Thinking Out Loud – Music College Serving As Athletics

For those that are currently or have in the past been on a sports team, you know the experience of practicing (by yourself or with a group) on your own town to become better, and then competing against others in that long-awaited meet.

Has music colleges become the new “sports meet” in some way?

While most college areas and subjects are important for going to and learning, but music is an interesting one.

For example: if you are going for science, it makes complete sense to go to college because they usual house labs and special equipment to nurture your studies. Philosophy is another area because going to college exposes you to different people’s ideologies that you cannot experience all on your own.

As for music, you can pretty much buy an instrument, read music theory/lesson books, and watch online tutorials and become a pretty skilled aficionado. In addition, it seems most music teachers (in my experience) rely on having students doing outside of the classroom practice and research.

So, if going to a music college involves heavily on doing stuff outside of the classroom, what is the point of going to class? Think of it like a sport.

Like how a wrestler practices on their own before a meet, a music student does all of this independent work to get ready for quizzes, tests, recitals, performances, etc. But, where a wrestler advances in rank and prestige with every win – the grade you receive in your classroom has no effect on your future. Art is subjective and trying to appease the teacher is pointless when it comes to diminishing who you are as an artist.

So, what is the point now of music colleges?

Just thinking out loud.

BryanMWaring
Bryan M. Waring

Tip #166 – Using sus4 Chords for Inner-Voice Movement

Say that you an “out-of-the-ordinary” progression that involves a bunch of major triads going up by whole steps.

So, that would be: C – D – E – F# …

This parallel movement is irregular because there is no “standard” key that has more than two major chords a whole step apart in a row.

However, you can make the progression sound really amazing by using sus4 chords in between.

To remind: a sus4 chord is when you replace the third of a triad with a P4 interval above the root.

By altering each chord to become a sus4 voicing, you create a chromatic line ascending upwards that makes the chord progression become more interesting and flowing:

Try it out on your own with different major chords.

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Tip #165 – Using sus2 Chords for Inner-Voice Movement

Say that you an “out-of-the-ordinary” progression that involves a descent of minor triads by whole steps.

So, that would be: Cm – Bbm – Abm – Gbm …

This parallel movement is irregular because there is no “standard” key that has more than two minor chords a whole step apart in a row.

However, you can make the progression sound really amazing by using sus2 chords in between.

To remind: a sus2 chord is when you replace the third of a triad with a M2 interval above the root.

By altering each chord to become a sus2 voicing, you create a chromatic line descending downwards that makes the chord progression become more interesting and flowing:

Try it out for yourself starting at different minor triads.

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Improve Your Lyrics – Tip #26

One aspect of your lyric writing you should be aware of is how the words line-up with the stresses of the meter in the music.

To review, meter and measure is the grouping of beats (pulses) together into a repeated hierarchy. In most music, the meter is 4/4 and the first beat is the strongest… followed by the third, second, and fourth.

As you speak your lyrics, you will notice that there are certain words (or maybe syllables of words) that have emphasis/strength. The overall goal is to make sure that those accents in your singing naturally line-up with the accents of the meter.

Strong words at the beginning of a verse should start on the downbeat while weak words at the beginning of a verse should start on an upbeat/anacrusis.

Of course, you can play with the syncopation and placement of accents. However, to achieve a fluid and natural sound – aim to get the lyrics stresses on the beat stresses.

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Teach Yourself Music Theory – 18.) Harmonic and Melodic Minor

Review time! What scale is this?:

If you said “a natural minor scale” you are correct! Don’t worry if you didn’t get the answer correctly, you can review on all the past posts on music theory.

We can tell that this is a natural minor scale because…

1.) The key signature has no sharps or flats, and it starts on the A pitch

2.) The scale is built in the intervallic pattern of all natural minor scales of M2-m2-M2-M2-m2-M2-M2.

Now, it is time to introduce two different kinds of minor scales.

The first is called the harmonic minor scale, and it is made by raising the seventh scale degree (the subtonic) up a half-step (the leading tone). It would look like this:

As the name goes, it is used for harmonic purposes to achieve a dominant V sound. More on that soon!

The second is called the melodic minor scale, and it is made by raising the sixth and seventh scale degree up a half-step. HOWEVER, that is only when you are ascending up the scale. Those scale degrees return back to their natural position as you descend down the scale:

As the name goes, it is used for melodic purposes to retain a “minor” sound with the lowered third degree, but have leading motion in the sixth and seventh degrees to resolve to the tonic.

Play those scales in different keys to see how they sound.

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Tip #164 – Understanding the Suryakantam Scale

The Carnatic music of South India has 72 scales (melakartas) comprised of seven different notes in either an ascending (arohana) or descending (avarohana) fashion. These scales are used in a kind of India music called rāga and are extremely beautiful. In addition these scales are grouped into different chakras, based on certain similarities.

Today’s melakarta is the Suryakantam scale (roughly translating to “the sun”), the fifth scale from the third chakra.

Below is a representation of the scale as if it was put into Western notation:

Both the first (SA) and fifth (PA) scale degrees are in a placement normal to most scales found in Western music. However, there is an augmented distance between the second (RI) and third (GA) scale degrees.  In addition, both the sixth (DHA) and seventh scale degree (NI) are raised.  While this may sound dissonant or exotic, this scale gives a great amount of opportunity to play with tension and chromatic passing tones.

Try playing around with the scale, possible harmonies, and progressions!

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Tip #163 – Building Heavy Chromatic Lines

In a lot of modern (and even classic) heavy metal songs, there is use of chromatics in the guitar riff.

Today’s tip is about constructing a fast sixteenth-note riff that utilizes chromatics in a melodic way while appealing to the dissonance resolution tendencies.

First, start off by playing a chord member of the harmony on every quarter-note pulse. If the harmony is a power chord, decide if it is major of minor (most like it will be minor):

Then, add eighth-notes in between. These should be diatonic notes to the key or chord members:

Finally, add sixteenth-notes in between. These notes should be chromatic notes outside of the key; however, they can also be diatonic notes so long as the fit the direction of the moving melodic line:

From there, you can change the rhythm, notes, accentuation, etc. of your riff!

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Improve Your Lyrics – Tip #25

Today we are going to talk about the different points of view (separately) when writing lyrics.  It is important to be conscious of the song’s/story’s point of view because you want the intended message to come across to the audience.  For example: if you want to talk about a personal subject, would you be using the word “you?”  Probably not.

For this post, we are going to talk about the Direct tense.

Direct tense is similar to the Second Person point of view with the words as well as the level of intimacy.  However, this is used for talking more directly, as in a command.

  • Subject – you
  • Direct Object – you
  • Possessive Adjective – your
  • Possessive Predicate – yours

Thank you so much for taking the time to read! Feel free to comment, share, and subscribe for more daily tips below! Till next time.

Improve Your Lyrics – Tip #24

Today we are going to talk about the different points of view (separately) when writing lyrics.  It is important to be conscious of the song’s/story’s point of view because you want the intended message to come across to the audience.  For example: if you want to talk about a personal subject, would you be using the word “you?”  Probably not.

For this post, we are going to talk about Third Person.

Third Person is for storytelling because of how objective it is.  If you want to tell of a situation happening to outside characters, the Third Person point of view is the best option.

The following are words used to convey the Third Person point of view:

  • Subject – he, she, it, they
  • Direct Object – him, her, it, them
  • Possessive Adjective – his, her, its, their
  • Possessive Predicate – his, hers, its, theirs

So, if you want to convey the Third Person point of view, keep in mind of using those words above.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read! Feel free to comment, share, and subscribe for more daily tips below! Till next time.

Improve Your Lyrics – Tip #23

Today we are going to talk about the different points of view (separately) when writing lyrics.  It is important to be conscious of the song’s/story’s point of view because you want the intended message to come across to the audience.  For example: if you want to talk about a personal subject, would you be using the word “you?”  Probably not.

For this post, we are going to talk about Second Person.

Second Person has the most intimacy to it, because you are talking directly to another.  However, it needs to be used carefully – you don’t want it to come across like you are a dictator; you want the words to come across as conversational.

The following are words used to convey the Second Person point of view:

  • Subject – you
  • Direct Object – you
  • Possessive Adjective – your
  • Possessive Predicate – yours

So, if you want to convey the Second Person point of view, keep in mind of using those words above.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read! Feel free to comment, share, and subscribe for more daily tips below! Till next time.