🎵Intro to Musicianship Unit 1 – Music Theory Basics

Key Concepts and Terminology

• Music theory the study of the fundamental elements of music (melody, harmony, rhythm, and form) and how they are combined to create musical compositions
• Pitch the perceived highness or lowness of a sound, determined by the frequency of the sound waves
• Interval the distance between two pitches, measured in semitones or whole steps
• Octave an interval spanning 12 semitones or 8 degrees of a diatonic scale, representing a doubling or halving of the frequency
• Melody a succession of pitches that form a recognizable musical phrase or theme
  • Melodic contour the overall shape of a melody, described by the rise and fall of pitches
• Harmony the simultaneous sounding of two or more pitches, creating chords and supporting the melody
• Rhythm the organization of musical sounds and silences in time, often characterized by patterns of duration and emphasis
• Meter the regular grouping of beats into measures, indicated by time signatures

The Musical Staff and Notation

• Staff (stave) consists of five horizontal lines and four spaces, used to represent pitch and rhythm in written music
• Clefs symbols placed at the beginning of the staff to indicate the pitch range and register of the notes
  • Treble clef (G clef) used for higher-pitched instruments (violin, flute, guitar) and voices (soprano, alto)
  • Bass clef (F clef) used for lower-pitched instruments (cello, bassoon, tuba) and voices (tenor, bass)
• Notes symbols placed on the staff to represent pitch and duration
  • Pitch determined by the vertical position of the note on the staff
  • Duration indicated by the shape of the note head and the presence of stems and flags
• Rests symbols that represent periods of silence, with durations corresponding to note values
• Ledger lines short horizontal lines added above or below the staff to extend the pitch range
• Accidentals symbols (sharps ♯, flats ♭, and naturals ♮) that modify the pitch of a note by a semitone

Rhythm and Time Signatures

• Beat the basic unit of musical time, often felt as a regular pulse
• Tempo the speed at which beats occur, measured in beats per minute (BPM) or described with Italian terms (allegro, andante)
• Time signature a notation at the beginning of a piece or section, indicating the number of beats per measure and the note value of each beat
  • Common time signatures include 4/4 (four quarter-note beats per measure), 3/4 (three quarter-note beats), and 6/8 (six eighth-note beats)
• Simple meter time signatures where the beat can be divided into two equal parts (2/4, 3/4, 4/4)
• Compound meter time signatures where the beat can be divided into three equal parts (6/8, 9/8, 12/8)
• Syncopation the displacement of accents or emphasis onto typically weak beats or off-beats, creating a sense of rhythmic tension
• Tuplets rhythmic groupings that deviate from the standard division of beats (triplets, duplets, quintuplets)

Scales and Key Signatures

• Scale a sequence of pitches arranged in ascending or descending order, often spanning an octave
• Diatonic scales seven-note scales that follow a specific pattern of whole steps and half steps (major, natural minor, harmonic minor, melodic minor)
• Chromatic scale a twelve-note scale that includes all semitones within an octave
• Key the tonal center of a piece of music, determined by the scale used and the tonic (first) note of that scale
• Key signature a set of sharps or flats placed at the beginning of each staff, indicating the notes that should be consistently raised or lowered throughout the piece
  • Sharp keys (G, D, A, E, B, F♯, C♯) key signatures with sharps, following the order F♯, C♯, G♯, D♯, A♯, E♯, B♯
  • Flat keys (F, B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭, G♭, C♭) key signatures with flats, following the order B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭, G♭, C♭, F♭
• Circle of fifths a visual representation of the relationships between keys, with each key positioned a fifth apart from its neighbors

Intervals and Chord Construction

• Interval the distance between two pitches, measured by the number of semitones or scale degrees separating them
• Semitone (half step) the smallest interval in Western music, equivalent to the distance between adjacent keys on a piano
• Whole tone (whole step) an interval spanning two semitones
• Enharmonic intervals intervals that sound the same but are spelled differently (C♯ to E and D♭ to F)
• Interval quality the specific type of interval, determined by the number of semitones (perfect, major, minor, augmented, diminished)
• Triad a three-note chord built by stacking thirds (major, minor, diminished, augmented)
  • Major triad consists of a major third and a perfect fifth above the root (C, E, G)
  • Minor triad consists of a minor third and a perfect fifth above the root (C, E♭, G)
• Seventh chord a four-note chord built by adding a seventh above the root of a triad (major seventh, minor seventh, dominant seventh, half-diminished seventh, fully-diminished seventh)

Harmony and Chord Progressions

• Harmony the simultaneous sounding of two or more pitches, creating chords and supporting the melody
• Chord a group of three or more notes played together, built on a specific scale degree (root, third, fifth, seventh)
• Chord progression a sequence of chords that establishes a harmonic framework for a piece of music
• Diatonic harmony chords built using only the notes of a particular scale, without chromatic alterations
• Tonic the first degree of a scale and the chord built on that degree, representing the key and the point of resolution (I)
• Subdominant the fourth degree of a scale and the chord built on that degree, often used to create a sense of departure from the tonic (IV)
• Dominant the fifth degree of a scale and the chord built on that degree, creating a strong pull back to the tonic (V)
• Cadence a harmonic and melodic point of arrival or resolution, often found at the end of phrases or sections
  • Authentic cadence a chord progression from the dominant to the tonic (V-I), providing a strong sense of resolution
  • Plagal cadence a chord progression from the subdominant to the tonic (IV-I), often referred to as the "Amen" cadence

Ear Training and Sight Reading

• Ear training the process of developing the ability to identify and reproduce musical elements by ear
• Interval recognition identifying the distance between two pitches, both melodically (played separately) and harmonically (played together)
• Chord recognition identifying the quality and type of chords (major, minor, diminished, augmented, seventh chords)
• Melodic dictation the ability to notate a melody after hearing it played, identifying pitches and rhythms
• Rhythmic dictation the ability to notate rhythmic patterns after hearing them played, identifying note values and meter
• Sight reading the ability to perform a piece of music from written notation without prior rehearsal or preparation
• Solfège a system of syllables (do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti) used to represent the degrees of a scale, aiding in pitch recognition and sight-singing

Practical Applications in Music

• Composition the process of creating original musical works, applying knowledge of music theory concepts (melody, harmony, rhythm, form)
• Arranging the adaptation of an existing musical composition for a different instrumentation, style, or context
• Improvisation the spontaneous creation of music in real-time, often based on a given harmonic framework or melodic theme
• Transposition the process of changing the key of a piece of music while maintaining the same melodic and harmonic relationships
• Analysis the examination of a musical work to understand its structure, form, and compositional techniques
  • Harmonic analysis identifying the chords and chord progressions used in a piece of music
  • Melodic analysis examining the contour, intervals, and motivic elements of a melody
• Performance applying music theory concepts to inform musical expression, phrasing, and interpretation
• Music production using music theory knowledge to create, edit, and manipulate musical elements in digital audio workstations (DAWs) and other recording software