I am in the process of writing a series of articles about the songs on my sixth Jamendo album, In Unexpected Places.  This is about the thirteenth track, “Heartbeat of the Desert.”

This song was actually written and recorded for FAWM 2009.  At the time, I’d just completed my fifth Jamendo album, Martian Winter, which was composed exclusively of songs in unusual time signatures.  For FAWM, then, I had decided to try a change of pace — writing songs in standard meters!

Now, from time to time in FAWM, there are weekly “challenges”: specific song goals that are put out there to spur the creativity of the participants.  For example, one year, the challenge was to write a song using only two chords.  In FAWM 2009, one of the challenges was, ironically . . . write a song with a time signature change!

So I did, and the result was “Heartbeat of the Desert.”  Although I’d been writing composition articles for each of the songs I produced for FAWM, on this one, I never had the time.  (I posted a short article explaining the reasons.)  Well, here at last are some of the details.

Structure

This song has two main parts:

• Part A in 11/8.  There is really only one “chord” here, and I’d call it either Dm7/B or Bø. (See my list of Chord Abbreviations for an explanation.)  However, the key to this section is the arrangement, which I’ll explain in more detail below.
• Part B in 8/8.  Fairly straightforward: there is a repeating chord motif, Bm7 – C#ø – D∆#11 – C#ø.

Voicings for Part A

Although there is only one “chord” in Part A, it is really more of a modal piece.  I’ve established the chord and created movement using Drop 2 Voicings for each chord, combined with a suitable octatonic scale.  I’ll show the arrangement first, then explain what these terms mean.

Bass and synthesizer arrangement for "Heartbeat of the Desert." Click the image above for a larger version.

Octatonic Scales

There are only 7 notes in the traditional major, minor, and jazz minor scales.  This creates a problem in sequences of 8 notes; the strategy generally is to have chordal tones on the strong beats, and non-chordal tones on the weak beats.

An octatonic scale solves this by adding one passing note to the standard scale.  (Probably the greatest exponent of this is David Baker, in his series How to Play Bebop.)  For example, if the desired chord is Dm7, the chordal tones are D – F – A – C.  If I write the D dorian mode as a descending series over strong and weak beats (with the strong beats in bold), I get D – E – F – G – A – B – C – D – E – F – . . . , for instance.  By the fifth strong beat in the series, I’m already “off the track.”  If I add in a single passing note — for example, C# — notice how the series gets put back “on track”: D – E – F – G – A – B – C – C# – D – E – F – . . . .

Drop 2 Voicings

Octatonic scales work phenomenally well with Drop 2 voicings, expanding the idea from two dimensional (pitch, time) to three dimensional (voice, pitch, time).  In the arrangement above, notice that each voice follows a descending contour in the chosen octatonic scale (Dm7 + C#).  Further, each voice makes a Drop 2 chord:  start with a standard inversion, say D-F-A-C, and drop the 2nd voice to the bottom.  The result is A – D – F – C.

Above, all the “on beat” chords are in the Drop 2 series for Dm7.  The “off beat” chords (3 part of the 8:3 groove in 11/8) are made up of the “leftovers” in this octatonic scale: E, G, B, C#.  This can be read as either Em6, or, better yet, as a rootless voicing for A9.  In other words, the off beats form a hidden A9 – Dm7 – A9 – Dm7 pattern — a series of V-i’s.

For this reason, the voicings sound very smooth, even though, as you can see, I’ve taken great liberties with the harmonies in the bass line.  One of the inversions looks almost insane: Dm7 / C#.  However, the C# is matching up with the implied A9, not with the Dm7!

Actual Voices

So in short, “Heartbeat of the Desert” was a pretty daring composition.  When I wrote it, it took me a long time to find the right instruments to represent the voices — if the individual voices were too strong, the higher harmonics would clash.  I chose a wide variety of synthesizer voices to play this song.  Some start loud, and diminish; others start soft, and swell.

At the time I wrote it, I never thought it would be on an actual Jamendo album — but the final result was one of the most memorable of FAWM 2009, at least for me.

I have always been drawn to the arcane aspects of classical music. I enjoy finding rare books on music that no one has ever heard of, reading them and working out the contents of the book and putting the author’s ideas to the test of reality. I simply have a passion for learning and seeking the truth, but, I must admit, it’s always fun to whip out something from one of these unknown books in the middle of a debate and watch an opponent try to recover from the curve ball I just threw them. It has been my experience thus far that the less known the book, the more likely its contents are true and correct. This in turn leads me to the conclusion that people are more likely to believe, not what is true, but what they wish to be true. However, philosophy is not the direct focus of this blog and that statement is enough to fill a book in and of itself. Here is a quick list of some interesting books on classical music. Some you may have heard of, some you may not.

On Purity in Music by Anton Thibaut

This is a really good book on musical aesthetics. Anton Thibaut was a German jurist in the early 19th century and an amateur musician. He was an ardent collector of old choral music and when reading this book you somewhat have to look over Thibaut’s bias towards the music of Palestrina’s time.

Six Lectures on Harmony by George Alexander McFarren

Originally given as a set of lectures at the Royal Academy of Music in the late 1800s, this book is a rather unique perspective of harmony. I recommend this book over Rudiments of Harmony also by McFarren. The ideas in both books are the same but Six Lectures is far easier to understand. McFarren was an acquaintance of Ebenezer Prout and this books is nearly identical to Prout’s own Harmony.

A Treatise on Harmony by Alfred Day

Alfred Day originated the theory presented by McFarren in the Six Lectures and in Prout’s Harmony. However, I recommend both of those books over this one and suggest reading this book only if you’re interested in the origin of the theory. This book can be difficult to understand at times.

The Philosophy of Music by William Pole

An interesting book I recently came across. Unlike most books dealing with music theory, this one begins with a rather lengthy discussion of acoustics. It further discusses the history of the major and minor scales and explores the philosophical basis for music theory.

Do you get tired of using the same chord progressions over and over?  Here are a few ideas to help you spice up some of those chord progressions:

1.  Chord substitution:  Change a chord in your progression to its relative minor (if the original chord is a major chord) or its relative major (if the original chord is a minor chord).

2.  Frequency of chord changes:  Even if you end up using the same chords in a chorus as you did in a verse (or even if you didn’t), it helps to change the speed which you change chords in different sections of the song.  This helps delineate the song sections (such as verse/chorus) more clearly.

3.  Try to incorporate inversions of the chords you are already using.  Inversions can give a totally different feel.

4.  Try to use chords that suggest a direction up or down, such as I-II-IV-V (up).

5.  Make sure the overall “tone” of your chord progression is appropriate for your song.  For example, if its a sad song, then most of the chords in your progressions should be minor.

6.  Incorporate an unexpected chord or two somewhere in the song.  An example of this is “I’m Yours” by Jason Mraz.  The entire song is built on the same chord progression but at the end of the chorus, there is an unexpected chord that is not used anywhere else in the song which is used just momentarily as passing chord right before the new verse.

I hope this gave you some good ideas to freshen up your chord progressions.  Good luck!

Written by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website.
Follow Gary on Twitter for songwriting tips, news and more.

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If you don’t know the music of Sia, you’re missing a real treat. Her music is a perfect example of how songwriters need only venture minimally outside the box to create fantastic music. “Soon We’ll Be Found” is a case in point. By using simple harmonic modulations and other formal elements, Sia demonstrates simple devices that other songwriters could and should be using.

The first formal element of interest is the use of the two-part verse, the first eight bars being in C minor, with the second eight bars brightening to the relative major:

Cm  Fm  G  Cm  Fm  G  Cm  Fm  G  Ab  Bb ||Eb

The Ab and Bb are pivot chords that exists in both keys of C minor and Eb major, providing a seamless way to modulate to the relative major key. The song then proceeds with the second part of the verse, now in major. So songwriters, if you’re writing a song in minor, and are tiring of the constant mood of that key, modulating to the relative major is easy to do with a flat-VII.

The next interesting harmonic device Sia uses is the so-called “modal mixture”, or borrowed chord. The second chord of this part of the verse is Abm, where one would normally use Ab. A borrowed chord is one which normally exists in the minor side of the key, but is “borrowed” to add an interesting harmonic flavour:

Eb  Abm  Eb  Abm  Eb  Abm  Bb  G

On we go to the chorus, and the chord progressions here pull the listener back and forth from the key of C minor to Eb major, and back again. You might think that the harmonic structure is more ambiguous in the chorus than it was in the verse, but what’s actually happening is that the chorus represents the melding of two different harmonic organizations we found in the verse. While part 1 of the verse emphasized minor, and part 2 accentuated major, we get both living in close proximity in the chorus. In that sense, the verse harmonic treatment is what allows the chorus to work so well.

Sia has one more interesting goodie for us. It’s not often that we get to hear Augmented Sixth chords in popular music styles; it is usually a classification of chord reserved for classical composers. An Aug 6th is a chord usually built on the flat-VI degree of the scale, and most often resolves to the dominant chord. In this song, we find it in the bridge. The first time we hear it (at 2′ 24″) it simply moves immediately to Cm, but the second time, (2′ 35″) it resolves to G in preparation for the return of C minor. The Aug 6th is a really useful “predominant” chord that gives you a new way of approaching the dominant chord other than from IV.

These devices are very simple to use, and require almost nothing more than a bit of musical imagination. They add a sense of creativity to your music without throwing the balance too far toward unpredictable, and turn something mundane into something that captivates the listener.
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If you want to learn more about the structure of great music, Gary Ewer’s songwriting e-books show you all the ways you can be making your songs really work. Click here to read more.

The Greatest Musician in the World knows how many sharps there are in D# minor. If you know, post it here.

NoteFlight – Music notation software
Issuu – Make beautiful online publications in a snap from powerpoint presentations
Ricci Adams’ – Music theory tutorials and lessons
Sound Cloud – online music file sharing and drop boxes
Chord Calculator
Morton Subotnick’s – Creating Music
Scale Finder
Classics for Kids – free online music examples, lesson plans and handouts
Myna – the first web 2.0 software that seems based on GarageBand. Not quite there yet but interesting. I hope they keep working on it.
Avery – the makers of Myna above and several other helpful apps.
Wufoo – Wufoo is an online HTML form builder that helps you create contact forms, web surveys and invitations so you can collect information, registrations and payments without writing a single line of code.
Dipity - Make extremely cool online timelines, very eloquent.
New York Philharmonic – Kids Zone
The Sound Lounge by PBS
ClassTools – great collection of online software designed for the elementry classroom
Vimeo – post your video
PBS.org
PBS play the Gamelan
Kompoz – compose with your friends and colleagues online
Hobnox – audio tool
Online Metronome
Animoto
-Turn your photos & videos into pure amazing. Animoto automatically produces beautifully orchestrated, completely unique video pieces from your photos, video clips and music. Fast, free and shockingly easy.
VuVox – Make creations online
* Use COLLAGE to quickly produce dynamic interactive panoramas with hot-spots.
* Use STUDIO to build a personalized media presentation… and, place it in your COLLAGE.
* Use EXPRESS to build presentations with dynamic content from RSS feeds and online albums.
* Tap into CUT-OUT Express to use your photos as frames for slideshows.
San Francisco Kids
Weebly -
What can I do with Weebly?
* Create a free website & blog
* Easy drag and drop interface
* No technical skills required
* Dozens of professional designs
* Free domain hosting

And be sure to check out a wonderful blog @ Free Tech for Teachers

How would you like to take your playing to the next level — right now? Contact me at
quikscor (at) ix.netcom.com  and  I’ll send you 3 Secrets that will change the way you play forever, right now.

If you could create your dream piano teacher, what would they look like? If you could learn anything on the piano, what would it be?

Post your piano dream here.

Imagine having a 24/7 music servant who will answer every piano and theory question that ever comes into your mind, help you get over every hurdle you face as a pianist so you can be the awesome piano player you long to be.

That’s what you have here at Awesome Piano. Just ask a question and get an answer in 24 hours or less!

Play with confidence and enjoy sharing music with your audience. Listeners love to hear you play the piano. If you have a question about how to perform well, how to play certain notes or chords on the piano, or anything else, feel free to ask here.

Yesterday, the audience at my luncheon performance was hushed, because this was a real treat for them. Not too many people these days sit down at a baby grand piano and play Debussy. You can bring so much joy to your listeners just by playing what you like to play.

If you’re here, you probably love the piano, like I do. My mission is to help you be the most awesome piano player you can be. So, anything I can do help you get there, let me know.

Today, I’m performing in San Francisco at a luncheon. I playing Debussy’s Arabesque I and some duets for flute and piano by various composers. I’ll let you know how it goes.

The fun thing about playing for people, and the most important thing is to have energy and enjoy it. Your audience will feel whatever you feel.

I am in the process of writing a series of articles about the songs on my sixth Jamendo album, In Unexpected Places.  This is about the eleventh track, “Tell Me, Madame Fortune Teller.”

This was originally the final song of FAWM 2009.  At the time, I was exhausted.  I’d been writing composition articles for each song as I finished — and I said I’d do it for the 14th — but I never got around to it.

Structure

The song is comprised of four rhythmic and chordal units (A through D), grouped as follows:

(Above, i stands for intro, which is based on pattern D.)  Here are the chords for each section:

Part A

Part B

Part C

Part D

Method of Play

The key to this song is the guitar part, the chords.  I’ve shown them below in standard notation and tablature using GNU Lilypond.  What I can’t show is how to play them.

The chords are all played on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th string, and are neither strummed nor picked.  Instead, I am using my fingers to pluck all three strings simultaneously.  (I did something similar on one of my wife’s favorite songs, “It’s Always Raining Somewhere“, from La vie sous la mer.)

Part A chords

Probably the most critical element in creating a chordal line is the voice leading.  Even though F9 isn’t really part of the key — A Dorian, equivalent to G major — the chord comes as no surprise in this line.

Chord voicings for Part A of "Tell Me, Madame Fortune Teller." Click the image above to enlarge.

Part B chords

Here, the F9 is held over a break, and the next chord is E7#9.  If this is thought of as E7alt, then it is merely a tritone subsitution for Bb7, and this can be recognized as a standard V of V transition.  Certainly E7#9 is a good chord for “turning around” into the Am7 chords that follow.

Chord voicings for Part B of "Tell Me, Madame Fortune Teller." Click the image above to enlarge.

Parts C and D

The chords here are fairly wildly improvised, using mostly “t4″ chords from my list of Jazz Guitar Voicings.

In this article I will present three arpeggio shapes based on the Major triad.

Below is an outline of the three shapes that will be covered–the root position, first inversion and second inversion.  Note that the bottom numbers denote recommended fingerings (1- index, 2- middle, 3- ring, and 4- little).  This article will use the F Major triad as an example:

The first inversion’s recommended fingering can get tricky at lower frets, so you could use a fingering like this:

After the fourth note, you would simply slide your index finger down one fret to sound the last 2 notes.

Seeing the overall “shape” of each arpeggio will help you memorize them.  In each of the following sections, the numbers still denote recommended fingerings.  Blue notes refer to root notes.  Also, remember that these “shapes” can be moved anywhere along the fretboard.

Root Position

In the root position our first note will have to be the root note, or an F note (13th fret on the low e-string).  Since an F Major triad is F-A-C, the next five notes of this arpeggio are A-C-F-A-C.

First Inversion

In the first inversion, the third of the triad becomes the bass note.  Since we’re using an F Major triad (F-A-C) — the third is an A, which will be the first note of the arpeggio.  We will play this using the 5th fret of the low e-string.  The next five notes are simply C-F-A-C-F.

Second Inversion

Lastly, in the second inversion, the fifth of the triad becomes the bass note.  Since we’re using an F Major triad (F-A-C) — the fifth is a C, which will be the first note of the arpeggio.  We will play this using the 8th fret on the low e-string.  The next five notes are simply F-A-C-F-A.

Sweeping

Now, If you’re interested in sweeping, it’ll make more sense to take the high e-string, and play it on the b-string as shown below:

The first bar shows a technique that uses all pick-strokes.  However, if you prefer, you could play 10-13-10 on the b-string using a legato technique as shown in the second bar.

Welcome to Young Composers!

Here is the beginning blurb from their site. Worth checking out.

Young Composers is a place where composers and musicians of all ages can communicate, share, and collaborate with others on the subjects of music, composition, performance and repertoire. This site is home to many people of different experiences and styles, and is an excellent resource for all musicians. After registering, you will be able to converse with musicians of all types and ages in the forum. You may also make use of the wiki system to create a profile showcasing you and your works, or just write about something that you are particularly knowledgeable about. Furthermore, we have an Online Music Store that sells sheet music, notation software, sequencers, music samples and more. Go HERE for the REST

One of my favorite guitar players, Ben Monder interpreting the song Wichita Lineman.

Music lessons from one  Los Angeles musician, Sid Jacobs. He is a wonderful guitar player who deserves wider recognition.

Tango dancing in Southern California.

So, it’s my last year at my school, and we have a prom. (Though I find it a bit of an American rip-off). I’m not too sure about it, I can just tell I’ll end up nervously standing there, and eating food. Yum. Though all I have to go on this, are old school discos I went to when I was like, 10 years old.

So this lunchtime I was in the media room, furiously searching the internet for help with this Grade 5 Music Theory. It was kind of manic. My friend Chantelle was going around turning people’s computers off for the beginning (as someone of our ‘mature’ age does). I was just sat there chatting with this guy called Jack. Here’s the general (not direct quotes) transcript of what happened: (Starting with Jack)

“So, are you planning on going to the prom?”

“Errrr, I’m not sure, only if I have someone to go with, otherwise I won’t bother, it’s just that-”

“Well, do you want to go to the prom with me?”

“Yeah That would be cool”

And that, is how it happened. Not the smoothest. But the best asking out I’ve ever had (though we’re technically not going out, at the moment it’s just a prom thing).

I’ve just been talking with my friend on the old Facebook, and apparently he was ogling at me.

It’s just a bit confusing, he wasn’t too chatty on the Facebook chat. But we’ve got martial arts tomorrow so I can always hang out then, see what’s happening.

Even though this blog is pretty much about me, my life, and my ramblings. This post just makes me feel a tad bit obsessed. *confused look*

This is developing into a really nice music theory blog, please go take a look in the theory section.

http://jnaccmusic.wordpress.com/

Here’s a nice selection of little flash games online for kids (and adults, too–try ‘em, they’re fun!):

http://www.classicsforkids.com/games/

If you’ve done any congregational singing, chances are you’ve run across something like this at some point:

Instead of customary note heads, every pitch has a unique shape. Ironically enough, a trained musician may find this system disconcerting because they may have never encountered this method of notation in any other setting. These note shapes are based on the seven basic scale degrees, and each shape represents one of those pitches.

seven shapes for seven basic pitches

A Little History

The seven shape system of notation is not very old and is usually credited to Jesse Aiken. In fact, many music manuals and notation software packages refer to these notes as Aiken Note Shapes. His 1846 book The Christian Minstrel brought shaped notes to spiritual music, and, while gaining little traction overseas, the seven-shape system became very popular in the United States – particularly in southern states. Four-shape notation can be traced a few years farther back but never gained the popularity of seven-shape notation.

In their original form, shaped notes were supposed to be self-sufficient. Aiken’s books would contain simple time signatures and no clefs or key signatures. Absolute pitch was considered unnecessary when singers could easily see the relative relationship between notes through Aiken’s system. (Remember that a capella singing was more prevalent in congregations of the 1800s than today.) Today, many hymnals use a hybrid system where absolute and relative notation is combined.

We Shall Overcome – traditional notation

We Shall Overcome – Aiken notation with clefs/key signature

Lowell Mason – a name that is probably familiar to many Christian musicians – would later seek to eliminate shaped notes from Christian hymnals, but they were too firmly entrenched. Some northern hymnal publishers have abandoned shaped notes in favor of traditional European notation, but Aiken notation is still popular among southern hymnals.

Shaped Notes’ Worth

I, for one, do not like shaped notation. I find it a distraction from what I already know about music. On the other hand, another member of the congregation I attend swears by them. He has only a small knowledge of music literacy, but he can sight-read almost any song with Aiken notation. So when are shaped notes appropriate to use and teach?

• If you’re teaching in a music curriculum, vocal or instrumental, I’d avoid shape notes altogether. Most choral music does not use them, and instrumentalists rely wholly on absolute pitch. The note shapes would provide no benefit.
• However, note shapes can be useful in teaching sight singing. In the 1950s, Gerorge H. Kyrne carried out a study that Aiken notation is more effective in teaching vocal sight-reading than traditional notation.
• If you’re writing music for professional musicians or any instrumentalists, don’t use shaped notes. They will only distract from what these musicians already know.
• If you’re writing music for congregational singing, shaped notes may be appropriate. Individual music publishers will often have the final call, but, if you are independently writing for a single congregation, check their hymnals and use the system to which they are accustomed.

Shaped notes are an interesting footnote in American music history. The Aiken notation system is one of the very few musical innovations unique to our hemisphere. While they remained limited to a specific musical culture, they enabled whole groups of people to experience and create music they might have otherwise been too daunted to try.