Note Relationship Vocab

This post is just a short one to explain some of the things I'll be talking about during this segment. I hope it'll be helpful for you...

Root- the first note of a chord, usually the one it is named by

Second- the space or line above the root

Third- the note above the second 

Fourth- the note above the third

Fifth, sixth, and seventh- you are all smart people you get the idea

Unison- the same note as the root

Octave or eighth- the octave above the root

Spelling the chord- giving the note names of a chord

Interval- distance between the notes, each will have a number (see above) and a quality (see below)

Perfect interval- a type of interval, including the unison(same note), 4ths, 5ths, and octaves

Major intervals- all other intervals in a major scale, so 2nds, 3rds, 6ths, and 7ths

Diminished interval- a perfect interval lowered a half step

Augmented interval- a perfect interval raised a half step

Minor interval-  a major interval lowered a half step

Augmented interval- a major interval raised a half step (yep the same thing)

Don't worry so much about knowing all the intervals, it kind of confusing I know. Here is some stuff to help.

Diagrams for the intervals, these are based of a C

PU- perfect unison

M2- Major 2nd

M3- Major 3rd

P4- Perfect 4th, etc.

dimU- diminished unison

augU- augmented unison

dim4- diminished 4th

aug4- augmented 4th, etc.

min2- minor 2nd

aug2- augmented 2nd

min3- minor 3rd

aug3- augmented 3rd, etc.

I got these pictures from that book I've been reading, it is very helpful.

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

Major and minor triads

A triad is a chord with three notes, the most basic triad consists of  a root, a third, and a fifth. This chord will be built on either all lines or all spaces in a row. Triads will either be Major, minor, diminished, and augmented. Sound familiar? Today we'll start with the first two, Major and minor.

Major Triads

They are built from a root, a Major third, and a perfect fifth above the root. There are three occurring triads in a Major key, built on the first, fourth, and fifth degrees. These triads sound bright and happy.

C Major Triad

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:C_major_triad.png

Minor Triads

The are built from a root, a minor third, and a perfect fifth above the root. Again there are three naturally occurring triads in a minor key, but built on the second, third and sixth degrees. They sound much darker than Major triads.

D minor Triad

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:D_minor_triad.png

Chords Introduction

        Chords may not seem to matter much depending on the instrument you play, especially if you can only play one note at a time. However, chords are important because they explain more relationships between notes.  Have you ever looked at the full score of a piece your band or orchestra is playing? You'll see that everyone has different notes, but they all sound good together. You could probably hear that while playing.

       A chord is three or more notes played at the same time. This could be from the same instrument or different instruments. Any three notes or more notes. Ever. Needless to say some chords sound absolutely horrible, but some sound absolutely heavenly. Why is this? That's what I'm answering in this series.

This is me messing with Garage Band

Relationships

Keys are like people, they have their own set of quirks and traits and they have their own relationships too. The relationships dictate how they sound together or next to one another. Here are some basics.

Parallel Relationships
Ex. D Major(# #)  and d minor(b)
Kind of like parallel lines, they are the same but have nothing in common. 
Relative Relationships
Ex. G Major(#) and e minor(#)
These keys look different, but correspond to each other nonetheless.
*One trick to find the relative minor is to find the sixth note of your major scale, and that'll be your minor key.
Enharmonic Relationships
B Major(# # # # #) and Cb Major(b b b b b b b)
Like enharmonic notes, these keys sound the same but look different. Needless to say this relationship is less common.

Yay connections

For the picture go here-

We're All Connected