[Menvi-discuss] SATB Writing?
STEPHANIE PIECK
themusicsuite at verizon.net
Fri Mar 9 07:47:05 PST 2012
Ha! The grades are just the Associated Board's way of dividing up musical knowledge. Grade 5 is considered to be the entry point at which a student would be capable of doing more advanced work--so, in my own unofficial estimate, someone should have at least Grade 5 knowledge before beginning college-level theory.
I'd say grades 6-8 cover perhaps the first two to three semesters in a college theory course, but again, this is only my own opinion.
Trinity College offers theory exams, too, and theirs go beyond Grade 8, to three levels: Diploma, Licentiate, and Fellow. They state on their website that Diploma level is equivalent to first-year college theory; Licentiate is after a four-year college equivalent; and Fellow is like graduate-level work.
Unfortunately, they don't have as much material in Braille from RNIB from the Trinity program, although, crazy person that I am, I plan to investigate how I can take these higher-level theory exams after completing Associated Board Grade 8 (which I should be able to do sometime next year).
The Trinity College site is:
http://www.trinitycollege.co.uk/site/?id=55
If you think you'd like to try the Associated Board theory exams--either at Grade 5 or lower--contact me off-list, and, depending on where you are located, I can connect you with a local representative to arrange that or give you further information.
Stephanie
----- Original Message -----
From: Brandon Keith Biggs
To: This is for discussing music and braille literacy
Sent: Friday, March 09, 2012 9:30 AM
Subject: Re: [Menvi-discuss] SATB Writing?
Hello,
Wow this is so cool! Thank you!
What does it mean by grades 1 through 8? What are the grades? I didn’t know first graders were put on music theory?
Is it grades 1 through 4 that one learns in their first two years of music theory?
Thanks,
Brandon Keith Biggs
From: STEPHANIE PIECK
Sent: Friday, March 09, 2012 5:32 AM
To: This is for discussing music and braille literacy
Subject: Re: [Menvi-discuss] SATB Writing?
Brandon,
It sounds like you have a teacher that is trying so hard to (1) make theory accessible and (2) make theory revelant that he is ignoring classical music and concepts of basic four-part writing to achieve this. I'll be the first to say there's nothing worse than a dry and monotonous presentation of theory--and this is why most people absolutely hate the subject! But close behind is a professor that doesn't know their stuff ...
I'm not sure how I would proceed in making suggestions. It raises red flags for me that the dean seems to think it's not a big problem since there will be a different teacher next semester.
On another subject you raised: Figured bass is helpful because it allows one to present harmony in a mathematical way by numerically describing the arrangement of notes within chords. It does have its limitations, though--especially for part-writing that includes a lot of non-harmonic decoration, such as passing tones, etc.
A root-position chord can be written with the bass note shown as a pitch, then a 3rd-interval and a 5th-interval sign immediatly after the note--assuming that all intervals are read upward, and if you're working through figured-bass realizations, they should be.
Second inversions can be shown with a 4th-inverval and a 6th-inverval sign above the note.
For seventh chords: first inversion is bass note plus 3rd, plus 5th, plus 7th;
second inversion is bass note plus 3rd, plus 5th, plus 6th;
third inversion is bass note plus 3rd, plus 4th, plus 6th.
Two important points: All intervals in these chords are counted from the bass note.
And, if any of the notes are altered--by adding sharps, flats or naturals not included in the key signature--the accidental sign is placed immediately before the interval it affects.
So for example, a C dominant seventh chord would be C, E, G, B-flat. In Braille, you'd write the C first, then a third (dots 346), a 5th (dots 35) and a flat 7th (dots 126, 25).
For some ideas on a natural progression of skills and knowledge regarding theory, visit the Associated Board's website:
http://www.abrsm.org
If you go to the "Music Exams" page and look around for "Music Theory", I think you can download the theory syllabus for each grade--1 through 8. It won't be exactly what your school is using, of course, but it's a good way to organize the material. See how many of the skills from each grade you feel like you've got, and for the ones you don't, find ways to improve them.
Unfortunately, this leaves a lot of the work on your shoulders. But I will be the first to tell you that, as onerous as it seems, what you learn now will have a great impact on your overall musicianship later.
Stephanie
----- Original Message -----
From: Brandon Keith Biggs
To: This is for discussing music and braille literacy
Sent: Friday, March 09, 2012 1:15 AM
Subject: Re: [Menvi-discuss] SATB Writing?
Hello,
Is Angelfire your website? That’s the sight I use! LOL...
Ug, my teacher doesn’t discourage parallel 5ths, octaves and 4ths like he should. He says: “Some people think they sound bad, but I think they are just fine. Bach did parallel voicing's...”
I’m trying to figure out what I should say when I email him with suggestions for next quarter. I have no idea what 3rd quarter theory students are supposed to be learning. I’m guessing just composing as I can count the number of composition's I have written on one hand. Also I can suggest that he have us play the examples rather than just have him play his guitar in front of the class. I can also ask him to please stop reviewing every day... I’m not sure how many times I need to be reminded that a 6 chord is also first inversion and a 64 chord is second inversion. I’ve also never seen those written out, so I’m not sure how useful the figured bass numbers are.
I recorded his lecture today, so if someone wants me to send the MP3 of the lecture so you can hear what a class sounds like I can do that. Another problem is that he talks about classical music about as many times as I say breakfast in one day. Not very much...
He uses Beatles to show his examples and the Beatles I don’t think are very good at showing classical theory. They break the rules a lot. I don’t think he even listens to classical music that is not guitar music... We were talking about SATB writing and he was explaining the ranges and said tenors can’t go above a high A and I asked him what in the world he meant? What about Ah Mes Amis? He had no idea what I was talking about... He asked me what planet I was from where someone could hit 9 high Cs in one song...
I took this problem up with the Dean of the music department and he basically told me I should either find another school or wait till next year when the class will have another teacher. So because this is my last quarter at this school, I want to give the teacher suggestions. He’s open to suggestions because he’s new and I think being very clear in my ideas will really have a large impact on what happens in the Spring.
So please let me know what I should be able to do going into second year theory.
Thank you,
Brandon Keith Biggs
From: Data
Sent: Friday, March 09, 2012 7:33 AM
To: This is for discussing music and braille literacy
Subject: Re: [Menvi-discuss] SATB Writing?
You can also download a template from my website for four-part writing:
http://www.angelfire.com/jazz/papermusic/download.html
There's the link, and go to "Lime Templates".
-Andy
-----Original Message-----
From: menvi-discuss-bounces at menvi.org [mailto:menvi-discuss-bounces at menvi.org]On Behalf Of Brandon Keith Biggs
Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2012 4:19 PM
To: This is for discussing music and braille literacy
Subject: Re: [Menvi-discuss] SATB Writing?
Hello,
This looks like the best option. What my teacher does is gives us a bass and soprano note then has us add the tenor and alto. This is where being able to write and hear music in Braille on the computer would come in handy!
Thank you,
Brandon Keith Biggs
From: STEPHANIE PIECK
Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2012 2:26 PM
To: This is for discussing music and braille literacy
Subject: Re: [Menvi-discuss] SATB Writing?
Hi Brandon,
As for "pretty pictures", I'm afraid we all miss out on those ...
Technology is indeed awesome, but in this case, you may want to go a bit old-school: If you have a Perkins Braillewriter and some 11.5-by-11-inch paper, you can do the following:
1. Write the parts out in a four-line parallel--i.e., a separate line for each voice part, with soprano at the top and the other voices arranged underneath. It'll look like a double-stacked piano score. This way, you can feel each measure and see what each voice is doing simply by moving up or down vertically within the measure.
2. Once you've gotten a bit more comfortable with this method, you can condense your work to a two-line system. The top line will show soprano and alto parts, with soprano first, the Braille in-accord sign (a two-cell sign that's dots 126, 345), then the alto part. Do the same thing on the next line for tenor and bass. In this arrangement, you still get to see all the parts--they're just not so spread out.
For an even more condensed version, you can write it as a two-line parallel, and, if the rhythm is exactly the same in each pair of voices (soprano-alto, tenor-bass), use interval signs. So, your top line would have the soprano part written out as pitches, with the alto part shown as intervals reading downward from each of those pitches; and the second line of the parallel would show the bass part as pitches, with the tenor indicated as intervals reading upward from those pitches. This last method is great for not only seeing how your outer voices--soprano and bass--move (and often, those two, when done well, will make it possible to fill in the inner voices with a minimum amount of effort)--but you can easily play from this at the piano to check your work by hearing it. This last method is used a lot for four-part writing in hymnbooks, but the rhythm has to be the same--otherwise, you need either part-measure or full-measure in-accords.
Once you've done it this way, you can always go back into LIME and produce a "pretty picture" for the sighted people who need that!
Hope that helps.
Stephanie Pieck
----- Original Message -----
From: Brandon Keith Biggs
To: This is for discussing music and braille literacy
Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2012 4:46 PM
Subject: [Menvi-discuss] SATB Writing?
Hello,
I’m wondering if anyone has any good ideas on how to keep track of SATB writing? I’m reading the rules, but I can’t see the pretty pictures it’s supposed to be making. I'’m now just following the rules of only doubling the tonic and dominant, resolving down to the tonic from the 7th, only removing the 5th, and not crossing voices. I am having trouble looking out for parallel octaves or 5ths, the 4 types of motion, extended leaps and just checking my work in general.
I’m using Lime atm, but I don’t have a Braille display yet... I’m trying to get one though.
Any suggestion's on how to easily follow these rules would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you,
Brandon Keith Biggs
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