Practice necessities

Here is a basic list of practicing nessecities....

• Music
• Binder or folder, for the music, in case you were wondering
• Pencil, to mark things in
• Tuner, always start in tune
• Metronome, always, even if it seems silly, rhythm is important
• Stand
• Optional clock or timer, it's a personal preference
• Chair, I guess
• Motivation
• Instrument

Needless to say the last two are the most important. Stay motivated folks, I know you can do it.

This is part of my practice stuff, beautiful isn't it?

Minor Keys

     Today we'll focus on the types of minor keys. Remember circle of fifths a few posts ago? That graphic shows which minor key relates to each major key, with the same number of sharps and flats. F Major and d minor will have identical key signatures. Now, you may be asking yourself why have the minor key if it is the exact same thing? The secret to the minor keys are the different types.

     Natural minor has no accidentals in the scale or piece. Natural minor only really differs in it's use of notes. 

     In melodic minor you will raise the sixth and seventh notes of the scale on the way up. So using the example of d minor again, a d melodic minor scale would go from a Bb to a B and from a F to a F#. On the way back down you move the sixth and seventh back to normal. 

     My personal favorite is the harmonic minor scale. In this scale you raise the seventh note of the scale only. In a d minor scale the C would be raised up to a C#. This creates a reeeally cool exotic sound.

Natural minor

Melodic minor

                                                         Harmonic minor

Just some scales for your listening pleasure

Practice, Practice, Practice, Practice, Practice.... You get the idea

I'm doing practice tips throughout my blog. It'll be fun.

      At one time or another everyone struggles with practicing. If you haven't, you haven't been playing long enough to. There are a couple things that makes practicing the hardest thing about learning an instrument.

       First of all, it is very time consuming, if you are doing it right. Anyone can sit down pull their bow on a string or blow into a horn, but what makes practice worthwhile is the details. The notes are sometimes the least important thing. What is more important is the way in which you play, the style and musicality you put into the little black dots to make them sound like music. This takes much longer than learning a fast passage or tricky note. Don't worry there is an upside; once you have this part down the notes are so much easier. 

      Second, it is not exactly the most interesting thing to do in your spare time. There are sooo many other things you could be doing that are actually entertaining. Like reading, or television. Practicing is like homework. Even in your favorite subject, homework is horrible.

Stand lights are awesome, they give perfect light. Here is where it is from:

Wenger corp. Electric Music Stand Light

http://www.wengercorp.com/stands/electric-music-stand-light.php

Common Major Keys

      The most common* and easy major key by far is C Major. If you refer back to the chart you will find this key has no sharps and no flats. Awesome right? No need to think about where the extra half steps are going up or down. The scale for this key would be C,D,E,F,G,A,B,C etc.. Notice that the intervals aren't always the same, most are whole steps, but a few are half steps (between E and F, and B and C). This may never confuse you, but personally I had to keep an ear out. The next most common key is G Major or F major. They have one sharp (F#) and one flat (Bb) respectively. In G Major the half steps will be between B and C again, as well as between F# and G. In F Major the half steps will be between A and Bb, and E and F. I recommend warming up with these easy scales before you practice. You could also warm up with a scale in the same key as your piece.

* Depending on the instrument you play certain keys will be easier. I do know that these are the easiest for strings. I've picked these because they require the least amount of thinking. 

What I'm reading:)

To further my knowledge of my topic, I've picked out books about music theory. To start with I have begun Basic Music Theory: How to Read, Write, and Understand Music, written by Jonathan Harmun. I hoped this book would show me the in depth details on the most basic music theory. I also hoped this book would give me a little insight on different instruments. So far this book has delivered on the first and not yet on the second. When I started, I was disappointed on just how basic this book was, but then I discovered some little things I never thought about when I first learned music basics. For example, this book taught me what modes (different types of scales) are, which is the kind of simple thing that I had never known. The book confirmed that it is necessary to start at the beginning and be thorough even if it seems to easy. In the first chapter of the book the author goes into the history of music, which surprised me. I had never really thought about early or different* styles of music notation. It was eye opening and made me what to research this more. I was also a little surprised how much I already knew. This leads me to believe that I should move on to more complicated books when I finish with this one. A couple things I absolutely loved about this is that it is so crystal clear and the layout has review sections at the end of every chapter. I would recommend this book to those who really need basic roots or who want to teach others. 

A picture of the book from the author's website 

http://www.allabouttrumpet.com/BMT/

* If you want to take a look at some of these styles

Music notation in general: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Musical_notation

John Cage (wrote in a different style a lot): http://en.

wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cage

Early notation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neume or

http://www.bandnotes.info/tidbits/notation.htm