Music Theory for Musicians and Normal People

[EricKei]

Music theory for learners, and maybe even an experienced player who needs a brush-up -- PDF's available and for free under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-ND) license. Enjoy.


They say it's for normal people, but I don't know any of those, so I'll just leave you guys to it

[Lachrymose]

Very cool! Thanks!

[prjkt]

Awesome

Saved

Will help me with getting back into writing music

[Seshat]

Doesn't 'normal' mean 'at 90o to the reference plane'?

[EricKei]

Now you're making me wonder what a piece of music would sound like if it were written down in such a fashion (both normally AND at 90).

Just a side note -- this site plans to do updates as he goes along. The "complete" PDF download should contain everything done up to that point.

[fireheart]

I used to play quite a bit of Baroque-era music on my flute in high school-it eventually became my forte of sorts because it was the "dance" music of its time*. I also liked it because some pieces sounded very much like "program" music."**

*=I'm not kidding about this. In fact, most suites of music written around the Baroque era ARE actually different dances ie minuets. They're proceeded by an overture. (A suite is a series of musical pieces that can be played by an orchestra-a modern example would be "The Planets" by Gustav Holst or Carnival of the Animals-that are linked by a common theme (planets or animals)). Carnival of the Animals can also be considered to be "program" music.

**=Basically music that will set a scene by the use of instruments without needing the visuals. This is one of the most bone-chilling pieces of program music I have heard (and played) to this day. (Warning: may be upsetting)

[BearLeeBadenaugh]

Fireheart, thanks for posting that performance! We did that piece when I was in HS, brings back memories. Can't say I liked my part in the piece, lol, a lot of the tuba line consisted of play note, hold note til you can't breathe, repeat with crescendo.

It's also the piece we discovered I'm a musical freak, lol. Not sure how it came about, but I'm capable of circular breathing while playing a brass instrument. Circular breathing is being able to inhale through the nose while still playing. Kind of strange that I discovered the talent on the tuba, it's normally a talent found with smaller instruments that require less airflow.

[wolfie]

I used to play quite a bit of Baroque-era music on my flute in high school-it eventually became my forte of sorts because it was the "dance" music of its time*.

BTW, were you aware that with classical music, there's only one genre where it's OK to distribute the sheet music by electronic means? All the others, you need to send physical copies of the sheet music via "snail mail". It's supposed to be common knowledge - you may have heard "If it ain't Baroque, don't fax it".

[fireheart]

Fireheart, thanks for posting that performance! We did that piece when I was in HS, brings back memories. Can't say I liked my part in the piece, lol, a lot of the tuba line consisted of play note, hold note til you can't breathe, repeat with crescendo.

It's also the piece we discovered I'm a musical freak, lol. Not sure how it came about, but I'm capable of circular breathing while playing a brass instrument. Circular breathing is being able to inhale through the nose while still playing. Kind of strange that I discovered the talent on the tuba, it's normally a talent found with smaller instruments that require less airflow.

I was playing the flute part with the above mentioned performance. There were three of us (flautists that is) and I had the second flute part. For the fourth section, my fellow second flautist had this really good scream when it hits the crescendo. For some reason, once we'd finished it, all three of us would burst into giggles.

Sadly, most of my parts were floboe parts which was quite annoying (because flute and oboe music are written in the same key and have a similar range albeit with the flute part being lower, it's not uncommon for third flute players to take the oboe part instead if they can't quite handle the first or second parts)