Archive for the ‘Music Theory’ Category
Beginner Music Theory – It’s Hard to Sing If You Don’t Read Music
Written by LoveToSing on July 8, 2008 – 8:35 pm -Music is an important part of our life. It has the power to lift up the spirit, empower the mind and touch emotional cords. Music can make us cry, laugh, think or simply smile.
For musicians, the highest form of praise is when a song touches the soul of a listener. This is why musicians and singers alike need to study and learn music theory.
Music theory is the mechanics of music. It encompasses the eight elements of music, which are:
- Melody
- Pitch
- Rhythm
- Harmony
- Consonance and dissonance
- Dynamics
- Texture
- Form or structure
Each of these has an important role in “musichanics” or the mechanics of music. It is utterly vital that a singer learn these as thoroughly as possible for several reasons. The first and foremost of these reasons is understanding. Without a complete understanding of how music works, you will be totally lost.
For instance, say you are singing with a group and the musicians say they are going to follow a chord progression in C major with a diminished fourth for flavor. Will you know what that means? If not, you are not only lost in the group but also cannot communicate with the others. When you perform the song, you will not recognize the shift in pitch and go off key.
That is, of course, a rather exploded view of a situation but you get the idea. All of the major composers, i.e. Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and Chopin were masters of music theory. Beethoven was stone deaf and STILL wrote some of the world’s most beautiful concertos and movements. All because he understood theory and it’s relation to pitch and harmony. He couldn’t hear it, but he knew it went together as a result.
As a singer, music theory should be the first thing you study followed closely by reading sheet music so you know what to do when the music changes. These two skills together will give you an edge. It will also make you more aware of subtle changes that can be done to enhance the piece being sung.
All in all, music theory backed up with the ability to read music will allow you to become a better musician, and yes, singers are musicians in their own right. Once you have a grasp of theory, your eyes will be opened and you will want more. The more you learn, the better you will become and you will be able to communicate more effectively with other musicians and singers.
Learning music theory and how to read music is a vitally important part of the musical education experience.
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To Sing Well You Have to Understand Musical Pitch
Written by LoveToSing on July 4, 2008 – 11:49 pm -If you are interested in becoming a good singer or even of understanding vocal song, you will find that it is impossible to move ahead without an understanding of pitch. Pitch is one of the building blocks of sound, along with loudness and timbre, and you’ll find that when you want to sing in a way that is appreciable to your listeners that pitch is definitely something that you need to understand very well indeed! if you are considering moving forward with your singing, make sure that you keep a few things about pitch in mind.
First, remember that pitch is used to represent the frequency of the sound. You’ll find that the sound that you hear has a certain vibration, and that to be in pitch, you will need to at least be able to recognize the vibration and synchronize with it. You need to think about what you can do to make sure that your pitch is on target, or else you will waver off from the true line of the song. When you are considering pitch, you should keep in mind that actual pitch may vary over something that you hear as a single solid note.
You will also find that there are other things that may affect pitch, and that they can affect it to such an extent that something that might read on a mechanical tuner as being true will sound off t o your ear. For instance, you;’ll find that pitch will depend, sometimes heavily, on the loudness of the sound itself. This is especially true if you are considering sounds that are coming in at a low frequency. A low bass note will sound lower in pitch if it is louder. This leads to the phenomenon that is known as audio illusions.
If you are looking to make your understanding of pitch a little bit better, you should keep in mind the idea of how how pitches differ from note to note. Figure out the relative “space” between two notes and concentrate on that. While some people are quite skilled when it comes to pitch right from the start, remember that it is a skill that can definitely be learned, and that the more you practice with it, the better off you will be. When you learn to judge notes based on their relative pitch, you will find that your ability to sing and harmonize can be greatly improved!
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