SHAW ACADEMY NOTES Diploma in Music
Introduction to Music Theory and Practice Starter Pack Hi, welcome to your Music Theory and Practice course. This starter pack is an introduction to some of the key concepts that are covered during the beginning of the course. Throughout the course you will learn how scales and chords work, how chord progressions are composed and how larger musical structures of verses and choruses are formed using all of these theoretical tools. Anyone can learn how music works; whether you are a complete beginner or have been playing music by ear for years this course will teach you the fundamental skills needed for understanding music, how it works and how it s composed. Learning music theory is a way to understand what is happening in music at its fundamental levels. One of the best ways to understand this theory is to use notation - the written representation of music.
The earliest known example of notation was created in Sumer, modern day Iraq, around 2000 BC. This notation was inscribed on a clay tablet and related instructions for performing music on a Lyre. There are many kinds of notation systems used around the world. Tablature is one - this is a number system used to indicate finger placement on a fretboard and is commonly used for guitars and other fretted instruments.
Notation for Indonesian Gamelan also uses numbers that indicate which notes are to be played. Dots, dashes, circles and other symbols are used to indicate rests, when gongs are played and other important aspects. There are different notation systems used for Indian raga, Japanese taiko drumming, Arabic macam modes and many other musics from around the world. One of the most popular and comprehensive notation systems is staff notation; this is one of the things you will learn on this course.
Modern staff notation developed from European classical music and has become a common system used by many different musicians around the world. A five line staff is used and round notes are placed on the staff lines or in between them. This is the treble staff - used for high pitched instruments and voices. The lowest line is used for E; notes go up to G and then cycle through from A again. The treble clef loops around the G line - this can be used as a reference for every other note. The bass staff is used for lower instruments and voices - the bass clef can also be used as a reference for the other notes on the bass staff. is on the F line - this Notes on the staff are organised like this because of the way piano keyboards developed but also because of how human hearing works.
When the treble and bass staffs are connected they are called the Grand Staff. The note in the middle of both staffs is middle C - this is the middle note on the piano keyboard but also roughly the middle of human hearing and singing ranges. Learning music theory through staff notation is an extremely effective way to understand how music works in general. Through notation you will learn the fundamental relationships between notes, how these relationships are described with intervals and how larger musical relationships are constructed through their interval connections. The course covers ear training, key signatures, harmony and melody, chord inversions and more and you will gain a strong foundation in all of these fundamental musical skills. We use notation software called Musescore throughout the course - this is a free notation editor and it can be downloaded here - https://musescore.org/ You can download it and check it out at the beginning but you will also be taught to use the software during lesson two. During lesson six we will collaborate to compose a short piece of music! This is one of the results of these lesson six collaborations - https://musescore.com/user/9376961/scores/2202806
At the end of the four weeks many students share short pieces of music composed with the skills learned during the course. This short piece was written by a student who came to the course with absolutely no knowledge of music theory - https://musescore.com/user/9920416/scores/2180711/s/580673 When you complete the course you will also have the skills and knowledge to compose a short piece of music such as this. Welcome again to your Introduction to Music Theory and Practice Course!
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