7, º7, ø7).
2) An understanding of intervals.
3) An understanding of Roman numeral analysis.
4) An understanding of the principles of part-writing.
5) A basic understanding of solfege.
----------------------
Lesson I - Intervals
What is an interval? It is the space that is created between two notes. There are four basic types of intervals: M (major), m (minor - some professors require a horizontal line (-) above the m to be clear that it is minor and not major), + (augmented), º (diminished).
In this lesson, we will be going through M and m intervals. How do we know if something is a major or minor interval?
Let us take the C major scale to illustrate this concept:
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j266/Bbclarinetist/Noname-14.jpg
We can take the major scale and derive intervals. How you go about doing this in this case is to let C = "1." Then count up, note by note, until you get to your next note. For example, if we wanted to find the interval between C and B, we would do the following:
C = 1
D = 2
E = 3
F = 4
G = 5
A = 6
B = 7
So, B is a 7th above C.
Here are the possible intervals that you can derive from the C major scale:
C -> C = P1 (perfect unison)
C -> D = M2 (major second)
C -> E = M3 (major third)
C -> F = P4 (perfect fourth)
C -> G = P5 (perfect fifth)
C -> A = M6 (major sixth)
C -> B = M7 (major seventh)
C -> C' (the C an octave above) = P8 (perfect octave)
Unisons, fourths, fifths, and octaves are called "perfect" intervals for reasons that will be explained when we get to the minor intervals.
Let us also take the C natural minor scale and derive its intervals:
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j266/Bbclarinetist/Noname-15.jpg
C -> C = P1 (perfect unison)
C -> D = M2 (major second)
C -> Eb = m3 (minor third)
C -> F = P4 (perfect fourth)
C -> G = P5 (perfect fifth)
C -> Ab = m6 (minor sixth)
C -> Bb = M7 (minor seventh)
C -> C' (the C an octave above) = P8 (perfect octave)
Notice that, with the exception of the M2, that the perfect intervals (P1, P4, P5, P8) exist in both the major and minor scales. We therefore can make up a systematic way of finding the interval between two notes:
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j266/Bbclarinetist/Noname-16.jpg
There are two exceptions to this flowchart: the M2 is in both the major and minor scales (as indicated) and m2 is defined as the note that is a half step above a note (one note letter above).
For example, C->D is a M2 (even though D is in both the major and c natural minor scales, and C->Db is a m2.
Your goal, with visual interval identification, is to be able to identify an interval given any two notes. You should be able to translate this interval concept to every key.
Here are some examples:
Ex. 1:
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j266/Bbclarinetist/Noname-20.jpg
Answer:
Focus on the lower note: F#. If we count the distance from F# to C#, we have:
F# = 1
G = 2
A = 3
B = 4
C# = 5.
So we know that this is a fifth. Since C# is in both F# minor and f# natural minor, it is a perfect fifth (P5).
Ex. 2:
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j266/Bbclarinetist/Noname-21.jpg
Answer:
Since G is a half step above F#, this is a minor second (m2). This is one of the exceptions of the flowchart.
Ex. 3:
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j266/Bbclarinetist/Noname-22.jpg
Answer:
Let's focus on F# major and f# natural minor. If we count the distance, we have:
F# = 1
G# = 2.
Since G# is in both the major and minor scales, it's a perfect 2nd, right? Nope. Note that this exception is noted in the flowchart. It is actually a major 2nd. You can look at a M2 as simply the whole step above the note, one letter name up.
Ex. 4:
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j266/Bbclarinetist/Noname-19.jpg
Answer:For this case, note that in the flowchart that it says that you have to look at the lower note. So let's focus on the E.
C (natural) is not in the E major scale, but it is in the e natural minor. If we count the distance between E and C, we have:
E = 1
F = 2
G = 3
A = 4
B = 5
C = 6
So we know that this interval is a type of sixth. Since it is in the minor scale, we have a minor sixth (m6) here.
Ex. 5:
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j266/Bbclarinetist/Noname-17.jpg
Hint: Rewrite these notes, if you have to, to make it easier. This one is one of the more difficult ones.
Answer:
Here's a more complicated problem. We don't really want to base this on D# major and d# natural minor, do we? A trick to go around this would be to rewrite these enharmonically. Note that you have to make sure that you are moving each note in the same direction and distance when writing something enharmonically; otherwise, the interval will be different from what it is supposed to be. We can write D# and C# as Eb and Db (moving up one half step up for both of them):
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j266/Bbclarinetist/Noname-18.jpg
Then we have Eb major and eb natural minor to base this off of. Well, Db is not in Eb major, but it is the 7th of eb natural minor, so we have a minor 7th (m7) here. This method is especially useful if you are dealing with double flats and double sharps.
Exercises for visual identification:
Interval (at sight) Identification - Level 1 = Easiest, Level 5 = Hardest:
Level 1= www.musictheory.net/exercises/interval/drw999yh98yy
Level 2 = www.musictheory.net/exercises/interval/drw999yh98yb
Level 3 = www.musictheory.net/exercises/interval/drw999yh98yn
Level 4 = www.musictheory.net/exercises/interval/drw999yh98yd
Level 5 = www.musictheory.net/exercises/interval/drw999yh98yr
You should also work on identifying these intervals by ear:
M2 = "Happy Birthday" on "Birth-day"
P4 = "Here Comes the Bride" on "Here Comes," "Amazing Grace" on "A-ma," "Oh, Christmas Tree" on "Oh, Chris"
M6 = "My Bonnie" on "My Bon"
M7 = just sounds bad. :P
P1 = unison = same note
Exercise on these Intervals: http://www.musictheory.net/exercises/ear-interval/ftneyyy
m2 = Theme from "Jaws," "Pink Panther" - Jaws: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWLO4acMTCM
M3 = "Oh When the Saints" on "Oh when"
m3 = "Greensleeves" - first two notes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5ItNxpwChE or an orchestral version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6jTgF4YQ4w&t=00m20s
P5 = "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" - the interval created between the "Twinkle"s
P8 = "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" - the first two notes ("somewhere"): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhzbzwPNgXA&t=00m39s.
Exercise on These Intervals (Set 2): http://www.musictheory.net/exercises/ear-interval/4rreyyy
Exercise on Set 1 & 2 combined: http://www.musictheory.net/exercises/ear-interval/9igeyyy
Set 3 - the hardest set to remember:
°5 = +4 = Tritone (we'll go through this interval next lesson): Theme from "The Simpsons" - first two notes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xqog63KOANc
m6 = Chopin - Waltz in c# minor (Op. 64, No. 2) - first two notes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOcryGEw1NY
m7 = Somewhere - West Side Story - notes on "There's a:" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gIoTnBlh2Q&t=00m17s
Exercise on Set 3: http://www.musictheory.net/exercises/ear-interval/ykbeyyy
Exercise on EVERYTHING: http://www.musictheory.net/exercises/ear-interval/978enyy
I highly suggest singing these so you have them internalized. Do the exercises in the above spoiler to be sure that you can hear the intervals by ear.
Prerequisites (what you are expected to know/have before you take this course):
You should have...
1) a firm grasp of rudiments (i.e. notation, vocabulary (e.g. dynamics, tempo markings, metronome markings, etc.)).
2) your key signatures memorized (order of flats, sharps) and the relation of these with the major/minor scales (natural, harmonic, melodic).
3) a rudimentary understanding of rhythm and be able to dictate basic rhythms with syncopation.
4) a very basic knowledge of intervals (whole step, half step).
5) a knowledge of enharmonic equivalents (e.g. B# = C, Bb = A#, etc.).
5) a visual (i.e. identification by keyboard, notational aspects) grasp of all of the above.
Suggested Skills (not required at this point, but will definitely be helpful):
1) A (basic) understanding of the formation of triads (M, m, + , º) and 7th chords (M7, Mm7, mm7, º7, ø7).
2) An understanding of intervals.
3) An understanding of Roman numeral analysis.
4) An understanding of the principles of part-writing.
5) A basic understanding of solfege.
----------------------
Lesson I - Intervals
What is an interval? It is the space that is created between two notes. There are four basic types of intervals: M (major), m (minor - some professors require a horizontal line (-) above the m to be clear that it is minor and not major), + (augmented), º (diminished).
In this lesson, we will be going through M and m intervals. How do we know if something is a major or minor interval?
Let us take the C major scale to illustrate this concept:
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j266/Bbclarinetist/Noname-14.jpg
We can take the major scale and derive intervals. How you go about doing this in this case is to let C = "1." Then count up, note by note, until you get to your next note. For example, if we wanted to find the interval between C and B, we would do the following:
C = 1
D = 2
E = 3
F = 4
G = 5
A = 6
B = 7
So, B is a 7th above C.
Here are the possible intervals that you can derive from the C major scale:
C -> C = P1 (perfect unison)
C -> D = M2 (major second)
C -> E = M3 (major third)
C -> F = P4 (perfect fourth)
C -> G = P5 (perfect fifth)
C -> A = M6 (major sixth)
C -> B = M7 (major seventh)
C -> C' (the C an octave above) = P8 (perfect octave)
Unisons, fourths, fifths, and octaves are called "perfect" intervals for reasons that will be explained when we get to the minor intervals.
Let us also take the C natural minor scale and derive its intervals:
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j266/Bbclarinetist/Noname-15.jpg
C -> C = P1 (perfect unison)
C -> D = M2 (major second)
C -> Eb = m3 (minor third)
C -> F = P4 (perfect fourth)
C -> G = P5 (perfect fifth)
C -> Ab = m6 (minor sixth)
C -> Bb = M7 (minor seventh)
C -> C' (the C an octave above) = P8 (perfect octave)
Notice that, with the exception of the M2, that the perfect intervals (P1, P4, P5, P8) exist in both the major and minor scales. We therefore can make up a systematic way of finding the interval between two notes:
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j266/Bbclarinetist/Noname-16.jpg
There are two exceptions to this flowchart: the M2 is in both the major and minor scales (as indicated) and m2 is defined as the note that is a half step above a note (one note letter above).
For example, C->D is a M2 (even though D is in both the major and c natural minor scales, and C->Db is a m2.
Your goal, with visual interval identification, is to be able to identify an interval given any two notes. You should be able to translate this interval concept to every key.
Here are some examples:
Ex. 1:
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j266/Bbclarinetist/Noname-20.jpg
Answer:
Focus on the lower note: F#. If we count the distance from F# to C#, we have:
F# = 1
G = 2
A = 3
B = 4
C# = 5.
So we know that this is a fifth. Since C# is in both F# minor and f# natural minor, it is a perfect fifth (P5).
Ex. 2:
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j266/Bbclarinetist/Noname-21.jpg
Answer:
Since G is a half step above F#, this is a minor second (m2). This is one of the exceptions of the flowchart.
Ex. 3:
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j266/Bbclarinetist/Noname-22.jpg
Answer:
Let's focus on F# major and f# natural minor. If we count the distance, we have:
F# = 1
G# = 2.
Since G# is in both the major and minor scales, it's a perfect 2nd, right? Nope. Note that this exception is noted in the flowchart. It is actually a major 2nd. You can look at a M2 as simply the whole step above the note, one letter name up.
Ex. 4:
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j266/Bbclarinetist/Noname-19.jpg
Answer:For this case, note that in the flowchart that it says that you have to look at the lower note. So let's focus on the E.
C (natural) is not in the E major scale, but it is in the e natural minor. If we count the distance between E and C, we have:
E = 1
F = 2
G = 3
A = 4
B = 5
C = 6
So we know that this interval is a type of sixth. Since it is in the minor scale, we have a minor sixth (m6) here.
Ex. 5:
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j266/Bbclarinetist/Noname-17.jpg
Hint: Rewrite these notes, if you have to, to make it easier. This one is one of the more difficult ones.
Answer:
Here's a more complicated problem. We don't really want to base this on D# major and d# natural minor, do we? A trick to go around this would be to rewrite these enharmonically. Note that you have to make sure that you are moving each note in the same direction and distance when writing something enharmonically; otherwise, the interval will be different from what it is supposed to be. We can write D# and C# as Eb and Db (moving up one half step up for both of them):
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j266/Bbclarinetist/Noname-18.jpg
Then we have Eb major and eb natural minor to base this off of. Well, Db is not in Eb major, but it is the 7th of eb natural minor, so we have a minor 7th (m7) here. This method is especially useful if you are dealing with double flats and double sharps.
Exercises for visual identification:
Interval (at sight) Identification - Level 1 = Easiest, Level 5 = Hardest:
Level 1= www.musictheory.net/exercises/interval/drw999yh98yy
Level 2 = www.musictheory.net/exercises/interval/drw999yh98yb
Level 3 = www.musictheory.net/exercises/interval/drw999yh98yn
Level 4 = www.musictheory.net/exercises/interval/drw999yh98yd
Level 5 = www.musictheory.net/exercises/interval/drw999yh98yr
You should also work on identifying these intervals by ear:
M2 = "Happy Birthday" on "Birth-day"
P4 = "Here Comes the Bride" on "Here Comes," "Amazing Grace" on "A-ma," "Oh, Christmas Tree" on "Oh, Chris"
M6 = "My Bonnie" on "My Bon"
M7 = just sounds bad. :P
P1 = unison = same note
Exercise on these Intervals: http://www.musictheory.net/exercises/ear-interval/ftneyyy
m2 = Theme from "Jaws," "Pink Panther" - Jaws: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWLO4acMTCM
M3 = "Oh When the Saints" on "Oh when"
m3 = "Greensleeves" - first two notes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5ItNxpwChE or an orchestral version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6jTgF4YQ4w&t=00m20s
P5 = "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" - the interval created between the "Twinkle"s
P8 = "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" - the first two notes ("somewhere"): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhzbzwPNgXA&t=00m39s.
Exercise on These Intervals (Set 2): http://www.musictheory.net/exercises/ear-interval/4rreyyy
Exercise on Set 1 & 2 combined: http://www.musictheory.net/exercises/ear-interval/9igeyyy
Set 3 - the hardest set to remember:
°5 = +4 = Tritone (we'll go through this interval next lesson): Theme from "The Simpsons" - first two notes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xqog63KOANc
m6 = Chopin - Waltz in c# minor (Op. 64, No. 2) - first two notes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOcryGEw1NY
m7 = Somewhere - West Side Story - notes on "There's a:" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gIoTnBlh2Q&t=00m17s
Exercise on Set 3: http://www.musictheory.net/exercises/ear-interval/ykbeyyy
Exercise on EVERYTHING: http://www.musictheory.net/exercises/ear-interval/978enyy
I highly suggest singing these so you have them internalized. Do the exercises in the above spoiler to be sure that you can hear the intervals by ear.