Musical Harmony Studying Theory Soul Funk Jazz Improvisation Solos Tips Musilosophy

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General concepts of harmony

Musilosophy

www.musilosophy.com A blend of soul,funk,blues,pop and instrumental solos of jazz inspiration


General concepts of harmony

Harmonics concepts, that is the “rules” on which music is based are just a few ones 11.. KKEEYY CCOONNCCEEPPTT Every song is based on a main key being often the one. What’s a key? Why does the ear need a key?

• Key is a mix of notes, melodies, chords, accompaniments, based on a scale of sounds.

• The scales on which keys are based are usually the ;Major or the

Minor ones; but the key concept can also be extended to Blues (speaking for example of C blues key, based on the C blues scale, C Mixolydian…)and to Modal music, which key or more correctly “Mode” is based on modal scales (such as Doric mode based on Doric scale, Phrygian mode based on Phrygian scale and so on)

• In western music we use above all 12 Major scales and 12 Minor

scales (otherwise there are different kind’s minor scales, for example the natural one, the harmonic one the melodic one) which determine as many key.



• In summary, the scales and the chord structure, which results from them, depend on the main sounds of scale (the tonic one) and on its harmonic sounds

Harmonic sounds are fainter ones which join the main sound. In other words, every vibrating corpus (for example a string, an instrument, human body…)produces a frequency or main sound to which more fainter frequencies are added (the so called harmonic sounds). The sum of all these frequencies make the sound which we hear.

• For the human ear these rules or physical mechanisms apply. A sound having 200Hz frequency, for example, is the same sound of a 100 Hz frequency sound but higher (one octave).

In other words the human ear recognizes (same sounds for example) and interprets (one octave higher) the rules of harmonic sounds, from which scales, tonalities, chords and music are formed.

Leibniz (an XVIII century philosopher used to say that human ear counts frequencies and their relation without knowing it.

• When a listener “loses” the sense of key because of the musician’ s, composer’s mistakes or of the singer’s false notes…he also loses the musical sense and his listening is put in a critical position.

However, we have to note that often, for example in some forms of jazz, the musician voluntarily destroys the tonal sense both in a provocative way and in a more stylistic and expressive one.



We can also note the destruction of the sense of key in some forms of contemporary classical music, for example in the dodecaphonic, the serial and the enigmatic one.

22.. RRHHYYTTHHMM CCOONNCCEEPPTT Rhythm is the temporal organization of sounds

• Rhythm is the disposition of sounds during time

• This disposition or structure must be understandable, that is having a regularity. But if it is too regular and too simple, it becomes monotonous and unpleasant

• So rhythm must be generally regular, repetitive but varied at the

same time

As in every situation, what’s repeated too much is boring, even if it is very pleasant

• Rhythm usually has a mathematical formulation, a structure which

repeats itself called tempo being marked to musicians at the beginning of every song with a fraction. It indicates the organization of the rhythmic cell of the song, the so called bar.

• Tempo can be in two, three and so on. Tempo in two has two main

beats, in three has three main beats. If every beat is divided in two or four there are simple tempos and there are composed tempos if every beat is divided in three

• Accents are particularly important in the rhythm becouse they point

out a beat instead of another one



• Usually in all musical forms the beats which the human ear tends to hear less, because of the harmonic or melodic base of the song, are pointed out. Harmony, melody, accompaniments and almost all parts of a musical form “change” or “move” at the beginning of every bar, so the ear perceives it clearly ( the so called downbeat), but it tends to hear the beat after (upbeat) not as well.

• So to balance the rhythmic perception of music it is better to

emphasize the “faint beats” (upbeats) of every bar (playing them louder). In this way the whole rhythm structure and not only the downbeats (the first one for example) is heard well.

• To generalize this important concept we can say that the upbeat makes rhythm heard and not the downbeat.

• Polyrhytm is a superimposition of two or more different rhythms.

For example superimposing a triple rhythm to a double one and vice-versa; or a rhythm in four to a rhythm in three and vice-versa, we obtain a polyrhythm.

• Ethnic, African, Asiatic but also Latin American music are full of

polyrhythm.



Improvisation

Improvising is composing in real-time 11.. HHAARRMMOONNIICC FFEEAATTUURREESS There are different ways in improvising more or less similar to the harmony of the song on which it is made.

• In pop and classical music (Mozart, Chopin, and many other ones also improvised in the days going by) musicians improvise inside harmony, chords and tonality.

• Improvising in Blues is freer ,it is based on the scale or blues

tonality, but much more using chromatisms and ornaments.

• In jazz solos there are different degrees of freedom, according to the Jazz styles.

Traditional Jazz (Dixieland) – Improvisation is based above all on the notes of chords and tonalities.



Swing –It is based on their chords and tonalities using major, minor, diminished, pentatonic, blues scales.

Be-bop – It is based on a frequent use of not chordal notes (9°,11°,13 °), chromatisms, harmonics, substitutions and particulars (whole tone, diminished-whole tone scales)

Modal Jazz – It is based on one or two modes (ancient scales, not major o minor but for example Doric, Phrygian…)

Free-Jazz – It is based on extempore interaction between musicians, often following datum points. In this style improvising becomes completely free.

• Also in funky music there is a frequent use of notes out of chord

and tonality, but without disturbing harmony. • In Ethnic music improvising is based on pentatonic scales or typical

modes of a particular region (for example Arabian or Indian music) • In rock solos are usually inside harmony, change of chords and

tonalities, and often follow pentatonic and blues scales. 22.. RRHHYYTTHHMMIICC FFEEAATTUURREESS The rhythmic style in improvising suits the song rhythmic.

• In Ragtime syncopations, upbeat accents and anticipations are being used so much..

• In Swing (jazz, blues, soul, rock and roll….and so on) a sort of

rhythmic sliding is created. Triplets quarters and eights are played stressing upbeat notes.



• In Latin and ethnical music improvisations often create polyrhythms,

sincopations, figurations of dotted notes and anticipations.

• In Rock and in Pop the shortest solos are rhythmically expressed, stressing upbeat with many anticipations and syncopations.



Improvisation techniques Improvising is just like speaking, composing, singing, meditating… GGEENNEERRAALL CCOONNCCEEPPTTSS For a good improvisation (that is harmonic and rhythmic practise) it is necessary:

• To respect the tonal sense of the song and consequently the listener

To always have the reference or tonal barycentre of the song in improvising

• That is :

Always knowing which is general tonality of the song and its possible changes during its development (modulations) In getting out of the tonality, following determinate expedients in order not to “traumatize” the listener (playing notes out of tonality on upbeat or by “passage” and making them solve on the closest tonal notes)



• Stressing upbeats (fainter beats) in order to give rhythmic thickness and groove

• Playing downbeats very quietly

• Following chord changes in an exact way

• Varying phrasing

• Creating “catchy” melodies, as if they were pop song themes

• Giving a correct geometrical and spatial balancing to phrasing: in

other words distributing phrasing on all the instrumental register in a regular way without exaggerating on a register instead of another one (in a general meaning)

• Thinking of the inner melody symmetry (balancing)

• Using all the 12 notes in a suitable way, above all in jazz and in

styles derivating from i

• Not repeating already played phrases

• Avoiding unnecessary virtuosities

• Listening to musicians you are playing with and interacting with them, with the audience and with yourself

• Feeling your emotions and translating them in the improvisation

phrasing

• Being as lucid as possible, avoiding drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, coffee and everything which can distort your natural consciousness



• Not repressing anxiety, ear or other emotions you are feeling during improvisation, but living them being good or bad.



Studying music Music is one of the vastest and most difficult arts MMAAIINN SSUUBBJJEECCTTSS

• Ear Training

Ear training is training the ear with exercises aimed to the awareness of what we are listening to, developing relative pitch, absolute pitch, the arrangements and orchestration analysis, analysis of the frequency balance and of instruments between themselves..

Relative pitch is the ability to recognize sounds with one or more reference notes.

Perfect (absolute) pitch is ability to recognize sound from their “colour”.

• Reading

It is learning to read the score in a fast way, at first sight (sight reading)



• Theory

It is learning solfeggio and above all harmony knowledge, getting ability of syntactic, formal and stylistic analysis of every song.

Getting the awareness of what is played. for example it is knowing tonality, chord, understanding how melody or accompaniment, pedal, progressions, modulations have built on.

• Interpretation

Listening executions and famous musicians’ recordings, studying a song mechanism well and setting every author in his stylistic framework.

• Improvisation

That is getting to learn theory and practise of improvising. For example transcribing by ear solos or songs and transposing them in all 12 keys.

• Composing

That is getting to learn harmony, theory and different ways of composing.

• Arranging



It is studying and analysing in theory but above all in a direct way by ear, considering the structures and the orchestration of different musical forms

• Singing

That is studying vocal basis and using song as a help in learning all the other instruments.

• Sound engineering

Studying acoustic and recording rudiments, hard disk recording knowledge and ability to arrange a live performance.

• Listening

That is listening to all musical styles with critical and analytic sense.

• Music history

That is getting to learn styles, forms and authors and above all listening to their music

• Something else

That is getting to know everything which can enrich one’s own musical culture, such as computing, dancing, learning science, technology, philosophy, analysing life style and above all caring about one’s own life style.



Music and technology Musical development is strictly connected to the technological one. The modern ear is anatomically the same as the ancient one. However the way and what is listened to has deeply changed and it is still quickly changing. If XVIIIth century musicians such as Bach and Mozart used to write symphonies, operas, sonatas, choral songs and minuets, being as brilliant and creative as their forefathers, the contemporary ones write above all songs, soundtracks, TV jingles, video game music. Musical styles grow in an exponential way, above all by their fusion. Funky, disco, dance, pop derive from the fusion between rock and jazz, which was born from the fusion between African music (blues, gospel, spiritual, work songs) and the European one. There are only some short very general and approximate examples of this big and complicated stylistic development which music has had and still has nowadays. Technology is one of the main angles which determines the birth and the affirmation of a style. Musicians’ instruments evolve and change everyday as there is something starting.



The same are the ways of listening to music. Until the first years of the XXth century years (about 100 years ago) live concerts were the only way of doing it. There were no Dvds, no internet or mp3…! Also in live concerts there was no hi-fi equipment of course. There are banal considerations, but just a few people are aware of this: in my opinion, just a few people have thought about what the loss of sound hi-fi recording, reproduction and diffusion equipment has done. Let’s first examine the stylistic difference between modern and old music only considering hi-fi technology. A XIXth Century singer has to depend just on his vocal power, on his pitch, which was so aimed to his sound power too. Very often a composer had to resort to choirs, to solid orchestra groups in order to strengthen the voice and instruments audibility. The main composers’ works were usually the ones with many instruments or singers (symphonies, concerts, opera) for these acoustics reasons too. Today a singer’s breathing can be heard kilometres far away, without considering radio,tv, internet and satellites. A singer today does not need a XIXth Century pitch of the voice, energy and pulmonary capacity in order to express his art. His singing, his pitch, his style and his studies change so consequently. In the same way many other instruments such as guitar have modified their language and their orchestral’ s function. In the past people used to hear the soft intimate sound of acoustic guitar or lute; now they are used to hearing aggressiveness and incisiveness of modern guitars. With electric energy and amplification equipment, the musician has got a great sound power, unthinkable in the past. So music language, music message and new styles are developed together with new music kinds such as rock, pop and many other ones. Let’s now examine the differences in playback means. In the past the only way of listening to music were concerts. So a composer listened to his symphonies and operas just during his rehearsals and first performances. The were only executed in few occasions and only if successful. The best music divulgation were therefore scores. Moreover the musician composed using his imagination (such as Mozart, Beethoven, Verdi) or with his own instrument.



Nowadays it is so easy to play music within a digital, hard disk recording. A musician can compose, modify, transpose in any tonality in real time, use any high quality sound, human voice too, with virtual instruments (vsti). In other words, any musician has very powerful means and he can only confine himself in using them with his fantasy and creativity. The first XXth Century disks have given a basic stylistic turn to music. It has become a consumers’ and commercial good, within everyone reach in every moment. The record market(cd,dvd,mp3)is one of the world largest business. Selling cds has become much more important than making good music. This concept and the record company financial rules establish if music is good or bad. So musician becomes a slave to the market and to accountants. Making music is now making money. Musicians produce what is sold and what is fine just in some cases. Therefore we are losing in music its deepest and purest message which is still living only in some non commercial music. Making music is having a job or a commercial activity: many singers seem to be accountants, other ones dolls or puppets. It is easy to imagine the consequences. Artists make banal, obvious, immediately understandable music which is disposable and repetitive. Many songs are too similar to each other. Musicians do not run stylistic risks which can cause a contract cancellation. We cannot even say in some cds there is music but all the same they are selling thousands or millions of copies. Popularity, habit to certain sonorities, ignorance, grotesque and at any cost provoking styles are guiding music development.



MUSILOSOPHY

Music is the expression of emotions. Creativity,fantasy and originality are the best ways of express them. The art of improvisation is the most original and creative language of music but melody make us remember better the emotions. Melody and improvisation live together in harmony in the Italian artist Musilosophy’ s original “Inside” Cd, a collection of songs rich in colours and intense vibrations. Improvising is just like talking, meditating, composing in real time. Musilosophy ventures to deepen this magical and spontaneous language with his album Inside, but without giving up to the pleasure of a nice and catchy melody. His favourite instrument is singing, and he is a master of piano and keyboards. He also particularly loves both the sound of electric piano and of the hammond organ then he adores his true Shimmel grand piano, being a witness of so many emotions. Soul, funk and blues mix together with the pop melodies and with instrumental solos of jazz inspiration. The lyrics concerns love, psychology, music,…



God is love:

Peace in the world!


Musical Harmony Studying Theory Soul Funk Jazz Improvisation Solos Tips Musilosophy

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