Music Theory Q & A
Current Answer Source: Jeff Evans |
| If you have a music theory or other music-related question please visit our question form. If I know the answer, or can convincingly pretend to know the answer, it will appear below. Questions will be edited according to my own whims and arbitrary judgements. Your name will not appear unless you really insist. Answers appearing below carry no warranty of any kind but may be useful in dinner conversation. |
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1: D# vs. Eb. Keywords: enharmonic 2: Cambiata in 3rd species. Keywords: Counterpoint 3: The Neapolitan chord. Keywords: harmony, altered chords 4: When to beam notes. Keywords: notation, beaming 5: Hearing the difference between 2/2 and 4/4, etc. Keywords: meter, beat 6: Slur combined with staccato?? Keywords: articulation 7: What's a tritone?? Keywords: intervals, counterpoint 8: Modulation vs. key change. Keywords: harmony 9: Why no B# or E# in the scale? Keywords: diatonic, chromatic 10: Are there any easier-to-learn forms of music notation? Keywords: staff, shape notes, solfege 11: Can you elaborate on the use of rhythm in Bartok's Mikrokosmos no. 148? Keywords: Bulgarian rhythm 12: What is a cadence? Keywords: harmony, phrase 13: What is cambiata? Keywords: counterpoint 14: A mysterious pair of notes - half notes beamed together? Keywords: bowed tremolo, notation 15: What does "plena voce" mean? Keywords: performance instructions 16: Please explain the circle of fifths. Keywords: intervals, key signature 17: Please explain "The Dominant Triads." Keywords: harmony 18: What is the difference between a parallel minor and a relative minor? Keywords: key signature 19: How do you recognize an interval? Keywords: ear training, notation 20: What is the difference between a chord in major and a chord in minor? Keywords: harmony, triad 21: What is a closed Chord? Keywords: chord voicing, chord position 22: What are the hand signs for solfege? Keywords: diatonic, scale 23: How do you tell which notes in a melody determine the chords? Keywords: harmonize, harmony 24: How to analyze the chord E D A B E? Keywords: harmonic analysis 25: What is the meaning of numbers 6/5, 4/3, 4/2, etc.? Keywords: figured bass, thoroughbass, harmonic analysis 26: Can you tell me how leading tones work? Keywords: counterpoint, harmony, scale 27: Please explain the terms "ostinato" and "drone." Keywords: composition 28: Should E# be played on the F# key if F# is in the key signature? Keywords: enharmonics, key signature, accidentals 29: Repeat bars within a measure Keywords: meter, pickup note, barline, repeat 30: Spelling a given scale in Sol-Fa Keywords: Solfege, scale, Fixed-Do, Moveable-Do 31: Why do most musical scales start on C? Keywords: Scale, Key 32: Should I take music theory? Why do orchestra parts keep changing clef? Why are the instruments in different keys? Keywords: Music Theory, Transposing instruments, Range, Clef 33: Could you please give me information about rests in music theory? Keywords: Rests, rhythm, notation 34: How would one play a piano chord with a book notation of G/B? Keywords: Chords, harmony, chord inversion 35: Where do the 5 tones with hand symbols in the movie "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" come from? Keywords: Solfege, Curwen, partial series, scale 36: How do you notate a 16th-8th-16th note combination on one beam? Keywords: Beaming, rhythm, meter, notation 37: What is a sixth chord? Keywords: harmony, sixth chord 38: What is an Italian sixth? Keywords: harmony, augmented sixth chord, French Augmented Sixth, German Augmented Sixth, Italian Augmented Sixth 39: What are the rules for writing a round? Keywords: counterpoint, circular canon, round 40: A jazz piece is marked with sextuplets but looks like 12/8 - Is this correct? Keywords: meter, jazz, swing 41: In tonal music, Why would it be wrong to leave unresolved 7ths or unresolved suspensions? Keywords: harmony, counterpoint, partials, harmonics, dissonance 42: What does "fp" (forte/piano) mean when under the same note? For instance in a measure with 8th-4th-8th note with fp under the quarter what dynamic should be used? Keywords: dynamics, performance instructions, performance practice 43: What syllables make up the supertonic triad? Keywords: scale degrees, triads, harmony 44: How do I count rests in my head? Keywords: rhythm, counting, simple, compound, rests, meter 45: Are there good interval hints to keep in mind when trying to distinguish between tones? Keywords: intervals, ear training 46: What is a bFlat7 *5*9 chord?? Keywords: chords, jazz chords, diminished chords 47: Is the division of the octave into 12 tones based on anything other than convention? Keywords: scales, steps, acoustics, keyboard 48: How do you know the difference between a major and minor interval? Keywords: intervals, major, minor 49: What mark is used to indicate a slurred note? Keywords: articulation, slurs, ties, phrase marks 50: What scale do these chords represent? Keywords: keys, minor keys, diminished chords, altered chords, dominant chords 51: What is a Cambiata voice as pertains to a boy soprano voice? Keywords: singing, tessitura, vocal range, cambiata 52: When playing in 5/4 time which beat gets the emphasis? Keywords: meter, metric accent 53: If an ornament has an accidental before it does it apply to the main notes if in the same bar? Keywords: accidentals, ornaments, turn, trill 54: Why is the sixth considered consonant, but the second is not? Keywords: tuning, temperament, overtones, partials, musical acoustics 55: Can you describe what is meant by "essential tones" in counterpoint? Keywords: essential tones, tonal counterpoint, voice-leading, dissonance 56: How can I write a chord progression in the Phrygian mode? Keywords: modal harmony, modes, Phrygian, Dorian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, Lydian, modal chords 57: Can you resolve a dispute between my daughter's teacher and her Theory Book about tying notes across the center of a 4/4 measure? Keywords: Ties, beams, metric division 58: Why is the vii dim 7 important in minor keys? Keywords: dissonance resolution, half steps, seventh chords 59: What are the scales in which the interval of (f-b)or (fa si) is augmented? Keywords: scales, modes, augmented fourth, diminished fifth, moveable Do, fixed Do 60: How should I count the eighth notes in the Moonlight Sonata? One-and-two-and doesn't seem to do it. Keywords: meter, triplets, cut time, counting rhythm 61: When can I use the chord IIb in harmony? Keywords: harmony, Neapolitan chord, altered chords 62: What chords make a 6-5 suspension in C minor if the bass is a b natural? Keywords: harmony, figured bass, diminished seventh, suspension, voice-leading, non-chordal tones 63: Does the Grand Staff arise from an older 10 line staff that was split in two? Keywords: Guido of Arezzo, conductus, chant, history of notation. 64: What is the meaning of major and minor in music? Keywords: Intervals, affect, scales, tonic triad. 65: Why doesn't 'Do, Re, Mi' start on the note A? Keywords: Guido, solfege, scales, Odo of Cluny, Ut Queant Laxis. 66: What should I call the chord E-Bb-Db-G#? Keywords: chords, enharmonic equivalents, diminished seventh chord. 67: The singer I'm accompanying wants everything in the key of Asia Minor -? Keywords: What keywords? 68: If an E major chord appears in a G major piece, has the music changed key? Keywords:Harmony, modulation, secondary dominants 69: What is this mysterious scale with a lowered 7th degree? Keywords:Modes, scales 70: I see an F natural in G major. Did the chord change? Keywords:Modulation, secondary dominants, harmony 71: What's the difference between a contemporary pedagogical composer and a non-pedagogical composer? Keywords: Bartok, Chopin, Bach, Kabalevsky, Shostakovich, Schumann 72: Why are some chord progressions "stronger" than others? Keywords:Harmonics, harmony, root progression, leading tones |