To find out more about the Easy Music Theory course, click [here] Back to Past Issues page Easy Music Theory Newsletter Free, from Spring Day Music September 2002 To SUBSCRIBE to receive this newsletter in your email, go to www.EasyMusicTheory.com/newsletter.html The Easy Music Theory Newsletter Newsletter October 2003 Welcome to the Easy Music Theory Newsletter, after a hiatus due to busy times! Well, we hope you've been pressing on with your music theory studies over the past few months. And for those of you who are just checking out the newsletter to see what music theory is all about, we'll tell you: studying music theory is the only way to learn music in a structured, focussed way. Without music theory as part of your music experience, most of what you learn is in the realm of "learn by doing". While that has its merits, of course, it is by no means focussed, and it doesn't give the advantage of accelerated learning that music theory does. ======================= IN THIS ISSUE 1. Take the Listening Challenge! 2. Applying Music Theory to Your Music 3. The Ties That Bind 4. Making Chord Sheets From Piano Music 5. Who's Using Easy Music Theory 6. QUESTION OF THE MONTH: How Can I Apply Music Theory To Singing ======================= ======================= 1. TAKE THE LISTENING CHALLENGE! We don't like randomly sending things to people for no reason. We want you to earn your prize. What better way to win a free CD of music than to take the listening challenge. Even if you don't think you have much of an ear, take the challenge anyway... just because IT'S FUN. This month's contest has to do with tonic, dominant, and subdominant triads. They're found in music everywhere. See you at the contest page. Go now to http://www.EasyMusicTheory.com/contest.html ======================= 2. APPLYING MUSIC THEORY TO YOUR MUSIC One of the simplest things you can do while playing music, and one of the things that many musicians ignore, is to take note of the key you're playing in. You'd be amazed at how many musicians cannot tell you the key of a piece that they've been playing for months, even years! That's right, they play those notes again and again, but when someone comes into the group and asks, "What key are you playing in?", they might just get a shrug, and an embarrassed, puzzled look. Knowing the key you're in is not a matter of knowing the chord you start or end on. There's more to it than that. It's all covered in Lesson 16 of Easy Music Theory, "Key Identification". Find out about Easy Music Theory at http://www.EasyMusicTheory.com You know, key identification is critical information for many reasons. For example, if you want to ad lib a solo, you need to know the key so that you can choose notes that are going to sound great. As a standard practice, always make a point of knowing the key of the piece you're playing. ================== FREE PRACTICE CHART AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD If you're serious about making music, whether you're a complete beginner or a pro, a practice chart is a great way to keep track of how much you're practicing. We've designed a chart that you can use to keep track of your efforts. Teachers, feel free to copy this chart for use in your classroom too. Download the chart at http://www.easymusictheory.com/practice.pdf ======================= ======================= 3. THE TIES THAT BIND Are you having trouble with a music passage that contains tied notes? Tied notes are notes that have a slur marking from one note to the next, where both notes are at the same pitch. A tie instructs you to start the first note normally, but hold it through the next note (with no attack on the next note). An eighth note tied to an eighth note, for example, sounds the length of a quarter note. The reason for the use of tied notes is not the subject of this article. What I want to deal with is how to learn a passage of music that seems difficult because of the use of ties. Here's an easy way to understand passages of music that are complicated by ties: Simply mentally remove the ties from the passage, and learn it that way. This allows you to get familiar with the passage rhythmically. Then, just add in the ties once you're comfortable. Try it, it works! ======================= The Guitar Chord Chart Some have heard about the chord chart we're giving away for free. Yes, it's still available. Send an email to articles@easymusictheory.com with "guitar chord chart" in the subject line, and it's yours. ======================= ======================= 4. MAKING CHORD SHEETS FROM PIANO MUSIC Do you find it difficult to take, say, a hymn, and write a chord sheet for a guitarist? Actually, it's not all that hard. What gets in the way are the tones (often in the melody itself) that are not part of the chord, but are passing from one chord note to another. Once you have identified the non-chord tones in a melody, you can ignore them, and look at the remaining tones. How do you identify non-chord tones? Easy. Get a hold of the article "Non-Chord Tones" by Gary Ewer. It's free for the asking to anyone who purchases Easy Music Theory on CD-ROM. Go to http://www.Student.EasyMusicTheory.com for the details. Once you've made it through that article, you'll actually be able to discuss "appogiaturas" intelligently at the next garden party, and use that word in sentences regularly! :-) Seriously, the article teaches you how to identify non-chord tones, including neighboring tones, passing tones, appogiaturas, and so on. Ignoring the non-chord tones, you can look at the notes that remain in a piece of piano music, and determine the chord. Let's say there's a D and A in the left hand, and a D and F# in the right hand, all sounding simultaneously. Well, by studying Easy Music Theory lessons 15, 16, and 17, you'll quickly determine that those notes are found in a D major chord. So write a D above those notes, and move on to the next chord change. Chord changes often (but not always) occur when the bass note changes. Without even knowing the chords you're trying to figure out, most people can easily *hear* when a chord change has occurred, so use that change as a clue to where to place your next chord symbol. And work at it regularly. That's what will give you the expertise - constant practice. ======================= 5. WHO'S USING EASY MUSIC THEORY? Who *isn't* using Easy Music Theory? We're gratified, and of course humbled, that we get incredible emails and letters from virtual beginners and professionals alike, and they are telling us the same things: 1. They love our course, and 2. When are we coming out with more courses and materials. Well, 1. Thank you!, and 2. Soon, soon! Keep your eyes peeled at www.EasyMusicTheory.com for details. ======================= 6. QUESTION OF THE MONTH: How Can I Apply Music Theory To Singing? In many band and ensemble situations, the learning of songs is by rote. This usually involves the singer putting in a CD, and listening to a piece of music again and again until it is fairly well memorized. It is usually only at this point that the singer is able to begin add his or her own style to the piece. Even so, their own rendition of the song will always have strong ties back to the CD version in terms of style, vocal inflections, tempo, and so on. That's not necessarily a bad thing, since most commercial songs have been arranged and produced by competent people who know their stuff. But what about learning new material - songs that are brand new, never sung by anyone? How does a singer learn without memorizing a recording? If the singer is the author of the song, and if he/she is able to play guitar or keyboards, they can simply play and sing their song and again, and have others learn by rote, just like a recording. But if the songwriter is not a singer, then it means that sheet music containing the vocal line and some kind of keyboard or guitar part is necessary, or at the very least, useful. Now, sheet music should not be considered the method of last resort! In fact, if you present a written song to a group of musicians who can read music, a greater level of precision in communicating the melody can be had. The song is learned faster, and the time taken to get to the polishing phase is shorter. For example, those of you who play chord charts, you're familiar with the situation of two or three chord changes written at the end of a vocal line, with no words to accompany them. Where exactly do those chord changes occur? The problem is solved with some simple notation. Think of what a thorough knowledge of music theory gives you: a. The melody written down, so there's no misunderstandings b. An ability to improvise around that written melody, to add feeling and personality. c. Opportunities to tweak chord progressions with substituted chords, and not have to rely on memory to keep hold of the changes. d. A way to include other instruments by writing intelligent parts that really make a song zing! Some of you may already be seeing what the professionals have always known: understanding the place of music theory in music, is like understanding the place of written language in poetry. Knowledge of music theory is indispensable to any musician! For the complete story on why you need music theory, check out our online article, "Calling All Musicians: Why You Need Music Theory", at http://www.EasyMusicTheory.com/whymusictheory.html. ======================= 7. Skill-Testing Question The first movement of Beethoven's Symphony No. 6 is in F Major. The second movement is in the key of the subdominant. What key is the second movement in? You can find the answer in Lesson 15. ======================= That's it for this month's Easy Music theory Newsletter. Questions or comments? We're all ears at emtinfo@easymusictheory.com. ======================= Gary Ewer's Easy Music Theory represents the finest in music theory instruction. If you play an instrument or sing in a choir, you can expand your musical horizons by learning music theory. Get all the information at http://www.EasyMusicTheory.com ======================= Why not forward this email newsletter to a friend? Until next month... study and practice! You can do it! This newsletter is copyright (c) 2003 Spring Day Music, a division of Corporate Impact Inc. Contact us at 902-830-3994, or emtinfo@easymusictheory.com Newsletter editor: David Ewer Music education content: Gary Ewer and David Ewer Gary Ewer's Easy Music Theory(tm), Easy Music Theory(tm), and Gary Ewer's Easy Music Theory on CD-ROM!(tm) are trademarks of Spring Day Music Did you know you can watch Gary teaching music theory? Gary makes music theory easy! Buy Gary Ewer's Easy Music Theory on CD-ROM, and you'll get more of the teaching you've come to enjoy from Gary, plus all-new worksheets (these are great!), new quizzes, and answer sheets. But the greatest feature of the double-CD-ROM course is the awesome videos of Gary teaching each lesson. Don't miss out. Click here to learn more, or click here to purchase now. It's completely guaranteed! www.EasyMusicTheory.com Spring Day Music 902-830-3994 emtinfo@EasyMusicTheory.com ©2001 Spring Day Music. All rights reserved Gary Ewer's Easy Music Theory is a trade mark of Spring Day Music, a div. of Corporate Impact Inc. Contact us at emtinfo@EasyMusicTheory.com