A new rule (#9) has been added here at r/musictheory

I am trying to learn this Mozart piece but am not sure how to put this into my metronome for practice. I have a Korg MA-1 metronome, which only allows up to 9 beats in its pattern. It does allow you to change the "rhythm," or how the beats are subdivided into quarter, eighth, triplet, etc. I'm not sure how to set this 12/8 time with half notes at 32 bpm. I've been setting it to 4 beats at 32 with triplet subdividing, but I'm not sure if that's equivalent or not. I also can only set it as low as 30bpm which means I can't go slower for slow practice.

I wonder how readable that is.

It’s the best writing for each hand separately but together it seems a bit awkward since the triplets are of a different note length. What do you think?

I found this video with helpful to get a Jazz sound with my guitar. This really helped me understand and implement the jazz music theory, which I usually find taxing

He demonstrates how to use the C#° scale when moving from C major to Dm chord.

Then he also shows how to use a B° scale on a G7 chord.

The demonstrations were quite useful as well.

How common is it to use these scales in this manner?

(In case it needs to be said: I do not understand music and have the most rudimentary ability on guitar)

So, let's take an example of 4 chords and a basic strumming pattern of Up Down U D U D U D (1&2&3&4&), changing chords on every 1 count....

At what point in that do I start singing? Could any vocal melody fit into that pattern? How and why/why not?

I find that when I'm listening to a singer with just an acoustic guitar, I can only hear one thing at a time - and it seems like that is in fact what's going on, the guitarist will play a few bars of a recognisable pattern but then when the singing happens, the music seems to "take a backseat" and only really hits those recognisable licks and things *in between* the vocals, and while the vocal is happening the guitar is just making some kind of background noise

To get even more into the weeds of something I do not comprehend... I really enjoy finger picking, so if you're feeling like a real masochistic you can try to explain that one too

The Jetsons theme song goes 'Meet George Jetson, his boy Elroy, his daughter Judy, Jane his wife'. Then it’s followed a brief piano solo. It sounds like the pianist is repeatedly tapping the keys in a bouncy, waltzy, manner.

Ive heard other people play that style and melody in other shows as well. My question is does this style of playing the piano have a name? For example the Ice Cream Truck song is known as 'Doo-Wop' rhythm, but what is the piano part in The Jetsons called?

I am applying to college soon and I want to work on a piano composition soon. I finished reading sposobin and I am interested to learn more beyond that. I have three books in consideration , schoenberg theory of harmony, one about neo Riemann theory and one about french harmony. Id like to know whats the difference between those and what would be a good place to start

I saw videos but I still don't know how to choose what sound is 1 and what is for example 6.

Link for his youtube channell

I apologize for doing weird things and exposing you all to it.

Upon further examination, the time signature was not technically incorrect, it was really just me making weird music. To fix it, I just shortened the last two notes on the previously 37/16 measures so they could be less repetitive and have a little punch at the end, now they are 9/4.

Hello, I have this piece where it's just piano arpeggios between two hands. I have tried to delete the rests because they are everywhere but it look worse. Should I add ties on each note before a rest? Maybe I should just keep it like that?

2sd question : 7/4 or 4/4+3/4 ? The whole piece is made with these arpeggios in 7/4.

Thank you all :)

Ive been sitting here way too long just trying to write down such a simple little section and I just refuse to believe that 31-37/16 is the correct time signature here. I don’t know if this should be like triplets instead or what to even do

How would I play this on piano? Is it a kind of appoggiatura? I've never seen one like this.

Context: this is the song Reflection from the Hollow Knight soundtrack. The sheet music is from the official book, so I assume it is as the composer intended. Though I guess it's possible it's just an error!

Good evening!

Here's a passage I wrote for piano where the LH is meant to help the RH arpeggiate these chords. Do you think that the way it's written now makes that obvious, or should I bracket some of these chords with a "l.h." beside it? Do you think it matters that the bass clef bars are empty without even any rests? They're like that because the LH isn't "resting" here. Maybe the presence of rests would imply that I'm asking for the RH to handle all those broken chords? Basically, how would you notate this / do these specific questions really matter?

Btw, I used a breath mark at the end of the last bar here. Usually that's for just about any other instrument, but I placed it here for this piano score because that moment should feel like an inhale, and it should be played with the tiny break in tempo that commonly happens when you see that breath mark in vocal music for instance.

Lastly, do you think the "Intro" is stupid? I consider Section A to start immediately after this little passage and there is a rehearsal letter there. Sometimes I like the "Intro" there but maybe it's dumb? Especially cause it's only four bars? Does anybody know format-wise if it's even in the right spot?

Thank you for any input!

I'm not a beginner but I was self taught so I don't know the basics of music or piano. I don't know chord progressions or arpeggios or whatever but I can play River flows in You. I can read sheet music but its slow. In the beginning i used to learn through those shitty yt piano tiles thing (sorry).

I've never used a metronome, I used to learn a new piece by first listening to it a 100 times and then just playing it in a tempo that felt right to my ears. But now I wanna implement metronome during the "learning a new piece" process.

I tried using it a few times but it feels so hard to hear the beat and play while counting. Its like brain goes brrrrrr. I can't even use it at 40bpm. i do count like 1&2&3&4 and also I'm learning very basic pieces and pieces that I can already play without a metronome. Still doesn't work. Also sometimes I can't even tell if I'm playing along the beat or not. Its like my brain completely ignores the metronome's sound.

Please help I'm desperate here

Hello pro pianists, I have question as a newbie that how we use piano chords in any melody wether it be a classical or any random pop song as soemtimes we use same chord (eg A major chord) when we play something with A in main melody like that and sometimes if we exapand that chord for example say A major as A C# E and if i play a melody in Right hand as E we use A major right? like how we can make our own chords for a specific scale like by sound or./..... if we expand that chord like A C# E then play further by 1 step up like that idk pls correct me

I’ve been trying to find a way to test myself to help me memorize the degrees of each scale. Something where the questions would specifically ask like “What’s the IV in the key of Bb?” or “What’s the vi in the key of C minor?” Does anyone know of a website or app that would do this? Everything I could find only has interval training such as giving two notes and asking what the interval is between them. I could create my own but every single app has a subscription these days and I wanted to see if there’s anything already out there

Recently I've been in love with the major Phrygian scale (and other modes of harmonic minor), specially for the m3 jump it has between the minor 2nd and major 3rd, do I "made up" a scale that basically did only half step/m3 and it goes: 1, b2, 3, 4, #5, 6.

Of course I googled it and apparently it's called the six tone symmetrical scale, or just the second mode of the augmented scale, and I've been searching for examples but to no avail. Does anyone know a song/style/culture where it's used? Or is it just not practical considering you can do most of what it does with the augmented scale?

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

I'm relatively new to composing and trying to get better at music production. I have a workflow I'm refining to help myself improve and it's working but... I do have a question about this song I'm looking at.

I love this song and I'm wondering... how do I even begin working towards writing a passage like the piano part that begins at 0:08?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cak9PjOvctY&list=RDCak9PjOvctY&start_radio=1

I listen to something like that, and I just wonder what process a more advanced composer has to begin working towards writing something like that. It almost sounds like... gibberish... but it's so beautiful at the same time. I don't understand how you write something like that.

Any advice? What skills do you recommend practicing? What does someone do on a daily basis that would lead to something like that?

Hello all!

I've been racking my brains with this song, but for the life of me, I can't work out why this guitar riff works in the intro and for much of the song. I am a bassist, so I worked out the other parts being played. But I just can't seem to work out why the lead riff works and what scale/mode shape is being used to get the lead line.

Just trying to learn more and use some more theory when making my own songs.

Here is the link for anyone

https://youtu.be/kW2KaAgNcN4?is=HwEB_ViQD5On9cji

Thanks in advance!

(the right one)

Hey in this exercise you have to identify the intervals. So far I have been able to refer largely to the text teaching you this previously, but I haven't found how is an interval called when you sharpen both notes (since were in eb major). If you don't understand what I'm saying I'm probably wrong so just identify the interval for me and I'll find out in retrospective.

Secondary I don't want to do another post on this so I'll ask here too.

I'm familiar with intervals starting from the root note of the scale, but this is the first time I see them begin created between two picked out notes while staying in the scale. So do they just work by counting the space between the two notes and attaching a quality to it based on sharps and flats?

thanks for all answers and help!!

(this is not homework im trying to learn by myself and understand it, the lack of an actual music figure in my life sent me on reddit)

Hi all, I’m coming to you with a very strange question-

I’m a private piano instructor and have recently had this happen on more than one occasion- I started teaching in California a year ago and more than one of my students have become upset or silent over the usage of the word “ritardando” in our lessons when it’s written in the music. I’ve explained it‘s not a bad word as it’s in Italian and what it means but I always feel worried when I see it in notation, lolol. Does anyone have experience with this and what language/phrasing would you use to describe this to young students?

Unlike my previous posts, this is an entire progression.

It starts with a chord that i love yet have no idea what it’s called, but it’s D-ish and goes like xx0210. Then to E7, then Am7. And then, my next weird chord, 202020. It sounds big and beautiful

After that you just repeat it, but when you get to Am7, make a normal Am then stop

It’s on guitar standard tuning. The first D A and E i took from Flamenco. But i got bored of them and changed them.
The 202020 tho, is completely made-up. I just really liked how it sounded

I'm a bit confused about this. Do I need to lower all the notes by a whole tone and a half, or just change the accidentals?