Study Guide
Week 1
[ Reading ] [ Review ] [ New Material ] [ What You Should Know ] [ Homework ]
Reading
pp. 1-61 and 137-147 in the textbook
Review
This week you should review the notes of the treble and bass clefs. If you can't identify the notes quickly you should take some time to drill during the next two weeks.
Some people have learned mnemonic aids for remembering the lines and spaces of the treble and bass clefs.
Every Good Boy Does Fine (maybe)
The notes on the lines of the treble clef
Facts Always Calm Excitement (or the word F-A-C-E)
The notes on the spaces on the treble clef
The notes on the lines of the bass clef
Great Big Dogs Fight Animals (not in my experience)
The notes on the spaces of the bass clef
All Cows Eat Grass (true)
The trouble with this system is that you have to refer to something in order to access the information you need. If you learn that the spaces of the treble clef spell the word "FACE", then when you look at the note on the first space you can figure out that it must be "F", because it is on the first space. If you want to know what the note on the top space is, you go to the fourth letter of "FACE", or "E", except that it takes longer than it did to figure out the "F" on the first space. In any case, it takes too long, because you have to think of one thing in order to figure out another. You have to be able to look at the top space and say "E" immediately, hopefully in about a half a second.
It is not enough to be able to figure out the notes taking as much time necessary-- you have to be able to name them quickly, taking not more than one second per note. If you can't do this you will be held back in your understanding of the material presented in the rest of the class. Imagine trying to make sense out of paragraphs of text if you had to stop and run through the alphabet to remember what each letter is.
You are learning to understand the language of music, and there are some basic things you have to memorize for quick recall in order to recognize the larger forms. Fortunately there aren't too many--it's a lot easier than chemistry. You can print out our flashcards or make your own. Study three facts at a time for a few minutes, preferably a couple of times a day. Review what you've studied on successive days in order to make the information quickly available from your long term memory.
The other material that you need to memorize if you haven't done so already are the key signatures. Again, you need to be able to quickly access this information in memory, for example, when asked "What is the key signature for Eb major?" you need to say "Bb, Eb, and Ab." within a few seconds.
You should learn this by the end of next week. Study the material in groups of three facts for a few minutes several times a day, reviewing each time what you've done before in order to get it to stick in your memory and be quickly accessible. Do not put this off. Many students fall behind and do poorly later because they haven't mastered this basic material. Don't let this happen to you!
New Material
Harmonic Functions and Progressions
The main topic this week is learning to use the I, IV, and V chords in progressions. Pop musicians write chord symbols above beats when the chord changes. Classical theorists use Roman numerals underneath the chords to represent their functions. We will use both systems in order to build up our understanding of harmony.
The Roman numerals are derived from the degrees of the scale upon which the chords are formed. Assuming you know how to create major scales, you can number the degrees of the scale using Arabic numbers:
C major scale
If you stack up intervals of thirds on top of each note, you can form triads. The triads are symbolized with Roman numerals, with the uppercase numbers representing major triads, and the lower case numbers representing minor. The chord built on the seventh degree of the scale is the only odd ball--it is diminished, the quality of which is represented with a little degree sign:
C major chord scale
Note that in our system we always put the letter representing the tonic to the left of the Roman numerals (for example, the "C:" above). Without this the Roman numerals are less meaningful since we don't know what key they refer to.
We start our study of chord functions this week with the I, IV, and V chords. By the end of next week you need to be able to identify the progressions when played by ear. Don't put this off and fall behind. This course is accumulative--we will be building each week on what has been presented before, and if you fall behind it will be hard to catch up.
Harmonizing Melodies
Many simple folk tunes can be harmonized using these three chords. Usually the chord changes on a strong beat, for example, in a time signature of 4/4 the chords are most likely to change on the first or third beats.
To harmonize a melody you first have to know what key it is in. Clues for this are the key signature, ending note, and starting and ending chords. Once you think you know the key you can look at the melody and see what chords it could fit with. There is often more than one choice, and one of the pleasures of being an arranger is making musical decisions. A note that is on a strong beat (in 4/4 on beats 1 or 3, in 3/4 on beat 1, etc.) is more likely to be harmonized with a chord that contains itself. Notes that are of long duration are also more likely to be chord tones.
You can usually limit yourself to using the I, IV, and V chords to harmonize a simple melody. In the key of C major, the chords built on the first, fourth, and fifth degrees are C, F, and G major:
Below is the start of the melody to "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star". If you click have the Scorch plugin installed you can play the score by clicking on it. The first note of our tune is on a strong beat (beat 1 in time signature of 4/4). Looking at the I, IV, and V chords in the key of C major, we see that the I and IV chords contain it. If we choose the I chord to harmonize the "C" we won't have change chords on the third beat (the next strong beat in the measure) when we get to the "G", since it, too, is contained in the I chord.
In the second measure we have an "A" on the first (strong) beat. Only the IV chord contains it. On the third beat (the next strong beat in 4/4) the melody goes to "G". We could harmonize it with either the I or V chords--I've chosen to play the I.
In the third measure you get an "F" in the melody--only the IV chord has it. You'll have more options to choose from later when you start using the rest of the triads (ii, iii, and vii°) and seventh chords in the key. Here is a simple arrangement if you continue this process to the end:
What You Should Know
At the end of this week you should be able to:
quickly identify pitches on the bass and treble clefs and where they lie on the piano keyboard
Homework
See the homework assignment. Like every week, the homework will be due at the Friday of the following week, in other words, NEXT FRIDAY. The homework assignment is summarized on the class schedule, but the assignment page is the final authority and goes into greater detail.
©2001 Robert Willey
