No one likes a know-it-all. Most of us realize there’s no such thing—how could there be? The world is far too complicated for someone to understand everything there is to know. So when you come across a know-it-all, you smile to yourself as they ramble on because you know better.
You understand that the quest for knowledge is a never-ending one, and you’re okay with that. You have no desire to know everything, just the next thing. You know what you don’t know, you’re confident enough to admit it, and you’re motivated to do something about it.
At Idiot’s Guides, we, too, know what we don’t know, and we make it our business to find out. We find really smart people who are experts in their fields and then we roll up our sleeves and get to work, asking lots of questions and thinking long and hard about how best to pass along their knowledge to you in the easiest, most-accessible way possible.
After all, that’s our promise—to make whatever you want to learn “As Easy as It Gets.” That means giving you a well-organized design that seamlessly and effortlessly guides you from page to page, topic to topic. It means controlling the pace you’re asked to absorb new information—not too much at once but just what you need to know right now. It means giving you a clear progression from easy to more difficult. It means giving you more instructional steps wherever necessary to really explain the details. And it means giving you fewer words and more illustrations wherever it’s better to show rather than tell.
So here you are, at the start of something new. The next chapter in your quest. It can be an intimidating place to be, but you’ve been here before and so have we. Clear your mind and turn the page. By the end of this book, you won’t be a know-it-all, but your world will be a little less complicated than it was before. And we’ll be sure your journey is as easy as it gets.
Mike Sanders
Publisher, Idiot’s Guides
Publisher: Mike Sanders
Associate Publisher: Billy Fields
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Third American Edition, 2016
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Contents
Part 1: Tones
1 Pitches and Clefs
Understanding Musical Tones
Tones Have Value
Tuning Into a Frequency
Play by Numbers
Do Re Mi
Tones Have Names
Learning the ABCs
Notes on a Piano Keyboard
Notes on a Staff
Above—and Below—the Staff
Different Clefs
The Treble Clef
The Bass Clef
The Grand Staff
Specialty Clefs
The Percussion Clef
Exercises
2 Intervals
Be Sharp—or Be Flat
Steppin’ Out
A Matter of Degrees
First Things First
Major and Minor Intervals
Perfect Intervals
Augmented and Diminished Intervals
Beyond the Octave
Intervals and Half Steps
Mod-12
Exercises
3 Scales
Eight Notes Equal One Scale
Major Scales
Minor Scales
Natural Minor
Harmonic Minor
Melodic Minor
In the Mode
Ionian
Dorian
Phrygian
Lydian
Mixolydian
Aeolian
Locrian
Exercises
4 Major and Minor Keys
Keys to Success
Determining the Key Signature
Major Keys
Minor Keys
The Circle of Fifths
Accidents Will Happen
Changing Keys
Exercises
Part 2: Rhythms
5 Note Values and Basic Notation
Taking the Measure of Things
Taking Note—of Notes
Whole Notes
Half Notes
Quarter Notes
Eighth Notes
Sixteenth Notes
Taking Count
Taking a Rest
Taking a Note—and Dotting It
Taking Two Notes—and Tying Them Together
Taking the Beat and Dividing by Three
Exercises
6 Time Signatures
Measuring the Beats
Quarter-Note Time
Eighth-Note Time
Half Time
Changing the Time
Grouping the Beats
Exercises
7 Tempo, Dynamics, and Navigation
Taking the Pulse
Beats per Minute
Italian Tempo Terms
Speeding Up—and Slowing Down
Hold That Note!
Getting Loud—and Getting Soft
&
nbsp; Dynamic Markings
Changing Dynamics
Play It Harder
Finding Your Way
Repeating Sections
Repeating Measures
Repeating Notes
Repeating Rests
Exercises
Part 3: Tunes
8 Melodies
Combining Tones and Rhythms
Common Melodic Techniques
Dvořák’s New World Symphony
Bach’s Minuet in G
“Michael, Row the Boat Ashore”
Pachelbel’s Canon in D
The Building Blocks of Melodic Form
The Motif
The Short Melodic Phrase
The Long Melodic Phrase
Composing Your First Melody
Exercises
9 Chords
Forming a Chord
Different Types of Chords
Major Chords
Minor Chords
Diminished Chords
Augmented Chords
Chord Extensions
Sevenths
Other Extensions
Altered, Suspended, and Power Chords
Altered Chords
Suspended Chords
Power Chords
Inverting the Order
Adding Chords to Your Music
Exercises
10 Chord Progressions
Chords for Each Note in the Scale
Creating a Progression
It’s All About Getting Home
One Good Chord Leads to Another
Ending a Phrase
Perfect Cadence
Plagal Cadence
Imperfect Cadence
Interrupted Cadence
Common Chord Progressions
I-IV
I-V
I-IV-V
I-IV-V-IV
I-ii-IV-V
I-ii-IV
I-vi-ii-V
I-vi-IV-V
I-vi-ii-V7-ii
IV-I-IV-V
ii-V-I
Circle of Fifths Progression
Chromatic Circle of Fifths
Singing the Blues
Chords and Melodies
Fitting Chords to a Melody
Chord Writing Tips
Writing a Melody to a Chord Progression
Exercises
11 Phrases and Forms
Parts of a Song
Introduction
Verse
Chorus
Bridge
Ending
Putting It All Together
Exercise
Part 4: Accompanying
12 Transcribing What You Hear
Training Your Ear
Listening—Actively
Developing Super Hearing
Hearing Pitch
Hearing Intervals
Hearing Rhythms
Hearing Melodies
Hearing Keys
Hearing Chords and Chord Progressions
Writing It All Down
Exercises
13 Accompanying Melodies
What’s the Score?
Working from a Lead Sheet
Working from a Chord Sheet
Working from a Melody
Working from Nothing
Working the Form
Playing the Part
Block Chord Accompaniment
Rhythmic Accompaniment
Arpeggiated Accompaniment
Moving Bass
One Good Strum Deserves Another
Exercises
14 Transposing to Other Keys
Move Your Notes Around
Why You Need to Transpose
Four Ways to Transpose
Step-Wise Transposition
Degree-Wise Transposition
Interval-Based Transposition
Software-Based Transposition
Exercises
Part 5: Embellishing
15 Harmony and Counterpoint
Two Ways to Enhance a Melody
Living in Harmony
Voicing and Inversions
Making Harmony Parts More Melodic
Voice Leading
Making a Point—with Counterpoint
Keys to Successful Counterpoint
Creating Your First Counterpoint
What to Avoid
Exercises
16 Chord Substitutions and Turnarounds
Extending a Good Thing
Altering the Bass
Two Chords Are Better Than One
One Good Chord Can Replace Another
Diatonic Substitution
Major Chord Substitutions
Minor Chord Substitutions
Dominant Seventh Substitutions
Functional Substitutions
Turnarounds
Exercises
17 Special Notation
Throwing a Curve
Ties
Slurs
Phrases
The Long and the Short of It
Tenuto
Staccato
When Is a Note More Than a Note?
Grace Notes
Turns
Trills
Glissandi
Arpeggiated Chords
Getting Into the Swing of Things
Getting the Word
Exercises
Part 6: Composing and Arranging
18 Musical Genres and Forms
Classical Music
Classical Music Through the Years
Classical Forms
Blues and Jazz
The Blues
Jazz
Popular Music
Exercises
19 Composing Your Own Music
How to Become a Composer
Different Approaches to Composition
Learning How to Write Your Own Music
Composing with Chords
Using Chord Leading
Establishing a Harmonic Rhythm
Fitting Melodies to Your Chords
Making Memorable Melodies
Center on a Pitch
Make Sure You End Up at Home
Go Pentatonic
Find the Hook
Create Variations
Make It Move
Take Small Steps
Stay in Range
Set Up—and Resolve—Tension
Follow the Words
Fitting Chords to a Melody
Try the Obvious
Use the Melodic Outline
Work Backward
Exercises
20 Arranging for Voices and Instruments
Vocal Arranging
Voice Characteristics
Vocal Ranges
Instrumental Arranging
Instrument Characteristics
Transposition
Good Keys and Bad Keys
Choosing Instruments for an Arrangement
Common Ensembles
Choir
Symphonic Orchestra
Chamber Orchestra
String Orchestra
String Quartet
Concert Band
Marching Band
Big Band (Jazz Band)
Rock Band (Rhythm Section)
Exercises
21 Lead Sheets and Scores
Follow the Rules
Take the Lead
Make It Simple
Chord Sheets
The Nashville Number System
Sing It Loud
Jazz It Up for Big Bands
Strike Up the (Concert) Band
Make the Big Score—for the Symphonic Orchestra
Use the Computer
Exercise
Coda
Appendixes
A Glossary
B Music Theory Ear Training Course
C Answers to Chapter Exercises
Introduction
Back when I was in high school and college (a long time ago, and getting longer every day), many, if not most, of my fellow stud
ents regarded music theory as only slightly more fun than listening to paint dry. I didn’t share that opinion, and still don’t; I think music theory is interesting and fun and an essential part of any serious music education.
Still, if all you live for is to play your instrument (or to sing) 24 hours a day, taking time out from practicing to move a bunch of notes around on paper might not be tremendously appealing. In fact, I believe introductory-level music theory classes are the second most-skipped classes in college music schools, with only music history classes being less well received. (Some enterprising soul is bound to combine the two classes into a “Theory of Music History”—or “History of Music Theory”—course, thus creating new levels of student apathy.)
I’m not sure why so many budding musicians are so down on theory. Maybe it’s because of the way it’s presented. (Let’s face it: Some instructors can be fairly boring when they present this material, and most music textbooks are stultifyingly dull.) Maybe it’s because of the way music theory resembles sentence diagramming and other dreary grammar-related stuff. I don’t know; maybe to some people, it just seems like a lot of work.
But the fact remains: every musician needs to know some music theory. That’s a bold statement, and one that you might take issue with. After all, you’ve gotten this far in your music studies without knowing theory—why do you need to start studying theory now?
Music Theory Is Important
Most musicians, if they want to communicate with other musicians—to play in a band, or teach them their songs—have to know at least the basics about how music works. These basics—notes, chords, and so on—are what we call music theory.
Notes and chords are the building blocks of the language of music. Music theory defines the many different ways you can arrange those blocks into songs and compositions. Without the theory, all you have is noise; applying music theory, you can create great works of art.
Musicians apply music theory every time they sit down to play or sing—whether they know it or not. When you read a piece of music, you’re using music theory. When you write down a series of notes, you’re using music theory. When you play a chord, you’re using music theory. When you sing a harmony line, you’re using music theory.
Even musicians who don’t have any formal training use music theory. When they put their hands on the piano, they might not know that they’re playing a major ninth chord with the fourth in the bass, but they do know that those notes fit together well, even if they can’t tell you why, or the strict chord construction.
Now, if they did have formal training, they could go beyond just playing the notes to sharing those notes with others. Instead of pointing at their fingers and saying “play this,” they could actually write their notes and chords down on paper, in a format universally understood by musicians the world over. After all, it’s a lot easier to tell someone to play a CM9/F chord than it is to say “put your first finger here, and your second finger here,” and so on.