Ashanti Mills from my Patreon had a brilliant idea. He said, hey, you know how you combined interviews with Toni Blackman with hip-hop songs to explain hip-hop pedagogy? You should do that with music theory: have songs that explain their musical content to you. This is one of those ideas that seems obvious as soon as I hear it, but it took Ashanti suggesting it to make me realize that. So: here is my first batch!
The whole thing came together very quickly. In some cases, I took teaching materials I already developed in Noteflight, exported the MIDI, dropped it into Ableton, added beats, and went from there. In other cases, the idea existed in my head and just needed some a little trial and error to realize it.
Here’s some background on each track.
Time Signatures
I count along with the most common meters, then a few uncommon ones.
- 4/4: Michael Jackson – “Billie Jean”
- 2/4: Art Blakey – “Blues March”
- 3/4: John Coltrane – “My Favorite Things”
- 6/8: The Beatles – “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)”
- 12/8: Duke Ellington – “Blues in Orbit”
- 5/4: Dave Brubeck – “Take Five”
- 5/8: Lalo Schifrin – “Mission Impossible Theme”
- 7/4: Peter Gabriel – “Solsbury Hill”
- 7/8: Can – “One More Night”
- 9/4: Balkan Beat Box – “9/4 the Ladies”
- 9/8: Led Zeppelin – “The Crunge”
- 11/8: Allman Brothers Band – “Whipping Post”
- 13/8: Mahavishnu Orchestra – “One Word”
Swing
A narrated guide to different varieties.
- 12/8 shuffle: John Lee Hooker – “It Serves You Right To Suffer”
- Jazz eighth note swing: Duke Ellington – “Overture” (from The Nutcracker Suite)
- Jazz eighth note swing in 3/4: McCoy Tyner – “Contemplation”
- Funk sixteenth note swing: The Headhunters – “God Make Me Funky”
- Funk sixteenth note swing: James Brown – “The Funky Drummer Parts One and Two”
- Eighties drum machine swing: Janet Jackson – “What Have You Done For Me Lately”
- Quintuplet swing: Sungazer – “Sequence Start”
- Dilla swing: The Roots – “Hall and Oates”
Polymeter vs Polyrhythm
Demonstrating 3:4, 5:4, 7:4 and 9:4 both as polymeter and polyrhythm. This distinction is very difficult to explain verbally but it makes sense when you hear it. Read more about polymeter and polyrhythm.
Key Center Duality
The chords G7 and C can imply V7-I in C major or I7-IV in G Mixolydian. Which one you hear depends on the metrical placement and emphasis of the chords. This track alternates between sections in C and G, only ever using the chords G7 and C. This duality between major and Mixolydian is the basis of blues harmonica.
Major Keys around the Circle of Fifths
The twelve major keys, first moving counterclockwise around the circle of fifths, then clockwise. I narrate the chords as they go by through the vocoder. Read more about key signatures and the circle of fifths.
Minor Keys around the Circle of Fifths
The twelve minor keys, first moving counterclockwise around the circle of fifths, then clockwise. Read more about key signatures and the circle of fifths.
Permutations of the Modes
I take a series of short melodies through each of the parallel diatonic modes in C. The modes go in circle-of-fifths order from brightest (Lydian) to darkest (Locrian) and back. This gif shows you what’s going on:
Read more about the diatonic modes and the circle of fifths.
Modes from Light to Dark Around the Chromatic Circle
An extension of the previous track that moves through all twelve keys.
Diatonic Seventh Chords
All of the seventh chords you can make from an assortment of scales and modes: the major scale, Mixolydian mode, Lydian mode, Lydian dominant mode, Phrygian dominant mode, the natural minor scale, Dorian mode, the harmonic minor scale, the melodic minor scale, Phrygian mode, and Locrian mode. Read more about making seventh chords from scales.
Extended Chords
Building tonic chords from root to thirteenth from the same scales and modes as the Diatonic Seventh Chords song: major scale, Mixolydian mode, Lydian mode, Lydian dominant mode, Phrygian dominant mode, the natural minor scale, Dorian mode, the harmonic minor scale, the melodic minor scale, Phrygian mode, and Locrian mode. Read more about making chords from scales.
The Three Diminished Chords
Hear typical uses cases for diminished seventh chords in blues, jazz, and classical music.
C7 in Just Intonation and 12-TET
Comparing the sound of a dominant seventh chord in two different tuning systems.
The Harmonic Family Tree
Deriving intervals from the natural overtone series.
Just Intonation in All Twelve Keys
Western people like two things in harmony: intervals derived from the natural overtone series, and the ability to play in multiple keys. Unfortunately, it’s not actually possible to do both of these things within the same tuning system. If you want “pure” intervals, then they will not work in every key. So we as a civilization decided to use a tuning system that enables you to play in lots of different keys, even though all of them are slightly out of tune. This track shows you what we have gained and lost. It uses a tuning called Ptolemy’s intense diatonic scale, extended to the whole chromatic scale by Kyle Gann:
- C: 1/1
- C#: 16/15
- D: 9/8
- Eb: 6/5
- E: 5/4
- F: 4/3
- F#: 45/32
- G: 3/2
- Ab: 8/5
- A: 5/3
- Bb: 9/5
- B: 15/8
- C: 2/1
The track moves through all twelve dominant seventh chords around the circle of fifths. Notice that the chords closest to G7 on the circle of fifths sound very consonant, while the ones that are more distant sound more out of tune. To my ears, B7 sounds the most out of tune. Read more about why tuning is so hard.
Just Intonation Blues
Inspired by the hypothesis that blues tonality descends from the natural overtone series of I and IV. This track runs slowly up and down a scale comprised of just intonation intervals that are likely candidates for blue notes:
- 1/1 (C)
- 7/6 (between D and E-flat)
- 6/5 (neutral third between E-flat and E)
- 5/4 (just intonation major third, a little flat from 12-TET)
- 4/3 (just intonation perfect fourth, slightly flat from 12-TET)
- 7/5 (between F and F-sharp)
- 3/2 (just intonation perfect fifth, slightly sharp from 12-TET)
- 5/3 (just intonation major sixth, somewhat flat from 12-TET)
- 7/4 (harmonic flat seventh, fairly flat from 12-TET)
- 9/5 (between B-flat and B)
Read more about the possible just intonation roots of the blues.
If you want to support this kind of thing, please buy the album, and sign up for my Patreon!