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In medieval times theorists always described them as Pythagorean major sixths of 27/16 and therefore considered them dissonances unusable in a stable final sonority. How major sixths actually were sung in the Middle Ages is unknown. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythagorean_major_sixth |
In just intonation, the (5/3) major sixth is classed as a consonance of the 5-limit. A major sixth is also used in transposing music to E-flat instruments, like the alto clarinet, alto saxophone, E-flat tuba, trumpet, natural horn, and alto horn when in E-flat, as a written C sounds like E-flat on those instruments. Assuming close-position voicings for the following examples, the major sixth occurs in a first inversion minor triad, a second inversion major triad, and either inversion of a diminished triad. It also occurs in the second and third inversions of a dominant seventh chord. The septimal major sixth (12/7) is approximated in 53 tone equal temperament by an interval of 41 steps or 928 cents. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythagorean_major_sixth |
In music from the Baroque period, it is common to see key signatures in which the notes are annotated in a different order from the modern practice, or with the same note-letter annotated for each octave. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_signatures |
In music information retrieval, techniques have been developed to determine the key of a piece of classical Western music (recorded in audio data format) automatically. These methods are often based on a compressed representation of the pitch content in a 12-dimensional pitch-class profile (chromagram) and a subsequent procedure that finds the best match between this representation and one of the prototype vectors of the 24 minor and major keys. For implementation, often the constant-Q transform is used, displaying the musical signal on a log frequency scale. Although a radical (over)simplification of the concept of tonality, such methods can predict the key of classical Western music well for most pieces. Other methods also take into consideration the sequentiality of music. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonal_music |
In music literature, the term "sight-reading" is often used in a generic sense to refer to the ability to read and perform instrumental and vocal music at first sight, which involves converting musical information from sight to sound. However, some authors, including Udtaisuk, prefer to use more specific terms such as "sight-playing" and "sight-singing" when applicable. This distinction allows for a narrower usage of the term "sight-reading" to describe the silent reading of music without producing sound through an instrument or voice. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sight_reading |
Highly skilled musicians can sight-read silently; that is, they can look at the printed music and hear it in their heads without playing or singing (see audiation). Less able sight-readers generally must at least hum or whistle in order to sight-read effectively. This distinction is analogous to ordinary prose reading in late antiquity, when the ability to read silently was notable enough for Augustine of Hippo to comment on it.The term a prima vista is also used, as Italian words and phrases are commonly used in music and music notation. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sight_reading |
To play a musical piece a prima vista means to play it 'at first sight'. According to Payne, "the ability to hear the notes on the page is clearly akin to music reading and should be considered a prerequisite for effective performance ... Egregious errors can occur when a student, analyzing a piece of music, makes no effort to play or hear the composition but mechanically processes the notes on the page. "The ability to sight-read is important for all musicians, even amateur performers, but with professional orchestra musicians, classical musicians, choir members and session musicians, it is an essential skill. Music schools generally require sight-reading as part of an audition or an exam. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sight_reading |
In music notation, an accent mark indicates a louder dynamic and a stronger attack to apply to a single note or an articulation mark. From left to right, the meanings of these articulation marks are explained below: The most common symbol is the horizontal wedge, the first symbol in the diagram above. This is the symbol that most musicians mean when they say accent mark. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accent_(music) |
It indicates that the marked note should have an emphasized beginning and then taper off rather quickly. Though it is usually simply referred to as an accent. In jazz articulation, it is stated as "dah".The vertical wedge, shown second, signifies that a note should be played marcato (Italian for "marked"). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accent_(music) |
It is generally accepted to be as loud as an accent mark and as short as a staccato. Martellato, Italian for "hammered", is another name for the marcato symbol used primarily by orchestral string musicians as it refers to the specific bowing technique used to create marcato. In jazz articulation, marcato is typically stated as "daht" yet the performing musician may interpret the duration of the note differently depending on what style of jazz they are playing.The dot, shown third, signifies that a note should be played staccato. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accent_(music) |
It indicates that the last part of a note should be silenced to create separation between it and the following note. For example, a written quarter note should be played as an eighth note followed by an eighth rest. The duration of a staccato note may be about half as long as the note value would indicate, although the tempo and performers' taste varies this quite a bit. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accent_(music) |
In jazz articulation, it is stated as "dit".The staccatissimo mark, shown fourth, is usually interpreted as shorter than the staccato, but composers up to the time of Mozart used these symbols interchangeably. A staccatissimo crotchet (quarter note) would be correctly played in traditional art music as a lightly articulated semi-quaver (sixteenth note) followed by rests which fill the remainder of the beat.Finally, the tenuto mark, shown fifth above, generally means that a note or chord is to be played at full length. In jazz articulation, it is stated as "doo".Even when these symbols are absent, experienced musicians will introduce the appropriate gesture according to the style of the music. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accent_(music) |
Mark McGrain writes about articulation on page 156 in his book Music Notation: Theory and Technique for Music Notation. The marcato accent in the third mark shown is also known as the forzato accent. The notation commonly known as just an accent is also known as the sforzando accent. "Neither of these accents alter the durational value of the note or voicing they attend." Another way to indicate accented notes (notes to emphasize or play louder compared to surrounding notes) is with sforzando, sforzato, forzando or forzato (abbreviated sfz, sf, or fz) ("forcing" or "forced"). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accent_(music) |
In music of the common practice period (about 1600–1900), there are four different families of time signature in common use: Simple duple: two or four beats to a bar, each divided by two, the top number being "2" or "4" (24, 28, 22 ... 44, 48, 42 ...). When there are four beats to a bar, it is alternatively referred to as "quadruple" time. Simple triple: three beats to a bar, each divided by two, the top number being "3" (34, 38, 32 ...) Compound duple: two beats to a bar, each divided by three, the top number being "6" (68, 616, 64 ...) Similarly compound quadruple, four beats to a bar, each divided by three, the top number being "12" (128, 1216, 124 ...) Compound triple: three beats to a bar, each divided by three, the top number being "9" (98, 916, 94)If the beat is divided into two the metre is simple, if divided into three it is compound. If each bar is divided into two it is duple and if into three it is triple. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metric_hierarchy |
Some people also label quadruple, while some consider it as two duples. Any other division is considered additively, as a bar of five beats may be broken into duple+triple (12123) or triple+duple (12312) depending on accent. However, in some music, especially at faster tempos, it may be treated as one unit of five. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metric_hierarchy |
In music of the common practice period, the tonic center was the most important of all the different tone centers which a composer used in a piece of music, with most pieces beginning and ending on the tonic, usually modulating to the dominant (the fifth scale degree above the tonic, or the fourth below it) in between. Two parallel keys have the same tonic. For example, in both C major and C minor, the tonic is C. However, relative keys (two different scales that share a key signature) have different tonics. For example, C major and A minor share a key signature that feature no sharps or flats, despite having different tonic pitches (C and A, respectively). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonic_chord |
The term tonic may be reserved exclusively for use in tonal contexts while tonal center and/or pitch center may be used in post-tonal and atonal music: "For purposes of non-tonal centric music, it might be a good idea to have the term 'tone center' refer to the more general class of which 'tonics' (or tone centers in tonal contexts) could be regarded as a subclass." Thus, a pitch center may function referentially or contextually in an atonal context, often acting as an axis or line of symmetry in an interval cycle. The term pitch centricity was coined by Arthur Berger in his "Problems of Pitch Organization in Stravinsky". According to Walter Piston, "the idea of a unified classical tonality replaced by nonclassical (in this case nondominant) centricity in a composition is perfectly demonstrated by Debussy's Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune".The tonic includes four separate activities or roles as the principal goal tone, initiating event, generator of other tones, and the stable center neutralizing the tension between dominant and subdominant. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonic_chord |
In music or music theory, a thirteenth is the note thirteen scale degrees from the root of a chord and also the interval between the root and the thirteenth. The thirteenth is most commonly major or minor . A thirteenth chord is the stacking of six (major or minor) thirds, the last being above the 11th of an eleventh chord. Thus a thirteenth chord is a tertian (built from thirds) chord containing the interval of a thirteenth, and is an extended chord if it includes the ninth and/or the eleventh. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirteenth_chord |
"The jazzy thirteenth is a very versatile chord and is used in many genres." Since 13th chords tend to become unclear or confused with other chords when inverted, they are generally found in root position. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirteenth_chord |
For example, depending on voicing, a major triad with an added major sixth is usually called a sixth chord , because the sixth serves as a substitution for the major seventh, thus considered a chord tone in such context. However, Walter Piston, writing in 1952, considered that, "a true thirteenth chord, arrived at by superposition of thirds, is a rare phenomenon even in 20th-century music." This may be due to four-part writing, instrument limitations, and voice leading and stylistic considerations. For example, "to make the chord more playable , thirteenth chords often omit the fifth and the ninth." | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirteenth_chord |
In music or music theory, an eleventh is the note eleven scale degrees from the root of a chord and also the interval between the root and the eleventh. The interval can also be described as a compound fourth, spanning an octave plus a fourth. Since there are only seven degrees in a diatonic scale the eleventh degree is the same as the subdominant. The eleventh is considered highly dissonant with the major third. A perfect eleventh is an eleventh which spans exactly 17 semitones. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_eleventh |
In music pattern completion is "the use of a projected set to organize a work over a long span of time" (Wilson 1992, p. 210n5). The compositional technique has been used by Béla Bartók and Igor Stravinsky. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pattern_completion |
In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guitar); and to provide all or part of the harmony, i.e. the chords from a song's chord progression, where a chord is a group of notes played together. Therefore, the basic technique of rhythm guitar is to hold down a series of chords with the fretting hand while strumming or fingerpicking rhythmically with the other hand. More developed rhythm techniques include arpeggios, damping, riffs, chord solos, and complex strums. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhythm_guitar |
In ensembles or bands playing within the acoustic, country, blues, rock or metal genres (among others), a guitarist playing the rhythm part of a composition plays the role of supporting the melodic lines and improvised solos played on the lead instrument or instruments, be they strings, wind, brass, keyboard or even percussion instruments, or simply the human voice, in the sense of playing steadily throughout the piece, whereas lead instruments and singers switch between carrying the main or countermelody and falling silent. In big band music, the guitarist is considered part of the rhythm section, alongside bass and drums. In some musical situations, such as a solo singer-guitarist, the guitar accompaniment provides all the rhythmic drive; in large ensembles it may be only a small part (perhaps one element in a polyrhythm). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhythm_guitar |
Likewise, rhythm guitar can supply all of the harmonic input to a singer-guitarist or small band, but in ensembles that have other harmony instruments (such as keyboards) or vocal harmonists, its harmonic input will be less important. In the most commercially available and consumed genres, electric guitars tend to dominate their acoustic cousins in both the recording studio and live venues. However the acoustic guitar remains a popular choice in country, western and especially bluegrass music, and almost exclusively in folk music. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhythm_guitar |
In music pieces, con sord means "with mute" in Italian, and senza sord means "without mute". The mute is a device that is typically made of rubber, and serves to dampen the vibrations on string instruments. On the cello, it can be clipped on the bridge when needed, and can be taken off and attached to the strings below the bridge when not in use. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cello_technique |
In music production, a single change in a property of sound which is below the JND does not affect perception of the sound. For amplitude, the JND for humans is around 1 dB.The JND for tone is dependent on the tone's frequency content. Below 500 Hz, the JND is about 3 Hz for sine waves, and 1 Hz for complex tones; above 1000 Hz, the JND for sine waves is about 0.6% (about 10 cents).The JND is typically tested by playing two tones in quick succession with the listener asked if there was a difference in their pitches. The JND becomes smaller if the two tones are played simultaneously as the listener is then able to discern beat frequencies. The total number of perceptible pitch steps in the range of human hearing is about 1,400; the total number of notes in the equal-tempered scale, from 16 to 16,000 Hz, is 120. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just-noticeable_difference |
In music production, the recording studio is often treated as a musical instrument when it plays a significant role in the composition of music. Sometimes called "playing the studio", the approach is typically embodied by artists or producers who favor the creative use of studio technology in record production, as opposed to simply documenting live performances in studio. Techniques include the incorporation of non-musical sounds, overdubbing, tape edits, sound synthesis, audio signal processing, and combining segmented performances (takes) into a unified whole. Composers have exploited the potential of multitrack recording from the time the technology was first introduced. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recording_studio_as_an_instrument |
Before the late 1940s, musical recordings were typically created with the idea of presenting a faithful rendition of a real-life performance. Following the advent of three-track tape recorders in the mid-1950s, recording spaces became more accustomed for in-studio composition. By the late 1960s, in-studio composition had become standard practice, and has remained as such into the 21st century. Despite the widespread changes that have led to more compact recording set-ups, individual components such as digital audio workstations (DAW) are still colloquially referred to as "the studio". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recording_studio_as_an_instrument |
In music recording, a take similarly refers to successive attempts to record a song or part. Musical takes are also sequentially numbered. The need to obtain a complete, acceptable take was especially important in the years predating multi-track recording and overdubbing techniques. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_take |
Failed attempts are called "false starts" if, for example, not even a complete chorus or verse is recorded; longer almost-complete attempts are called "long false starts". Different versions of the same song from a single recording session are sometimes eventually released as alternate takes (or alternative takes) or "playback masters" of the recording. Notable examples of releases of alternate takes include The Beatles Anthology box set, Johnny Cash's Bear Family box sets and Johnny Cash:The Outtakes and a series of alternate takes of recordings by Elvis Presley released by RCA Victor beginning in 1974 with Elvis: A Legendary Performer Volume 1. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_take |
A fine example of the musical implications of multiple recorded performances and how they differ can be found on the posthumous 1969 LP compilation "To Know a Man" (Blue Horizon 7-66230) which comprises the complete last two early 1960s sessions by legendary slide guitarist Elmore James with backing musicians. These are unedited studio tapes which include multiple live complete and part takes of several tracks. There are also adlib band reminiscences and talkback chat with the producer which give a superb insight into the creative energy of the performing and recording process. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_take |
In music recording, mix automation allows the mixing console to remember the audio engineer's adjustment of faders during the post-production editing process. A timecode is necessary for the synchronization of automation. Modern mixing consoles and digital audio workstations use comprehensive mix automation. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mix_automation |
The need for mix automation originates from the 1970s and the changeover from studios mostly using eight-track tape machines to multiple, synchronized 24-track recorders. Mixing could be laborious and require up to four people, and the results could be almost impossible to reproduce. Manufacturers such as Solid State Logic and AMS Neve developed systems that enabled one engineer to oversee every detail of a complex mix, although the computers required to power these desks remained a rarity into the late 1970s.According to record producer Roy Thomas Baker, Queen's 1975 single "Bohemian Rhapsody" was one of the first mixes to be done with automation. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mix_automation |
In music theory and harmonic analysis, a synthetic chord is a made-up or non-traditional (synthetic) chord (collection of pitches) which cannot be analyzed in terms of traditional harmonic structures, such as the triad or seventh chord. This title is applied to a group of notes, usually a scale-like succession of pitches, with a fixed progression of tones and semitones. This scale can obviously be transposed to any pitch, and depending on its intervallic makeup, will have a fixed number of possible transpositions. Furthermore, the sintetakkord can be used either vertically or horizontally; Roslavets' music is not concerned with the order of the pitches, but rather with the whole 'field' thus created, so that the system is less oriented toward themes and more toward harmonic fields. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_chord |
However, synthetic chords originated not with Roslavets but with musicologist Sabaneev and his study of composer Scriabin's Prometheus published in 1910. See: Mystic chord. For example, if a composer uses a synthetic scale as the basis for a passage of music and constructs chords from its tones, in much the same way that a tonal composer may use a major or minor scale's notes to build harmonies, then the resulting chords may be synthetic chords and referred to as such. Some synthetic chords may be analyzed as traditional chords, including the Prometheus chord, which may be analyzed as an altered dominant chord. An example of a synthetic chord would be the repeated chord in the first act of Puccini's Turandot at the beginning of the text passage "Non indugiare, se chiami appare...". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_chord |
In music theory and musical tuning the Holdrian comma, also called Holder's comma, and rarely the Arabian comma, is a small musical interval of approximately 22.6415 cents, equal to one step of 53 equal temperament, or 2 53 {\displaystyle {\sqrt{2}}} (). The name comma is misleading, since this interval is an irrational number and does not describe the compromise between intervals of any tuning system; it assumes this name because it is an approximation of the syntonic comma (21.51 cents)(), which was widely used as a measurement of tuning in William Holder's time. The origin of Holder's comma resides in the fact that the Ancient Greeks (or at least Boethius) believed that in the Pythagorean tuning the tone could be divided in nine commas, four of which forming the diatonic semitone and five the chromatic semitone. If all these commas are exactly of the same size, there results an octave of 5 tones + 2 diatonic semitones, 5 × 9 + 2 × 4 = 53 equal commas. Holder attributes the division of the octave in 53 equal parts to Nicholas Mercator, who would have named the 1/53 part of the octave the "artificial comma". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercator's_comma |
In music theory and musicology, a circumflex above a numeral is used to make reference to a particular scale degree. In music notation, a chevron-shaped symbol placed above a note indicates marcato, a special form of emphasis or accent. In music for string instruments, a narrow inverted chevron indicates that a note should be performed up-bow. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circumflex_accent |
In music theory and tuning, a tonality diamond is a two-dimensional diagram of ratios in which one dimension is the Otonality and one the Utonality. Thus the n-limit tonality diamond ("limit" here is in the sense of odd limit, not prime limit) is an arrangement in diamond-shape of the set of rational numbers r, 1 ≤ r < 2 1\leq r<2 , such that the odd part of both the numerator and the denominator of r, when reduced to lowest terms, is less than or equal to the fixed odd number n. Equivalently, the diamond may be considered as a set of pitch classes, where a pitch class is an equivalence class of pitches under octave equivalence. The tonality diamond is often regarded as comprising the set of consonances of the n-limit. Although originally invented by Max Friedrich Meyer, the tonality diamond is now most associated with Harry Partch ("Many theorists of just intonation consider the tonality diamond Partch's greatest contribution to microtonal theory. "). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonality_diamond |
In music theory and tuning, an Euler–Fokker genus (plural: genera), named after Leonhard Euler and Adriaan Fokker, is a musical scale in just intonation whose pitches can be expressed as products of some of the members of some multiset of generating prime factors. Powers of two are usually ignored, because of the way the human ear perceives octaves as equivalent. An x-dimensional tone-dimension contains x factors. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euler–Fokker_genus |
"An Euler-Fokker genus with two dimensions may be represented in a two-dimensional (rectangular) tone-grid, one with three dimensions in a three-dimensional (block-shaped) tone-lattice. Euler-Fokker genera are characterized by a listing of the number of steps in each dimension. The number of steps is represented by a repeated mention of the dimension, so that there arise descriptions such as , , , etc." For example, the multiset {3, 3, 7} yields the Euler–Fokker genus , which contains these pitches: 1 3 =3 7=7 3×3 =9 3×7=21 3×3×7=63 Normalized to fall within an octave, these become: 1/1, 9/8, 21/16, 3/2, 7/4, 63/32. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euler–Fokker_genus |
Euler genera are generated from the prime factors 3 and 5, whereas an Euler–Fokker genus can have factors of 7 or any higher prime number. The degree is the number of intervals which generate a genus. However, not all genera of the same degree have the same number of tones since may also be notated , "the degree is thus the sum of the exponents," and the number of pitches is obtained adding one to each exponent and then multiplying those ((X+1)×(Y+1)=Z).Adriaan Fokker wrote much of his music in Euler–Fokker genera expressed in 31-tone equal temperament. Alan Ridout also used Euler-Fokker genera. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euler–Fokker_genus |
In music theory related to or derived from the common practice period, Roman numerals are frequently used to designate scale degrees as well as the chords built on them. In some contexts, however, Arabic numerals with carets are used to designate the scale degrees themselves (e.g. , , , …). The basic Roman numeral analysis symbols commonly used in pedagogical texts are shown in the table below. : 71 The Roman numerals for the seven root-position diatonic triads built on the notes of the C major scale are shown below. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_numeral_analysis |
In addition, according to Music: In Theory and Practice, "ometimes it is necessary to indicate sharps, flats, or naturals above the bass note. ": 74 The accidentals may be below the superscript and subscript number(s), before the superscript and subscript number(s), or using a slash (/) or plus sign (+) to indicate that the interval is raised (either ♮ in a flat key signature or a ♯ or in a sharp key signature. Secondary chords are indicated with a slash e.g. V/V. Modern Schenkerians often prefer the usage of large capital numbers for all degrees in all modes, in conformity with Schenker's own usage. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_numeral_analysis |
In music theory the Greek word harmonia can signify the enharmonic genus of tetrachord, the seven octave species, or a style of music associated with one of the ethnic types or the tonoi named by them.Particularly in the earliest surviving writings, harmonia is regarded not as a scale, but as the epitome of the stylised singing of a particular district or people or occupation. When the late 6th-century poet Lasus of Hermione referred to the Aeolian harmonia, for example, he was more likely thinking of a melodic style characteristic of Greeks speaking the Aeolic dialect than of a scale pattern.In the Republic, Plato uses the term inclusively to encompass a particular type of scale, range and register, characteristic rhythmic pattern, textual subject, etc.The philosophical writings of Plato and Aristotle (c. 350 BCE) include sections that describe the effect of different harmoniai on mood and character formation (see below on ethos). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_system_of_ancient_Greece |
For example, in the Republic (iii.10–11) Plato describes the music a person is exposed to as molding the person's character, which he discusses as particularly relevant for the proper education of the guardians of his ideal State. Aristotle in the Politics (viii:1340a:40–1340b:5): But melodies themselves do contain imitations of character. This is perfectly clear, for the harmoniai have quite distinct natures from one another, so that those who hear them are differently affected and do not respond in the same way to each. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_system_of_ancient_Greece |
To some, such as the one called Mixolydian, they respond with more grief and anxiety, to others, such as the relaxed harmoniai, with more mellowness of mind, and to one another with a special degree of moderation and firmness, Dorian being apparently the only one of the harmoniai to have this effect, while Phrygian creates ecstatic excitement. These points have been well expressed by those who have thought deeply about this kind of education; for they cull the evidence for what they say from the facts themselves. Aristotle remarks further: From what has been said it is evident what an influence music has over the disposition of the mind, and how variously it can fascinate it—and if it can do this, most certainly it is what youth ought to be instructed in.) | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_system_of_ancient_Greece |
In music theory the Greek word harmonia can signify the enharmonic genus of tetrachord, the seven octave species, or a style of music associated with one of the ethnic types or the tonoi named by them.Particularly in the earliest surviving writings, harmonia is regarded not as a scale, but as the epitome of the stylised singing of a particular district or people or occupation. When the late-6th-century poet Lasus of Hermione referred to the Aeolian harmonia, for example, he was more likely thinking of a melodic style characteristic of Greeks speaking the Aeolic dialect than of a scale pattern. By the late 5th century BC, these regional types are being described in terms of differences in what is called harmonia – a word with several senses, but here referring to the pattern of intervals between the notes sounded by the strings of a lyra or a kithara. However, there is no reason to suppose that, at this time, these tuning patterns stood in any straightforward and organised relations to one another. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_mode |
It was only around the year 400 that attempts were made by a group of theorists known as the harmonicists to bring these harmoniai into a single system and to express them as orderly transformations of a single structure. Eratocles was the most prominent of the harmonicists, though his ideas are known only at second hand, through Aristoxenus, from whom we learn they represented the harmoniai as cyclic reorderings of a given series of intervals within the octave, producing seven octave species. We also learn that Eratocles confined his descriptions to the enharmonic genus.In the Republic, Plato uses the term inclusively to encompass a particular type of scale, range and register, characteristic rhythmic pattern, textual subject, etc. He held that playing music in a particular harmonia would incline one towards specific behaviors associated with it, and suggested that soldiers should listen to music in Dorian or Phrygian harmoniai to help make them stronger but avoid music in Lydian, Mixolydian or Ionian harmoniai, for fear of being softened. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_mode |
Plato believed that a change in the musical modes of the state would cause a wide-scale social revolution.The philosophical writings of Plato and Aristotle (c. 350 BC) include sections that describe the effect of different harmoniai on mood and character formation. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_mode |
For example, Aristotle stated in his Politics: But melodies themselves do contain imitations of character. This is perfectly clear, for the harmoniai have quite distinct natures from one another, so that those who hear them are differently affected and do not respond in the same way to each. To some, such as the one called Mixolydian, they respond with more grief and anxiety, to others, such as the relaxed harmoniai, with more mellowness of mind, and to one another with a special degree of moderation and firmness, Dorian being apparently the only one of the harmoniai to have this effect, while Phrygian creates ecstatic excitement. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_mode |
These points have been well expressed by those who have thought deeply about this kind of education; for they cull the evidence for what they say from the facts themselves. Aristotle continues by describing the effects of rhythm, and concludes about the combined effect of rhythm and harmonia (viii:1340b:10–13): From all this it is clear that music is capable of creating a particular quality of character in the soul, and if it can do that, it is plain that it should be made use of, and that the young should be educated in it. The word ethos (ἦθος) in this context means "moral character", and Greek ethos theory concerns the ways that music can convey, foster, and even generate ethical states. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_mode |
In music theory, Roman numeral analysis is a type of musical analysis in which chords are represented by Roman numerals (I, II, III, IV, …). In some cases, Roman numerals denote scale degrees themselves. More commonly, however, they represent the chord whose root note is that scale degree. For instance, III denotes either the third scale degree or, more commonly, the chord built on it. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_numeral_analysis |
Typically, uppercase Roman numerals (such as I, IV, V) are used to represent major chords, while lowercase Roman numerals (such as ii, iii, vi) are used to represent minor chords (see Major and Minor below for alternative notations). However, some music theorists use upper-case Roman numerals for all chords, regardless of chord quality.In Western classical music in the 2000s, some music students and theorists use Roman numeral analysis to analyze the harmony of a composition. In pop, rock, traditional music, and jazz and blues, Roman numerals can be used to notate the chord progression of a song independent of key. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_numeral_analysis |
For instance, the standard twelve-bar blues progression uses the chords I (first), IV (fourth), V (fifth), sometimes written I7, IV7, V7, since they are often dominant seventh chords. In the key of C major, the first scale degree (tonic) is C, the fourth (subdominant) is F, and the fifth (dominant) is a G. So the I7, IV7, and V7 chords are C7, F7, and G7. On the other hand, in the key of A major, the I7, IV7, and V7 chords would be A7, D7, and E7. Roman numerals thus abstract chord progressions, making them independent of key, so they can easily be transposed. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_numeral_analysis |
In music theory, a Viennese trichord (also Sus#4 chord, Viennese fourth chord, and tritone-fourth chord), named for the Second Viennese School, is a pitch set with prime form (0,1,6). Its Forte number is 3-5. The sets C–D♭–G♭ and C–F♯–G are both examples of Viennese trichords, though they may be voiced in many ways. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viennese_trichord |
According to Henry Martin, "omposers such as Webern ... are partial to 016 trichords, given their 'more dissonant' inclusion of ics 1 and 6. "In jazz and popular music, the chord formed by the inversion of the set usually has a dominant function, being the third, seventh, and added fourth/eleventh of a dominant chord with elided root (and fifth, see jazz chord). For example, the Viennese trichord of C-F#-G could be considered a D11/C: D (elided) - F# - A (elided) - C - G. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viennese_trichord |
In music theory, a chromatic fourth, or passus duriusculus, is a melody or melodic fragment spanning a perfect fourth with all or almost all chromatic intervals filled in (chromatic line). The quintessential example is in D minor with the tonic and dominant notes as boundaries: The chromatic fourth was first used in the madrigals of the 16th Century. The Latin term itself—"harsh" or "difficult" (duriusculus) "step" or "passage" (passus)—originates in Christoph Bernhard's 17th century Tractatus compositionis augmentatus (1648–49), where it appears to refer to repeated melodic motion by semitone creating consecutive semitones. The term may also relate to the pianto associated with weeping. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromatic_fourth |
In the Baroque, Johann Sebastian Bach used it in his choral as well as his instrumental music, in the Well-Tempered Clavier, for example (the chromatic fourth is indicated by the red notes): This does not mean that the chromatic fourth was always used in a sorrowful or foreboding way, or that the boundaries should always be the tonic and dominant notes. One counterexample comes from the Minuet of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's String Quartet in G major, K. 387 (the chromatic fourths are conveniently bracketed by the slurs and set apart with note-to-note dynamics changes): | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromatic_fourth |
In music theory, a comma is a very small interval, the difference resulting from tuning one note two different ways. Strictly speaking, there are only two kinds of comma, the syntonic comma, "the difference between a just major 3rd and four just perfect 5ths less two octaves", and the Pythagorean comma, "the difference between twelve 5ths and seven octaves". The word comma used without qualification refers to the syntonic comma, which can be defined, for instance, as the difference between an F♯ tuned using the D-based Pythagorean tuning system, and another F♯ tuned using the D-based quarter-comma meantone tuning system. Intervals separated by the ratio 81:80 are considered the same note because the 12-note Western chromatic scale does not distinguish Pythagorean intervals from 5-limit intervals in its notation. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comma_(music) |
Other intervals are considered commas because of the enharmonic equivalences of a tuning system. For example, in 53TET, B♭ and A♯ are both approximated by the same interval although they are a septimal kleisma apart. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comma_(music) |
The word "comma" came via Latin from Greek κόμμα, from earlier *κοπ-μα = "the result or effect of cutting" (for etymology see wikt:κόμμα#Ancient_Greek) Within the same tuning system, two enharmonically equivalent notes (such as G♯ and A♭) may have a slightly different frequency, and the interval between them is a comma. For example, in extended scales produced with five-limit tuning an A♭ tuned as a major third below C5 and a G♯ tuned as two major thirds above C4 are not exactly the same note, as they would be in equal temperament. The interval between those notes, the diesis, is an easily audible comma (its size is more than 40% of a semitone). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comma_(music) |
Commas are often defined as the difference in size between two semitones. Each meantone temperament tuning system produces a 12-tone scale characterized by two different kinds of semitones (diatonic and chromatic), and hence by a comma of unique size. The same is true for Pythagorean tuning. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comma_(music) |
In just intonation, more than two kinds of semitones may be produced. Thus, a single tuning system may be characterized by several different commas. For instance, a commonly used version of five-limit tuning produces a 12-tone scale with four kinds of semitones and four commas. The size of commas is commonly expressed and compared in terms of cents – 1⁄1200 fractions of an octave on a logarithmic scale. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comma_(music) |
In music theory, a comma pump (or comma drift) is a sequence of notes, often a chord progression, where the pitch shifts up or down by a comma (a small interval) every time the sequence is traversed. Comma pumps often arise from a sequence of just intervals that combine to almost, but not exactly, a unison (1:1 ratio). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comma_pump |
In music theory, a diatonic scale is any heptatonic scale that includes five whole steps (whole tones) and two half steps (semitones) in each octave, in which the two half steps are separated from each other by either two or three whole steps, depending on their position in the scale. This pattern ensures that, in a diatonic scale spanning more than one octave, all the half steps are maximally separated from each other (i.e. separated by at least two whole steps). The seven pitches of any diatonic scale can also be obtained by using a chain of six perfect fifths. For instance, the seven natural pitch classes that form the C-major scale can be obtained from a stack of perfect fifths starting from F: F–C–G–D–A–E–BAny sequence of seven successive natural notes, such as C–D–E–F–G–A–B, and any transposition thereof, is a diatonic scale. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatonic_collection |
Modern musical keyboards are designed so that the white-key notes form a diatonic scale, though transpositions of this diatonic scale require one or more black keys. A diatonic scale can be also described as two tetrachords separated by a whole tone. In musical set theory, Allen Forte classifies diatonic scales as set form 7–35. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatonic_collection |
The term diatonic originally referred to the diatonic genus, one of the three genera of the ancient Greeks, and comes from Ancient Greek: διατονικός, romanized: diatonikós, of uncertain etymology. Most likely, it refers to the intervals being "stretched out" in that tuning, in contrast to the other two genera (chromatic and enharmonic). This article does not concern alternative seven-note scales such as the harmonic minor or the melodic minor which, although sometimes called "diatonic", do not fulfill the condition of maximal separation of the semitones indicated above. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatonic_collection |
In music theory, a diminished major seventh chord is a seventh chord composed of a diminished triad and a major seventh. Thus, it is composed of a root note, together with a minor third, a diminished fifth, and a major seventh above the root: (1, ♭3, ♭5, 7). For example, the diminished major seventh chord built on C, commonly written as CoM7, has pitches C–E♭–G♭–B: Diminished major seventh chords are very dissonant, containing the dissonant intervals of the tritone and the major seventh. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diminished_major_seventh_chord |
They are frequently encountered, especially in jazz, as a diminished seventh chord with an appoggiatura, especially when the melody has the leading note of the given chord: the ability to resolve this dissonance smoothly to a diatonic triad with the same root allows it to be used as a temporary tension before tonic resolution. It is nevertheless infrequently used as a chord in itself. The chord can be represented by the integer notation {0, 3, 6, 11}. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diminished_major_seventh_chord |
In music theory, a diminished triad (also known as the minor flatted fifth) is a triad consisting of two minor thirds above the root. It is a minor triad with a lowered (flattened) fifth. When using chord symbols, it may be indicated by the symbols "dim", "o", "m♭5", or "MI(♭5)". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diminished_triad |
However, in most popular-music chord books, the symbol "dim" and "o" represents a diminished seventh chord (a four-tone chord), which in some modern jazz books and music theory books is represented by the "dim7" or "o7" symbols. For example, the diminished triad built on B, written as Bo, has pitches B-D-F: The chord can be represented by the integer notation {0, 3, 6}. In the common practice period, the diminished triad is considered dissonant because of the diminished fifth (or tritone). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diminished_triad |
In music theory, a dominant seventh chord, or major minor seventh chord, is a seventh chord, usually built on the fifth degree of the major scale, and composed of a root, major third, perfect fifth, and minor seventh. Thus it is a major triad together with a minor seventh, denoted by the letter name of the chord root and a superscript "7". An example is the dominant seventh chord built on G, written as G7, having pitches G–B–D–F: Dominant seventh chords contain a strong dissonance – a tritone between the chord's third and seventh. Dominant seventh chords are often built on the fifth scale degree (or dominant) of a key. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_minor_seventh_chord |
For instance, in the C major scale, G is the fifth note of the scale, and the seventh chord built on G is the dominant seventh chord, G7 (shown above). In this chord, F is a minor seventh above G. In Roman numeral analysis, G7 would be represented as V7 in the key of C major. Similarly, this chord also occurs on the seventh degree of any natural minor scale (e.g., G7 in A minor). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_minor_seventh_chord |
The dominant seventh is perhaps the most important of the seventh chords. It was the first seventh chord to appear regularly in classical music. The V7 chord is found almost as often as the V, the dominant triad, and typically functions to drive the piece strongly toward a resolution to the tonic of the key. A dominant seventh chord can be represented by the integer notation {0, 4, 7, 10} relative to the dominant. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_minor_seventh_chord |
In music theory, a leading-tone (also called a subsemitone, and a leading-note in the UK) is a note or pitch which resolves or "leads" to a note one semitone higher or lower, being a lower and upper leading-tone, respectively. Typically, the leading tone refers to the seventh scale degree of a major scale (), a major seventh above the tonic. In the movable do solfège system, the leading-tone is sung as ti. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leading_tone |
A leading-tone triad is a triad built on the seventh scale degree in a major key (viio in Roman numeral analysis), while a leading-tone seventh chord is a seventh chord built on the seventh scale degree (viiø7). Walter Piston considers and notates viio as V07, an incomplete dominant seventh chord. (For the Roman numeral notation of these chords, see Roman numeral analysis.) | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leading_tone |
In music theory, a major chord is a chord that has a root, a major third, and a perfect fifth. When a chord comprises only these three notes, it is called a major triad. For example, the major triad built on C, called a C major triad, has pitches C–E–G: In harmonic analysis and on lead sheets, a C major chord can be notated as C, CM, CΔ, or Cmaj. A major triad is represented by the integer notation {0, 4, 7}. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_triad |
A major triad can also be described by its intervals: the interval between the bottom and middle notes is a major third, and the interval between the middle and top notes is a minor third. By contrast, a minor triad has a minor third interval on the bottom and major third interval on top. They both contain fifths, because a major third (four semitones) plus a minor third (three semitones) equals a perfect fifth (seven semitones). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_triad |
Chords that are constructed of consecutive (or "stacked") thirds are called tertian. In Western classical music from 1600 to 1820 and in Western pop, folk and rock music, a major chord is usually played as a triad. Along with the minor triad, the major triad is one of the basic building blocks of tonal music in the Western common practice period and Western pop, folk and rock music. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_triad |
It is considered consonant, stable, or not requiring resolution. In Western music, a minor chord "sounds darker than a major chord", giving off a sense of sadness or somber feeling.Some major chords with additional notes, such as the major seventh chord, are also called major chords. Major seventh chords are used in jazz and occasionally in rock music. In jazz, major chords may also have other chord tones added, such as the ninth and the thirteenth scale degrees. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_triad |
In music theory, a major scale and a minor scale that have the same tonic note are called parallel keys and are said to be in a parallel relationship. The parallel minor or tonic minor of a particular major key is the minor key based on the same tonic; similarly the parallel major has the same tonic as the minor key. For example, G major and G minor have different modes but both have the same tonic, G; so G minor is said to be the parallel minor of G major. In contrast, a major scale and a minor scale that have the same key signature (and therefore different tonics) are called relative keys. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_minor |
A major scale can be transformed to its parallel minor by lowering the third, sixth, and seventh scale degrees, and a minor scale can be transformed to its parallel major by sharpening those same scale degrees. In the early nineteenth century, composers began to experiment with freely borrowing chords from the parallel key. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_minor |
To the Western ear, the switch from a major key to its parallel minor sounds like a fairly simplistic saddening of the mood (while the opposite sounds like a brightening). This change is quite distinct from a switch to the relative minor. Class or key have their second theme in the relative major in the exposition, but the second theme comes back in the original minor key in the recapitulation. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_minor |
This is unique to the form, and allows the composer to state a given theme in both major and minor modes. Later it also became common to state the second theme in the tonic major in the recapitulation, with or without a later return to the minor. In rock and popular music, examples of songs that emphasize parallel keys include Grass Roots' "Temptation Eyes", The Police's "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic", Lipps Inc's "Funkytown", The Beatles' "Norwegian Wood," and Dusty Springfield's "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_minor |
In music theory, a minor chord is a chord that has a root, a minor third, and a perfect fifth. When a chord comprises only these three notes, it is called a minor triad. For example, the minor triad built on A, called an A minor triad, has pitches A–C-E: In harmonic analysis and on lead sheets, a C minor chord can be notated as Cm, C−, Cmin, or simply the lowercase "c". A minor triad is represented by the integer notation {0, 3, 7}. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minor_triad |
A minor triad can also be described by its intervals: the interval between the bottom and middle notes is a minor third, and the interval between the middle and top notes is a major third. By contrast, a major triad has a major third on the bottom and minor third on top. They both contain fifths, because a minor third (three semitones) plus a major third (four semitones) equals a perfect fifth (seven semitones). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minor_triad |
Chords that are constructed of consecutive (or "stacked") thirds are called tertian. In Western classical music from 1600 to 1820 and in Western pop, folk and rock music, a major chord is usually played as a triad. Along with the major triad, the minor triad is one of the basic building blocks of tonal music and the common practice period. In Western music, a minor chord, in comparison, "sounds darker than a major chord" but is still considered highly consonant, stable, or as not requiring resolution. Some minor chords with additional notes, such as the minor seventh chord, may also be called minor chords. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minor_triad |
In music theory, a minor seventh is one of two musical intervals that span seven staff positions. It is minor because it is the smaller of the two sevenths, spanning ten semitones. The major seventh spans eleven. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-ninth_harmonic |
For example, the interval from A to G is a minor seventh, as the note G lies ten semitones above A, and there are seven staff positions from A to G. Diminished and augmented sevenths span the same number of staff positions, but consist of a different number of semitones (nine and twelve, respectively). Minor seventh intervals rarely feature in melodies (and especially in their openings) but occur more often than major sevenths. A well-known example, in part due to its frequent use in theory classes, is found between the first two words of the phrase "There's a place for us" in the song "Somewhere" in West Side Story. Another well-known example occurs between the first two notes of the introduction to the main theme music from Star Trek: The Original Series theme.The most common occurrence of the minor seventh is built on the root of the prevailing key's dominant triad, producing the all-important dominant seventh chord. Consonance and dissonance are relative, depending on context, the minor seventh being defined as a dissonance requiring resolution to a consonance. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-ninth_harmonic |
In music theory, a minor third is a musical interval that encompasses three half steps, or semitones. Staff notation represents the minor third as encompassing three staff positions (see: interval number). The minor third is one of two commonly occurring thirds. It is called minor because it is the smaller of the two: the major third spans an additional semitone. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minor_third |
For example, the interval from A to C is a minor third, as the note C lies three semitones above A. Coincidentally, there are three staff positions from A to C. Diminished and augmented thirds span the same number of staff positions, but consist of a different number of semitones (two and five). The minor third is a skip melodically. Notable examples of ascending minor thirds include the opening two notes of "Greensleeves" and of "Light My Fire". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minor_third |
The minor third may be derived from the harmonic series as the interval between the fifth and sixth harmonics, or from the 19th harmonic. The minor third is commonly used to express sadness in music, and research shows that this mirrors its use in speech, as a tone similar to a minor third is produced during sad speech. It is also a quartal (based on an ascendance of one or more perfect fourths) tertian interval, as opposed to the major third's quintality. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minor_third |
The minor third is also obtainable in reference to a fundamental note from the undertone series, while the major third is obtainable as such from the overtone series. (See Otonality and Utonality.) | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minor_third |
The minor scale is so named because of the presence of this interval between its tonic and mediant (1st and 3rd) scale degrees. Minor chords too take their name from the presence of this interval built on the chord's root (provided that the interval of a perfect fifth from the root is also present or implied). A minor third, in just intonation, corresponds to a pitch ratio of 6:5 or 315.64 cents. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minor_third |
In an equal tempered tuning, a minor third is equal to three semitones, a ratio of 21/4:1 (about 1.189), or 300 cents, 15.64 cents narrower than the 6:5 ratio. In other meantone tunings it is wider, and in 19 equal temperament it is very nearly the 6:5 ratio of just intonation; in more complex schismatic temperaments, such as 53 equal temperament, the "minor third" is often significantly flat (being close to Pythagorean tuning ()), although the "augmented second" produced by such scales is often within ten cents of a pure 6:5 ratio. If a minor third is tuned in accordance with the fundamental of the overtone series, the result is a ratio of 19:16 or 297.51 cents (the nineteenth harmonic). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minor_third |
The 12-TET minor third (300 cents) more closely approximates the nineteenth harmonic with only 2.49 cents error. M. Ergo mistakenly claimed that the nineteenth harmonic was the highest ever written, for the bass-trumpet in Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen (1848 to 1874), when Robert Schumann's Op. 86 Konzertstück for 4 Horns and Orchestra (1849) features the twentieth harmonic (four octaves and major third above the fundamental) in the first horn part three times.Other pitch ratios are given related names, the septimal minor third with ratio 7:6 and the tridecimal minor third with ratio 13:11 in particular. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minor_third |
The minor third is classed as an imperfect consonance and is considered one of the most consonant intervals after the unison, octave, perfect fifth, and perfect fourth. The sopranino saxophone and E♭ clarinet sound in the concert pitch ( C ) a minor third higher than the written pitch; therefore, to get the sounding pitch one must transpose the written pitch up a minor third. Instruments in A – most commonly the A clarinet, sound a minor third lower than the written pitch. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minor_third |
In music theory, a musical interval describes the ratio in frequency between two musical tones. Intervals are commonly considered consonant or harmonious when they are the ratio of two small integers; for instance, the octave corresponds to the ratio 2:1, while the perfect fifth corresponds to the ratio 3:2. Two tones are commonly considered to be equivalent when they differ by a whole number of octaves; this equivalence can be represented geometrically by the chromatic circle, the points of which represent classes of equivalent tones. Mathematically, this circle can be described as the unit circle in the complex plane, and the point on this circle that represents a given tone can be obtained by the mapping the frequency ν {\displaystyle \nu } to the complex number exp ( 2 π i log 2 ν ) {\textstyle \exp(2\pi i\log _{2}\nu )} . | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steinhaus_conjecture |
An interval with ratio ρ {\displaystyle \rho } corresponds to the angle 2 π log 2 ρ {\displaystyle 2\pi \log _{2}\rho } between points on this circle, meaning that two musical tones differ by the given interval when their two points on the circle differ by this angle. For instance, this formula gives 2 π {\displaystyle 2\pi } (a whole circle) as the angle corresponding to an octave. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steinhaus_conjecture |
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