Basic Tonal Music Theory In a Nutshell

[mr_quackenbush]

1.) The circle of fifths is a myth of tempered tuning and so don't think it's real on a cello because cello's are just intoned instruments

Comments

[mstegosaurus]

Well, holy shit.

Thanks for this.

hope it can be of use

[mr_quackenbush]

i went to music school once upon a time. this is the stuff they drill into your brain during your first couple of semesters.

Re: hope it can be of use

[korgmeister]

I've always wanted to learn basic musical theory. So a summation like this is incredibly handy!

[mr_quackenbush]

nah. If I do visualize, more often than not, I think about lead sheets with rhythm hashes. you find you get to a point where visualization of the instrument and the theoretical concepts flip flop. you shortcut from visualizing to just the muscle memory. Like, for example, i don't think of intervals or chords as dots on a fret board, but rather, i think of finger positions as intervals and chord symbols. I have to think about it if I'm going to fill out a fingering pattern for a scale on a fretboard diagram, but if you say "play G# Locrian" my fingers go right there. It's funny, I've never really thought about it, but you get to a point with music theory that's similar to what happens with geometry. A point comes where the higher level abstraction of the theoretical concepts becomes more real in your mind than a visualized piano keyboard or fretboard. it's very platonic in that way.

[mrs_scarborough]

Waa-aaaahhhh

[mrs_scarborough]

One more thing...

It's not like I can't follow you. I can. I can even memorize this stuff. But I think there's a difference between memorizing and knowing/being-able-to-apply/understanding-why-it-matters. I don't think I know enough about anything to do the latter. I guess I'm wondering if I should be worrying about how this attitude will affect my musicianship now and later.

Consider this: The books I'm learning out of right now all have fingering numbers. I'm not being asked to read the key and figure it out. It's all about finger-here, bow-here stuff.

[mr_quackenbush]

right, well, that's something to be careful about. Suzuki method students are notoriously bad about theory because there's so much of an emphasis on rote muscle memory development. It's almost as bad an in joke among musicians as drummers not getting harmony and guitar players not being able to read music. So i'd suggest getting a book like music theory for dummies or something like that to keep your brain engaged in what your hands are doing. also, play close attention to the key you're playing in and the way the notes sound in relation to eachother as you play them. Note when things sound "resolved" and when things sound "tense" and you'll be better able to start making the connections between the sound of music and the words used to describe those sounds.

[mrs_scarborough]

Hmm. OK.

So Suzuki is like paint by numbers. I've got another book that I learn out of too by Potter. But both at this point aren't really discussing keys. So if the point now is to learn how to bow correctly, get good tone and start learning some muscle memory, I think I'm OK with that. Just like I'd be OK with a beginner painter learning with a paint by number if it was their first time handling paint and a brush. I know there's a big world of painting outside of those stupid guides, but you gotta start somewhere.

I'll keep this in mind. My teacher showed me how to work with a drone when I learn to do scales (which I really haven't yet) and I could hear what she was talking about.

I think I'm OK with one step at a time, but I'll continue to learn about music theory. It just doesn't make a whole lotta sense to me right now but I'll keep what you're saying in mind.

[mr_quackenbush]

don't it?