Pages

Monday, February 11, 2013

MUSICAL ALPHABET INTRODUCTION



MUSICAL ALPHABET 
INTRODUCTION

01. Art and Music Connection: Artists use colors as their 
      medium of expression musicians use sound.
..... a. Colors you visually see start with primary colors which are then mixed into 
             secondary colors and further mixed into many other varieties or shades.
......b. Music also has primary pitches or TONE COLORS which also can be blended to form 
              different sounds (or "chords")
..............1) Colors can evoke a variety feelings in both art and music.  Certain colors or blendings (shadings) of colors can make you 
                  feel happy or sad; cause excitement or calm.
..............2) Colors can be used in contrast or be of similar shades; bright or dull.

02. Using the keyboard as an example the primary 
       musical tone can be demonstrated. 
.......a. On the keyboard pressing down individual keys produces different sounds (TONE 

               COLORS) 
.......b. The keys are arranged in patterns which can be clearly identified by viewing how the  

               black and white keys are situated. You can see and hear the patterns.
.......c. Identify the patterns of the black keys. Identify the pattern of the white keys. How 
               many keys are in each pattern? How many black and white keys (together) are in 
               one pattern? 
.......d. Playing the patterns it is easy to hear them. The patterns are repeated over and over 
               again going higher as the keys are played going up to the right and lower when 
               moving  down to the left.
........e. There are actually 88 keys on a full sized piano but only 7 white keys, 5 black keys 
                and  combined together there are 12 keys in a pattern on the keyboard (called
                chromatics). 
........f. The musical keys are identified as colors are in art. The names given to each key in  
               the pattern of 7 white keys (or sounds they represent) are most often the first 7 
               letters from the alphabet: "A B C D E F G" called the "musical alphabet." (The "DO-RE-
               MI FA SO LA TI" or "Solfege" system is the second most common way of  
               identification.) 
........g. Since the 5 black keys [called "sharps" (#) and "flats" (b) ] derive their names from 
               the white keys, the names of thwhite keys are learned first.

03. Memorizing the notes of the musical alphabet 
      forwards and backwards [because music sounds will 
      go higher (up or forward) and lower (down or 
      backwards) is one of the basic foundations of 
      understanding music.
.........a. Thinking versus Memory: You can memorize something but not understand it and 
                 you can understand something but not have it totally memorized. Though the two 
                 processes work together they are different.
.................1) For performance musicians need to have their music learned as an "automatic reflex" 
                     in order to place all their attention on the emotional and tonal aspects of the whole 
                     piece. 
.................2) Thinking while performing has the musician looking at the individual parts separately 
                     from the whole and  that takes away the musicality. 
.................3) The ability to play fast musical passages are also impeded by thinking.
.................4) In music nothing is totally learned until it has become an automatic reflex.
..........b. Memorize the 7 letters of the musical alphabet forward by chanting it to a steady 
                   patsch (a patting of the thighs with the palms of the hand) pulse over and over 
                   accenting (or  stressing) the "A" a little louder to feel the pattern of the 7 letters.  
                   (Keep repeating this exercise at faster paces.)
...................1) Since the regular alphabet going forward is an automatic reflex for most everyone, this 
                       is easy to do.
..........c. Memorize the 7 letters of the musical alphabet backwards by chanting it to a steady  
                   patsch (a patting of the thighs with the palms of the hand) pulse over and over 
                   starting with letter "G" and accenting (or stressing) the "G" a little louder to feel the  
                   pattern of the 7 letters. 
..................1) This may be more difficult because many of us were never asked to learn our regular  
                      alphabet backwards and in order to do that requires us to think it through.
..................2) To be able to perform this from memory at a fast pace it must be learned as an 
                      automatic reflex by dividing the backwards musical alphabet into smaller, easier  
                      memorized sections or patterns and chanting them quickly accenting certain letter 
                      sounds to create a rhythm as if reciting a poem. [EXAMPLE: letters enlarged should  
                      be louder than the others "GFE" (repeat quickly 4x); "GFED" (repeat quickly 4x); 
                      "CBA"(repeat quickly 4x); "GFED" pause "CBA" (repeat quickly 4x); "GFEDCBA" 
                      (repeat quickly 4x)