The beginnings of a Song Baby

Hello, Everyone,

You will be working independently today, each of you at your own computer using headphones. Your job is to begin considering how you might craft an original song that will show clear influences of several others. The criteria you should consider are:

Chord Progression

Groove (rhythmic style, how instruments interlock/interact)

Melodic ideas (the way melody hotes move against chords, phrasing)

Timbre (particular instrument choice and specific sound qualities)

Form (structure - sections of the song)

Go online (YouTube, TheoryTabs, Spotify, etc.) and do some active, critical listening to four songs of your choosing that you are interested in. On your blog, take specific notes with regard to the above criteria for each song, pointing out any ideas that you think are noteworthy. Theorytabs may be able to help you identify chord progressions and melodic ideas. You should end up with a brief write-up for each song. 

You will ultimately be writing a new song that may, for example, use a part of a chord progression from one song, played with the rhythmic groove from another, using the instrument sounds of another, and perhaps a melody line/shape from another. After writing your listening notes on your four songs, make some creative choices as to which part from each song you would like to use as a basis for a new song. Post your current thinking to your blog with the understanding that your ideas will change as you work on this. Nothing's in stone at this point, and you will surely need to try out your ideas in upcoming classes to see how things work.

Try to complete as much of this as possible in class today, and finish the rest for homework. You should be prepared to share your ideas at our next class. Please let me know if you have any questions.

More Teoria, Interval Ear Training

For homework tonight, you should do the same practice exercises on Teoria that you did yesterday...

Clef Reading: Treble & Bass clefs, Use notes over: Spaces/Lines/Ledger Lines, Answer using: Note, Tempo: No tempo, Stop after: 5 minutes.

Key Signature Construction: Major, do NOT limit to 4 accidentals, Sharps & Flats, Stop after 10 exercises.
Key Signature Identification: Major, do NOT limit to 4 accidentals, Sharps & Flats, Bass or treble clef, Stop after 10 exercises.

...and, to follow up on the work you did today in class with hearing, singing, and identifying the intervals of Major and Minor seconds and thirds, you should to the following on Teoria:

Interval Ear Training: m2, M2, m3, M3; ascending and descending; melodic and harmonic; answer using INTERVAL; complete 20 exercises.

Be sure you are signed in and that you save and send scores.

Teoria, fundamental exercises

Following up on our work in class today, it is important for you to have partake in some daily practice with some traditional notation fundamentals. Be sure you sign in to your teoria.com account prior to completing the exercises for the day. Here are the exercises and the parameters for each that you need to complete tonight:

Clef Reading: Treble & Bass clefs, Use notes over: Spaces/Lines/Ledger Lines, Answer using: Note, Tempo: No tempo, Stop after: 5 minutes.

Key Signature Construction: Major, do NOT limit to 4 accidentals, Sharps & Flats, Stop after 10 exercises.

Key Signature Identification: Major, do NOT limit to 4 accidentals, Sharps & Flats, Bass or treble clef, Stop after 10 exercises.

BE SURE to Save and or Send Scores as you complete each exercises. This is the only way I will see that you have completed this work and also allows me to see how well you are understanding the material. Please let me know if you have any questions.

"Traditional" music notation

Following up on our class today dealing with reading traditional notation from bass and treble clef, please complete the following:

• Read Chapter 1 of the Fundamentals textbook
• While reading, complete the following: Try It # 4 on p. 9, the Questions for Review and Reading Review on p. 14, on p. 19 complete A 'Letter Names', and on p. 20 complete D 'Reading Notes in treble and bass clefs' 

You may complete this work directly in your book, or print pages from the eBook.

Links...

A LINK to the article about pop vowel pronunciation I referenced in class today.

And the video I tried to show to in class.

Old chords, new melody

Your latest assignment is to use the chords from the larger form sections of a song you really enjoy (intro, verse, chorus, bride, etc.) including the rhythm/groove of the chord progression as a foundation for creating a new melody. You should create these sections in Hookpad. You may wish to use TheoryTabs to help you identify the chord progressions within the song. Then, using the corresponding chord tones as a guide, compose new melodies. Please also spend a lot of time looking at the original melody in Hookpad to see what 'makes it work'--are there any patterns you notice?--how does the melody play on/around chord tones?--is the melody broken into phrases with space in between each?--how are verse/chorus melodies similar or different? Consider taking a new approach on the original melody, or create something entirely new. Feel free to also choose a new key and a new tempo to help make the song 'yours'.

Once you are done, save your work and make a post to your blog that includes a link to the new 'Theorytab' you have made. Once your work is saved, in the upper left of the Hookpad window, you will see a URL button. If you click on it, it will give you a web link where people can view your work. In your blog post, I would like you to provide insight into your creative process. Post answers to the questions I posed above and/or other insights you discovered about your 'source song'. Then talk about how you approached creating your new melodies and how they may (or may not) be informed by the original.

Instead of pasting the URL to your new song, you may also choose to 'embed' the TheoryTab on your blog. You'll see and Embed button right next to the URL button. You would then need to paste the embed code in the HTML window of a new blog post (like many of you have already done with YouTube videos). This way, the actual new TheoryTab will be embedded in your blog post along with your explanations of process. Either way (URL or Embed) is fine, but you must do one of those.

If you have any questions, post them as comments to this blog post so your classmates can also see the response.

Adding to your Hookpad song, plus Chord Indentification

Hi Everyone,

Tonight you should add another 8 measure section your previous Hookpad song. Remember that this new section should start on either ii or IV, and hopefully end in a way that will transition you back to the first part of your song. Begin by composing your chord progression first and then adding a melody next, after seeing what chord tones are 'available' to you.

Additionally, please print and complete this sheet. You should answer using correct Roman numerals and should not use TheoryTabs or any other type of Internet search to help you. This is about training your ear, so do your very best work. Bring the completed sheet with you to class tomorrow. Please don't get too hung up on chords that you are stuck on. Give it your best shot and we'll review any tricky spots in class. There are links to the songs within the shared document, and they are also posted below. Happy listening!

Teoria, Hookpad, etc...

Cool class on Thursday!
Spend significant time working through the exercises I showed you at Teoria.com. To get to the specific exercises I would like you to work on, click here. Your initial settings should be:
I, IV, and V degree triads - Root position - C major - DO NOT check the box that says 'Use chord symbols to answer. When you go to enter answers, you will need to first click the 'triads' button, and then you will be able to answer using Roman numerals. Once you feel comfortable, add all other major keys to the mix, and if you are feeling adventurous, I challenge you, when choosing which exercises you want to use, to add 'triads' to the I, IV, and V degree chords (this will add ii, iii, vi, and vii° to the mix). 

Read Chapter 3 'Melody' of the Hooktheory I textbook. Read carefully, and listen carefully to all musical examples, making note of how those melodies are represented using Theorytabs.

Then, use Hookpad to create an 8-measure song of your own as a 'Theorytab'. Be sure to log in to your account. Begin with a chord progression, keeping in mind what you have already learned about the function of I, IV, V, and vi. Feel free to create a harmonic rhythm 'groove' so that your chords do not always change on beat 1 of each measure. Consider the harmonic rhythm of other music you like and songs we've listened to in class ('Uncharted', 'Waiting on the World to Change', etc.). Once you have a chord progression/rhythm that you like, begin composing a melody using the chord tones for each chord as a guide. I recommend first singing along with your chords to see if you can stumble into a melody that sounds good in your head/ear. Then, see if you can recreate what you are hearing on the melody line of Hookpad. Try anything, take chances, and come up with something you feel good about. Be sure to save your work. On Monday, I will take you through the steps of exporting your song to an audio file and how to get it posted to your blog.

I look forward to your work! 

More listening, singing, and ear training

You should be doing some extra listening tonight--working to "listen down" to bass lines/chord progressions. I encourage you to use TheoryTabs while you do this. In particular, I'm pointing you toward to Common Progressions at TheoryTabs, where you will surely be able to discover MANY songs you already know that use progressions we've been looking at in class. Using Theorytabs, you'll be able to see what the chord progression is in different sections of each song, and practice singing chord root/scale degree numbers (i.e. I, IV, V, vi) along with the song. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of SINGING along with these (not just hearing them in your head). Don't worry about whether you would label yourself as a singer--you are doing this to connect your ear with your physical musical self. You will ultimately be asked to identify chord progressions by ear, and to put your theory knowledge to practice in taking on the role of bass and/or chording instrument (keyboard, guitar, or perhaps even Ableton Live) as if you were playing in a band performing a song. It will make more and more sense in class as we work through this. For now, get your active listening ears on, and check out some tunes.

Splice, chord progression listening...

I hope you enjoyed working with the I-IV-V-vi slices in Ableton Live today. I hope you were able to make some cool grooves out of them. You will will eventually structure your grooves into progressions, and ultimately into compositions.

For homework tonight, please go to the SPLICE website and register for a free account using your Pingree email address. You do not need to download the Splice software on your personal computer at this time, but you may do so at some point in the future if we decide it would be worthwhile for you to start using Ableton Live from home. I will show you how to use Splice in class tomorrow so that you may easily share your work with me and one another. It's pretty cool, and free!

And as I mentioned in class, select one of the songs that you posted to your blog over the weekend, and REALLY get to know the chord progression well. Know it so well that you are able to sing the numbers of the chords along with them while they change. You should know it well enough that you could sing through the bass/chord progression without the recording playing. If you want to take things to the next level (which we will do in class tomorrow anyway) you can use a blank rhythm necklace so you can determine the exact beat of when each chord change happens. Your progression may change on the downbeat of each measure, or you may find they change in a variety of places. The task in class tomorrow will be to recreate that chord progression (using correct chords and rhythmic placement) using the Ableton Live slice set.

Bleachers

A new album from the band 'Bleachers' was released today for free through Google Play called 'Terrible Things, Vol. 2'. It is an album of various artists guesting/covering songs from an album Bleachers released last year called 'Strange Desire'. Bleachers is led by the guitarist from the band Fun. I've been listening to both albums today and really enjoying the pop writing, production, lyrics, and general vibe. I highly recommend checking it out and potentially comparing the two albums in terms of production and approach. Nice stuff. And I'm actually hearing many chord progressions that are tied to what we've been looking at in class. Here's a link to the free album at Google Play.

Tuning a piano...

OK, this may make your head hurt. But parts of this will inform some upcoming class discussion. It's worth a look, even if only to get your brain spinning. I made a quick reference to this idea in class on Friday...

There are surely interesting connections between physics, sound, and what we refer to as "music". How these fields interact is complex, but it's heavy thinking that I think is worth undertaking.

http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2015/09/24/why-piano-tuning-is-so-complicated/

Major scales, and looking at chord progressions...

Hello, my theoretical friends,

I thought I would share a website with you that recaps what we talked about in class Friday with regard to constructing major scales. This should tie in with the first two chapters of Hooktheory, particularly in how scale degrees relate to the chords contained within a particular key.

Musictheory.net provides a great deal of free, "traditional" theory-based content. Although it is often presented in traditional music notation, you will likely see connections to our non-notation-based approach. This weekend, it will be worthwhile to step through THIS CHAPTER which serves to recap some of Friday's class. Use the arrows in the bottom right corner of this site to navigate through the content.

And remember to spend more time diving deeply into the TheoryTabs at Hooktheory. Your assignment is to search on music you enjoy in order to find three repeating/looping chord progressions that are used. On your blog, please post those songs, complete with links to audio/video, and an explanation of the chord progression to which you feel connected. You may also wish to link to the Theorytab page for that song. I will then extract audio from some of the songs you post to use in conjunction with the 'Uncharted' slices for use in creating your first class composition using the audio and music theory you have learned from within these songs.

I look forward to your work! Have a GREAT weekend!

Uncharted Territory

I hope you enjoyed working with the 'theoretical slices' from Sara Bareilles's 'Uncharted' today. I'm guessing it was a rather new experience for most of you to be using a computer program to develop and play through chord progressions with a recorded song acting as your 'instrument'. In coming classes, you will have the opportunity to record yourself jamming (improvising) with your chord-slice-grooves and look for ways to structure them into new compositions. I do hope that you are hearing the relationship between I, IV, V, and vi.

For homework, I'd like you to dig in to the Theorytabs on Hooktheory. You will see that you can dive into lists of particular chord progressions and also search on songs with which you are already familiar. When you stumble on a song you like that happens to make use of I, IV, V, and vi, please make a note of it and post it to your blog along with a link or embedded video. Consider your next blog post to be titled 'Songs I think are awesome that I'd like to use as inspiration to make awesome music of my own." You will then use the progressions and rhythmic grooves from those songs as 'ingredients' in making new progressions/songs. Keep in mind the quote I shared today from Igor Stravinsky, "All music is theft." Since 'the first act of music is listening', we are all ultimately inspired (intentionally or unintentionally) by the music we hear and have heard. I look forward to you 'jamming out' in Ableton Live on the chord progressions of songs you like, then taking chances with them and changing them in some way (reordering chords, changing the rhythmic groove-where they fall on the rhythm necklace-, etc.) Looking forward to your work!

And an article to reinforce the point...

I - IV - V - vi

Hi, Friends,

Another fun class with you today. Cool to begin going down the road of hearing chord progressions by 'listening down' to bass lines and also by hearing how chords relate to one another in terms of tension and release. Tomorrow, you will start working through the Ableton Live set made up of 8th note slices from Sara Bareilles's 'Uncharted'. Although I hope you have fun playing around with the 8th note slices in an improvisatory/chance way, I also want you to try to create 1 and 2 measure loops that are based on the theory of chord progressions as explained in class today and also in Chapter 2 of Hooktheory. That said...

Your assignment tonight is to read Hooktheory, Chapter 2, being sure to pay attention to all listening examples. There "may or may not" be a quiz on the concepts introduced in the chapter which I 'may or may not' assess through the work you do with the 'Uncharted' slices.

Looking forward to class tomorrow!

All About That Rhythm Necklace

Hi, Friends!

OK, here is your homework due by Monday's class:

You are going to create Rhythm Necklace "parts" for each sound/instrument for the two audio clips from Meghan Trainor's "All About That Bass". You will see a link below to a two-page PDF file that contains 8 blank necklaces of 8 steps each (each necklace representing one measure of music, and each labeled as measure 1 through 8). I recommend printing several of these, as you will ultimately need separate parts for each instrument/sound you hear. You may wish to start working by first labeling every sound your hear on every step, all on one page (like you did in class today with Sara Bareilles's "Uncharted"). This will give you some crowded looking necklaces, with several instruments sounding/indicated on each step. Then, create individual 'necklace parts' for each instrument. For example, you should have a 'bass necklace' that has an 'X' in each circle for which a bass note is sounded, and you'll have another necklace for lead vocals that has an 'X' in each circle where a syllable is sounded, etc., until you have parts for all. You should end up with separate 'necklace parts for the following:

All About That Bass 1:
Kick Drum
Snare Drum/Handclaps combined
Bass
Lead Vocal
Background Vocals

All About That Bass 2:
Kick Drum
Snare Drum/Handclaps combined
Bass
Electric Guitar
Lead Vocal
Background Vocals

In class on Monday, we will be playing percussion instruments in recreating these grooves, with each instrument from the recording being represented by a different percussion instrument. You will need to read from your necklace parts when we do this. We will also start learning how to convert these rhythm necklaces into traditional rhythm notation. I think you'll be impressed with how easy it will be to deal with traditional rhythm notation after first getting used to thinking and playing with rhythm necklaces.

Here are links to the two audio examples (each 8 measures in length that you will need to complete this assignment). I have included mp3 files in the original tempo and also in slowed-down versions in case things seem to be going by too quickly.

BLANK RHYTHM NECKLACE PDF

All About That Bass, example 1, 8 measures, original tempo
All About That Bass, example 1, 8 measures, slower tempo

All About That Bass, example 2, 8 measures, original tempo
All About That Bass, example 2, 8 measures, slower tempo

If you have any questions or if anything is unclear about this assignment, don't hesitate to drop me an email or comment directly on this blog. Have fun!

Music of the future?

Another interesting perspective:

http://artery.wbur.org/2015/09/14/future-pop-music

Hit Charade

Great timing...

Check out THIS ARTICLE from The Atlantic.

This is the article for which I would like you to add your thoughts as a comment below. 

Homework - Form and Analysis

Below the video for 'Waiting on the World to Change' is a link to the Google Doc that I shared with you earlier containing the form and analysis.

Form and Analysis

For homework tonight, choose a song and create an analysis of all of the details you hear, broken down in larger formal sections. Your song may have different sections than the John Mayer song. Your analysis should focus on the kind of creative choices you hear as you listen. Be sure to include background biographical information about the song, and make sure the lyrics are also included within each section of your analysis. Once completed, share the Google Doc of your analysis with me, post a link to it on your blog, and also embed a video of the song (if there is one).

Max Martin

Hi Friends,

It was very cool digging into the details of 'Shake It Off' today. I mentioned Max Martin today, so I am sharing this video that showcases many of the songs on which he is writer or co-writer. It's kind of amazing how many hits he has been a part of. He is now up to 21 #1 hits as writer or co-writer. You'll see newer songs in the comments that did not make this video compilation.

The first act of music is listening*...

This is the song to which I would like you to listen actively this weekend. You may have already heard this song many times. Listen actively, preferably in headphones, and post a comment below about something you heard or found that is notable. It may be something you had not noticed before without close listening. It may be something that you find unique, fun, or even bothersome about the song. Limit your response to a sentence or two.

*"The first act of music is listening" is an adaptation of a quote that Mr. Erickson uses in his Freshman Studio Art rotation where he posits, "The first act of art is seeing." I've always loved this suggestion. It may sound simple, but, when it comes to the making of, speaking of, writing of, or dealing with visual art, the first act that takes place is seeing. First we see, then we process, then we act. If we learn to see in new ways, to see from another perspective, to consider seeing through alternative lenses, we are then able to interact with and through the visual component of the world in different ways. Musically, we first interact with the sound world through what we hear. This is common sense, I suppose. But I do know from my experience, that changes in the way I listen (sometimes impacted by advice from another, new musical concept awareness, non-musical/contextual factors) cause me to approach my thinking about and making of music in very different ways. That music making may then further transform the listening/thinking process, and the cycle continues. As you develop your personal construct of music theory (to me, any 'theory' of music can only personal to you, the way you hear, and how you desire to create), be aware and conscious of the ways in which you are listening--active, passive, looking for details, analytically, emotionally, or simply to have an experience. I look forward to the evolution of how you theorize about the ways in which your relationship with music can help you to be/interact with music in ways that are meaningful to you.

Homework - 9/11/2015

Hi, Friends,

So you have a good chunk of work to do this weekend, but hopefully work you find enjoyable (which makes it a whole lot more like play than work).

1. At a classmate's blog (links to call blogs are listed on the first post on this blog), post a 'comment' about their song and the ways in which you hear it. Speak specifically toward the elements of music we began to identify and label today in class.

2. Read and absorb Chapter 1 - Building Blocks from the Hooktheory text. Start from the Welcome page. Be sure to listen to all of the audio examples and follow along with the animations that highlight the examples along the way.

3. Post a comment of a sentence or two of the song posted to the class blog about what you find to be most notable about the song. Since it will be a song that you are most likely familiar with, listen to it as deeply and actively as you can (preferably with good headphones) and comment on something that perhaps you had not noticed before without listening very closely.

Have a great weekend!

Musical "truths"

Assignment: Create and share the address of your class blog with me via email. You should send me an address that looks like myblogname.blogspot.com. I will then link your blog to the class blog.

Identifying Your 'Musical Truths'
In kicking off the spirit of developing your own personal construct of music theory, create a blog post that references the song you chose as "truthfully perfect to you" in providing the following information and critically answering the following questions:
Title
Composer
Performer
Year Composed
Year Performed
A link to the song
A narrative explanation about why you think you like the song as much as you do. Be sure to consider musical and non-musical factors based on the discussion we had in class today. The line between those two things can often become blurred. Also consider the context that surrounds the song (both in terms of your experience with it as well as the context in which you prefer to listen to it). Additionally, list as many 'facts' about the song as you hear them: instrumentation, musical characteristics, etc. The terminology you use is not important at this point, but your writing should reflect deep and critical listening on your part.

Welcome the the Honors Music Theory, Composition, and Improvisation blog!

Hello, friends!

This is where information about and sharing of things related to HMTCI will be located. Assignments, documents, links, and other information will be added as the year progresses.

SYLLABUS

Links to student blogs:

Connor
Michael
Lucas
Cady
Sarah
Emilia
Josh
Jake
Kevin
Leorah