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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Brandon,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>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 ...</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>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.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>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.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>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.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Second inversions can be shown with a 4th-inverval
and a 6th-inverval sign above the note.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>For seventh chords: first inversion is bass note
plus 3rd, plus 5th, plus 7th;</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>second inversion is bass note plus 3rd, plus 5th,
plus 6th;</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>third inversion is bass note plus 3rd, plus 4th,
plus 6th.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Two important points: All intervals in these chords
are counted from the bass note.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>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.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>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).</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>For some ideas on a natural progression of skills
and knowledge regarding theory, visit the Associated Board's
website:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><A
href="http://www.abrsm.org">http://www.abrsm.org</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>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.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>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.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Stephanie</FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=brandonboy13@comcast.net
href="mailto:brandonboy13@comcast.net">Brandon Keith Biggs</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=menvi-discuss@menvi.org
href="mailto:menvi-discuss@menvi.org">This is for discussing music and braille
literacy</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Friday, March 09, 2012 1:15
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [Menvi-discuss] SATB
Writing?</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr>
<DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'">
<DIV>Hello,</DIV>
<DIV>Is Angelfire your website? That’s the sight I use! <IMG
class="wlEmoticon wlEmoticon-surprisedsmile"
style="BORDER-TOP-STYLE: none; BORDER-RIGHT-STYLE: none; BORDER-LEFT-STYLE: none; BORDER-BOTTOM-STYLE: none"
alt="Surprised smile" src="cid:39B572201A3B45F9BF7373C91B656F8F@MAESTRO">
LOL...</DIV>
<DIV>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...”</DIV>
<DIV>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. </DIV>
<DIV>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...</DIV>
<DIV>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...</DIV>
<DIV>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.</DIV>
<DIV>So please let me know what I should be able to do going into second year
theory.</DIV>
<DIV>Thank you,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'">Brandon
Keith Biggs<BR></DIV>
<DIV
style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: small; COLOR: #000000; FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; TEXT-DECORATION: none">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt tahoma">
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri size=3></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="BACKGROUND: #f5f5f5">
<DIV style="font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=data@papermusic.org
href="mailto:data@papermusic.org">Data</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Friday, March 09, 2012 7:33 AM</DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=menvi-discuss@menvi.org
href="mailto:menvi-discuss@menvi.org">This is for discussing music and braille
literacy</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> Re: [Menvi-discuss] SATB Writing?</DIV></DIV></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV></DIV>
<DIV
style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: small; COLOR: #000000; FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; TEXT-DECORATION: none">
<DIV><SPAN class=703403215-09032012><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>You
can also download a template from my website for four-part
writing:</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=703403215-09032012><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><A
href="http://www.angelfire.com/jazz/papermusic/download.html">http://www.angelfire.com/jazz/papermusic/download.html</A> </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=703403215-09032012><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2>There's the link, and go to "Lime Templates".</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=703403215-09032012><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2>-Andy</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Tahoma
size=2>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B>
menvi-discuss-bounces@menvi.org
[mailto:menvi-discuss-bounces@menvi.org]<B>On Behalf Of </B>Brandon Keith
Biggs<BR><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, March 08, 2012 4:19 PM<BR><B>To:</B> This is
for discussing music and braille literacy<BR><B>Subject:</B> Re:
[Menvi-discuss] SATB Writing?<BR><BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr>
<DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'">
<DIV>Hello,</DIV>
<DIV>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!</DIV>
<DIV>Thank you,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'">Brandon
Keith Biggs<BR></DIV>
<DIV
style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: small; COLOR: #000000; FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; TEXT-DECORATION: none">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt tahoma">
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV style="BACKGROUND: #f5f5f5">
<DIV style="font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A
title=themusicsuite@verizon.net
href="mailto:themusicsuite@verizon.net">STEPHANIE PIECK</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, March 08, 2012 2:26 PM</DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=menvi-discuss@menvi.org
href="mailto:menvi-discuss@menvi.org">This is for discussing music and
braille literacy</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> Re: [Menvi-discuss] SATB Writing?</DIV></DIV></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV></DIV>
<DIV
style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: small; COLOR: #000000; FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; TEXT-DECORATION: none">
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hi Brandon,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>As for "pretty pictures", I'm afraid we all
miss out on those ...</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>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:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>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.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>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.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>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.
</FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2>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.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>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!</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hope that helps.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Stephanie Pieck</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=brandonboy13@comcast.net
href="mailto:brandonboy13@comcast.net">Brandon Keith Biggs</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=menvi-discuss@menvi.org
href="mailto:menvi-discuss@menvi.org">This is for discussing music and
braille literacy</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, March 08, 2012 4:46
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [Menvi-discuss] SATB
Writing?</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr>
<DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'">
<DIV>Hello,</DIV>
<DIV>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. </DIV>
<DIV>I’m using Lime atm, but I don’t have a Braille display yet... I’m
trying to get one though.</DIV>
<DIV>Any suggestion's on how to easily follow these rules would be greatly
appreciated!</DIV>
<DIV>Thank you,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'">Brandon
Keith Biggs<BR></DIV></DIV></DIV>
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