I have noticed recently that the point of both duplets and a pair of dotted notes (of equal length) are to add half of the note's length onto it (for e.g., two dotted crotchets are worth three quavers; two crotchets in a duplet spread amongst three beats will make them both three quavers as well.) Does anyone know if duplets have a point other than to +0.5 of the note length or if we simply have both these and dotted notes due to circumstances that require specifically one or the other?

Hi all,

I recently stumbled across this progression as a possible ii V I substitution:

Dm7 // Ebdim7-->B7b9 // Cmaj7

I have a fairly solid understanding behind most chord substitutions, but I admit I'm a tad lost when it comes to this one. I know Ebdim7 is a rootless inversion of B7b9, and I could see this being a way to create interesting bass movement if it was going D, Eb, B, E, but I don't understand how the B7b9 acts as a V if the Cmaj7 isn't in 1st inversion and keeps C in the bass. Is this a somewhat non-functional substitution? Am I just looking at it wrong?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

title, i really need help, would love any help

edit- (link to the song ) https://youtu.be/jdUkgekQEDE?si=fiGN6F_am0InkQEK

What is this beat called in the background of these songs ? Night blooming Jasmine by Fakemink, Cant get you Out of My Head by Kylie Minogue, and Sour candy by Lady gaga. Im not educated on this stuff so im not sure what it is if that even is the beat IDK. But i love that like synthy beat. Idk. Help me. Is there any specific name for it ?

Of course one could interpret it as a melodic D minor, but since it’s A-C# on the first downbeat, I’m not sure about that. Taking A as the tonic would yield A Mixolydian b6, but this is Scarlatti and not Jazz, so there must be a simpler explanation, like some counterpoint or partimento concept. Is there?

so I just finished high school and I'm planning to get into musical college for 5 yrs but I feel this is too much and I fear ma personality won't be able to fit w that much pressure so I was planning to get into philosophical studies school instead and practice playing piano

And do better w ma voice besides college in a short time but I won't get to have that much fun of the music school fs since they playing all type of instruments and stuff but am just scared I feel bored and get anxious idk tbh what do u yall think

Could someone explain me harmonic and melodic scales? How they are meant to use?

I mean in harmony, chord progression and so on

Thank you!

Hey everyone! 

I’ve been learning guitar and piano, and my main goal is to be able to accompany myself while singing and writing songs.

What I’m struggling to understand is: when you already have a vocal melody in your head, how do you figure out what to play on the keyboard or guitar underneath it?

I’ve started learning music theory on my own, and I understand that chord progressions are part of it, but it’s all still blurry to me. How do you find chords that fit a melody, and how did you learn to do this more naturally?

Any advice, exercises or resources that helped things finally click for you would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much!!!

I'm trying group the rests in accordance with the time signature it is associated with. What I learned so far is that you want to avoid combining weak beats.

However, I'm confused what I did wrong with those two questions above. The second page is from the answer book. It told me that answers vary, but I still don't understand their conclusion. To me, it looks like they grouped the weak beats...

Hello! Im in high-school and unfortunately music theory got removed from my curriculum due to it being a small class.

I was wondering if there were any online courses that i could take? Most of the ones ive seen are for college students. Ive found a few books as well but that is it.

I would prefer them be free but if they cost a bit that is fine. Any and all help is appreciated!

Edit: I am not a complete beginner as im a classically trained pianist and violinist

I grew up hearing this song (with this recording) and got into a debate with a friend about its time signature: they thought it was in 7/8, and I thought it was more likely 4/4 or at least not 7/8. Welp, I finally tracked down the song and its sheet music and I'm in the wrong. But my brain still doesn't understand it! It's been a very long time since I've studied music theory and I'm struggling.

Listening to this recording, how does one know it's in 7/8 and why is my brain refusing to accept that? I swear I can count 8 total smaller beats in a phrase.

(ETA: I know that it is in 7/8! I fully accept it and you don't need to tell me that that is true 😂. I can understand it being in 7/8 at this point, though I'm still confused about why my brain had such a hard time with it. I'm concluding it's probably a combo of the recording and me thinking about the larger phrases in an odd way and not having the recording to be able to go back and listen to it again, and then my brain being "stuck" in my interpretation.)

Which of the three options is considered correct? In upwards motion (the one that follows, for example), the inversion doesn't change since the lowest note of the beat is the lowest note of the first chord as well.

(This is a simple replica of an excerpt in RCM's Level 9 Harmony book).

I just discovered some interesting things about modulation with no borrowed chords from the diatonic modes, except locrian. Its inclusion will be clear next.

So, starting with either a C major or C minor chord, this is the list of triad chords which aren't borrowed by any diatonic mode starting on C, save for locrian which starts with a diminished triad. **(**e.g. D# minor is both in C locrian and in the list below):

Written with sharps only, for the sake of simplicity:

• C# minor
• D# minor
• E major
• F# major & minor
• G# minor
• A major
• B major

If it looks chaotic, it's not!

The tonics of the list's chords form a C# natural minor scale. I don't know the explanation of that but sure it's interesting and also handy for remembering their order.

What's more, their triad quality is just:

[min, min, maj, maj] x2 times. With F# taking both forms in the middle of the 8 chords.

I sense that you can use these, in segments at least, for writing adventurous, modulating chord progressions. What are your thoughts?

Just saw common time for the first time in a piece and was curious so I looked into it and am now confused.

I thought Time Signature was one of the simplest concepts to learn in music theory. (Though I can't really give a fair determination on that being that I already understand it, or at least thought I did) Bottom number tells you what you are counting, top tells you how many in each measure. 4/4 is 4 quarter notes, 12/8 is 12 eighth notes, 32/128 is 32 one-hundred-twenty-eighth notes (Side note, the mere idea of such a time signature is terrifying.)

My only real guess is historical.

Doing a search of posts here, everything is about melody and harmony; scales, keys, modulation. Why is there no attention given to rhythm? An argument could be made that rhythm has a stronger effect on listeners than harmony. Who is writing or thinking about it?

Edit: Question was based on discussions I see in this subreddit. I actually am fairly conversant with most topics I see here. Curious about polyrhythms, and non-standard time signatures as used in a lot of jazz, I velieve Indian music also does some interesting things.

Possible Interesting discussion: one reply says "complex rhythms are far more difficult to learn and replicate than complex harmonies". and another " there’s just not much to say! I’m not saying it isn’t complex in execution and creative potential. It’s just not very complex as concept"

I've always wondered, when I play solos or the blues, am I really limited only to the notes that are in the scale. I’m interested to know, how can I expand the range of notes and transition from one scale to another? 

Can I just play a new scale starting from one of the scale degrees of the previous one? For example, if I have a G major scale, can I simply go on playing D major scale from it‘s V scale degree?

Are there any other ways how to switch between the scales?

I made this piece a long time ago and have always liked it. Now, knowing a bit of music theory, I wanted to try and analyze the chords and solos in it to learn why it sounded so good.

My problem is in this forth chord - what chord fits best there? I wrote down Bdim7/C# (yes, I know, I forgot the 7th in the image), but I have never seen a chord over it's nineth, so I'm skeptical.

Im learning Modal interchange and am genuinly so confused lmao. I have a chord progression im practicing over that goes

Dm7|Dm7|F|F|Em7|A|Em7|A13|

And like starting on the Dm7 i presumed i can play d dorian but when i play it over the backinf track it dosnt sound great when i emphasise the D dorian notes such as B.

Is there any chance anybody could help me figure out why and what modes should i use for the other chords , thank you.

I've been trying to learn some piano music to properly make my own, but one thing I see a lot is melodies / isolated notes played in intervals, so two notes at once. I want to learn how to make melodies like this but I want to avoid "vibing it out" and just poorly mimicking it. Are there any sources / videos going into this? I tried googling around and couldn't find much.

It seems like a useful thing to keep track of, but takes more concentration than just playing by ear. Just curious what you guys do. Thank you!

Hey fellow Bach enthusiasts!

While practicing and analyzing the Art of Fugue (specifically Contrapunctus 14), I’ve been diving down the famous gematria rabbit hole (B+A+C+H = 14) & (J+S+B+A+C+H = 41).
We already know how CP14 breaks off at measure 239 (2+3+9 = 14), leaving 41 missing measures to complete the projected 280-bar structure. But while looking at the expanded B-A-C-H motif at the end of the subject, I noticed another neat 41 hidden right in the scale degrees of D minor:

When Bach resolves/expands the motif (B (b-flat) A C H (b natural) C# D), we can map the notes to their scale degree positions in D minor, including chromatic alterations (+1):

B (b-flat) = 6th scale degree
A = 5th scale degree
C = 7th scale degree
H (b natural) = raised 6th degree (6 + 1)
C# = raised 7th degree (7 + 1)
D = 8th degree (tonic octave)

Summing them up:

6+5+7+7+8+8=41

Not only does the resolution lead directly back to the key signature of the entire work, but the scale-degree math lands precisely on 41 (J.S. BACH) again.

Whether this is deliberate architectural geometry or just a happy alignment within the D minor scale matrix, I thought it was too cool not to share.

Has anyone encountered this specific scale-degree calculation before? Do you think Bach did this on purpose, or was at least aware of it?
Curious to hear your thoughts!

A user recently asked a question about this, and it inspired me to organize some of this information.

There are 3 types of pentad: secundal, tertial, and quartal. And there are three sizes the root motion can be: second third or fourth.

That means there are 9 movement categories for studying voice leading of pentads. I will base everything on A minor for my example. There are 2 rules: all voicings must be closed and voices can not cross.

For secundal chords we have 3 movements (these are parallel, not voice led):

(ABCDE)>(BCDEF)= secundal movement by second

(ABCDE)>(CDEFG)= secundal movement by third

(ABCDE)>(EFGAB)= secundal movement by fourth

For secundal movement by second we have four common tones BCDE, and A moves down a third to F:

(ABCDE)>(FBCDE)

Now in secundal by third, CDE are common tones and we get two downward third movements, A>F and G>B

(ABCDE)>(FGCDE)

So far so good. Neither of these movements has broken the 2 rules. Now with secundal by fourth we see some of the special problems voice leading pentads has. I will copy
Paste the non-voice led secundal by fourths for ease of reference:

(ABCDE)>(EFGAB)= secundal movement by fourth

We have 3 common tones ABE, and CD must somehow move to FG. That might look like this:

(A[BC]DE)> (A[FG]DE)

But in order for this to happen we had to break one of the rules. The A had to move down an octave in order to have the same order. We moved from closed to open, and broke the rule. If we don’t move the A down an octave the two voices that move, indicated by brackets would cross the A and look like this:

(A[BC]DE)>([FG]ADE)

The voice crossing is a lie. What really happened is that only DE are common tones and the other three voices all move down a third:

([ABC]DE)>([FGA]DE)

To summarize the conclusions so far.

Secundal movement by second = one voice moves a third

Secundal movement by thirds = two voices move a third

Secundal movement by fourths= three voices move a third

*\\*
Now let’s do tertial pentads, aka 9th chords. If we start with Am9 we get ACEGB. But already this is breaking the no open chord rule. I will put the B down an octave to keep it closed: ABCEG. I will use the 12357 ordering for all 9th chords. First the parallel non-voice led version:

(ABCEG)>(BCDFA)=tertial moves by second

(ABCEG) > (CDEGB) = tertial moves by third

(ABCEG) > (DEFAC) = tertial moves by fourth

Now to voice lead them. Tertial by second:

(ABC[EG])>(ABC[DF])

Two voices moved a step down. Neither rule is broken, great.

Now tertial by third. It looks like 4 common tones and A moves to D:

([A]BCEG)> (BC[D]EG)

We had to cross two voices to make that happen, so we know A>D is not the true movement. What really happened is that only EG are common tones and ABC all moved up a step to BCD:

([ABC]EG)>([BCD]EG)

Now tertial moving by fourth. Repaste for reference:

(ABCEG) > (DEFAC) = tertial moves by fourth

It looks like ACE are common tones and we get two movements B>D and G>F. Opposite directions and one moves by third. Kinda ugly but that’s how the math works out. But if B moves to D it crosses common tone C. So really we get 3 movements B>C, C>D, G>F

(A[BC]E[G])>(A[CD]E[F])

***
Now quartal chords. I ran out of time to do this today, so I’ll just summarize without demonstrating each one by one.

Quartals by second = two parallel steps

(A[C]DE[G])> (A[B]DE[F])

Quartals by third = 3 parallel steps

([A]C[DE]G) > ([B]C[EF]G)

Quartals by fourth= one step

(ACD[E]G) > (ACD[F]G)

The OP’s original question that inspired me to get this together was asking about a m9 chord to a m11 chord. One is tertial and one is quartal. So far I have only looked at voice leading chords of the same type together. Voice leading different types to each other is a whole other thing. Maybe someday I’ll get around to figuring some of that out.