1. The Nuts & Bolts of Music
Intro to Theory
The Nuts & Bolts of Music

2. Music Basics All sound is caused by vibration Parameters of Sound :
Pitch: How high or low a sound is.
Volume: How loud or quiet.
Duration: How long a sound lasts.
sustained vs. decaying
Timbre

3. Musical Elements Rhythm: The timing of music
Pulse: a steady beat
Tempo: speed
Meter: Arrangement of beats in patterns- measures
Melody: A series of tones forming a musical statement.
Harmony: Two or more sounds happening at the same time. Usually as background.
Form: Organization or structure of music.
Texture: How the musical parts are woven together.
Timbre (Tone): The unique individual characteristics of each sound.

4. Music Notation Rhythmic value: How long a sound lasts
Whole note = 4 beats
Half note = 2 beats
Quarter note = 1 beat
Eighth note = ½ beat (usually in pairs)
A dot after a note extends its value by half.
There is a corresponding rest for each note

5. Music Notation
The Staff: The five lines and four spaces on which music is written.
Each line and space has an alphabet name
Clefs: Determines if the written notes will sound high or low.
Treble clef (G clef)
Bass clef (F clef)
The Great Staff: A treble clef staff joined with a bass clef staff.

6. The Piano Keyboard 88 keys – 52 white & 36 black
Black keys are in groups of 2 & 3
White keys follow the musical alphabet
ABCDEFGABCDEFGABCDEFG…..
Two landmark keys are:
C: to the left of 2 black keys
F: to the left of 3 black keys
Black keys are indicated by 2 symbols:
Sharp (#) This raises a key ½ step
Flat (b) This lowers a key ½ step

7. Scales
A scale is a series of tones in a row, usually made up of whole steps & half steps.
The most common scales are:
Major scales
Minor scales
Other scales include:
Chromatic
Whole tone
Pentatonic

8. Major Scales
A major scale is made of seven notes (plus the octave) in alphabetical order.
The notes are all a whole step apart except:
Between 3&4, 7&8 which are half steps
A major scale is named by the starting and ending pitch.
Eg. C scale goes from C to C
F scale goes from F to F

9. Major Key Signatures
Key Signatures are sharps - # or flats – b written at the beginning of each staff.
They tell you:
What notes are # or b throughout the piece,
The key or tonal center

10. Reading Key Signatures
For sharp keys:
Go up ½ step from the last sharp written
For flat keys:
The next to last flat is the key
One flat = Key of F
Sharps & Flats are always written in a specific order
Sharps: Fat Cats Get Drunk At Every Bar
Flats are in reverse order

11. Intervals Intervals : The distance between two notes.
Melodic Intervals: One note at a time.
Harmonic Intervals: Two notes at once.
Arithmetic Distance: 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc.
Interval Quality: There are 5 types:
Perfect
Major
Minor
Augmented
Diminished

12. Intervals In a major scale, there are only two kinds of intervals:
Perfect 1st, 4th, 5th, 8th
Major 2nd, 3rd, 6th, 7th

13. Intervals Perfect intervals can become Augmented or Diminished
If the interval is # (raised ½ step) it becomes Augmented
If the interval is b (lowered ½ step) it becomes Diminished

14. Intervals Major intervals can become Augmented or Minor
If the interval is # (raised ½ step) it becomes Augmented
If the interval is b ( lowered ½ step) it becomes Minor

15. Minor Key Signatures
Each major key has a relative minor key located 3 half-steps ( a minor 3rd) below.
Relative Minor Keys:
Share the same key signature
Have the same notes in their respective scales
Have different roots
Parallel keys have the same root, but different key signatures.

16. Minor Scales Three types of Minor Scales
Natural: These use the same notes as the relative Major Key
Harmonic: The 7th note is raised ½ step
Melodic: The 6th & 7th notes are raised ½ step ascending and Natural descending
Natural Minor Scales have half-steps between: 2&3, 5&6

17. Triads Triads are groups of 3 tones sounding simultaneously (chords)
Triads are built using the 1st, 3rd, & 5th notes of the scale
Four types of Triads:
Major
Minor
Diminished
Augmented

18. Triad Construction
You can build Triads by counting ½ steps from the Root:
Major: Root
Minor: Root
Diminished: Root
Augmented: Root