Download AP Music Theory

AP Music Theory
Chapter 1: Basics I
Lecture Notes
4 properties of a musical sound:
1. intensity – how loud or soft?
2. pitch – how high or low is the sound?
3. duration – how long is the sound held?
4. timbre – quality of the sound - Trumpet? Piano? Violin? Etc.
Staff (plural staves) – 5 parallel horizontal lines and 4 intervening spaces
Clef Sign
Treble or G clef
Bass or F clef
Ledger (leger) lines – short lines equidistant from each other
Correct placement of Middle C –
Middle C occurs both above the bass staff and below the treble
staff. Placing it midway between the staves is incorrect.
In a system known as octave registers, each C has its own designation
and, to the right of any C, each of the other letter names carries the
same designation.
Octave register designations:
AAA = Sub Contra
CC = Contra
C = Great
c = small
c1 = c-one
c2 = c-two
c3 = c-three
c4 = c-four
c5 = c-five
Interval – distance between two pitches, either as heard or as
represented by two notes on the staff or two keys on the keyboard.
Half Step – two pitches as close together as possible.
*Half steps between E and F and between B and C
*Half step between any white key and an adjacent black key
Whole Step make up of two half steps.
*Each pair of adjacent white keys, except E-F and B-C, is a whole
step because there is a black key intervening.
*A whole step may also include a black key – white-to-black or
black-to-white – provided that only two adjacent half steps are
involved.
Sharp – raises the pitch one half step
Flat – lowers the pitch one half step
Double sharp – raises the pitch one whole step
Double flat – lowers the pitch one whole step
Natural – cancels a previously used accidental
Figure 1.10 – Use of Accidentals
Scale – series of eight pitches using eight consecutive letter names
extending from a given pitch to its octave, ascending or descending.
Consists of whole steps and half steps – it is the location of the half
steps within the scale that determines the type of scale (major, minor,
Dorian, Mixolydian, etc.)
When a major scale begins on C, the half steps 3-4 and between 7-8
coincide with the half steps E-F and B-C. The C major scale only uses
the white keys on the keyboard.
When a major scale begins on any other letter name, accidentals are
necessary to provide the correct arrangement of half steps and whole
steps.
Scale Degree Names:
Scale Degree
Name
Meaning
1
Tonic
The tone that identifies the key
2
Supertonic
The tone a whole step above the tonic
3
Mediant
The tone midway between the tonic and
the dominant
4
Subdominant
The tone five tones below the tonic
5
Dominant
The tone five tones above the tonic
6
Submediant
The tone halfway between the tonic and
the subdominant (or five tones below the
mediant
7
Leading Tone
The tone that leads to the tonic
Major Key Signatures – figure 1.13/1.14
Minor Scales
Natural (pure) minor scale: The half steps are between 2 and 3 and
between 5 and 6. The natural minor scale with no accidentals starts on
A.
Harmonic minor scale – raising 7 of the natural minor scale one half step
(#7) supplies a leading tone not present in the natural minor scale. The
half steps are now between 2 and 3, 5 and 6, and #7 and 8.
Note: the interval from 6 to #7 is a step and a half (called an
augmented second)
Melodic minor scale –
Ascending – both 6 and 7 are raised one half step
Descending – the form is the same as that of the natural minor
scale.
Any minor scale with the same tonic as a major scale can easily be
spelled as follows:
Minor
To change from major scale
Melodic minor
lower 3
Harmonic minor
lower 3 and 6
Natural minor
lower 3, 6 and 7
Scale-Degree Names in Minor:
For 1 through 5, scale-degree names are the same in major and
minor. These are names for 6 and 7:
Scale Degree
Lowered 6 (or b6)
Raised 6 (#6)
Lowered 7 (b7)
Raised 7 (#7)
Name
Submediant
Raised submediant
Subtonic
Leading tone
Minor Key Signatures –
Use the accidentals found in the natural minor scale.
CIRCLE OF FIFTHS
READING CLOCKWISE:
tonic
Each tonic is the fifth step of the preceding
READING COUNTERCLOCKWISE:
preceding tonic.
Each tonic is the fourth step of the
Enharmonic Keys – F#/Gb – C#/Db – represent the same pitch
Relative Keys – Bb major and g minor are relative keys, since both have
a key signature of two flats.
Parallel Keys – two keys employing the same tonic are known as parallel
keys. Bb major and Bb minor are parallel keys.