SOUVIK CHAKRABORT Y
BACK TO BASICS
DECONSTRUCTING MUSIC.
Be it learning or just a keen need of music understanding,
or sheer love, it is imperative that you brush up your basics
every now and then! So let's take a moment and sneak in the
world inside the magic of this fascinating world of music.
Let's start with notes.
Notes are the building blocks from which the chords and the
melodies stem out. A note is composed of a pitch. So each note
is identified by the uniqueness of its pitch. Western music has
a characteristic of twelve notes per octave, which is named as
A, A#, B, C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G and G#. The black keys on
a keyboard can either be deemed as 'accidentals' or 'flats'. It is
by the virtue of a scale or a key in certain cases that the note
is deemed as sharp or flat. The combination of these notes,
opens the possibility for writing a music with ease and élan.
Where does melody come from?
One of the key elements for every soothing music finds its
genesis from the melodies and harmonies of a soundtrack. This
is done through the interplay of time and the pitch of a sound.
In other words, the distance between any two notes is termed
as an 'interval'. An interval is identified by the number of steps.
A half step interval is one semitone, a whole step interval
is two semitones, and two semitones make a whole step.
An octave is actually the highest or lowest pitch of the
same note. In all there are twelve semitones in an octave.
An interval of semitones is called a perfect fifth.
If within an octave the intervals follow a sequence of
consecutive notes then it becomes a melody and the sound
is appreciated for its melodic quality. If the notes follow a
sequence in between a chord it becomes harmonic in nature.
Intervals can be called by their quality with names like
major, minor, perfect, augmented and diminished.
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Scale it up!
It is the set of scale that determines the kind of interval that the
notes will follow. With scale comes the emotion and thus the
overall vibe of the song is determined. Learning to touch the right
scale is paramount for music learning. A scale is often composed
of a semitone or two semitones. A major or a minor scale will
have different compositions like having a flat note or a sharp
one. Thus, both major and minor scales can be produced out of
every note. Naturally occurring major scales create a merrier
and happier sound than a minor scale, which can be melancholic,
emotional or dark. Besides, the twelve possible variations of
a naturally occurring minor scale; a natural, harmonic and
melodic scale could also be a variation of a minor scale. A very
common minor scale has an interval pattern of T-S-T-T-S-T-T.
To ease up the process of understanding music better, and
especially for learning, certain scales are named as per their
degrees. These are nothing but ways in which a particular
note is held or released. Every degree has a detailed purpose
in a song. They are known as tonic supertonic, mediant,
subdominant, dominant, submediant and leading tone.
Be Chord-ial!
A chord is an interesting combination of notes playing in a
scale. Often in some music you would find that the alternate
notes are repeated to create a progression. For example, a
gap of four semitones may be followed by a gap of three or
vice-versa to create the mood and impact of a song. The use of
Roman numerical are common to indicate various chords in
progression. This is largely for setting up the key and the basic
note for every chord. The uppercase numerical are designated
for major chords and the lowercase for the minor ones.