|
jerry@jcrmusic.com
|
DulciTheory Newsletter -- Issue #7: Chords in the Keys of G and A
publisher: Jerry Rockwell
email: jcrockwell@gmail.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
INTRO TO ISSUE #7
9-11
This is the first issue since the WTC tragedy, and we all find ourselves
in a very different kind of world. Our hearts go out to the victims and
their families.
When the going gets tough, the tough get going! The people of NYC are
extremely resilient, as are the American people. We have confidence and
faith that we will pull through this ordeal stronger and freer than
ever!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In this issue, we'll continue from #6 by actually building the main
chords used for the Keys of G as well as A on our D-A-D tuned dulcimer.
You may want to review #6 to make sure you have a strong foundation in
knowing how the G and A major scales are mapped out on the D-A-D
fingerboard.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONTENTS:
1.) Scale-Tone Triads in G Major: Steps ONE through FOUR
2.) Scale-Tone Triads in A Major: Repeating the process used for G
3.) Thinking Out Loud About the Future of DulciTheory and jcrmusic.com
(alot of hot air!)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
*************************************************************************
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.) SCALE-TONE TRIADS IN G MAJOR
STEP ONE: Build a G Major Scale
Get yourself a piece of fresh staff paper and a nice sharp pencil. Draw
out a complete G Major Scale starting on the G that is on the second
line from the bottom, and winding up an octave higher on the G that sits
right on top of the staff. [refer to p.17 in the Theory Book where I
have done everything for the Key of D.]
STEP TWO: Stack Your Triads Up
Stack two notes on top of each note of the G Major Scale -- in Thirds,
or line-line-line, space-space-space. [see the bottom of p.17] These are
called The Scale-Tone Triads, and these three-note chords or "triads"
comprise the essential harmonies of ANY scale or mode.
It was a real breakthrough for me when I discovered that certain chords
have their GENESIS within the pitch resources contained in a particular
scale. For example, the notes in the G Major Scale generate the G, C,
and D7 chords -- the main chords used to harmonize melodies in the Key
of G.
STEP THREE: Identify Each Chord
Above each chord, put its "POP" chord symbol, or the most commonly used
symbol. For instance, instead of writing out "G Major", simply put "G".
I usually abbreviate "A minor" as "Am", but there are a few other
abbreviations. Refer to the Theory Book if you need to -- you can see
how I did it with D.
STEP FOUR: Identify Each Chord With A Roman Numeral
Either next to the standard chord symbols, or above another G Scale-Tone
Triads staff, identify each triad with a Roman Numeral. These are SO
essential to understanding HIERARCHY and FUNCTION!!! I hope you
eventually get where you see that its basically all ONE BIG HAPPY MAJOR
KEY.
2.) SCALE-TONE TRIADS IN A MAJOR
If you can successfully map out your triads in G, I don't expect you to
have any trouble at all applying the four steps to an A major scale --
so GO FOR IT!
To get the jump on next issue's content, go right ahead and apply the
triads from this issue to your D-A-D dulcimer. HINT: it WON'T always be
possible to voice the chords on the dulcimer in close-spaced root
position as the scale tone triads are when we build them on the staff.
You'll have all the notes you need on the dulcimer, but you'll just have
to get creative with flipping them around, spreading them out, and
mixing them up.
....................................
3.) Thinking Out Loud About the Future of DulciTheory and jcrmusic.com
Don't feel like you have to wade through all of this stuff, and many of
you will probably have little interest in some of the details. I throw
it out there because it is what I'm thinking right now, and I really
would love to get your feedback on any part of it that concerns you. But
feel free to skim through it quickly -- you'll have more time to play
your dulcimer, and that's ALWAYS a GOOD THING!
SHORTER LENGTH/HIGHER FREQUENCY (hey....wait a minute!!! that's just
like strings!)
---> Starting with this issue, I'm going to try a shorter length for
each issue -- hoping that I will be able to turn these newsletters out
more often -- maybe even once a week if I can get in the swing of it.
(no guarantees, though)
- I will try to stick with the order of topics as listed on the web
site, as this is roughly how they appear in the book. I might change my
mind though, and I'll try to update the web site when I do.
- I'm (very) slowly working toward more synergy between this newsletter
and what I have posted on jcrmusic.com. For instance, I might include a
little section of tab in the newsletter and give you a link to the
expanded version on the web site, which will include standard musical
notation and tab (most of the time, anyway).
- And that brings me to one of my favorite problem spots: "How to get
standard music notation on the web?" This is a very aggravating
situation -- there are too many software companies re-inventing the
wheel, and offering their complete PROPRIETARY solutions for this. I'm
totally sick of it, and I really wish there were some standards to be
followed [what ever happened to NIFF?? :-( ??], but I'm afraid the
standards do not exist, and it is a jungle out there. My best solution
is to create pdf documents (readable by Adobe's free Acrobat Reader)
from Mosaic (my notation and tab program). However, this will probably
have to wait for some time in the future when there is an OS X version
of Mosaic, and even though I supposedly have the pdf technology buried
deep in the bowels of OS X 10.1, it is not clear to me how to unleash
this glorious technology right now. If any of you out there reading this
are using Mac OS X, it would be great to hear from you!
LOOKING TOWARD A BUSINESS MODEL
---> As I look toward gradually increasing my time spent in content-
creation for jcrmusic.com, and DulciTheory, I am forced to find a way to
generate some income -- this is simply a fact of life. I have been doing
alot of reading on the web and in the weekly IT journals (I get about 5
of these -- talk about alphabet soup!), and the entire web community is
struggling with these same issues: whether to have a paid "subscription
model", which is proven to drive off about 85% of your subscribers; or
have a "tipping model", which is a totally voluntary contribution; or to
have a paid subscription that gives you access to unique or "special"
content.
- I have a VERY strong belief in the web as it was conceived by its
"maker" Tim Berners-Lee. I think 95% of all content should be free, so
all the content on my web site will be totally free for the forseeable
future: no toll booths and no passwords into "special areas". I may try
and figure out a way to offer up something extra-cool for people who go
out of their way to make a sizeable contribution to my efforts, though
this will more likely take the form of free CDs, books, or even
dulcimers!
- I will probably institute a "tipping page" on jcrmusic.com at some
time in the future -- probably when I feel I have a really huge
"encyclopedic" amount of mountain dulcimer instruction up there -- its
not there yet, but it may be within the next year or two. I will
probably have a large range of levels for tipping: allowing $10
contributions as well as those over $50.
HOW TO GET FEEDBACK
---> How To Get Feedback? Yes....the first few issues I relentlessly
whined about not getting enough feedback from you, the readers of
DulciTheory, so I wasn't sure of what I should cover and how useful the
information was to you. Well.....I guess I got sick of whining, but I
also realized that when you have a "one-to-many" or "newsletter" type of
list like this (where you-all can't post), it is simply the nature of
the beast. I guess its almost like TV or radio, in that you just have to
imagine all your recipients out there.
1. So maybe I should start a second list that sort of complements
DulciTheory, where it would be an open discussion and every subscriber
can post? I think this would be great if it were broader in scope than
DulciTheory, though it should still have a very strong focus on YOUR
QUESTIONS related to anything in the mountain dulcimer playing realm:
techniques, practice, arranging, theory, composing, improvising,
performing, duets and ensemble, etc. I think I would have to be pretty
hard-nosed about not having any sort of chit-chat, because that seems
just a collosal waste of our time. This would NOT be a list where I
would try to sell my dulcimers!! I'd like to keep the focus on YOU the
player, and how I can help you get more music out of your dulcimer.
Anyway, let me know what you think of this idea -- personally I think
the discussion could support DulciTheory nicely, as well as include many
other folks who don't give a hoot about Theory.
2. Another idea I have for the future is to institute some really beefy
interactive features on jcrmusic.com. By "really beefy", I mean features
like diagnostic exams, where you can get instant feedback about where
you are in your knowledge of the dulcimer fingerboard -- what chords you
know -- what keys you can play in -- what modes are accessible, and so
on. The main problem here is this kind of server-side programming is a
quantum leap for jcrmusic.com, and requires me to find the time to do
the coding and the testing....and more testing.....and more testing. So
I wouldn't expect this anytime soon, though I do have a burning desire
to introduce this sort of interactivity eventually.
DVD VIDEO DULCIMER LESSONS?
---> The march of technology is a dizzying thing! You certainly can't
stop it, so you might as well climb onboard! I realized this week that I
may not be very far from capturing uncompressed digital video at a
respectable frame-rate (through FireWire) and burning a DVD-R that
anyone can play on their home DVD player. I think this is an absolutely
FABULOUS way of delivering dulcimer instruction, and I'm barking up this
very tree at the moment. There is some investment in hardware involved,
but its getting cheaper day by day. As soon as I know more about these
possibilities, I will have some info on my web site.
Well........thanks for suffering through all this junk with me, and
please let me know what you think:
jcrockwell@gmail.com
Thanks!
Jerry
|