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Here is a clip featuring Sir Paul McCartney about reading music. There is an article I posted on this site called "A Teacher Speaks Out" which poses the question "How Important is note reading?"

The article does say that I do NOT advocate skipping note reading. However, it further discusss the complications of conventional notation and how note reading is not an absolute necessity to learn to play and perform music. In support of that, here is the first paragraph:

"So many parents are told the necessity of note reading and the values of a classical approach to learning music. Why is that? I won't address that until later. First I want to ask you a couple of questions. Who were the most successful contemporary artists of the twentieth century (and maybe of all time)? The answer, of course is the Beatles. The second most successful and undoubtedly the longest lasting artists are the Rolling Stones. How many of them could read notes during the peak of their careers? Let s see, there were four Beatles and five Rolling Stones and NONE of them could read a note. They spawned the British Invasion of which most of the artists couldn t read a note. How important, then, is note reading? It s certainly not necessary to write monster hit songs like Yesterday, Something, Satisfaction, and a huge list of others. At one time, the Beatles held five of the top ten hits on the charts all at the same time. And they couldn t read a note."

The article is worth your time to read and understand.

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MODES – The Mystery, The Myth

Copyright © Mike Ellis 8/17/2025

 

Aeolian Mode, Dorian Mode… Mixolydian Mode!! Oh my! The fear! The horror! What does it all mean???

 

Today, you will see the unraveling of the mystery of musical modes. Today, in one day, you will see the myth dispelled, once and for all. But first, we need to know what modes are. There is a little fictional story that may make it understandable, a bit humorous, and totally non-mysterious.

But to tell this story and make it truly understandable, you must know at least something about music. You must know the major scale. You remember. It’s the old “do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do” sounds that you sang as a small child. Those are the notes of a major scale. What’s a major scale? It’s those notes, those sounds. If you look at the C major scale on the piano, it is simply the white keys from C to C. (Do you know where C is on the piano?)

Okay, let’s not assume that you know where C is. There are white notes and black notes on the piano. The white notes reach all the way out to the ends of the piano keys, but the black notes are shorter and therefore harder to play. They are what are known as the sharps and flats. The black notes move in groups of two then three then two then three. The C note is the first white note to the left of any set of two black notes. But the C major scale is just the white notes and only the C major scale has no sharps or flats in it. Now that you know where C is, you can play from C to C on just the white notes and you will get the familiar sound. Now, let’s go on with our story.

 

A Tale of Two Greek Boys (the mode names are Greek-related names)

 

Once upon a time, Andropolous (whom we will just call Andy) and Alexander (we’ll call him Alex) were both at Andy’s house. Andy was an accomplished pianist and Alex knew this. This day, Andy was working on a composition and was experimenting with a set of chords (which you don’t need to know about at this time). He asked Alex to improvise some melody notes on top of his chords.

Well, Alex flatly refused saying, “Andy, I know nothing of how to play the piano. I can’t improvise anything.”

Andy replied, “It’s very easy. You just play the white notes, only,” and Andy showed Alex the white notes A-B-C-D-E-F-G, and showed him how they repeated all the way up and down the keyboard.

“So how does that tell me how to improvise melody?” asked Alex.

“Easy,” Andy answered. “On my first chord, you just tinkle only the white keys from C to C and back in any order you want. Just try to keep the same beat you hear me playing.”

“Okay,” Alex said, a bit confused, but willing to try.

Andy played the first chord with a bit of a lilting rhythm to it. Alex began to doodle around from C to C and back and it actually sounded pretty neat!

Andy stopped and said, “That’s great! That was the C major scale you were playing. Now, when you hear me change to the second chord, you just tinkle around on just the white keys, but go from the D to the D and back.”

Andy played the first chord and Alex doodled around from C to C and then Andy changed to the second chord. When Alex doodled around from D to D it sounded perfect, but it had a sadder sound to it, almost an Oriental sound.

This startled Alex and he stopped and said, “Wow, Andy! What is that?”

Andy replied, “That’s the C major scale!”

“No, it can’t be,” insisted Alex. “It sounded so different.”

“Well, it is the C major scale but when I played a C major chord it had one sound, and then when I went to a D minor chord and you played from D to D it sounded different, but was the same scale, just with a different starting and ending point. I call that the tonal center.”

“Wow!” exclaimed Alex. “We need to give it another name to show the difference.”

After some time and arguing, the name Dorian Mode of the C major scale was the name they chose.

“So you changed chords, but I played the same scale on both chords?” asked Alex.

“Yes, we were playing in the Key of C so you used the C major scale both times. But we can call it the Dorian mode when you go from D to D in the C major scale if you want.”

“Yeah, that will give me an idea which chord I’m playing with, the D minor chord.” Alex said.

“Well, get a load of this,” Andy said (in Greek of course). “I’ll play C major and you go from C to C and back, then I’ll play D minor and you play the C major scale from D to D and back, then I’ll play an E minor chord and all you have to do is stay on the C major scale again, only the white keys, but go from E to E and back.”

“No way!” Alex exclaimed (also in Greek… “No way” was common slang even back in those days.)

“Yep, let’s try it.”

They played and the improvised melodies fit perfectly through all three chords!

“Okay,” Alex blurted out. We’re calling this one the Phrygian Mode, after my aunt Phrygia. She loved music, but I thought I could never play.”

“Okay,” Andy said, “but what about the first one. If the others have mode names, the regular C major scale from C to C should have one, too. How about Ionian?”

“Ionian?” asked Alex, “From what?”

“I don’t know. It sounds Greek enough.”

“Okay, fine. So the Ionian mode is from C to C on the white keys, the Dorian mode is from D to D on the white keys, and the Phrygian mode is from E to E on the white keys. Are there more?” asked Alex.

They went through the chords C major, D minor, E minor, F major, G dominant seventh, A minor, B diminished and back to C major. The improvised melodies always fit like a glove and the respective names were Ionian mode (C to C), Dorian mode (D to D), Phrygian mode (E to E), Lydian mode (F to F), Mixolydian mode (wow, what a name, G to G), Aeloian mode (A to A), Locrian mode (B to B) and back to Ionian mode (C to C). They all sounded perfect with each of the respective chords.

“So I can play piano now in the key of C and all I have to know is the name of the chord you’re playing so I can go from the note that is the name of the chord up and down to it,” Alex said in amazement.

“That’s right. See how easy and fun music can be?”

 

So there you have it. The mystery of modes is finally unraveled. You just play the scale of the key in which the song is being played (in the story it was the key of C) and stop on the appropriate note. The whole point was to make playing EASY, not more complicated. Alex didn’t need to learn a new scale or set of fingering each time the chord changed. He just had to stay in the key of C, but create a “tonal center” for each chord by starting and stopping on the note that was the letter name of the chord. He didn’t have to worry about minor, dominant seventh, or diminished. It was all taken into account by staying in the major scale of the key of the song. The mystery of what modes are is now solved. Now for the myth!

 

High School Band

 

A whole step is when you move up the keyboard two notes and a half step is when you move up the keyboard one note. (Wow, is that ridiculous or what? What’s a half of a note? But let’s stay with “their” way and say okay to that.).

If you play the C major scale (only the white keys from C to C) you will see that the steps in the C major scale are: Whole, Whole, Half, Whole, Whole, Whole, Half. This is true if you count the black keys as notes in between the white notes, and you should because they are.

ALL major scales use these samesteps in this same order. This is also true. You should memorize these steps so that you can play any major scale.

 

Now for the Myth Part

 

So, if the Dorian mode is from D to D, or the second scale note to the second scale note, now the steps are: Whole, Half, Whole, Whole, Whole, Half, Whole. You should memorize this (NOT!!! THAT’S A MYTH!. You are playing the same C scale, just starting on a different note!)

 

And if the Phrygian mode is from E to E, or the third scale note to the third scale note, now the steps are: Half, Whole, Whole, Whole, Half, Whole, Whole. You should memorize this (NOT!!! THAT’S A MYTH!).

 

And if the Lydian mode is from F to F, or the fourth scale note to the fourth scale note, now the steps are: Whole, Whole, Whole, Half, Whole, Whole, Half. You should memorize this (NOT!!! THAT’S A MYTH!).

 

Do I really need to go further? The BOOKS say that you should memorize these steps and their new orders, but if you know the steps in the major scale, you just pick different starting points, not memorize new sets of steps.

 

MORE MYTH!

 

They say that if you play from D to D using the steps Whole, Half, Whole, Whole, Whole, Half, Whole (the C major scale steps from 2nd to 2nd), that you are playing D Dorian! You’re NOT!!! You’re playing the C major scale, Dorian mode! So it should be called C Dorian! But by calling it D Dorian, you have to memorize the new set of steps and they can keep you in class longer and fill your head with more nonsense and confuse you so you have to really work hard to get a good grade and you’ll never get to see how easy and how much fun music is!

So they made the mode names mean different sets of whole and half steps, rather than signifying the tonal center note from the scale of the key of the song. Ionian is 1st to 1st, Dorian is 2nd to 2nd, Phrygian is 3rd to 3rd, Lydian is 4th to 4th, Mixolydian is 5th to 5th, Aeolian is 6th to 6th, Locrian is 7th to 7th. And of course you could do Ionian again to complete the octave.

Below you will see the results of a search on www.dictionary.com for the word “mode”. Notice that the numeric “1” has no text on the same line. That’s because it is the common, most often accepted meaning for the word. Each following numbered definition is a derived or contrived meaning which can also be considered, but it is not the “root” meaning of the word.

 

  1.  

    1. A manner, way, or method of doing or acting: modern modes of travel. See Synonyms at method.

    2. A particular form, variety, or manner: a mode of expression.

    3. A given condition of functioning; a status: The spacecraft was in its recovery mode.

  2. The current or customary fashion or style. See Synonyms at fashion.

  3. Music.

    1. Any of certain fixed arrangements of the diatonic tones of an octave, as the major and minor scales of Western music.

    2. A patterned arrangement, as the one characteristic of the music of classical Greece or the medieval Christian Church.



Now the first definition, the “real” definition, suggests that a mode of the C major scale would be a manner of doing (playing) the C major scale. This fits our little story precisely. Alex was to stay in the major scale of the key of the song, namely the key of C, and play that scale different ways. He was playing different forms or manners of the C major scale. He was not playing different scales. Therefore, the name of the Dorian mode that he played should have been C Dorian, because it was the Dorian “way” of playing the C major scale.

If you look at the third definition, labeled “Music” you will see that a mode is a certain fixed arrangement of diatonic tones (major scale notes). In this newly accepted definition, you now have to accept the modes each as new arrangements of the notes, and you must now memorize all the new sets of whole and half steps, and you must now call these arrangements of notes by “false” names.

Ask any music graduate what the notes are in D Dorian. He will almost assuredly say, “D, E, F, G, A, B, C, and D.” According to the third definition above, this is true. But those are the notes in the C major scale. Why isn’t it called C Dorian? It’s a different way of playing the C major scale. By that third definition, we must call it D Dorian, which is not only false, it’s misleading. This is because it’s the C major scale and not the D major scale. The notes in the major scale are called “Root, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and Root” again. By the third definition… the “Music” definition… the notes in D Dorian as related to the normal D major scale would be, “Root, 2nd, flatted 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, flatted 7th, and Root.” Then they tell you to memorize which notes are flatted in the Dorian mode. The C major scale has no flats or sharps. Therefore the Dorian mode (method of the playing) of the C major scale has no flats or sharps! Dorian mode doesn’t mean a new set of notes for the scale, it means a new way to play an old familiar scale that fits the music.

If you ask them to tell you the notes in G Dorian, they will say, “G, A, B flat, C, D, E, F, and G.” Those are the notes in the F major scale! That should be called F Dorian so that we know we’re using the F major scale.

Let’s see how they make it more ridiculous. Ask the notes in A Aeolian. You will hear, “A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and A.” Wait! That’s the C major scale! Of course it is. The Aeolian mode of the C major scale is the way of playing the C major scale from A to A, or with its sixth scale note as the tonal center. It is C Aeolian, not A Aeolian. You don’t need to learn a new set of steps for the Aeolian mode. Just play the C major scale that you already know, but start on the sixth note.

 

They want you to know:

D Dorian is the D major scale with the flatted 3rd and flatted 7th notes.

E Phrygian is the E major scale with the flatted 2nd, flatted 3rd, flatted 6th, and flatted 7th notes.

F Lydian is the F major scale with the sharped 4th note. (Wait, this one is sharped!!)

G Mixolydian is the G major scale with the flatted 7th note.

A Aeolian is the A major scale with the flatted 3rd, flatted 6th, and flatted 7th notes.

B Locrian is the B major scale with the flatted 2nd, flatted 3rd, flatted 5th, flatted 6th, and flatted 7th notes.

 

This is all unnecessary. It is just mental busy work. ALL OF THE ABOVE ARE SIMPLY THE C MAJOR SCALE WITH NO SHARPED OR FLATTED NOTES! WHY MAKE IT SO HARD?

 

Add to that the fact that some methods teach that A Aeolian really is the C major scale, they want you to memorize all the garbage above and to know things like D Aeolian is the B major scale, but D Phrygian is the B flat major scale, E Mixolydian is the A major scale. STOP!

If you used the first definition of the word “mode,” then E Mixolydian would mean you are playing the Mixolydian method of the E major scale. D Phrygian would still be the D major scale, the Phrygian way, and D Aeolian would also be the D major scale, but the Aeolian way. The modes were to originally intended to help make playing easier for Alex. Can you imagine what Alex would have said or done if Andy had put him through all the GARBAGE? He would have said, “No thanks,” and walked away, never knowing the ease and joy of playing music. How sad that would have been.

Well, good luck, then, students. If you must go through traditional music training, just remember that once you have learned your major scales, the modes are just different methods of playing them. The following might help:

 "focus" means for you to make that scale note the starting or ending note or the one you know would usually be the starting or ending note. Try making it the staring note to begin using it.

Ionian means focus on the 1st scale note - this fits the major chord.

Dorian means focus on the 2nd scale note - this fits the minor chord.

Phrygian means focus on the 3rd scale note - this fits the minor chord.

Lydian means focus on the 4th scale note - this fits the major chord.

Mixolydian means focus on the 5th scale note - this fits the dominant seventh chord.

Aeolian means focus on the 6th scale note - this fits the minor chord.

Locrian means focus on the 7th scale note - this fits the diminished chord.

 

Now, their way, you’ll have to figure out the real major scale. For example, with their way if they say E Phrygian, you’ve got to think that Phrygian really means start on the third scale note, so the actual major scale you’re playing is the scale you get when E is the third scale note, namely the C major scale. With their way if they say G Mixolydian, you’ve got to think that Mixolydian really means start on the fifth scale note, so the actual major scale you’re playing is the scale you get when G is the fifth scale note, namely the C major scale. What a PAIN!! But that’s the way “they” do it. I like my way better!

 

AND ONCE AGAIN, GOOD LUCK!

  

About the Author

Mike Ellis is currently teaching in the Dallas area and has thirty-four years of music instruction experience. Mike had the great fortune of being apprentice to one of the great teachers of our time, Mr. Terrill Gardner. Terrill taught Mike HOW to teach. Many musicians wish to "share" their knowledge, but have no training in the art of teaching. Mike’s website is https://www.mikeellismusicinstruction.com.

Mike has been in bands since he was thirteen and has played with all kinds of folks, even academy award winner Robert Duvall. He has recorded on multiple albums and in several studios in Dallas over the years. Not only is he a teacher, he's a performer as well.

But Mike's greatest rewards come from teaching. Mike has three children, all grown now, and loves to see growth of all kinds, but especially musical growth.

While at McCord Music Company, Mike was not only tutored by Terrill Gardner, but worked side-by-side with musical greats like Chuck Rainey (recorded with Aretha Franklin, Ricki Lee Jones, and a host of others), Greg Bissonett (UNT drummer who went on to play with David Lee Roth, Ringo Star, and many more), Mac Dougherty (jazz guitar teacher at Berklee College in Boston), and Christopher McGuire (classical guitarist extrodinaire who auditioned for Andres Segovia in Spain).

Mike completed "Modern Method for Guitar" books I, II, and III from Berklee college, attended the Johnny Smith Seminar in Dallas, and authored two chord theory books (guitar and keyboard). Check his website for more about Mike.

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                                                                Transcribing Music in Western Culture

and the Introduction of NUME

Copyright Michael S. Ellis 2008

 

 

Science - a branch of knowledge or study dealing with a body of facts or truths systematically arranged and showing the operation of general laws. - dictionary.com[1]

 

Creating music is an art. Transcribing music is a science. - Michael S. Ellis

 

In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual. - Galileo[2]

 

Western culture is the way of life derived from European countries, which was later brought to America. The transcribing of music in European and American cultures is different than the transcribing of music in many other cultures. In India, for example, music was passed on through dictation for centuries. It was not transcribed at all. Most methods of transcribing the music of a particular culture are closely tied to the instruments of that culture.

 

The Hydraulis was the oldest ancestor of the modern day church organ and the first musical instrument to utilize a system of manually operated piano key notes.[3] A Greek engineer named Ctesibius of Alexandria was the inventor of this ancient keyboard instrument in 250 BC. Using 3rd century BC technology, the pipes of the Hydraulis utilized an air compression mechanism that was powered by water (h dor means: water in Greek). Like modern pipe organs of today, each pipe of the Hydraulis was tuned to a specific tone or note . Although the piano key notes of the Hydraulis consisted only of seven basic notes (A, B, C, D, E, F, & G), it was a very popular and sought after form of musical entertainment in Greece and Rome during the first five centuries AD.

 

The five-line staff came into use about 1500.[4] This staff line notation goes very well with the early keyboard instruments that had only the seven natural notes, A B C D E F G, with no sharps or flats. Each line and space is a different sequential alphabetical letter. Today there are several types of clefs, such as the treble, bass, alto, tenor, French, soprano, and more. Each utilizes the five-line methodology, again having a sequential alphabetical letter on each line and space. Each staff affords the eye no assistance at this point, since the octaves of notes occupy relatively entirely different positions upon it, the octave of a space being invariably a line, and the octave of a line a space. Moreover, the octave of a bass line is always very differently located when it falls upon the treble staff, and, vice versa, the octave of a treble note falling in the bass is very differently placed. If a notation had to be made anew it would no doubt facilitate matters to make use of a staff so planned as to bring out the equivalence of octaves more perfectly. [5]

 

There is a problem in that when the sharps and flats were created on the keyboard, the number of lines and spaces in the popular notation did not change to accommodate these new notes. For example, the bottom line of the treble clef is an E note and the space above it represents an F note and there is not a note between E and F. The second line of this staff is a G note and the space above it is an A note and there is a note between G and A, but visually there was no obvious display to show the difference between the G line and A space versus the E line and F space. A further problem is that the note between G and A (namely G# or Ab ) has two names and can be viewed as being one note above G (G#) or as being one note below A (Ab). This automatically introduces unnecessary complication to understanding notes and their placement in the order of their sound. Also, the natural sign was introduced. Now, you can have F# followed by F natural followed by F# and all three dots on the staff line would be on the same line (more on this later in the discussion on key signatures). Also, the natural sign, when it appears, not only affects all notes of that type (F notes, for example) regardless of the line or space on which they are written, but that type of note stays natural only for the current measure and then returns to being sharp or flat as it was before the natural sign was inserted. Or it could go back to being sharp or flat within the current measure if the sharp or flat sign appears preceding the note within the measure. There are hundreds of pages on the Internet on how to read sharps, flats and naturals. This is a confusing and cumbersome operation requiring needless memorization of rules and steps. Other staff line derivations have been attempted and are shown at musicnotation.org/musicnotations/index.html.

 

The second problem with conventional notation is how the duration of the notes and rests are transcribed. The chart below gives you the different kinds of notes and rests used today.

 

 [6]

In 4/4 time, the whole note and whole rest each get four beats, the half note or rest each get two beats, the quarter note or rest each gets one beat, the eighth note or rest gets one half of a beat, the sixteenth note or rest each gets one fourth of a beat and you can have smaller increments, each splitting the previous.

 

However, in 12/8 time each value is doubled, since now an eighth note or rest each gets one beat. This means a quarter note gets two beats and so on.

 

Also, all the note and rest types have a different appearance, requiring memorization of each type.

Figure 1

 

The biggest discrepancy in the display of the duration values lies in the use of time signatures. Time signatures indicate with the top number (4/4, 12/8) the number of beats in the measure. A measure is indicated by placing a vertical bar line on the staff after each occurrence of the number of beats shown as the top number of the time signature. This can be helpful in dividing the sections or phrases of the music, as well as giving an indication of accent of certain beats (usually the first beat, unless other accent notation is shown further into the measure), but it can also be confusing because different types of notes can be assigned as having one beat.

 

The bottom number of the time signature (4/4, 12/8) tells which kind of note gets one beat. You could have 12/16 time in which the sixteenth note gets one beat. This means that the next larger note, the eighth note, gets two beats. The quarter note now gets four beats, the half note gets eight beats, and the whole note gets the full sixteen beats of the measure. The same timing applies to the rests. When you're used to seeing a quarter rest getting one beat, what appears to you to be one beat is now four beats and you have to keep this in mind as you play. It is not at all impossible, it just takes more work than showing one beat as a single type of notation. You might also see the difficulty in interpreting the whole and half rests in the chart, above.

 

The only logical portion of today's method of transcribing notes and rests is that the eighth note and rest each have one flag indicating the duration is cut in half from the quarter note or rest. The sixteenth note and rest each have two flags indicating the duration is again cut in half. One flag means cut the duration in half, two flags mean cut it in half again. There are 1/32nd notes with three flags (cutting the duration in half again) and 1/64th notes with four flags (cutting the duration in half yet again). So flags cut the beat in half, as many times as there are flags. That is easy to grasp and to see. The flags from two notes can be tied together or attached at the top (or bottom) of the note stems to provide even more clarity of beat.

 

The last word on time signatures and note duration is to discuss the dot. A dot after a note extends its duration by half as much as the note it follows. Duration can also be shown by tieing two notes with a curved line going from the round portion of one note to the round portion of the next note. In this case you play the first note and hold it for its duration and then also hold it for the duration of the next note. This tie can tie a note with any duration to the a note of the same pitch with any other duration, whereas the dot always means you are tieing the first note to a note of the same pitch whose duration is always half of that of the first note.

 

 

The dot notation[7] and explanation:

 

Figure 2

 
 

 

 

 

This may make transcribing easier, but it also makes for additional rules and memorization for the musician. While on this subject, it is necessary to interject here that the operative word in the last sentence was musician. This is a person who desires to make music on whatever instrument (including voice). Music is an abstract concept of beauty and simplicity, notes in sequential order and notes grouped to make us feel the emotions of the composer. Therefore, every attempt possible should be made to simplify how music is transcribed and conveyed to the beginner musician, and even to the advanced musician.

 

Probably the greatest point of confusion in Western music transcription is the Key Signature. Before going further, below is an image displaying some of the key signatures.[8]

Figure 3

 

 

The previous chart does not show all of the possible key signatures, such as the keys of G# and D# and others. These keys have double sharp considerations, making things even more complicated. A double sharp note is two notes above the normal note. The G## note is really an A note, but due to the requirement that major scales be notated in alphabetical order, the A note can not be called A but must be called G## instead. Keys with double flats also are possible. You need to understand why these key signatures became so involved and why they are so complicated.

 

According to a contributor to wikipedia.org, Key signatures are generally used in a score to avoid the complication of having sharp or flat symbols on every instance of certain notes. Each major and minor key has an associated key signature that sharpens or flattens the notes used in its scale. The article goes on to say, The purpose of the key signature is to minimize the number of accidentals required to notate the music. In principle, any piece can be written with any key signature. [9]

 

Looking at the first quote, you must again go back to the five-line staff line. The five lines and the five spaces (one above each line) do not accommodate the twelve notes we use. Originally having its source in the seven letters, A through G, the ten lines and spaces were more than enough for the seven letters. These seven lettered notes, when played from C to C gave the do-re-mi diatonic scale sound. However, when playing from D to D, the sound was darker and called minor. In order to get the same do-re-mi sound starting on a D note, a note had to be added between F and G, namely F# or Gb. Another had to be added between C and D, namely C# or Db. This process for each of the seven starting points (A-G) gave us the sharps and flats we have today. Writing for the key of C, you did not need sharps or flats, but for every other key you do. So back to the first sentence from Wikipedia, if you were to put the all of the required sharp notations at the start of the line, you would not have to put them on every occurrence of the note that needed to be sharped throughout the transcription of the song composition. But the musician has to remember which notes need to be sharped or flatted throughout the piece of music being played.

 

This brings us to the second quote, the purpose of the key signature is to minimize the number of accidentals required to notate the music. This very sentence is its own oxymoron. There is no such thing as an accidental note. Each note has its own sound and purpose, musically. The term accidental is to keep from saying sharps and/or flats. It is more succinct. Digging deeper, we find that in the Baroque period, when the concept of keys was established[10], the insistence of calling each of these accidentals by two names coupled with the insistence that all musical scales' notes maintain alphabetical order caused the different key signatures to be created.

 

For example, consider that the notes in the D major scale are D, E, F#, G, A, B, C#, and D. The notes in the Ab scale are Ab, Bb, C, Db, Eb, F, G, and Ab. Now look again and notice that the C# in the D major scale is called Db in the Ab major scale. Due to the five-line staff, transcribing a composition in the key of D will result in putting a # sign at the beginning of the staff line on the third space from the bottom line, to indicate that all C notes are to be sharped unless proceeded by a natural sign. On the other hand, to transcribe a composition in the key of Ab, you will see that there is a flat sign on the fourth line, counting from the bottom, indicating that all D notes are to be flatted. Although these are the same note, they are not even displayed on the same line or space of the staff line.

 

The most simple solution would be to stop using two names for each accidental and stop insisting on maintaining alphabetical order in the scales. The Ab major scale would be called the G# major scale and would read G#, A#, C, C#, D#, F, G, and G#. This would not only cause the half-steps to be more visible, but would eliminate calling C by the name B#, and calling F the name E#, and needing to call G the name F##, which would happen in the G# scale if alphabetical order was demanded. Also, if the double names were omitted and the staff line was increased by one line and space to accommodate twelve notes, no key signatures would be needed at all. An F# note would be on the line or space it should be on, thus eliminating key signatures, natural signs, notes automatically switching back to sharp or flat after the measure, and all of the complications and memorizations associated with key signatures.

 

My son was given a music scholarship to a major university. He was told that the next to last note in the G# scale was F## and that is what he must call it. My son replied, It's a G note. When the professor told him his test grade would be lowered if he did not call the note F##, my son insisted on calling it G. I'm a very PROUD father. By creating new names for familiar things, we cause confusion.

 

The major diatonic scale moves in what are called whole and half steps. A whole step is moving up in sound two notes, while a half step is moving up in sound one note. This is due to the do-re-mi sound produced by the C major scale, wherein the notes E and F as well as B and C do not have a note between them. With the early instruments that had only the alphabetical notes A through G, you moved up from one note to the next, or a step. With the introduction of the sharps and flats, a step from C to D now had a note in between and the term half step was introduced, because from C to D had always been one step. Therefore, the musical community now called the distance from C to D a whole step and the distance from E to F a half step. Why? Is it a half of a note from E to F? No, it is not. Furthermore, this interval from E to F can be called one note, or a half step, or a semitone, or a minor second interval. Once again, why? Why have four names to represent moving up one note in sound? If you look at the way notes progress through the major diatonic scale, the movements you take from the starting note are two notes, two notes, one note, two notes, two notes, two notes, and one note (2-2-1-2-2-2-1). Regardless of the starting note, you move up 2-2-1-2-2-2-1 and you get the do-re-mi sounds. They called these movements whole step, whole step, half step, whole step, whole step, whole step, half step (w-w-h-w-w-w-h). One half step equals one note and one whole step equals two notes. I think you can instantly see the confusion that this concept introduced.

 

The current staff lines of five lines are separated by some space, but within the space lie three alphabetic notes. On the space above the top line of the bass clef is the B note. On the space below the bottom line of the treble clef is a D note. Where is C? The C note can be shown on a partial line called a ledger line below the bottom line of the treble clef or above the top line of the bass clef. So the C note (or middle C note) can be shown in two places in the same piece of music. Isn't this also more confusing than showing it on one single place? Of course it is.

 

The last consideration of possible confusion and excess memorization requirements is the subject of intervals in standard Western notation. Below are two examples of the intervals of adjacent notes on the staff line in two different keys. The key signatures have intentionally been omitted. In the Key of D, the F note becomes F# and the C note becomes C#. From a line to a space or a space to a line can be one or two notes and is different in each of the two keys shown below. It is different for every key.


Figure 4

 

The intervals of notes in chords can be just as confusing. Look at Figure 5, at the intervals on each of the chords in the two different keys. What appears to be a uniform amount of space between the notes is not only not uniform, but the intervals from space to space are different than from line to line in both keys. Remember that in the key of D, the F note and C note both need to become sharped. You can understand, now, why additional memorization is required to determine the different intervals of similar looking chords.

Figure 5

 

 

As the complexity of chords increases, so does the required memorization of the intervals, because it is not visually inherent as to the distance between the notes in the current standard method of transcribing notes in Western culture.

 

While on the subject of the apparent display of intervals with the Western staff, it would be wise to eliminate the whole and half step methodology, entirely. There is no such thing on the keyboard as a half of a note. While some instruments can bend notes to half way between two notes, the keyboard and many other instruments cannot. The proper interval relationship between notes in the major diatonic scale is 2-2-1-2-2-2-1, as said before, and there is no need to obscure this by calling a one-note interval a half of a step. This is a throwback to the time when there were no sharp or flat notes and the distance from one note to the next was a step. This should have changed long ago.

 

Over the centuries many different methods of transcribing notes have been proposed, including a number of different staff line considerations and note types and styles. The Music Notation Project is a not-for-profit association dedicated to raising awareness of the disadvantages of traditional music notation, exploring alternative music notation systems, and providing resources for the wider consideration and use of these alternatives. You can view some of the considerations at the website http://musicnotation.org/. The Music Notation Project was formerly called the Music Notation Modernization Association (MNMA).

 

There are many chromatic notations (notations showing all twelve notes per octave) displayed, having staff lines with from one to seven lines per octave. Some use many additional ledger lines (lines above and below each staff), some use the x symbol to represent certain notes while others use the v symbol and the inverted v symbol. Some even propose different colored notes. While the purpose of modernizing music notation is to make it easier for the musician to read and transcribe music, many of these proposals seem to complicate the situation, instead. Although there are only a few examples of actual music shown on the site and also few representations of note durations and rests in the proposals shown on the website, there is much food for thought there.

 

All of the proposals seem to be focused on having the C note as the starting note of their octaves, as the C based diatonic scale is the common do-re-mi sound with no black notes and since the C note is supposedly the middle note on the average 88 key piano. Actually, the E note above middle C is really the 44th note of the 88 key piano. But it might just be easier to start the staff with the bottom line being the A note below what is now called middle C. This would make visualization and counting up to notes much easier and the use of A would be more logical to the beginner.

 

Since there are twelve notes, why doesn't each note have only one name and have its own line or space on the staff line? This would logically give us a six-line clef where the lines and spaces are each the sequential letters of the twelve notes, A A# B C C# D D# E F F# G and G#. Also have the bottom of the six lines always start with A, the first letter for the first line. The space above would be A#, the line above would be B, the space above would be C and so on, having the space above the top line (the sixth space and twelfth note) being G#. This would alleviate the double names and would make the sequences of notes visibly accurate. There would be no flats, only sharps. Consequently, major scales would no longer need to be described in alphabetical order. Thus, the intervals between notes would be more apparent on the staves as well as in letter order. For example, the F major scale would be F, G, A, A#, C, D, E, F. By knowing that E and F have no note between them, the half steps would be obvious from A to A# and from E to F, and from A# to C is obviously two notes.

 

Figure 6

 

 

In the diagrams above and below, the T represents the treble clef and the B represents the bass clef. In Figure 6, there is no note between the G# note on top of the bass clef and the A note on the bottom line of the treble clef. The spacing is for readability, only. Many of the proposed versions have the staves not separated, which makes it not only harder to read, but also does not allow for more space between, in order to show separate hand functions. If the bass and treble clef are separated to show right and left hand usage, conventional ledger lines can be added to accommodate this. Also, ledger lines can be added above the treble clef and below the bass clef, as shown in the examples below.

Figure 7

 

With a New Understanding Musical Expression, you should also consider the duration of pitches and of silence (rests). As shown in Figure 1, there are conventionally the five types of notes that are shown, along with the possibility of more. The 32nd and 64th notes are not entirely uncommon. The description to the right in Figure 1 explains that the note and rest durations are not always what they seem. A whole note is usually considered to receive four beats, but in 12/8 time, it can receive eight beats.

 

People who listen to music understand a beat. It is a tap of the foot or the nod of a head. The beat is the single primary pulse of all music. As the foot goes down, then it must come up to go down again for the next beat. You can say that the beat is broken into two parts, down and up. We know that beats can go faster and therefore can be broken down further into half again and half again of that, but the original beat is still one foot tap or head nod. Therefore, due to the fact that traditional notes duration values can change (as shown in Figure 1), this brings more complications and more memorization of excess rules. The solution is to never have a note or rest larger than one beat.

 

But what about a note that lasts more than one beat? Introduce a sustain marker. You have pitch markers and rest (or silence) markers. Why not have sustain markers. A pictorial view of the note, the rest, and the sustain markers and examples of usage are shown in Figure 8.

 

Figure 8

 

 

If a sustained note is on a line, the sustain marker is closer to the line. If the sustained note is in a space, the sustain marker is in the middle if the space. The sustain indicator may cause a little more work for the transcriber, but is much easier to see and understand for the reader, which should be the primary concern for music notation modernization. This will eliminate five or more different kinds of notes used, eliminate five or more different kinds of rests used, and eliminate the need for dotted notes of any kind. Think of the number of rules and memorizations that will be eliminated. The individual beat and its divisions will be the prime rhythm concept, as it is when you tap your foot. Off-beats will be instantly visible and understandable.

 

The next supposedly insurmountable obstacle is the concept of the key of a composition and how to display it. The original problem was that the different keys had different sharps and/or flats, and these needed to be memorized so that you could write a C# note in the same way you wrote a C note, but you would have a sharp symbol at the beginning of the staff line on only one of the C note lines or spaces. With chromatic staff notation, there is no need for a key signature at all for transcribing the composition. Sharps will have their own locations (lines or spaces) and will be indicated properly with no accidental notation required.

 

As a matter of fact, the designation of the bottom line as being an A note on each clef is really an arbitrary choice. If you wanted to assign a different note such as D, you could, as long as it was the bottom line of each clef. This would make transposing to another key almost instantaneous, as the intervals between the notes would remain the same, regardless of the bottom line note designation.

 

This brings us to the last topic, intervals. Figures 4 and 5 (above) show the disparity in the display of note intervals in the keys of C and D, using the traditional method of transcribing notes. It is not at all obvious or inherent as to the distance between the notes in sequence or the notes played together in chords. This is due to the complexity of key signatures. Figure 9 shows how it can be easily discernible as to the intervals in sequences or chords using the chromatic staff lines in the New Understanding of Musical Expression.

 

Figure 9

 

Here are some comparisons of standard transcribing and NUME (the New Understanding of Musical Expression) transcribing. In the first example, the issue of key and time signatures is obvious. This example uses the song Money, by Pink Floyd, which is in 7/4 time.

 


Figure 10

 

 

You can see in Figure 10 that the Key signature in the contemporary Western method is quite complex, as the song is in the key of B. The B in the NUME version represents the Bass clef, not the key. The NUME method, being chromatic, would customarily have the bottom line of each clef being an A note. The key would be obvious to anybody who knows scales and has a little music experience. The point here is that the NUME method is easier to see and understand, with less memorization required by the musician.

 

Counting in 7/4 is not usual to most musicians at the beginning and even intermediate level. In this case, it might be more beneficial to have the musician/student count four and three, alternately. You can easily see the complication using today's transcribing on the first line of Figure 11. The displayed time signature has to be shown for each measure. This is not only cumbersome for the transcriber, but is clutter for the reader.


Figure 11

 

 

On the second line and third lines of Figure 11, it is easy to see the four beats or three beats in the measures. Measures are to be helpful in phrasing and feeling, not a device that makes music harder to learn. Look at an excerpt from the Dave Brubeck classic Take Five.


Figure 12

 

The key signature, the time signature, the different kinds of rests, the sharp and natural signs are all unnecessary when using the NUME methodology and the beats are actually visible, and the measures can be split in a way that can actually help the reader decipher this complex rhythm. Triplets, as shown in Figure 12, and grace notes can still use traditional notation. Directional indicators like DS al Coda can still be used or replaced by English terminology.

 

Finally, a section of a contemporary work by Sir Paul McCartney is displayed below, with right and left hand separation. The left hand's four beats in each measure are clearly visible and the syncopation of the right hand is more perceptible than with today's Western transcription methodology.

 

Lady Madonna

 

Figure 13

 

 

The NUME methodology is not intended to replace current Western music transcription, but its ease of learning and viewing certainly make it a viable alternative and a valuable addition to the current means of expressing music for all to enjoy.

 

Below, you will see the complete tutorial for NUME (the New Understanding of Musical Expression) note transcribing. You will not need to spend months memorizing rules, and exceptions to those rules, to be able to understand how to read and write in the NUME methodology. Helping the musician means simplifying the enormous amount of confusion that the current Western method of note transcribing has caused and clarifying the way melodies and chords are constructed and used.

 

Nume Note Transcribing

copyright Michael S. Ellis 2008

 

Figure 14

 

Transcribing Music in Western Culture

and the Introduction of NUME

Copyright Michael S. Ellis 2008

 

 

Science - a branch of knowledge or study dealing with a body of facts or truths systematically arranged and showing the operation of general laws. - dictionary.com[1]

 

Creating music is an art. Transcribing music is a science. - Michael S. Ellis

 

In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual. - Galileo[2]

 

Western culture is the way of life derived from European countries, which was later brought to America. The transcribing of music in European and American cultures is different than the transcribing of music in many other cultures. In India, for example, music was passed on through dictation for centuries. It was not transcribed at all. Most methods of transcribing the music of a particular culture are closely tied to the instruments of that culture.

 

The Hydraulis was the oldest ancestor of the modern day church organ and the first musical instrument to utilize a system of manually operated piano key notes.[3] A Greek engineer named Ctesibius of Alexandria was the inventor of this ancient keyboard instrument in 250 BC. Using 3rd century BC technology, the pipes of the Hydraulis utilized an air compression mechanism that was powered by water (h dor means: water in Greek). Like modern pipe organs of today, each pipe of the Hydraulis was tuned to a specific tone or note . Although the piano key notes of the Hydraulis consisted only of seven basic notes (A, B, C, D, E, F, & G), it was a very popular and sought after form of musical entertainment in Greece and Rome during the first five centuries AD.

 

The five-line staff came into use about 1500.[4] This staff line notation goes very well with the early keyboard instruments that had only the seven natural notes, A B C D E F G, with no sharps or flats. Each line and space is a different sequential alphabetical letter. Today there are several types of clefs, such as the treble, bass, alto, tenor, French, soprano, and more. Each utilizes the five-line methodology, again having a sequential alphabetical letter on each line and space. Each staff affords the eye no assistance at this point, since the octaves of notes occupy relatively entirely different positions upon it, the octave of a space being invariably a line, and the octave of a line a space. Moreover, the octave of a bass line is always very differently located when it falls upon the treble staff, and, vice versa, the octave of a treble note falling in the bass is very differently placed. If a notation had to be made anew it would no doubt facilitate matters to make use of a staff so planned as to bring out the equivalence of octaves more perfectly. [5]

 

There is a problem in that when the sharps and flats were created on the keyboard, the number of lines and spaces in the popular notation did not change to accommodate these new notes. For example, the bottom line of the treble clef is an E note and the space above it represents an F note and there is not a note between E and F. The second line of this staff is a G note and the space above it is an A note and there is a note between G and A, but visually there was no obvious display to show the difference between the G line and A space versus the E line and F space. A further problem is that the note between G and A (namely G# or Ab ) has two names and can be viewed as being one note above G (G#) or as being one note below A (Ab). This automatically introduces unnecessary complication to understanding notes and their placement in the order of their sound. Also, the natural sign was introduced. Now, you can have F# followed by F natural followed by F# and all three dots on the staff line would be on the same line (more on this later in the discussion on key signatures). Also, the natural sign, when it appears, not only affects all notes of that type (F notes, for example) regardless of the line or space on which they are written, but that type of note stays natural only for the current measure and then returns to being sharp or flat as it was before the natural sign was inserted. Or it could go back to being sharp or flat within the current measure if the sharp or flat sign appears preceding the note within the measure. There are hundreds of pages on the Internet on how to read sharps, flats and naturals. This is a confusing and cumbersome operation requiring needless memorization of rules and steps. Other staff line derivations have been attempted and are shown at musicnotation.org/musicnotations/index.html.

 

The second problem with conventional notation is how the duration of the notes and rests are transcribed. The chart below gives you the different kinds of notes and rests used today.

 

 [6]

In 4/4 time, the whole note and whole rest each get four beats, the half note or rest each get two beats, the quarter note or rest each gets one beat, the eighth note or rest gets one half of a beat, the sixteenth note or rest each gets one fourth of a beat and you can have smaller increments, each splitting the previous.

 

However, in 12/8 time each value is doubled, since now an eighth note or rest each gets one beat. This means a quarter note gets two beats and so on.

 

Also, all the note and rest types have a different appearance, requiring memorization of each type.

Figure 1

 

The biggest discrepancy in the display of the duration values lies in the use of time signatures. Time signatures indicate with the top number (4/4, 12/8) the number of beats in the measure. A measure is indicated by placing a vertical bar line on the staff after each occurrence of the number of beats shown as the top number of the time signature. This can be helpful in dividing the sections or phrases of the music, as well as giving an indication of accent of certain beats (usually the first beat, unless other accent notation is shown further into the measure), but it can also be confusing because different types of notes can be assigned as having one beat.

 

The bottom number of the time signature (4/4, 12/8) tells which kind of note gets one beat. You could have 12/16 time in which the sixteenth note gets one beat. This means that the next larger note, the eighth note, gets two beats. The quarter note now gets four beats, the half note gets eight beats, and the whole note gets the full sixteen beats of the measure. The same timing applies to the rests. When you're used to seeing a quarter rest getting one beat, what appears to you to be one beat is now four beats and you have to keep this in mind as you play. It is not at all impossible, it just takes more work than showing one beat as a single type of notation. You might also see the difficulty in interpreting the whole and half rests in the chart, above.

 

The only logical portion of today's method of transcribing notes and rests is that th

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A TEACHER SPEAKS OUT

Copyright Mike Ellis 2013

 

Before we start, let me introduce myself. My name is Mike Ellis. I live in Dallas, Texas, and have been a musicologist in the true sense of the word for fifty years. I have taught guitar, bass guitar, banjo, keyboard and sitar, and have twenty-five years of full time teaching experience and fifteen years of part-time teaching experience. I played by ear in numerous bands for ten years before I began teaching. In 1972, I had the good fortune to be taken under the wing of the late Mr. Terrill Gardner, who taught me music and how to teach it. Terrill took me from playing by ear to the completion of three volumes of Modern Method for Guitar from Berkley College, in Boston. This was note reading to the fullest extent. Terrill told me that if I was going to teach, I had to be qualified in all areas, not just playing by ear. He also taught me music theory and chord theory in a manner that allowed me to author Chordmaster Chord Theory for Keyboard and Chordmaster Chord Theory for Guitar in later years. Now, let s get started.

 

How important is note reading?

 

So many parents are told the necessity of note reading and the values of a classical approach to learning music. Why is that? I won't address that until later. First I want to ask you a couple of questions. Who were the most successful contemporary artists of the twentieth century (and maybe of all time)? The answer, of course is the Beatles. The second most successful and undoubtedly the longest lasting artists are the Rolling Stones. How many of them could read notes during the peak of their careers? Let s see, there were four Beatles and five Rolling Stones and NONE of them could read a note. They spawned the British Invasion of which most of the artists couldn t read a note. How important, then, is note reading? It s certainly not necessary to write monster hit songs like Yesterday, Something, Satisfaction, and a huge list of others. At one time, the Beatles held five of the top ten hits on the charts all at the same time. And they couldn t read a note.

So what is the importance of note reading? Well, some say it s so you can communicate more ideas. A young musician can read the dots on the page and play the music written by another musician. A little dispute may be necessary here. In the first place, terms like legato and pianissimo are used to try to convey the mood and emotion of the author. This is supposed to be true, but any musician who only reads dots on a page is not a musician at all. Anybody can play the piano like a typewriter, but very few (comparatively) improvise well. The term jazz implies improvisation on a theme. Its roots lie in the southern United States where the local musicians would get together and jam songs and blues progressions. Therefore, when my son entered jazz band in high school and had to read the notes to play, I was appalled, literally. This is the antithesis to jazz as a concept and an art form and I taught him that, as well as how to improvise.

So what IS the importance of note reading? The answer is that it is important to those who believe it is necessary. It's for people who mistakenly believe it is the proper way to learn music. Now, don't get me wrong. You don't just spring forth with your own unique ideas. All music is evolutionary in that it is based on learning what others did. Therefore, note reading CAN be a useful tool in learning what other artists composed, but you can never translate those dots on the page into the absolutely true feel and meaning of the original artist. It s just not possible without hearing the original artist perform the piece. In doing that, imitation becomes much more pure and inflections that give music its true meaning can also be copied.

Should you skip note reading? I didn't and I don't ever recommend it. However, be careful how you approach it and with whom you approach it. The worst example I can relate is the graduate of the University of North Texas who held a degree in music, but didn't know where a middle C was on the guitar. All the guitar note reading methods I have ever seen pretend that middle C is on the 3rd fret of the 5th string. This is because if you say that middle C is truly on the 1st fret of the 2nd string, all the notes on strings 3, 4, 5, and 6 would be in the bass clef. So what, you might ask, is wrong with that? Well, in grade school, you learn the treble clef. Remember? Every Good Boy Does Fine and F-A-C-E? But most kids don't learn the bass clef; so the music community somehow agreed to all pretend that middle C is on the 5th string, putting all the notes on strings 4, 3, 2, and 1 in the treble clef.

Just a side note, did anybody tell you that if you look at the Every Good Boy Does Fine and F-A-C-E notes sequentially through the lines and spaces of the treble clef that it turns out to be E-F-G-A-B-C-D-E-F? That's right, it's just the alphabet. But they never told you that. How much easier would it really have been if you figured that out? It's just simply the alphabet. That's not so hard.

But there's more. It must have been almost half a year of piano lessons before I was introduced to the un-natural black notes; those hard to play notes that were shorter and harder to reach had two names each! And you were supposed to memorize them, the sharps and flats. I had no idea that there was really a note between F and G, but not one between B and C. If somebody asked me (and when I ask my students) the note above F, they always say G until I explain to them the way the notes really move. All this brings up the subject of key signatures and the memorization of them and how many sharps and flats are in each key and more complications. I first heard about the circle of 5ths from Terrill when I was an eleven-year veteran of guitar.

While writing music on the staff line, it is easier for the author to put the key signature at the start of the piece instead of notating a sharp every time it occurs in the music. This is supposed to be easier. But the player has to remember that when they see an F note in the key of G, for example, it s not an F note at all, it's really an F# note, any time it occurs. Well, sometimes the author may want an F natural note, so on those few occasions, they can add a natural sign preceding the F dot on the staff line. More confusingly, this F remains natural for the rest of the measure, but not the rest of the song. So an F in a previous measure is really F#, but if the F in a particular measure has a natural sign in front of it, it is played as F natural because of the natural sign, but the next F in that measure that does not have a natural sign in front of it is not played as an F#, it is played as an F natural, then it goes back to being F# after that measure. Did you get all that? Whew!

And all of this detracts from the intent of the original musician's creative idea. Believe me. As long as you are thinking about how to play each note, you are missing at least some of the feel of the piece. And I haven't forgotten the question in the first paragraph of this section. Why are so many parents told the necessity of note reading and the values of a classical approach to learning music? Let's be perfectly honest here. What takes longer, showing a student where to put their fingers to get a cool sound or running them through six months or more of Mary Had a Little Lamb? Mary's lamb, of course. So what will take a week to complete and what will take a semester to complete? Can you say More Money? What can they write a test on, how you play something or the memorization of lines and spaces on the clef? Actually, it is probably that it is just the way the music teacher learned and therefore the way they believe it should be taught.

Quite a few of the private teachers paid big bucks for their music education and it had better pay off, even if you don't know where middle C is on your instrument. And what is up with blowing a trumpet with no valves pressed, sounding a B flat note, and calling that B flat note C? It's a B flat. Call it B flat. The title of this essay is A Teacher Speaks Out and if you don't want the truth, just stop reading now. I tell my students the complications of note reading to justify why I don t start their lessons with the staff line and note reading. We play music first, then read notes if they ask me to teach them that. Most don't.

Lastly, consider one other culture. In India, it is customary to go and live with the master to learn to play the sitar. He shows you the physical attributes of the instrument and then dictates the notes you are to play and how you are to play them. Literally, he or she speaks the notes without writing anything. You repeat the process until you master each section of the music. Ours is not the only culture with music or music training and reading notes is not a worldwide practice. When the great Ravi Shankar came to America to perform a piece he had composed in honor of the late George Harrison, he brought about thirty musicians from India with him. They were to perform the piece with American performers. He dictated to each of the Indian performers their part. When he tried to dictate the parts to the American musicians, there was a huge problem. They had to get somebody who could hear the dictation and write it down for them on the staff lines. This was pretty frustrating to Mr. Shankar, as he voiced his frustration in a subsequent interview (see the DVD "A Concert for George"). Later, when he wanted to make a correction or modification, he dictated the change to the Indian musician(s) and it was done. When he went to the Americans, you guessed it sort of, they not only had to have the change written down, they had to re-write the whole piece to include the change so it wouldn't be scribbled in by hand. Mr. Shankar was more frustrated with this and it embarrasses me to this day for all the American musicians that were involved and all that would have made the same requirement of him. That s most of the educated musicians in America! Again whew!

 

What about interval studies? Do players really use them?

 

Let s be realistic. Of course players use interval studies. You need to be able to tell how far up or down one note is from another. The problem with music educators is in the way that these studies are presented. A quick example is that selecting a note then using the note that is up a major third interval, and then using the note that is up a minor third interval from the last note creates the major trichord. Now did you get that? How about this: playing a note, then playing the note that is four notes above it, then playing the note three notes above that one gives you a major chord. I mean, trichord just means a three-note chord. Here's a quote from an encyclopedia: The most commonly used chords in Western music, triads, are the basis of diatonic harmony, and are tertian chords. What? It continues, That is, they are composed of a root note, a note which is a third above the root, and a note which is a third above that note, and therefore a fifth above the root. Well, actually the last interval is a minor third above the second note, but who's counting? Since the type of third mentioned last was not specified as being a minor third then if you used a major third, you would not have been making a major chord at all. You would have been making an augmented chord. If you don't know what I'm talking about, go through my Chord Theory books. If you do know what I meant, then you can easily see that how things are said can be very important.

So let's drop the lingo and talk. A major third interval really is four notes up, but c'mon. If I don't have your definitions, I don't know what you re talking about. And yes, a minor third interval is three notes up, but the same thing applies here. A seventh chord is made by playing a note, then go up a major third, then go up a minor third, then go up a minor third again. What? How about taking a major chord and add the note that is two notes below the root note (the note you started on)? Isn't that still true? Of course it is. And what do thirds have to do with sevenths?

You could say that to make a tetrachord (four note chord for all of the normal folks out there), such as the dominant seventh chord (like G7), you make the major tertian chord and add the note that is a major second below the tonic note. What? You could say that the dominant seventh tone is five major second intervals above the tonic. What? When was the last time you needed to find the dominant seventh scale note by going up five major second intervals? Ever? Well, interval studies dealing with ear training are very useful. But to make a written test full of what are the major and minor intervals for so-in-so? is simply more stuff to take up a semester at school and get a good grade in class. When I hear a flat seven scale note followed by a lower flat third scale note, it is familiar to me because I heard it used in a song and liked it, so I figured out how to play that sound that I liked. Well, if you don't know what my lingo was talking about, you should go through my Chord Theory books. There's one for guitar and one for keyboard shown at the bottom of this document.

I concede on the fact that you need definitions, like what a Root is and what a flat third is, and so on, but it can be done so much easier than it is usually presented. They say that a minor third (or a flat third) scale note is a major second and a minor second above the Root. Major and minor? Second? What the heck? It's true, but a major second interval is just two notes up and a minor second interval is one note up. Let's hear that again, a minor second interval means go up one note. Why not say, Go up one note? So a minor third note is really just three notes above the root. Oh, that's too easy. You can't say it that way. A major seventh scale note is a major third, a minor third, and a major third above the tonic note. What? It's a minor second below the tonic. What? Go down one note from your Root. Oh wait, that's too easy!

So how interval studies are presented is what I'm speaking out against, not the interval studies themselves. I know that a major seventh note is one note below the Root. That is interval study at work, but in a practical layman's way. This brings me to the next point.

 

Who made music so hard? Is it really so complicated?

 

There are, I'm sure, music historians out there who actually know (or think they do) the answer to the first question, Who made music so hard? I have suspicions of my own. In the early days of what we call Western music (I don t mean Country and Western), which is the music of Europe and North America, the music was primarily formally composed for religious reasons, for the Holy Roman Empire. Consider the Roman calendar having twelve months, and the twelve disciples, and the chromatic scale having twelve notes. There s another one for you, chromatic just means every note, and so what is chromatic about it? Consider the Roman calendar having seven-day weeks, and the seven days of Creation, and our major scale having seven notes. Wait, it has eight notes. No, it has seven and you repeat the first note an octave higher as the eighth (get it, octave?). Consider the Holy Trinity from the Roman Catholic Church and the major chord (also called the major triad). Now, I can't say for sure that there is a relationship there, because I m not a music historian, but while the common man sang his little stories while playing a lute or whatever, the guys writing for the Emperor and/or the Church and were writing more complex music were getting paid big bucks! Would they want to share their knowledge and lose that income? If not, how could they protect their income?

Maybe by explaining what they did in such a way that the common man just couldn't grasp it right off. Only with months of studying the lingo they used and following the hugely complex rules and memorizations could they ever get it. Well, the girls liked the little story songs, so why get so involved with all of the rules and complexities? The ethnomusicology course I took in college said that the average person can retain in memory phrases of about five to seven notes in length, and that's all. Sure, people could hear and appreciate complex music, but they couldn't remember and reproduce it. This brings up another point. Our contemporary music is still simple little stories, but now they have drums and bass and keyboard and synthesizers and distortion pedals and other effects. But they are still pretty much just simple stories set to music. The common man is still in the majority. Ask yourself, "Is music in other countries this complicated?" How about the music in Borneo? It is music, too.

Now, for the second question, Is it really so complicated? If music were really necessarily so complicated, the British Invasion would never have happened, the Delta blues players would never have existed, and the minstrels would never have existed. That was in reverse order on purpose. We haven't really changed, as said before. No, music can be really easy to understand and fun to play. You don't need to read notes (see the Beatles reference, above) and you don't need to learn all of the extremely complicated interval lingo, and you don't need years of schooling to grasp playing any instrument. You may need to physically practice to become proficient on an instrument. Some people are naturals with the physical aspects. But, if I can do it, you can do it. If he or she can do it, you can do it. Of course there is going to be some complexity to it, but before you go enroll in your community college or local university, try to find a teacher who will present music to you in laymen's terms. It may be hard to find one, but they are out there.

 

Closing remarks

 

My son was attending Dallas Baptist University on a music scholarship. When writing out the G# major scale, he ran into an F## (F double sharp) terminology. Since # means go up one note (hahahaha you could say go up a minor second interval hahahaha), then ## means go up two notes. Up two notes from an F note is a G note. He called it G and his professor said, "You must call it F##, John." John replied, "It's a G." The professor impatiently said, "You have to call it F##, John." John replied, "It's a G" emphatically. The professor said, "I'll have to dock your grade unless you call it F##, John." John replied, "It's a G. Listen to it. It's a G note." Well, he got his grade docked, but he never called G by the name F## and I was never more proud. By the way, if they had been working on the A flat scale instead of calling that scale the G# scale to begin with, the F## note would have been called a G!!!

 

So, good luck, and I hope you enjoy CHORDMASTER Chord Theory for Guitar and/or the piano version, CHORDMASTER Chord Theory for Keyboard. You can also get CHORDMASTER for Beginner Piano Students. All three are available at Amazon.com.