So this may sound like a stupid question, but how does music work? Seriously. I know about notes and rests and scales and all the basic theory, but it still seems like a sort of magic to me. When I sing, it sounds okay to me. But when I hear a recording of it, it makes cats cover their ears.
To learn music, would it be to just practice scales and chords and such over and over and over until they become rote? Then start putting those “building blocks” together to make songs and such?
I’ve asked Sam this before, but all I ever get from him is “I don’t know. I just do it.” Which annoys me but I understand it, because that’s the same thing I say when someone asks me about computers. I’ve labeled myself a “computer idiot savant”. I don’t know how I know so much about computers, but I do. I mean, I do research and keep abreast of things, but on same basic level I can look at a computer and just “get it”.
I look a keyboard, and I don’t “get it”. I know it’s in there, and it’s in me, but I have no idea how to get it out.
Make sense? My $.02 Weed
Music, when soft voices die…
There is a certain amount of natural talent involved – there’s no getting around that. Sam can improvise on the piano MUCH better than me, despite the fact that I’ve had way more actual training them him, including several years of study in jazz improvisation. He’s just got a knack that I don’t have.
That said, I understand how music fits together better than just about anyone I’ve ever met. I can hear a song on the radio and know instantly what chords are used and where the whole thing is going. That’s not something I learned, but rather something I’ve always been able to do to a certain extent.
Of course, there is plenty of it that can be taught. Like you say, you can learn chords and scales and just play and play and play until it becomes second nature. That takes a lot of time, and you’ll probably feel like progress happens incredibly slowly. But you may discover that you also have certain innate abilities that make certain parts of it easier for you than for other people.
Any questions that are more specific?
— Ben
I think that’s the thing
I think until I get into it and learn the basic parts, the overall magic of music will remain that…magic.
But for example, my wonderful vocal talents. How would you recommend someone who is by all means tone-deaf to learn to sing on pitch? Record and listen until they have memorized the right pitch per note?
I truly feel like a squib. it’s really a moot point until I learn my scales and such…
My $.02 Weed
sorry
Singing is something else entirely, unfortunately. Vocal technique is something that can be improved through study and practice, but if you’re tone-deaf to start with it, I don’t know of anything that will teach you to sing on pitch.
I suppose it’s possible to work with someone who works with you on exercises in matching pitch, but there’s no way to say that this will actually work in the end.
— Ben
hope springs eternal
I can’t say it works for everyone, but I did have a good friend who was a terrible singer when I first met her. She really wanted to sing well, but she couldn’t stay on pitch at all. A few years of vocal and music study later (through Harvard’s part-time student program) she sounded like an amateur opera singer. (She would waver a note or two sometimes, but who doesn’t?) I wouldn’t have thought such a change was possible; it was really incredible.
Not magic, but math
Music is a type of math that is different than your 10 base system that we use on a daily basis. You could buy a college text book of Basic Music Theory 100 and get a good start on understanding how music works. Doing this book without taking the class would be pretty easy and you would learn a lot.
As for being tone deaf, I don’t believe anyone is tone deaf unless that actually have a hearing problem. Just like the example of the young lady, with some voice training, you can learn to hear when your voice matches the right pitch. You can feel it in the waves in your head whether or not they match or are different.
In my training to be an elementary school teacher, we had a class that taught artsy stuff, including how to help children find the pitch. I believe if you really want to learn how, find someone who can help you and go for it! Music is a very emotionally rewarding thing to do!–
Christy
Music is the medium..
Interestingly, for me, Music is th emedium, like the crust of the pizza. For me, its just kind of there. Now, anyone who listens to my music will tell you its simple.. I use the same 3-6 chords, I do the same bag of tricks over and over again..
But for me, that’s because the music is just there to support the emotion of the lyrics (or in the case of a score, the pictures). For me, I learned how to make music and produce it simply as a way to put the songs I would write onpaper.. or even the poems, if you will… into a context that was listenable.
I guess this is the difference between bands like Rush and, say, Green Day. Now, its hard to argue who was better… both have a lot of hits, but Green Day writes simple, simple music to support really clever lyrics… Rush also has clever lyrics.. but one will usually find themselves more attracted to the vocal stylings, or the complex rhythms.
So in terms of being able to do what I do.. Here is one of the formulas I like a lot.. Write a song.. Start with this formula: Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Bridge, Guitar Solo, Big finish Chorus. One can eventually play around with that formula. There should be a music hook (like the riff in Walk this Way, or the little piano melody in “Everything I Do”) – a memorable 3-9 notes that creep up throughout the song. First verse sets the stage… leads into a chorus that should sound like a cliche but isnt really (3-5 words do really well.. “I dont wanna miss a thing”..). 2nd verse can be more poetical, and should expand on the world set up in the first verse.. 2nd chorus is a little more intensely performed. Bridge is either darker, or quieter, or well, different in tone from the res tof the song a little.. but shoul dlead well into returning to the rest of the song. Finally, guitar solo here is optional. Now, do the chorus here.. and its the most intense performnce of it.. finally, a clever ending, and there you go.. (Check out the Wayward Sun song “All Over Again” for the classic example of this formula).
There are other formulas that work just as well.. but for me, the musical structure of the song is much less important than the lyrics, which are the really important part.
Visit the Official Justin Timpane Website Music, Acting, and More! http://www.timpane.com
Poet
I’ve long maintained — and still do so — that when it comes to writing music I’m a poet who puts his words to music. I can’t write a tune unless I have words in mind. Although recently I’ve started writing more tunes with no lyrics, there’s still *always* a lyrical riff in my mind with everything I write.
I’m a pretty mediocre musician, really. I just enjoy it enough to spend hours doing stuff 🙂
Probably not that helpful, but oh well.
—
Matthew P. Barnson
Opposite
I’m the exact opposite. Music comes pretty easily to me, but I’ve never written a lyric that hasn’t been dragged out of me by lots of hard work.
— Ben
Formula
It’s all built on a Western Music formula that’s been prevalent for the past 300 years.
I would recommend Copeland’s book ‘What To Listen For In Music’ to learn about the basics of melody, rhythm, harmony and sonic culmination. It will guide the way you will appreciate and understand music.