Music Theory For Dummies

Contents

• Introduction 1 About This Book 1 Foolish Assumptions 2 Icons Used in This Book 3 Beyond the Book 3 Where to Go from Here 3
• Part 1 : Getting Started with Music Theory 5
• Chapter 1 : What Is Music Theory, Anyway? 7 Unearthing Music Theory's Beginnings 8 Putting the Spotlight on Music Theory Fundamentals 9 Understanding the foundation: Notes, rests, and beats 9 Manipulating and combining notes 9 Studying musical form and co
• Chapter 2 : Determining What Notes Are Worth 13 Meeting the Beat 14 Recognizing Notes and Note Values 15 Examining the notes and their components 15 Looking at note values 17 Checking Out Whole (Semibreve) Notes 18 Homing in on Half (Minim) Notes 19 Consi
• Chapter 3 : Giving It a Rest 27 Getting to Know the Rests 28 Whole (semibreve) rests 28 Half (minim) rests 29 Quarter (crotchet) rests 30 Eighth (quaver) rests and beyond 30 Extending the Break with Dotted Rests 32 Practicing Beats with Notes and Rests 32
• Chapter 4 : Introducing Time Signatures 35 Decoding Time Signatures and Measures 35 Keeping Things Easy with Simple Time Signatures 37 Using measures to count in simple time 38 Practicing counting beats in simple time 40 Working with Compound Time Signatu
• Chapter 5 : Playing with Beat 51 Creating Stress Patterns and Syncopation 51 Placing stress: Knowing the general rules 52 Syncopation: Hitting the off-beat 52 Getting a Jump on Pick-Up Notes 54 Exploring Irregular Rhythms: Triplets and Duplets 55 Adding i
• Part 2 : Putting Notes Together 59
• Chapter 6 : Music Notes (and Where to Find Them) 61 Meeting the Staff, Clefs, and Notes 62 The treble clef 63 The bass clef 63 The grand staff and middle C 64 C clefs: Alto and tenor 64 Identifying Half Steps, Whole Steps, and Accidentals 65 Working with
• Chapter 7 : Mastering the Major and Minor Scales 77 Following Major-Scale Patterns 78 Working with major scales on piano and guitar 79 Listening to the major scales 82 Discovering All That Minor Scale Patterns Have to Offer 82 Playing natural minor scales
• Chapter 8 : Key Signatures and the Circle of Fifths 91 Understanding the Circle of Fifths and Recognizing Major Key Signatures 92 Sharps: Father Charles Goes Down and Ends Battle 93 Flats: Battle Ends and Down Goes Charles's Father 94 Finding Minor Key Si
• Chapter 9 : Intervals: The Distance between Pitches 103 Breaking Down Harmonic and Melodic Intervals 104 Quantity: Counting lines and spaces 104 Quality: Considering half steps 106 Naming intervals 107 Looking at Unisons, Octaves, Fourths, and Fifths 107
• Chapter 10 : Chord Building 127 Creating Triads with Three Pitches 128 Roots, thirds, and fifths 128 Major triads 130 Minor triads 132 Augmented triads 133 Diminished triads 135 Expanding to Seventh Chords 136 Major sevenths 137 Minor sevenths 138 Dominan
• Chapter 11 : Chord Progressions 159 Reviewing Diatonic Chords, Chromatic Chords, and Minor Scale Modes 160 Identifying and Naming Chord Progressions 161 Assigning chord names and numbers 161 Looking at chord progressions in major keys 162 Checking out cho
• Part 3 : Musical Expression through Tempo and Dynamics 177
• Chapter 12 : Creating Varied Sound through Tempo and Dynamics 179 Taking the Tempo of Music 180 Establishing a universal tempo: The minim 180 Keeping steady time with a metronome 181 Translating tempo notation 181 Speeding up and slowing down: Changing th
• Chapter 13 : Instrument Tone Color and Acoustics 191 Delving into Tone Color 192 Attack: Checking out the beginning sound of a note 192 Timbre: Hearing the body of a note 193 Decay: Listening for the final sound of a note 194 Building the Band: An Acousti
• Part 4 : Musical Expression through Form 197
• Chapter 14 : The Building Blocks of Music: Rhythm, Melody, Harmony, and Song Form 199 Establishing Rhythm 200 Shaping the Melody 201 Complementing the Melody with Harmony 203 Working with Musical Phrases and Periods 204 Linking Musical Parts to Create For
• Chapter 15 : Relying on Classical Forms 211 Counterpoint as a Classical Revelation 211 Sussing Out the Sonata 212 Starting with the exposition 213 Moving on to something new: Development 214 Taking a rest with recapitulation 214 Rounding Up the Rondo 215
• Chapter 16 : Tapping into Popular Genres and Forms 221 Feeling the Blues 222 12-bar blues 222 8-bar blues 224 16-bar blues 224 24-bar blues 224 32-bar blues ballads and country 225 Having Fun with Rock and Pop 226 Improvising with Jazz 228 Twelve-Tone Com
• Part 5 : the part of Tens 231
• Chapter 17 : Ten Frequently Asked Questions about Music Theory 233 Why Is Music Theory Important? 233 If I Can Already Play Some Music, Why Bother Learning Music Theory? 234 Why Is So Much Music Theory Centered on the Piano Keyboard? 234 Is There a Quick
• Chapter 18 : Ten Keys to Reading a Musical Score 239 The Basics 240 Lead Sheets 240 Full Scores 240 Miniature Scores 240 Study Scores 241 Piano Scores 241 Short Scores 241 Vocal Scores 241 Tablature 242 Figured Bass Notion 242
• Chapter 19 : Ten Music Theorists You Should Know About 243 Pythagoras (582-507 BC) 243 Boethius (480-524 AD) 244 Gerbert d'Aurillac/Pope Sylvester II (950-1003) 245 Guido D'Arezzo (990-1040) 246 Nicola Vicentino (1511-1576) 246 Christiaan Huygens (1629-16
• Chapter 20 : Ten Musical Movements That Changed History 251 800 AD - England, Gregorian Chant 251 1100 AD - Organum/European Polyphony 252 1649 - England, the Diggers 253 17th Century: Italy, Opera 254 1789-1799: The French Revolution 255 1913 - Atonal Mu
• Part 6 : Appendixes 261
• Appendix A: Audio Tracks 263
• Appendix B: Chord Chart 267
• Appendix C:
• Glossary 305
• Index 309