Music Theory 101 – Introduction

Music Theory Mondays is here. For some, that phrase can sometimes be a bit intimidating. For others, it may seem unnecessary. Music theory is a bit misunderstood sometimes, but regardless of your position I have come to find that music theory is a very helpful tool when it comes to making music. I explain it like this.  Say you get a camera and you begin to take pictures.  You set your camera on automatic and begin shooting away.  Your pictures might look great, but if you take the time to learn a bit about the camera, about photography, about composition and lighting, your photographs will begin to come to life.  It’s the same with music.  Let me begin by letting you know my musical background.  If you’re not interested you can just scroll down to today’s lesson.

I began playing music at 6 years old.  I learned by watching a drummer at church during the praise and worship.  I would sit there the whole service and mimic what he was doing.  Soon I was playing on Sundays.  At 11 years old I picked up the guitar.  Someone taught me the basic chords and I began learning by listening to cassettes (yes I’m old) and picking up everything the guitar was doing.  This developed my ear and I started picking chords and progressions just by listening to a song.  However, when I went to High School I decided to take up the saxophone thus began learning Music Theory.  I finally understood what I how music worked and what I was doing when I would learn by ear alone.  I began to structure chords and learned how to build progressions.  It expanded the world of music to a whole new level.  So when I get asked by a young musician if they should take music theory I give them a resounding YES.  I believe its a tool that can take you to that next level.  A musician needs a good ear, but you also need knowledge and understanding of music.  Someone that has both is automatically at a higher level from someone who doesn’t know theory in my point of view.  You might debate this, but think about it.  How can you compare someone who knows everything by ear, to someone who knows how music is put together and has an ear.  Can you still be a great musician without music theory, sure.  The problem is that you will always hit a wall playing by ear.  I tell you this because I lived it.  Well enough about me, lets begin:

What Is Music Theory

Simply put, music theory is a way to explain the music we hear.  It’s understanding the language of music. The  rules that make up music theory are very much like the grammatical rules that govern written language.

“Being able to transcribe music makes it possible for other musicians to read and play compositions exactly as the composer intended. Learning to read music is almost exactly like learning a new language, to the point where a fluent person can ‘hear’ a musical “conversation” when reading a piece of sheet music.”

– Music Theory For Dummies

The first thing we want to learn is the basic language or ALPHABET of music.  This alphabet basically consists of 7 notes or TONES (sounds) that have letter names.

C – D – E – F – G – A – B

As you can see on the diagram, once you get to the note you began with, it begins all over again.  So you have

C – D -E – F – G – A – B – C – D – E …   etc

If you notice there are seven letters we are using on our scale, once you hit the eight note you begin all over again.  The eight note on this scale is called the octave.  The 2nd C on the scale above is the higher octave from the first C because it’s the eight note in the scale.  A scale is a series  or sequence of notes ascending or descending.  So if you were singing the scale above you would be going higher in tone on each note.  =

Another important term we learn when studying music theory is Pitch – The quality of a sound governed by the rate of vibrations producing it; the degree of highness or lowness of a tone..  In fact, here are some words you should memorize until next week.

• Scale – a series or sequence of notes ascending or descending.

• Pitch – The quality of a sound governed by the rate of vibrations producing it; the degree of highness or lowness of a tone

• Tone – sounds

• Note – Names given to the basic individual sounds in music. Example: when someone plays one key on a piano he is playing a 1 note or 1 tone.

• Octave – the eight note on a 7 note scale that is higher in pitch than the original first note

This is your basic introduction.  I kept it as simple as possible.  Please leave your comment below if you have any questions about this basic introduction. Also if you would like personal lesson click here to get connected with me.

UNEAK