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Practical Theory:
"Lesson #1"
By Pi |
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Hi, and welcome to the first "Practical Theory" column.
In my experience as a bass, guitar and general music teacher, I
have discovered most people have an immediately negative reaction
to the idea of learning music theory. They either quiver in fear,
picturing dull lessons and concentration headaches, or they feel
that they don't need to learn theory, preferring to rely on their
(as yet unconfirmed) natural talent, creative spirit, and emotive
personality. BUT THIS STUFF CAN BE FUN, I SWEAR IT! And that is
what I will attempt to show you over the next twelve lessons. This
column will give readers a basic overview of music theory, specifically
designed for YOU, the singer songwriter.
WHY BOTHER LEARNING THEORY
Now, there are some very practical reasons to learn theory,
but here are the two most motivating ones for female songwriters,
ready?
1.YOU DON'T WANT TO BE A DUMB GIRL!
Sorry if I'm offending anyone, but a very wise and experienced musician
once told me that if I was going to get anywhere in this business
I was going to have to be "better than the men." I took what he
said to heart, and still I find I am always under more scrutiny
than my male counterparts. The fact is, if you want to be taken
seriously, you will need to be able to tell the your band WHAT
CHORD TO PLAY, and WHAT KEY YOUR SONG IS IN, and you'll
want to be able to CATCH AND CORRECT MISTAKES! Remember,
if you're the front person and if your band is making mistakes,
your name is the only one they'll remember.
2. DON'T BE A CHICK SINGER CLONE!
The more tools you have to use, the more original and creative your
writing will be. If you can use these tools to find and develop
your own unique sound, you will stand a much greater chance of getting
noticed in a sea of singer songwriters who can't seem to get past
C, G and D major.
WHAT WE WILL COVER
Now that you are motivated, here's what you can look forward
to: General Principles of Harmony and Rhythm as they relate to the
modern singer songwriter. This is not going to be a jazz, classical,
or non-western music course, although some of these concepts will
come into play. The course is mainly aimed at modern pop songwriters.
Every column will include practical exercises, or as I prefer to
look at them, games for you to play during the week - YES LADIES,
THERE WILL BE HOMEWORK, what did you think? It doesn't just happen
by osmosis.
WHAT WE WILL NOT COVER
This column will not be covering specific instrument techniques.
I highly recommend if you are a beginning instrumentalist to find
a qualified teacher to study with in conjunction with this column.
This is a BASICS course. I will be teaching from my own experience
and areas of study starting with the basic concepts of theory. If
you are an advanced student, this stuff will be old hat to you.
I welcome feedback, suggestions and encouragement so feel free to
write to me. Due to a busy tour schedule, please do not be offended
if I cannot personally reply to all of you. I wish you all the best
in your studies, and hope this information will help you to GO KICK
ASS AND TAKE NAMES!
xox,
Pi
LESSON 1: LET'S LEARN THOSE NOTES LADIES!
I can't emphasize this enough. There is nothing quite as frustrating
as asking someone what chord or note she is playing and having her
say "I don't know". All it takes is a little memorization. We will
build on this in the next lesson, so I'll expect you to know it
by then or no cupcake for you.
THE NOTES OF THE SCALE
There are only twelve notes in Western music, and memorizing twelve
notes is not a lot, plus they are alphabetical - Check it out:
A A#/Bb B * C C#/Db D D#/Eb E * F F# /Gb G G#/Ab
If you played these in a row, you would hear what we call the chromatic
scale in A (meaning A is your starting and ending note.) This
scale consists of half steps (the distance of one fret on a guitar,
and the adjacent key on a piano) in order. When you get to the 12th
half step, you are at the octave, and you start all over again.
OK, now go get your axe, and see if you can play this scale WHILE
SAYING THE LETTER NAMES! (Guitar and bassists may find it easiest
to start on the open A string and play straight up the neck to the
12th fret, then try playing it across the strings.)
Now what about those pesky sharps and flats (# and b)? Sharps
and Flats are represented as black keys on the piano. We
will go into more depth with these later but for now, when you go
up in pitch, call the notes by their Sharp name, and when you go
down by their Flat name:
EXAMPLE:
UP:
A A# B * C C# D D# E * F F# G G#
DOWN:
A Ab G Gb F * E Eb D Db C * B Bb
* Now what's with the little *? The asterisk falls on the two spots
in the scale (B to C and E to F), where there is NO sharp or flat
(black key on the piano) between the lettered notes. Here are a
couple ways to remember which notes don't have a sharp or flat between
them.
"You better B sharp or you'll C flat" or my own personal
favorite " Don't Eat sharp objects or your F-fflat
stomach will pooch out "- horrors!
If you like my little rhymes, try these out too - WHILE PLAYING
THE NOTES IN QUESTION ON YOUR INSTRUMENT OF COURSE!
CHROMATIC POETRY (ahhhhhh, literary enlightenment)
What a bee sees
By Pi
All
A sharp
B can
C when
C -ing sharp
Dogs
Dancing sharp and
Eating
Freely, is
Four sharp
Giant
Goons trying to act sharp.
Death, Gloom and Despair
By Pi
A
Apple fell flat in
Good
Grassy flat
Fields
Eventually
Eaten by flat worms
Dying in the
Dust flattening into
Chalky
Brown soil, where we will all
B flattened in the end.
Try making up your own poems, my sensitive blossoms. The next lesson
will cover Intervals (how to build chords and melodies).
So make sure you have your notes memorized, or teacher gets your
cupcake!
Till next time
xox-
Pi
 **Editor's
Note: Pi will be on tour through October so look for her next lesson
November 1, 2002. Pi's album Irrational is available for
purchase at the WOMANROCK MusicShop. |
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_________________________________
Pi
is a singer-songwriter who once thought she would be the female
"Jaco Pastorius" . After getting a BA in Music, she worked as a
studio and touring musician/teacher. Pi recently landed a deal with
the Atoll label in France. She performs in NYC, and tours regularly.
For more information, please visit her Web site: http://www.thatcrazychick.com. |
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