1) Can the music of the spheres be truly transferred? Yes? No? Where do the groove, pitches and rhythms of our music come from? In your own words, how can you tap into the energy of the music from the spheres? .
2) Can we create a bluesy folk groove by speaking the words for beats one and three and snapping our fingers, clapping your hands or tapping our feet for beats two and four? Like this, speak one, snap two, speak three, snap four. One, click, three, click. Can ya do it? Can ya feel the pull? Can ya make it groove? Click example 1 for help.
3) Blowing a breath of air through a tube of metal creates a series of tones. The lowest of which we call the fundamental pitch.
Yes? No?
4) Shorten the length of this tube, the pitch goes up or down?
Up? Down?
5) Lengthen the column of vibrating air, our resulting pitch goes up or down.
Up? Down?
6) Jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker played which instrument? .
7) If we decreased the length of the column of air exactly one half the length of the horn, how much higher is this pitch said to be in relation to the fundamental? one .
8) If Bb was the letter name of the fundamental pitch, what is the letter name of the pitch one octave above it? .
9) Wind, string and even some percussion instruments use this simple principle to get different octaves. Yes? No?
10) Dividing our column of air into two, three, four or five equal parts creates different partials or overtones in relation to the fundamental pitch. Yes? No?
11) Theorist call this phenomena the series.
12) The overtone series is the basis for how we create and tune our pitches.
Yes? No?
13) European modal music evolved into the equal tempered system of tonal organization.
Yes? No?
14) The equal tempered system is based on equally dividing the octave into 12 equal parts?
Yes? No?
15) Combining these pitches in either consecutive ascending or descending order we create the scale.
16) Each of these twelve ( 12 ) pitches gets a letter name. Yes No?
17) This chromatic group of pitches could be said to be the
_______________________ of all the different scales created within the equal tempered system.
18) This equal temperament system of tuning and organization is the basis from which we create our musical resources and is what we use today to create all the harmony and most of the melodies of American music.
Yes? No?
19) The theory of equal tempering our tonal resources is perhaps best represented by which modern day instrument? .
20) In your own words, describe why modern day instruments are tempered. .
21) The registration of any instrument describes the range of pitches it can produce.
Yes? No?
22) One dramatic historical result of this tempered tuning process is the ability to create harmony or chords that consistently sound in tune. Yes? No?
23) American blues music, in overly simplistic theoretical terms, is a combination of European "in tune" equal tempered chords with a mostly pentatonic melody line of potentially indefinite pitch, i.e., the blue notes.
Yes? No?
24) What are your thoughts about this? .
25) The blues color is an integral part of the basis of the purely American styles of music.
Yes? No?
26) What are your thoughts on the idea that the pitches we create are related to the cosmos and the organization of the spheres. .
28) What is your chosen . Describe what you know of it's history and development. .
29) The musical term tempo describes the speed of the music.
Yes No?
30) Are different emotions evoked by the different rhythmic subdivisions?
Yes? No?
31) In your own words describe the rhythm of a song you love. .
32) Music written in three is generally called a waltz.
Yes? No?
33) Blues players dig the 12 / 8 feel of groups of 3 over a steady 4 beat pulse.
Yes? No?
34) What is the common term for this groove? .
35) Describe in your own words the musical term forward motion. .
36) How can you recreate this forward motion in your music?
.
37) Rhythmic groups of three over a steady pulse are commonly called .
38) Four beats per measure or 4 / 4 time is the basic pulse for much of our American music.
Yes? No?
39) What American jazz composition is based on a five part pulse? .
40) Who is the composer? .
41) Some ancient Scottish music uses a seven part pulse.
Yes? No?
42) Jazz players can reshape the groove and swing of the rhythm of their lines when composing by creating their ideas in groups of seven.
Yes? No?
43) The bread and butter rhythm for so many American musicians, past and present is the
note. How a player creates their eighth notes becomes an important part of their .
44) In dividing by twelve, we in one sense four groups of three, which ties us back into the suspended feel created by a triplet. From this division of twelve we get the _____________________ beat.
45) A bluesy 12 / 8 rhythmic groove is oftentimes termed a . The concept of jazz swing is in part based based on an interpretation of the triplet.
Yes? No?
46) Are any combinations of the various rhythmic divisions possible? Is it all simply a matter of what the artist is hearing and / or develops through their explorations.
Yes? No?
47) Can one idea organically develop from and into another?
Yes? No?
48) Does the artist search to find the best aural and rhythmic elements to express their ideas, to create their work?
Yes? No?
49) Groups of four beats per measure is the most common rhythmic subdivision in American music?
Yes? No?
50) Once a player masters creating four beats per measure, rhythmically mastering groups of three might be a good challenge?
Yes No?
What's next? Want to write a song of your own?
"I am not young enough to know everything."
Oscar Wilde