5 Concepts for a Better Understanding of Music
1. Why Does Theory help 🤷🏻♂️
Understanding music theory is incredibly advantageous when it comes to reading or hearing a piece of music and being able to fully understand and interpret what you are playing.
When I first started my journey in music, I was of the mindset that I just wanted to play music and didn’t feel like there was any reason to overcomplicate it. However, later on in my playing career I came to realise that without any way of understanding and interpreting music, you become reliant on others to tell you how to play. Which can mean that you never fully connect to what you are doing or why you are doing it!
So here are some music theory concepts that can help you start deciphering what’s happening in the music you are playing!
2. Intervals 🎹
In music, intervals is the term we use to describe the distance between two notes.
If we have the scale of C major, we can describe each note in the scale as it relates to a C by using numbers.
C major scale - C D E F G A B
C - C = unison
C - D = 2nd
C - E = 3rd
C - F - 4th
etc.
Not only can we describe the distance between notes in this way but we can also describe the quality of the interval.
In a regular major scale notes 1, 4 and 5 are described as perfect intervals (e.g. C-C, C-F and C-G). Whereas notes 2, 3, 6 and 7 are described as major intervals (e.g. C-D, C-E, C-A and C-B).
If we raise the interval by a half step (semitone), then it becomes an augmented interval (C-F# is an augmented 4th, C-A# is an augmented 6th).
If the note was originally perfect (notes 1, 4 and 5) and we lower it, it becomes diminished (e.g. C-Gb is a diminished 5th). Whereas if the interval was originally major and we lower it, it becomes minor (e.g. C-Eb is a minor 3rd).
We can also lower a major interval by 2 half steps (semitones) and this will also become diminished (e.g. C-Ebb is a diminished 3rd).
While on the face of it intervals can appear to be a somewhat arbitrary way of labelling note distances, it is actually a very fundamental way in which we understand how music sounds and feels. The note relationship of a minor 3rd has a very different feel to the note relationship of an augmented 4th and each of these tell us something about the music and how it feels.
Intervals can also allow us to change the key of a piece of music and maintain the same relationships between the notes. If we have a melody that uses the notes C then G, this is a perfect 5th. If we play a perfect 5th using a different scale, the quality of the melody would stay the same!
3. Structure and Form 🧱
The way in which music is put together is very rarely by accident and there have been many musical structures that have been repeatedly adopted by composers and songwriters. The purpose of using structure in music is for two very important reasons that can help us understand what we are playing.
Firstly, structure is used to tell a story! Very often in a piece of music (regardless of the genre) you will find that the song “peaks” around 2/3rds the way through. This is because, in a similar way to movies and novels, the music needs to go somewhere and have a purpose in order to be interesting and relatable. While every story is different, when learning music it is important to think about what the narrative of the piece of music is and how that plays out in terms of structure.
Secondly, structure is used to play with expectation. One of the most valuable tools to use in music is the idea of tension and resolution. This happens in many different ways in music, but music can very easily provide tension by playing unfamiliar material and then resolve that tension by returning to something familiar. For this reason, there are many different structures used in music that have repeated ideas and motifs. For regular pop songs, that is the chorus. For classical music a good example of this is rondo form which is the structure: A-B-A-C-A.
4. Harmonic Relationships 👫
As well as using intervals to determine the relationship between two notes, we can also use labels to more specifically determine the relationship between harmonies, chords and scale notes.
Each note in a scale also has a technical name:
C major scale - C D E F G A B
C (note 1) = Tonic
D (note 2) = Supertonic
E (note 3) = Mediant
F (note 4) = Subdominant
G (note 5) = Dominant
A (note 6) = Submediant
B (note 7) = Leading Note
When referring to the chords from this scale, each of these names tells us much more information about how the chord relates to the scale and what its function is without only being applicable to this scale. For example, in a C major scale the supertonic chord would be a D minor chord (DFA). The supertonic not only has a minor quality of sound, but it is also built on note 2 of the scale and has a slightly weaker sound than the stronger sounding note 1 or 5 in the scale. This is the same if you play the supertonic chord in any other major scale!
5. Cadences ❗️
Music is written in a very similar way that we write words - in sentences! In music these are referred to as phrases, however the idea is the same. As with any sentence, it wouldn’t make much sense if the sentence had no punctuation and this is exactly why we have cadences.
While in the English language we have full stops (periods) and commas. In music we do this by using specific chord sequences that feel like a natural breath in the music or an end to the phrase.
There are 4 types of cadences that are typically used:
Perfect Cadence:
Chord V - Chord I (Dominant - Tonic)
Imperfect Cadence:
Chord I, ii or IV - Chord V (Tonic, Supertonic or Subdominant - Dominant)
Plagal Cadence:
Chord IV - Chord I (Subdominant - Tonic)
Interrupted/Deceptive Cadence:
Chord V - vi (Dominant - Submediant)
The most important of these to learn are the perfect and imperfect cadences. A perfect cadence is used at the end of a phrase (or a piece of music) to make the music sound complete and finished, similar to a full stop (period). Whereas an imperfect cadence is often used at the end of a phrase to sound like a comma and it will feel like the music needs to respond with another phrase.
Cadences appear many times throughout a piece of music and finding and hearing them not only help you to lean into the phrasing of the music but it can also explain how you might hear the narrative of a piece of music!
6. Voice Leading 🎤
When writing music the way in which we use and voice chords is usually for a very particular reason, and that reason is voice leading. Each regular triad contains three notes:
C major scale - C D E F G A B
C Triad - C E G
D Triad - D F A
E Triad - E G B
F Triad - F A C
G Triad - G B D
A Triad - A C E
B Triad - B D F
Each note within the chord can be thought of as its own “voice” and so when moving from chord to chord, it might sound a little more jarring if the notes are jumping around all of the time. Voice leading is where composers write the movement from chord to chord by moving the notes as little as possible so that each individual voice moves in a clear and melodic way.
For example; if we move from a C triad to a G triad we would be moving from C, E and G to G, B and D. Moving from a C triad to a G triad with good voice leading would be C,E and G moving to B, D and G - the same chords, but with the order of the notes in the G triad only moving by step from the C triad.
When reading a piece of music we can not only hear these notes as more clear and distinct melodies moving together...but we can play the notes as horizontal melodies that form chords rather than vertical blocks of notes!
Matthew Cawood
(This is from my “Monday Music Tips“ weekly email newsletter. Join my mailing list to be emailed with future posts.)