Worksheet: Marian's Music Theory Shorthand (video 4, stepping outside the scale) 1 / 6

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1 Worksheet: Marian's Music Theory Shorthand (video 4, stepping outside the scale) 1 / 6 I. Half steps and whole steps and scales We spent some time on intervals seconds, thirds, sixths, etc. now we are gonna go a little deeper into intervals. We will talk about half steps and whole steps, then construct scales, then talk about chords with a focus on the difference between major and minor triads. This is a thick lesson, take your time! The smallest interval in the western scale is a HALF STEP. Every note is one half step away from its nearest neighbor. All half steps are equal pitch distance apart, which is why this is the smallest we can break down the western scale. On a guitar, every fret marks a half step. On a piano, stepping from one note to the very next adjacent note is a half step. (Often that means going from a white note to a black note / black note to a white note, although sometimes you can take a half step between two white notes.) If you skip a half step, the two notes you play will be a WHOLE STEP apart. In the major scale, the first few intervals are whole steps; you are hearing whole steps between scale degrees 1 and 2, 2 and 3. You hear a half step between scale degrees 3 and 4, it's a slightly smaller interval. On a guitar, every other fret is a whole step. On a piano, you skip one note (be sure it's the closest adjacent note you're skipping, often from white note to white note or black note to black note, sometimes black to white and vice versa). half, step, C to C# whole step, E to F# whole step, Ab to Bb whole step, C to D half step, E to F whole step, G to A half step, B to C To describe these steps, we draw a carat for half steps and a horizontal bracket for whole steps. So I can express a series of *exact* note relationships in order by writing and so on. We have been working with a simple major scale so far, but that scale is made up of a *specific order* of half steps and whole steps. Here's the map of the major scale: whole whole half whole whole whole half...and we've reached 1 again. You can take this pattern of whole steps and half steps and start on ANY NOTE. If you play this step pattern, your scale will sound major. (There are different scale patterns! Try Phrygian or Dorian!)

2 In the key of C, this pattern is all white notes, note that E to F and B to C are a half step: 2 / 6 If we start our scale on another note, we start to use black notes to keep our whole step / half step pattern in the right order. Here is the key of D, we have chosen D for scale degree 1. Note how E and F are not a whole step apart, so we skip from E to F#: This is why all major keys (except for C) use some black notes on the piano. Here is the key of A: How do we properly name the black notes? The notes in between A, B, C, D, E, F, and G are just that, in-between notes, and we name them using SHARPS and FLATS. Higher notes are sharp, so F sharp is a half step above F. Lower notes are flat, so E flat is a half step below E. We use the symbol # for SHARP or Y for FLAT. (It's common to write a lower case B to show a flat sign, like Eb or Bb.) A sharp just means a half step above, a flat just means a half step below. A half step above A is A# A half step below D is A half step below A is Ab A half step above C is A half step above F is A half step below is Gb (Gb and F# sound the same!) A half step below B is A half step below is Cb (Cb and B sound the same!) Sometimes notes change names to help us understand their function. Look at the keyboard you will see that all the black keys can easily be called a sharp OR a flat. White keys can too; B can be called Cb and F can be called E#. The notes sound the same with both names. So which name to use? Use the name that makes sense in your scale your scale always needs all seven letter names. Use the sharps or flats so that you DON'T have two B's or two C's (hard to explain, easy in practice). We're finally ready to practice constructing scales from scratch. This is tough but you'll get there!

3 3 / 6 Use the keyboard above to help you write out some major scales. Remember your pattern of intervals: So scale degree 4 will always be a half step above scale degree 3, 5 will be a whole step above 4, etc. And remember, you have to have all seven letter names in your scale, A B C D E F G. In the key of E E F# B F F# Ab Gb Notice that if you spell your scale with all seven letters, sharps and flats don't mix in the same scale. (This exercise is a little bit tough, be sure to check your answers against the key and watch the video or read the material again if this is hard to understand.) If you play piano, use the piano to understand your half step and whole step scale construction, it's easy to see how the note pattern is the same everywhere on the keyboard. Say or think note names. If you play guitar, try to say or learn the note names of every note in the scale you are playing as you work out your pattern of half steps and whole steps. There is so much more to explore about half steps in the scale, teel free to go deeper yourself! You can find lots of resources on Youtube, and you can learn a lot by experimentation your intuition will lead you to more and more interesting patterns and characteristics of half steps and whole steps.

4 II. Intervals and major / minor chords 4 / 6 The half step is the building block of music. It's like a Lego or a brick that comes in only one size, but you can stack it infinitely you create intervals, chords, and relationships between notes by creatively stacking your bricks. Each brick is a note, so one bricks makes a half step, two bricks makes a whole step, and every larger interval is just made of different numbers of half steps. half step (minor second) whole step (major second) minor third major third We can manipulate half steps to make our intervals seconds, thirds, sixth, sevenths come in two flavors, slightly larger and slightly smaller. The larger interval is called MAJOR, the smaller interval is called MINOR. If you take a half step or a whole step between two notes, the interval is still a second. It looks and acts like a second. If we play a half step, we call it a MINOR SECOND, but if we play a whole step, we call it a MAJOR SECOND. If we go up one more half step from there, spanning a step and a half, we have created a MINOR THIRD. Another half step up reaches a MAJOR THIRD. Follow me? Intervals come in two sizes, major and minor. The major interval is one half step bigger than the minor interval. A minor ninth is a half step smaller than a major ninth. A minor seventh is a half step smaller than a major seventh. A minor sixth is a half step smaller than a major sixth. A minor third is a half step smaller than a major third. A minor second is a half step smaller than a major second in fact a minor second IS a half step itself. What about fourths and fifths? There is only note between them, so they can't both have a major and a minor. The unique interval between a fourth and a fifth is called a TRITONE. You don't really have to know all these intervals by ear. But having some command of them will help you to write more interesting riffs and melodies. You have all the intervals in the scale to choose from! However you do need to master this principle: subtract a half step to change an interval from major to minor, making the interval slightly smaller. Add a half step to change an interval from minor to major, making the interval slightly larger. And using this principle you have the power (with your little half step bricks) to change the sound and feeling of a chord! Add a half step or subtract a half step! You have to add or subtract it in the right place, of course. If we want to change a chord from major to minor or vice versa, we isolate the TRIAD and alter the THIRD OF THE CHORD.

5 5 / 6 When we make a CHORD, we stack two thirds on top of each other, remember? Play a note, skip a note, play a note, skip a note, play a note. That makes two thirds, one on top of the other. Major triad (ex: C, E, G) Minor triad (ex: A, C, E) In a major triad, the large major third is on the bottom of the triad, the minor third is on top. In a minor triad, the minor third is on the bottom and the major third is on top. Both chords span a perfect fifth in total, they both fit into the same larger interval. The middle note in the chord is a half step different. You have the power to move the third of the chord up to make it major, or down to make it minor. We write down a minor chord as Dmin, or Dm, or sometimes D- although that is less common. We just call a major chord D. In roman numerals, minor chords are written in lower case. Using your keyboard diagram, let's spell major and minor chords like in the second worksheet. This time you will include the proper sharps and flats as you spell your chords. Major Chords: Minor Chords: (major third on the bottom, minor on top) (minor third on the bottom, major on top) C chord is spelled _C E G_ A is spelled Cm chord is spelled _C Eb G_ Am is spelled F# is spelled F#m is spelled G is spelled Gb is spelled Gm is spelled Gbm is spelled A few more, with major and minor mixed together: major chord is spelled E B minor chord is spelled E G# minor chord is spelled D F A major chord is spelled B F# major chord is spelled G# D# minor chord is spelled Ab Cb If you master this concept, you are well on our way to chord progression competence. To keep growing, practice playing I-ii-iii-IV-V-vi chords in keys that scare you until they don't scare you.

6 III. Secondary Dominants 6 / 6 A great way to add interest and drama to your chord progressions is by using secondary dominants. Why are they called that? We have a name for the V chord, because it's so powerful and it wants to go home to I we call V the DOMINANT. (I is called the TONIC, as in it sets the tone of the music.) Secondary dominants use that powerful pull from V to I, that desire to resolve upward, and they move it somewhere else in the scale. If we change any other chord in the scale into a major chord, especially if we add a 7th on top of the chord, it will "want" to resolve up a fourth with real urgency. So we choose a chord like ii, an ordinary minor chord in our key, and we make it major. We might add a 7th to make it more dramatic. Now it REEEEALLY wants to resolve up a fourth, to V. We don't write this chord as II 7, even though that's how it looks we give it a special name, one that tells us where it's aiming. We call this chord V7 / V. That's pronounced "five seven OF five." Let's do it again with iii, we will make it a secondary dominant of vi. We raise the third of our iii (from minor to major), but instead of III, we call it V / vi, "five of six." Because that's where it wants to go. A rule of thumb: a secondary dominant resolves where it wants to resolve (up a fourth) 99% of the time. So you can assume that's where it's going. Five of five goes to five. Five of four goes to four. Five of six goes to six. Five of llamas goes to llamas. Try these exercises, assuming that all the "five of" chords will resolve to the place they're aiming at. 1) In the key of C, chord ii is spelled and chord iii is spelled We change ii into a V/V. It is now spelled and aims at a chord. We change iii into a V7/. It is now spelled D _ and aims at a chord. 2) In F, chord vi is spelled. When we make it a V/ii, it's spelled 3) In the key of D, chord I is spelled. We make I into a V7 / IV, aiming at a chord. The spelling of V7 / IV is IV. Minor keys and rock & roll borrowing (in brief) Minor keys have a different whole step and half step pattern from our major scale. There are several minor scales, but a familiar one will start on A on the keyboard, the NATURAL MINOR SCALE: The naturally occuring triads in this progression are very different; we have i, then ii (diminished), then III, iv, v, VI, and VII. A very different landscape! To borrow a chord from your key's minor mode, you have to pretend you are playing in a minor key starting on the same note as your major key. So your iv and v chords will still have the same root as IV and V, but they will sound evocative and poignant in C, play Gm instead of G or Fm instead of F. But III, VI, and VII all build on notes that are outside the major scale. So you must boldly set your roots down on foreign notes and build major triads there. If you're in C, play Eb, Ab, and Bb.

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