Transposing instruments can be difficult to understand, as they may seem like an unnecessary and inexplicable complication. In fact, such an instrument assigns a name to notes that does not correspond to the note they actually produce. This paradox can be explained by historical as well as practical reasons; there are good reasons why transposing…Continue readingTransposing instruments: I play one note, and another comes out
Tag: music theory
[Monday Notes No. 183] Fryderyk Chopin’s Prelude Op. 28 No. 4 in E minor is one of the most played pieces by the Polish composer, not least because it is one of the few that does not require an advanced piano technique. Chopin did not write music specifically for didactics, this not too difficult piece…Continue readingF.Chopin Prelude op.28 no.4, how to create tension with melody and harmony
Do you want to start playing jazz and to learn how to improvise? You don’t need exceptional talent or complicated harmony studies to do this. You just need to practice the right way, patiently and neatly. In this lesson I offer some tips to make this work less tiring and more effective. So here are…Continue readingFive tips for playing jazz and learning to improvise
[Monday Notes No. 173] Just Friends is a classic jazz standard from 1931, composed by John Klenner (music) and Sam M. Lewis (words). It is a song about a love that ended and became just a friendship. The piece is original in its lyrics but also in its melody, which repeatedly performs a descending tritone…Continue readingJust Friends, a tritone interval for a love that has ended
[Monday Notes No. 172] La canzone di Marinellais one of Fabrizio De André’s most famous pieces, and is also one of his earliest songs as it was composed in 1962. The lyrics of the song have been much studied, the Ligurian singer-songwriter in fact has his most original point in his lyrics. However, this piece…Continue readingLa canzone di Marinella, a simple melody for Fabrizio De André
[Monday Notes No. 171] Blue In Green is a track from Miles Davis’ famous album Kind Of Blue, released in 1959 and considered the most successful jazz album ever. Miles Davis wanted to explore modal jazz with this work, and helped to spread it among musicians and audiences alike. I tried to analyse the melody,…Continue readingBlue In Green, the Impressionists’ painting… in jazz
[Monday Notes n.169] Chopin’s Waltz in A minor, Opus B.150, is one of the easiest pieces to play in the great composer’s repertoire. It is very simple and clear even in its harmony, so it lends itself to being used as an example to understand four fundamental concepts of music: the cadence, the modulation, the…Continue readingChopin waltz in A minor, four simple harmony lessons
In his Treatise on the Hexagram, the Chinese musician Wu Dao-Gong proposes the adoption of a music notation system alternative to the pentagram. The idea is very ingenious, let us see how it works.Continue readingWu Dao-Gong, Treatise on the Hexagram
What is the blues? The answer to this question is not as simple as it may seem, in fact the term ‘blues’ refers to many different things, all of which have to do with music, but the point of view can be very different. In this lesson we will discover different uses of the word…Continue readingThe blues: musical genre, blues scale, blues progression
My students often ask me when to use sharps and when to use flat when writing a note or chord. The answer to this question is not so simple, what is true for single notes is not always true for scales and chords. So let’s see how to use sharps and flats to write notes,…Continue readingSharps, flats and circle of fifths. How to write alterations