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MUSIC THEORY FOR DUMNNIES

maica leo

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Music Theory

FOR

DUMmIES

‰

by Michael Pilhofer and Holly Day

Music Theory

FOR

DUMmIES

‰

Music Theory

FOR

DUMmIES

‰

by Michael Pilhofer and Holly Day

Music Theory For Dummies

®

Published by

Wiley Publishing, Inc.

111 River St.Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774

www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2007 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, IndianaPublished by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, IndianaPublished simultaneously in CanadaNo part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permittedunder Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permis-sion of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the CopyrightClearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400, fax 978-646-8600. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Legal Department, Wiley Publishing, Inc., 10475Crosspoint Blvd., Indianapolis, IN 46256, 317-572-3447, fax 317-572-4355, or online at

http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions

.Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for theRest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Dummies Daily, The Fun and Easy Way, Dummies.com and related tradedress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the UnitedStates and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. All other trademarks are theproperty of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendormentioned in this book.

LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: THE PUBLISHER AND THE AUTHOR MAKE NO REP-RESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THECONTENTS OF THIS WORK AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WITHOUTLIMITATION WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. NO WARRANTY MAY BE CRE-ATED OR EXTENDED BY SALES OR PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS. THE ADVICE AND STRATEGIES CON-TAINED HEREIN MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR EVERY SITUATION. THIS WORK IS SOLD WITH THEUNDERSTANDING THAT THE PUBLISHER IS NOT ENGAGED IN RENDERING LEGAL, ACCOUNTING, OR OTHER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES. IF PROFESSIONAL ASSISTANCE IS REQUIRED, THE SERVICES OF ACOMPETENT PROFESSIONAL PERSON SHOULD BE SOUGHT. NEITHER THE PUBLISHER NOR THEAUTHOR SHALL BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES ARISING HEREFROM. THE FACT THAT AN ORGANIZATIONOR WEBSITE IS REFERRED TO IN THIS WORK AS A CITATION AND/OR A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF FUR-THER INFORMATION DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE AUTHOR OR THE PUBLISHER ENDORSES THE INFOR-MATION THE ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE MAY PROVIDE OR RECOMMENDATIONS IT MAY MAKE.FURTHER, READERS SHOULD BE AWARE THAT INTERNET WEBSITES LISTED IN THIS WORK MAY HAVECHANGED OR DISAPPEARED BETWEEN WHEN THIS WORK WAS WRITTEN AND WHEN IT IS READ.

For general information on our other products and services, please contact our Customer CareDepartment within the U.S. at 800-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002.For technical support, please visit

www.wiley.com/techsupport

.Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print maynot be available in electronic books.Library of Congress Control Number: 2007920019ISBN: 978-0-7645-7838-0Manufactured in the United States of America10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

About the Authors

Michael Pilhofer:

Michael Pilhofer teaches music theory and percussion atMcNally Smith College of Music in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he serves asdepartment head of the Ensembles Department. He has worked as a profes-sional musician for more than 18 years and has toured and recorded with Joe Lovano, Marian McPartland, Kenny Wheeler, Dave Holland, Bill Holman,Wycliffe Gordon, Peter Erskine, and Gene Bertoncini.

Holly Day:

Holly Day has written about music for numerous publicationsinternationally, including

Computer Music Journal

,

ROCKRGRL

,

Music Alive!

,

Guitar One

,

Brutarian Magazine

,

Interface Technology

, and

Mixdown

magazine.Over the past couple of decades, her writing has received an Isaac Asimov Award, a National Magazine Award, and two Midwest Writer’s Grants. Her previous books include

The Insider’s Guide to the Twin Cities

(3rd, 4th, and 5th Editions), Shakira, and

Behind the Orange Curtain: A History of OrangeCounty Punk Rock

.

Dedication

To Wolfegang and Astrid, with much love.

Authors’ Acknowledgments

Special acknowledgement goes to all the musicians and composers who tookthe time out of their very busy schedules to share their thoughts on writingmusic with us.Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Irmin Schmidt, Barry Adamson, Jonathan Segel,John Hughes III, Nick Currie, Andrew Bird, Fred Sokolow, Rachel Grimes,Christian Frederickson, Pan Sonic, Mark Mallman, Leslie Hermelin, CorbinCollins, and Matt Wagner: thank you.Special thanks goes to Tom Day, whose patience both in and out of the production booth is always amazing.R.I.P., Dr. Robert Moog.

Publisher’s Acknowledgments

We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our Dummies online registrationform located at

www.dummies.com/register/

.Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:

Acquisitions, Editorial, and  Media Development

Project Editor:

Corbin Collins

Acquisitions Editor:

Stacy Kennedy

Copy Editor:

Corbin Collins

Technical Editor:

Delbert Bowers

Media Project Supervisor:

Laura Moss-Hollister

Media Development Specialist:

Kit Malone

Editorial Manager:

Michelle Hacker

Editorial Supervisor and Reprint Editor:

Carmen Krikorian

Editorial Assistants:

Erin Calligan Mooney, Joe Niesen, David Lutton, Leeann Harney

Cartoons:

Rich Tennant(

www.the5thwave.com

)

Composition Services

Project Coordinator:

Patrick Redmond

Layout and Graphics:

Carl Byers, Joyce Haughey, Laura Pence, Heather Ryan, Rashell Smith

Special Art:

W.R. Music Service/Woytek andKrystyna Rynczak

Anniversary Logo Design:

Richard Pacifico

Proofreaders:

Aptara, Jessica Kramer, Susan Moritz, Todd Lothery

Indexer:

Aptara

Publishing and Editorial for Consumer DummiesDiane Graves Steele,

Vice President and Publisher, Consumer Dummies

Joyce Pepple,

Acquisitions Director, Consumer Dummies

Kristin A. Cocks,

Product Development Director, Consumer Dummies

Michael Spring,

Vice President and Publisher, Travel

Kelly Regan,

Editorial Director, Travel

Publishing for Technology DummiesAndy Cummings,

Vice President and Publisher, Dummies Technology/General User

Composition ServicesGerry Fahey,

Vice President of Production Services

Debbie Stailey,

Director of Composition Services

Contents at a Glance

Introduction.................................................................1Part I: Rhythm: Keeping the Beat..................................7

Chapter 1: What Is Music Theory Anyway?....................................................................9Chapter 2: Counting Out Notes.......................................................................................15Chapter 3: Giving It a Rest ..............................................................................................31Chapter 4: Time Signatures.............................................................................................41Chapter 5: Naturalizing the Beat....................................................................................57Chapter 6: Tempo and Dynamics ...................................................................................65

Part II: Melody: The Part You Hum..............................77

Chapter 7: The Musical Staff...........................................................................................79Chapter 8: Instrument Tone and Color..........................................................................93Chapter 9: Half Steps, Whole Steps, Sharps, and Flats................................................99

Part III: Harmony: Fleshing It Out.............................105

Chapter 10: Intervals......................................................................................................107Chapter 11: Key Signatures and the Circle of Fifths...................................................131Chapter 12: The Major and Minor Scales....................................................................147Chapter 13: Building Chords.........................................................................................161Chapter 14: Chord Progressions...................................................................................193Chapter 15: Cadence......................................................................................................207

Part IV: Form: How It’s Shaped..................................215

Chapter 16: The Elements of Form...............................................................................217Chapter 17: Classical Forms..........................................................................................229Chapter 18: Popular Forms...........................................................................................241

Part V: The Part of Tens............................................249

Chapter 19: Six Most Frequently Asked Questions About Music Theory...............251Chapter 20: Ten Cool and Useful Resources...............................................................255Chapter 21: Nine Music Theorists You Should Know About ....................................261

Appendix A: How to Use the CD.................................269 Appendix B: Chord Chart...........................................277  Appendix C: Glossary................................................315  Index.......................................................................319

Table of Contents

Introduction..................................................................1

About This Book...............................................................................................1Whom This Book Is For...................................................................................2The absolute beginner...........................................................................2The music student who quit.................................................................2The experienced performer..................................................................2How This Book Is Organized...........................................................................3Part I: Rhythm: Keeping the Beat.........................................................3Part II: Melody: The Part You Hum.......................................................3Part III: Harmony: Fleshing It Out.........................................................3Part IV: Form: How It’s Shaped.............................................................4Part V: The Part of Tens.........................................................................4Icons Used in This Book..................................................................................4Where to Go from Here....................................................................................5

Part I: Rhythm: Keeping the Beat...................................7

Chapter 1

:

What Is Music Theory Anyway? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

How Will Theory Help My Music?................................................................10The Old Lady and the Yardstick...................................................................10The Birth of Music and Theory....................................................................11The Greeks: First Theorists .........................................................................12The Keyboard and Music Notation..............................................................12

Chapter 2: Counting Out Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

Meet the Beat..................................................................................................15Notes and Note Values...................................................................................16The big picture......................................................................................16The way notes look..............................................................................17Finding and following the beat ...........................................................20Whole Notes....................................................................................................20Half Notes........................................................................................................22Quarter Notes.................................................................................................22Eighth Notes and Beyond..............................................................................24Dotted and Tied Notes...................................................................................25Dotted notes..........................................................................................26Tied notes..............................................................................................26Mixing It All Up...............................................................................................27

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