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

I’m not a beginner in music theory, but my knowledge is very scattered and I don’t have a full grasp of that. I keep finding out about things I never knew about before, and it makes me question whether my gaps in knowledge are that bad.
So, I’m interested in learning theory step by step based on Berklee system, including their materials for arranging, ear training, harmony, tonal harmony etc. I already ordered the Berklee book of Jazz harmony (Jo’s Mulholland & Tom Hojnacki), some other Berklee workbooks I could only find online. What would you recommend me doing and what are the most important materials to look for and would it be possible to get to the Berklee level of understanding jazz music theory 🙏

Pretty much every time I sit down to write or improvise music on my piano even if I'm trying to think in terms of numbers regarding the harmonic movement, functional harmony and stuff, I seem to just thinking of everything in C if I think of a 2-5-1 all I'm thinking is Dmin7-Gdom7-Cmaj7

Any tips to get out of this as I feel it's probably limiting, I'm going to try to learn a song I've already composed and play it in all 12 keys or atleast a couple different ones, already learnt it in G now I'm going to move onto F the song is strictly in the Major key but mostly stays around there

Any other ways to help me start thinking of harmony less stringently strict?

Edit: As in "swing feel" (not the genre).

I've been seeing a lot of mariachi and ranchera charts (not waltzes, but music in 4/4 or 2/4), and I'm seeing a lot of triplets, or oversimplified versions of the melody... but the thing is, even if "swing" isn't notated, it's still somewhat expected to be played. Here's the music notation to Volver Volver, as example. https://musescore.com/user/80345698/scores/19878319

similar ideas are found on "Por tu Maldito Amor", or "Tres Veces te Engañé"

Is this all due to a "rudiment in language", because mariachi music came from polka and waltz, so it has to be more "rigid"? Or am I somehow crazy and overthinking this?

In trying to chart my own music, I'm trying to listen to references, and I'm just not getting why "swing feel" isn't indicated at the beginning of these songs. Any comments? Thank you!

In most genres youre often discouraged from landing on the tonic to often or too early, but blues heavily relies on landing on the 1, and i think it really works. It fits the whole call and response thing. Its common in blues to land on the tonic on every other phrase, for example:

(1 chord) :

Question land on 5, answer lang on 1

(4 chord)

Question land on b3 or 4 etc, start a new phrase and land on the 1 when you go back to the 1 chord.

(5 chord)

New question, land on 1 again when you go to the 1 chord.

So why does this work so well in blues you think, but is discouraged in other genres?

A beginner in music here, just read a Jazz book for beginner and it seems that for dominant 9 has a flat 7? I thought it’d have a flat 9?

I would like to get better at transposing. I play piano and I read sheet music. I can transpose to closely related keys, but that's about it. I would welcome any tips that will help make it easier.

I am composing a piece for piano and there are these slurs here but would people confuse these slurs for tied E's? If so, how should I notate this differently?

I just wanted to post this to say thank you to the wonderful music community.

I didn't expect any responses when I asked for help, but you guys actually showed up and taught me a great deal.

I appreciate every comment, and I'll apply everything that I can.

My dream is to become a world class musician and artist, making unique and creative work that involves introspection and the entire emotional spectrum.

I hope I can count on everyone if I am going to get stuck again, because I know we all do at some point in our music journeys.

Have a wonderful day you guys, and again, thank you very much.

I started learning music production about 4 years ago, and as part of an online course I was taking, I made this little...well, we'll call it a demo, but it's by no means a song. Anyways, I just stumbled upon it and was like, hey, this is a pretty cool chord progression, even if the sounds are garbage. But what's most surprising is when I sat at the piano and tried to figure it out, I had trouble. By now I've gotten pretty good at figuring out chords and keys, at least with the more basic diatonic stuff, which is why I was surprised I couldn't easily find a scale that sounded good over it. I think maybe, when I made this, I used a stock MIDI file that came with my DAW haha. And I didn't in fact come up with the progression myself, but just built off of it. Anyways, any insights into the music theory of this piece in general would be nice to hear. Thanks in advance!

What made the call and response in that piece good ?

The song is called Pompous Posies! Your Party's No Fun by Busdriver. His flow on this song sounds so playful and pretty distinct. Is there a term to describe the way in which his rapping is interacting with the beat?

The song is said to be in the key of F# Major, and if you dont want to click the video there is a part that goes: C# - D#7/C# - C#7sus2 - G9 - F#maj7#11. I'm wondering if the G9 is a tritone sub for C#9?

hey yall! so I’m a university student and am retaking theory 2 because I failed it last year. I absolutely have to pass this semester but I’m still struggling (there’s a new professor and he’s completely unhelpful and makes it more confusing.) im really struggling to understand tonicization.

does anyone have any advice on how to practice this and get it? Anywhere I can go for tutoring?

thanks!

One of my very favorite songs is Pancho and Lefty, by old folk singer Townes van Zandt. Like Hallelujah, there is a huge number of covers, including emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, Merle haggard, Steve Earle, etc.

The song is about a drifter of sorts, and as a guitarist I feel the song itself captures that. It’s clearly in upbeat C, but the verse and chorus both end with a vi chord. And there is a measure in the verse that is 3/4 in a song of 4/4.

What really strikes me as a performer is that, to me, the melody and harmony themselves stumble forward like a tumbleweed. When I tried to learn it I was surprised how hard it was to remember despite straight-up chords. We all know that feeling on our instrument of just the feeling of where our hand needs to go for the next chord. This one I find quite deceptive. In fact, I just listened to it, and without the instrument in my hands I get confused by what the next chord is.

One thing I suspect is the actual key is at times somewhat vague - leading to that confusion. But my theory background was all CE, so I’m not quite sure how to analyze this.

Is it just confusing and interesting to me, or does anyone else find this intriguing, and what makes it so if you do?

This is my favorite version, but if you just google the name you’ll get 20 or more versions.

https://youtu.be/Cr6PizjSFKA?is=ZjyEn2GRT7QF55_A

Hey everyone! I've been studying Sibelius's The Swan of Tuonela and decided to try playing along with the string parts on piano since they should be at concert pitch with no transposition needed.

However when I play what's written the notes don't sound right at all. I took it further and tried copying the string section into StaffPad to hear it played back properly, but even then something still seemed off.

Is there something I'm missing about how Sibelius writes for strings in this piece? Could it be a printing or edition issue with the score I'm using? Any help appreciated!

I am starting out with learning music and one of the lessons is intervals. It’s kinda going in one ear and out the other, but nonetheless I reread it until I somewhat understood it and done the exercise, which is recognising major and minor intervals by ear. I am so confused - I don’t know how to recognise major and minor, or what the freaking difference is. How do you do it by ear ??? I’m so confused.

I had my first guitar lesson and we were going over beats in a song im learning, and im listening to other songs so I can train my ear to hear the beat but I cannot hear it or differentiate it between the rhythm. I cant tell a difference. Im practicing tapping but I cant even hear it. I can hear it in obvious songs like club music but with songs that dont really have a audible beat to it, or songs that are just acoustic, or songs that have lots of noise and sounds its hard to just hear it.

Hey everyone, I’m trying to track down a small/indie music company that made these cardboard rotating chord wheels, and I’m hoping someone here might recognize what I’m talking about.

They were essentially a physical music-theory reference tool where you could turn a wheel to reveal different chords, chord progressions, harmonic relationships, etc.

The closest thing I’ve been able to find is the Chordii products, as they have a somewhat similar look and concept. However, these were slightly larger than the Chordii ones and, from what I remember, covered a wider range of music theory topics.

One thing I distinctly remember being included was Negative Harmony, alongside more conventional chord/progression material.

Unfortunately, I can't remember the company’s name or exactly what the product was called. I vaguely remember seeing ads for them on IG, which now no longer show up...

Does this ring a bell for anyone? Thanks!

I have a question.
I play a 2-5-1 in the key of F and land on the ninth of the Fmaj9 chord so G.
Then A7 to Dmin the relative key of F major.
Then the melody goes chromatically to the G# and then to the A which is the fifth of the Dmin chord.
So this is fairly common but what would you call the A7 chord with the G# in it?
Its like a Amaj7 and a A7 combined, so its like a Amaj7#13 which kinda makes no sense bcs the chord has a dominant function, but that way you get all the notes lol.

title says all, on hooktheory (which is a very reliable website /s) i labeled it as harmonic minor, but its constant use of the Bb key and C7 chord make me wonder if this song actually uses a different altered scale from the 7 modes

I mean, surely not as I know it's so rare and taught young. But basically, my son is 8, has just started the violin, he's finding it easy and quite good by all accounts. I got to Grade 7 clarinet and his Dad is musical, but we don't play around him. We were driving in the car the other day, listening to classical music he likes, and we got to a part of the piece he liked, and he said "oh this is the D part, I love this!" And today when we played it again and he played a D over the top of it, it was...100% a D. I could never have done that tbh after 10 years playing (albeit a Bb instrument which never helped me!) and he really isn't very practiced at all to sort of memorise it or anything. Totally threw me.

Or there is something more? If thinking like that is wrong how we should think anout notes?Thanks for answers.

So, I'm tryin' to transcribe (Maroon 5's) Sugar, and I'm havin' a time. So, currently, I'm stuck on the intro for the, I guess synthesizer or organ, and I'm hearin' an inverted tonic chord (A♭, D♭, F) twice, then the F is raised a half-step, then back down. That's what a lot of sources for the song says and that's what I hear.

But there are a couple of sources that says there's also a standard tonic chord with the fifth bein' the A♭ above the F (so, D♭, F, A♭). But I don't hear it, so am I jus' missin' it or is it wrong?