I got this music theory book from the library.

Lai

And now I suddenly want to know what scale my favorite songs are in. I honestly would like to find this out on my own, Glenn.

I can say it is interesting to read, especially when I have piano as a college class.

Malkavian

what's the book called?

glennmagusharvey

Music is not usually said to be "in" a scale.  We say music is "in" a key (or mode) when it primarily uses notes from that key.  The relationship of key to scale is when you take the notes commonly used in a key and put them in order from low to high (or high to low), you get a scale in that key.

And best wishes on your journey into music theory!  If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

 

Edit: Holy crap I can imagine myself having long conversations into the late night with Chihaya Kisaragi (the character in my current avatar) over music theory.

Lai

"Complete Idiot's Guide to Music Theory."

Yes, I know. Gotta start somewhere.

Lai

Necro.

Currently researching chords. The time signatures and beats I don't think I'm ready for yet.

Forzare

this thread makes me remember that i really want to learn how to sing

damn you

MillerCross

music theory is for lameos.

just punch your instruments till the sing

if your instrument's your voice...you know what to do

Lai

I seem to recognize notes when I play, but not when I actually listen to music.

All Nines

this thread makes me remember that i really want to learn how to sing

damn you

glennmagusharvey

Writing up a short primer on pitch, tonality, and the piano keyboard layout, for you and anyone else interested.  Give me a moment.

glennmagusharvey

A key (or "tonality") is a set of notes in the standard western chromatic scale that are used together in a given passage of music.

The standard western chromatic scale divides (logarithmically equally, for you math nerds) every octave into twelve notes.  An octave is any two pitches whose fundamental frequencies (meaning the basic frequencies which tells you how high/low sounds are) are at a 2:1 or 1:2 ratio.  For example, an octave is the "distance" separating the pitch of frequency 440 Hz and the pitch of frequency 880 Hz.  On a piano keyboard, each octave contains a repeating pattern of keys which you can tell very easily.  (The reason it's called an "octave" is because western music divided the octave into many parts and them laid them out on a piano-style keyboard in such a way that counting from one white key to the next one an octave higher/lower you get eight keys.)

These notes are, in English (and German), usually named after letters of the alphabet.  In English, the white keys are named in order using the letters A through G.  Names for the black keys are made by adding "sharp" or "flat" to a white key name; those terms mean to go one key to the right or left, respectively.  For example, the black key immediately to the right of an A key can be called A-sharp.  Given that both sharps and flats exist, and that some white keys are next to each other with no black keys in between, there are many keys with alternate ways to "spell" them--A-sharp is the same as B-flat, for example, and E-sharp is the same as F.  (A composer chooses which way to spell something based on various factors, including musical context and the convenience of the reader.)  The sharp, as you may know, looks vaguely like a number or telephone pound sign (#); the flat looks vaguely like a lowercase b.  (FYI, if you need to emphasize that a note has neither sharp nor flat, say "natural"--for example, "C natural".)

As I was saying, standard western music convention divides the octave into twelve roughly equal parts, represented by the twelve distinct keys on any octave pattern on the piano keyboard.  Certain subsets of these notes sound nice when sounded together in various patterns.  A tonality (or "key", a second definition unrelated to "key" as a thing on the keyboard, sorry it's confusing) is any such subset.  FYI, a "scale" is what you get when you arrange the notes in a key in order.

The major and minor keys are examples of tonalities.  Every major key chooses a distinct subset of notes from the octave, but the pattern of choosing notes is the same; same goes for minor keys.  If you look at a piano keyboard, all the white keys together form the key of C major.  If you count the number of keys (including black keys) between each adjacent pair of white keys, you'll notice that some of them skip past a black key while others don't.  The interval (i.e. distance) between any two keys with one key in between is a "whole step" (or "whole tone"); the interval between any two keys with no keys in between is a "half step" (or "semitone").  Starting at Middle C, go up whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, and half, and you'll get to another C.  You'll just now have gone through C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C.  If you apply those same intervals but start on a different key (even a black key), you'll get a different major tonality (or major key).  For example, E major consists of E, F#, G#, A, B, C#, D#, E--the notes are different but if you count out the intervals between each consecutive pair of notes you'll find they're the same.

Minor keys can be constructed in a similar way.  Start at A instead, and go through the white keys while counting their intervals: whole, half, whole, whole, half, whole, whole, and you'll go through A, B, C, D, E, F, G, A.  These are the basic notes that make up A minor.  Start on a different key and apply the same intervals and you'll get another minor key--for example, D minor is D, E, F, G, A, Bb, C, D.  There's one caveat with minor keys, though: while they only "officially" have these notes, sharped (or unflatted) versions of the sixth and seventh notes are very common in music in minor keys.  So in A minor, expect to see A, B, C, D, E, F, G, as well as F# and G#.

Note that just because a certain piece or passage of music is "in" a certain key does not mean it is restricted to the notes native to that key--these are called "diatonic" notes.  It can use any other notes--called "chromatic" notes--but the way it uses them follows certain patterns that make the diatonic notes sound more important.  Furthermore, a piece can change key somewhere in the middle of it; a change of key is called a "modulation".

Lai

Yay, got the book from the Library again! I gotta set up my keyboard and test these concepts myself.

glennmagusharvey

Download TinyPiano and you'll get a crappy but still useful keyboard or keyboard.

Yo dawg, so I heard you're a computer user who wants to learn music, so I put a keyboard in your keyboard so you can play while you type.

Lai

Huh, sounds interesting. I just don't want my limited piano skills to go to waste is all.

Augh, X-Hunter Stage 1, why do I love you?

EDIT: Got TinyPiano, seems real wonky. My keyboard is standing right next to me anyways.