Understanding basic tonic chord structure and how the singer can find her note from the pitch blown

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Candace Horn
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1 Understanding basic tonic chord structure and how the singer can find her note from the pitch blown The goal of the class is to help you find your starting note when the pitch is blown. There will be a short explanation of where the notes lie on the staff and keyboard, and accidental notation. We will discuss basic music theory: understanding the intervals in a major scale; singing the intervals in a major scale, understanding how a chord is created and how to find your note in the initial chord once the pitch is blown. 1

2 Getting to know you! The aim of this class is to help you understand chord structure and where, in the chord, you are singing in terms of pitch in relation to the key note and how you can find your starting note in the tuning chord. You don t have to read music or understand the keyboard or names of the keys though it is helpful. There will be a short explanation of where the notes lie on the staff and keyboard, and accidental notation. We ll discuss this information very quickly to get us started and as a quick review for some. The handouts will help get you started on that information. To start I d like to know where you are in your knowledge and understanding of basic music theory. 2

The treble and bass clefs A staff is made up of five horizontal lines and four spaces. Pitches are named after the first seven letters of the alphabet (A B C D E F G).

3 The treble and bass clefs A staff is made up of five horizontal lines and four spaces. Pitches are named after the first seven letters of the alphabet (A B C D E F G). A clef is a musical symbol placed at the beginning of the staff that determines the letter names of the lines and spaces. The two main clefs are the treble and the bass: 3

4 Grand Staff 4

5 The names of the notes on the grand staff Middle C sits between the staves; Some easy ways to remember the names of notes on the staves: Treble clef neumonics: spaces DFACE; lines: Every Good Boy Does Fine 5

6 Bass Clef Neumonics Bass clef neumonics: spaces DFACE; lines: Every Good Boy Does Fine 6

Notes on the keyboard The names of the notes on the keyboard are, beginning with C,(C is the white key preceding two black keys) are C,D,E,F,G,A,B an octave is the distance from one note to the same

7 Notes on the keyboard The names of the notes on the keyboard are, beginning with C,(C is the white key preceding two black keys) are C,D,E,F,G,A,B an octave is the distance from one note to the same one below or above in the same relative place. A note is sharped (#) when played a half step higher or the note immediately above A note is flatted (b) when played a half step lower or the note immediately below. 7

8 The Major Scale In the grander world of music there are several scales in which music can be written. In western music the most common are major and minor; in barbershop most of our music is in the major scale and we will concentrate on that. A major scale is made up of the following interval steps: whole, whole, half, whole whole, whole, half. It doesn t matter on which note the scale begins, the relationship of one note to the others is always the same. Here is the visual representation of a C major scale 8

9 More about the major scale The first note of a major scale is called the key note, or tonic, or doh, or the first degree note of the scale. The second note of the scale is the second degree note, etc on up to the seventh degree note Each note the major scale is given a solfege name: doh, re, mi, fa, sol, la ti This is the case no matter what key the scale is in 9

10 Key signatures for the major keys 10

Intervals I. Intervals: A. The smallest interval used in Western music is the half step. A visual representation on the keyboard would be the distance between any two consecutive notes B.

11 Intervals I. Intervals: A. The smallest interval used in Western music is the half step. A visual representation on the keyboard would be the distance between any two consecutive notes B. A whole step is the distance between every two consecutive notes on the keyboard C. On a music chart, notes are one full step apart when one is on a space and the next is on a line except from E-F and B-C. The interval between E to F and B to C are half steps on the keyboard and therefore on the staff 11

12 Hints to help find intervals In finding your note in a chord, it is important to be able to hear and identify intervals. Here is a list of familiar songs that will help you to identify the major scale ascending and descending intervals. 12

13 Hints to finding intervals Ascending M2 Happy Birthday, Silent Night M3 Kum Ba Yah, Michael Row the Boat, P4 Here comes the bride, We wish you a Merry Xmas M5: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star M6: NBC theme music; My Bonnie M7: Bali Hai 1st note to 3rd note P8: Somewhere Over the rainbow, Take Me Out to the Descending M2: Three Blind Mice M3: Swing Low Sweet Chariot, Summertime P4: Born Free, Come all Ye Faithfull P5: Flintstones M6: Crazy, Sweet Caroline M8: Willow Weep for Me 13

14 Chords and how to build them A chord, in music, is a set of pitches consisting of two or more (usually three or more) notes that are sung or played simultaneously. A chord can be built on several combinations of notes but for our purposes we will discuss the three most common used in our art form: the tonic chord in a major scale (also referred to as the home chord), the BBS seventh(the seventh note built on the tonic, and the five-seven or the dominant seventh chord. 14

15 The Tonic chord The Tonic Chord is built on thirds for which there are several names. The first (key note,sometimes called the root), third, and fifth degree note of the major scale As solfege: doh, (the key note), mi, and sol The root, third, and fifth of the chord Often you will find the order of placement of the notes on the staff in an alternate order; these different placements are called inversions. In a three note chord there can be two inversions, in a four note chord, as in BBS music, there can be 3 inversions 15

16 Chord Inversions 16

17 Chords with four notes In barbershop, of course, we sing four note chords. The tonic chord is built on thirds: the first (root or doh), third and fifth degrees of the scale; what is the fourth note that we sing? In a tonic or home chord the fourth note is the key note repeated an octave (8 notes) higher; we say it doubles the root or doh. Usually the root is doubled in the bass/lead but often in the bass/tenor and occasionally in the bass/baritone: these are inversions of the four note chord with the bass in the root position. It is not always the case, but in BBS, it is true that the bass is on the root about 50% of the time and on the fifth about 40%. 17

18 Four note chord, key of C, root position with doubled bass 18

19 City of Refuge, key of C In this example the tenor/bass are doubling, that is singing the key note, C, an octave apart, the bari is on the third and the lead is on the fifth. This voicing requires the bass/tenor must be exact on their pitch, the tenor singing lightly since they are the overtone of the bass note; the lead, on the fifth, must sing very solid and exactly on their note; the bari is sung solid and probably must bend their note a bit in order to properly tune the chord. What would the bari do if the lead and bari were switched and the bari sang higher than the lead? 19

20 My Romance key of Bb In this example, written in the key of Bb, the lead and tenor are doubling the root, the lead is on the third of the chord and the bari is on the fifth, above the lead 20

21 Heart of My Heart key of F This song is in the key of F; the bass and lead are singing the tonic (root or Do) an octave apart; 21

22 Wait Til the Sun Shines Nellie, key of F Looking at the first chord In Nellie which parts are doubling the root, F? Hint: they are eight scale degrees apart. Which part is singing the third, the fifth? Is there a lower voice above the lead; how does this voicing affect the way the parts are sung? 22

23 Let Me Call You Sweetheart, key of F This first chord has a similar configuration: the bari and bass doubling an octave apart on Do of the chord. Often when you see this chord voicing, the lead is below the bari. This affects the way each singer must modify her vocal production in order to tune and ring the chord. 23

24 The BBS seventh Often, in BBS, the four note chord is not a tonic chord with a doubled root, but a 1,3,5 triad built on the tonic (key note) with the fourth note on the flatted seventh note of the scale, a full step below the root; the chord voicing is 1,3,5,7b or a BBS seventh. When the chord voicings place the seventh next to the root (1) it should be sung with the same energy and dynamic as the root. 24

25 BBS 7, a tonic chord with a flatted 7 7b root Here is another C triad with slightly different voicing Here the seventh, a B, is flatted and sung by the bari, a barbershop 7 th. Note how many intervals the bari is from the bass and how high above the lead. We see this kind of chord throughout our bbs arrangements 25

26 The BBS seventh 5 Here s a Bb tonic chord with a flatted or barbershop 7th. The tenor is on the root The voicing here puts the lead s 7 th one interval away from the root This voicing must be sung differently than the previous example; they are sung with equal energy and dynamic 26

27 The five/seven or dominant seventh The five-seven or dominant seventh chord is often the first chord of an arrangement and the pitch blown is not in the chord. In a V7, the root of the chord is the fifth scale degree of the pitch blown (key in which the song is written). From this note, the root of the chord, the 4-note chord is built, again on thirds, with the fourth note on the flatted seventh of the chord instead of doubling the root. chord 27

28 Find your starting note in a V7 chord There are two methods you can use to find your note in the V7. Find the root of the chord by singing up five notes or down four from the key note of the song, for example if the song is in Eb, five notes above or four notes below, is Bb and that note becomes the root of the chord in question. Then find the third, fifth, and seventh above Bb. 1 3

29 Another way to find the V7chord The other way is to sing the tonic chord and move to the V7. In this example the bass is on the Eb root and moves one interval up to F; the bari is on the Bb and moves up a third (two intervals); the lead is also on the Eb root and moves down a fourth to the Bb, the root of the chord; the tenor is on G, the third of the chord and moves up one half step to Ab. 1 3

30 Finding your first note So let s review: In our art form, most songs are written in the major scale. Let s sing it again. Chords are four notes sung at the same time; We discussed and sang the three most common BBS chords, the tonic chord, the BBS 7 th, and the V7 or dominant seventh. We then discovered how to find our note in these chords when the pitch (the key note of the song) was blown. The handouts cover some other aspects of basic music theory and you can use these to learn a bit more. I found them online and there are several sites to which you can go to get even more information. Thanks for taking part! 30

The Practice Room. Learn to Sight Sing. Level 2. Rhythmic Reading Sight Singing Two Part Reading. 60 Examples

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