Principles of music: journey and return – a metaphor for life
One of the fundamental concepts underlying Western music is harmonic function. Within this system, chords fall into one of three...
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What is improvisation in music?
Music can be understood as a language. The better one understands the principles and functional relationships of music...
Introduction to pitches, notes, and scales
Music is created from pitches, specific points on the spectrum of sound frequency which we measure in Hertz. Octaves are distances...
Introduction to beat and rhythm
Just as notes are related to one another in terms of pitch, the other main component of music, rhythm, concerns how notes occur in...
Scale degrees and melodic intervals
Each major and minor scale has seven notes which are determined by the scale’s pattern of intervals from the starting note. Scale degrees...
Introduction to melody
The most basic form of music is the melody, a singable, linear succession of pitches. Melody has existed since humans began adding...
Harmony and harmonic intervals
While intervals can occur between two successive notes within a melody (melodic intervals), they can also occur simultaneously (harmonic...
Introduction to chords and chord functions
Groups of three or more notes can be classified as chords. Chords built from notes of a major or minor scale are known as diatonic...
Introduction to functional harmony — I, IV, and V chords
The I chord: the tonic Just as the tonic note is the most stable note of the key, the major chord built on the tonic, called the I chord,...
Introduction to functional harmony — ii, iii, vi, and vii° chords
The ii chord: the supertonic The diatonic triad built from scale degree 2, called the ii chord, is a minor predominant chord. It consists...
Principles of music: expectation and surprise
One of the fundamental principles behind compelling music is the balance of expectation and surprise. Music which is very predictable is...
Introduction to chord progressions
Along with its melody, music can typically be analyzed as series of chords. Often these chords occur in repeating progressions. In...
Principles of music: play, risk-taking, and faith
All live music involves elements of the unknown, as anything which is created in real-time carries a level of unpredictability....
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