MP-102

1. MP-102 Lecture 1: Intro

2. What is sequencing? • Creating the order of musical events that make up a song, arrangement, or composition.

3. What is a song? • Songs are a very specific type of music • Designed to be “sung”: i.e. they have a melody and lyrics • Form is usually easy to follow • Generally easy to sing along with and listen to • Based on a basic musical idea that can be arranged or interpreted in many different ways Many musical compositions are NOT songs

4. Basic building blocks • Melody • “Tune” of the song, made up of musical phrases • Harmony • chord progression • Beat • pulse of the song • Rhythm • “timing” of the notes with regard to the beat • Harmonic Rhythm • how many chord changes (per bar or bars)

5. Quick Review • Notation • Rhythm • Major Scales • Key Signatures

6. Building Triads • 1-3-5 • Use your fingers: thumb is Root (1), middle finger is 3, pinky is 5 • These three letters always go together, regardless of what key you are in • The C-triad is the C-triad; it’s made up of C-E-G. Always. • even if it’s built on C# or C-flat, • whether it’s major, minor or diminished; • The A-triad is the A-triad: A-C-E. Always. • Even if you change the “order” i.e. C-E-A or E-A-C • The roman numeral and quality will differ from key to key

7. Roman Numerals • The Roman Numeral indicates the scale degree that the triad is based on: • In the key of C, the C-triad is I because it is built on the 1st scale degree; • in the key of F, the C-triad is V because it is built on the 5th scale degree; • The Roman Numeral stands for the whole triad (all three notes). • Arabic Numerals indicate • “inversion” or • notes that should be added to the triad

8. Most important triads • In any key, the most important triads are I, IV, and V • These triads are related by the magic number 5 • Tonic, Subdominant, and Dominant define a key • V almost always brings you back to I

9. Simple chord progressions that rocked the world • I-IV-V-V • La Bamba • Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds • Twist & Shout • I-I-IV-V • Blitzkrieg Bop • I-IV-I-V • Wimoweh (The Lion Sleeps Tonight) • I-IV-V-IV • Louie Louie • Wild Thing • Great Balls of Fire

10. Other progressions • “Doo-Wop”/ “I Got Rhythm”/ “Heart and Soul” progression: I-vi-ii-V or I-vi-IV-V • Extended progression: • ex: No woman no cry • I-V-vi-IV || I-IV-I-(V) • 12-bar Blues • “Johnny B. Goode” - Chuck Berry

11. Building chord progressionsPart 1 – picking your chords • In Jazz and Pop, chords generally play one of three functions: Tonic, Subdominant and Dominant • Chord substitutions are used: • ii and vi can stand in for IV • iii and vi can stand in for I • Tritone substitution for V (for more advanced Jazz cats :-D) There’s another way of looking at this: • “Two out of three ain’t bad” • When triads share two common notes, they can be substituted • Change one note in a triad, and get a different triad • CEG -> CEA; CEG -> BEG; or FAC -> FAD • I becomes vi or iii; IV becomes ii • Any chords related by the magic number 5 move easily to one another • I is 5 notes away from IV; • ii is 5 notes away from V • ii-V-I

12. Building chord progressionsPart 2 – harmonic rhythm and cadence • Best to think in terms of 4 or 8 bar chunks • Cadence in bar 4 and/or 8 • Half-cadence on V • “Authentic” Cadence: V-I • “Plagal” Cadance: IV-I • “Deceptive: cadence V–(anything except I) • End on I; (probably start on I too) • One or two chords per bar

13. Building melodies based on chords • Think in terms of 4 or 8 bar chunks • Use longer note values at cadence points • Use antecedent/consequent structure • Use chord tones • More on this shortly • Make a pretty shape • Have a destination • Have a climax point • Make it “singable” • Not too many big leaps • Keep to within an octave or tenth from highest to lowest point • Note repetition is OK to a certain extent