art

The following terms and ideas present potentially important "artistic ideas for thought" for the emerging artist. In two categories, there are artistic concepts which immediately follow and artistic techniques below.

Artistic concepts. Trying to describe the artistic potential of the music theory is not an easy task for me. Perhaps it is akin to "dancing about architecture?" The following terms on the artistic concepts menu below continuously reappear throughout the text to help provide a verbal description of what the music theory is trying to create artistically. Knowledge of how these terms are defined within this text will facilitate the transfer of ideas, to encourage the formulation of your own understanding and perception of the artistic elements, hopefully providing food for thought and artistic growth.

artistic filters ideas on developing one's own unique artistic concept and sound.
artistic signature creating a visual representation between musical resources and natural color.
big picture prompts the reader to begin to define their artistic directions to better define their pathway through this text.
building a solo examines this fundamental aspect of creating musical art.
color of keys illuminating the possibilities that different keys and pairing of keys create unique aural color.
colors / palette can musical sounds be thought of as colors?
cool with the numbers? how theorists pair up pitches and numbers.
emotional / tonal environment examines essential vehicles used in the creation of American music.
explore / experiment examining the theory, i.e., to explore and creating ideas, i.e., to experiment.
inside / outside looks at the relationship between mixing diatonic and non-diatonic elements together.
loops of pitches examines the concept that our musical resources are finite sets of elements.
musical dynamics discussions concerning the development of using varying degrees of volume in creating musical ideas.
musical styles / theory begins to correlate the idea of theoretical complexity and various styles of American music.
permutation / sequence introduces the principles of manipulation of musical elements and the creating of cyclic artistic ideas.
preparing for performance ideas for developing skills helpful to the emerging performance artist.
tension / release examines the relationship of building artistic tension and the control of it's release.
theme and variations discusses the concept of examining an artistic idea from various stylistic perspectives.
tonal gravity  discussion of the aural pull and convergence tendencies of musical elements.
what if ? a brief discussion concerning the development of one's ability to explore American music based on their own understanding of the theory of music with an eye towards developing the ability to create their own questions.

Artistic techniques. The topics in this section are mostly concerned with common but cool ways that players throughout all of the American styles play with the musical resources that are available. Some are very definite ways to do things, as say the half step lead in idea, others are less definitive, such as forward motion, but potentially important for the well rounded, creative artist. These topics are basically ways to view and manipulate our musical resources they know no definite stylistic bounds and are in some cases totally essential for the emerging creative artist. Remember, ya heard it here first. Just kidding. Here are the topics with a brief description of their content.

back / middle / front of the beat simply looks at how different players work the groove.
common tones the idea of using one pitch to link two or more chords together
double Two / Five using the ideas of John Coltrane to increase the challenge and intensity of the common Two / Five / One cadential motion.
forward motion a rhythmic concept that helps drive a players line forward as well as making the bar lines go away.
guide tone lines creating very simple lines that outline the chord qualities within a chord progression
half step lead in examines the simple but oh so essential blues and jazz harmonic motion.
pedal tones discusses both the lower and inverted pedals within the American styles.
soloing over changes basic ideas for creating diatonic melodic ideas within a set of written chord changes.
tritone sub not just another fancy sandwich.
voice leading examines the idea of voices as we move from one chord to another.
writing tunes basic ways to begin writing one's own tunes for fun and performance in each of the popular American styles.
melodic motions / devices the various ways we identify the motion of pitch to pitch within melodic line.

"The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary." Anonymous