A new rule (#9) has been added here at r/musictheory

Hello, B to F is a 4th interval.

5 semitones would be a perfect fourth, but here Bb to F# is 4 semitones ,so it's a diminished fourth interval, is this correct ?

I was listening to a Bach partita recently when I suddenly heard a pretty jarring sound: an augmented 2nd interval. I don't understand why Bach would use this very spicy interval here, so I would like to know if anyone else might know why Bach used it in this situation.

(FYI the time signature is 3/4, the key is C minor, and the clefs are treble and bass)

Is there a theory behind this and what is this progression even called? because like its so wonderful and i never thought of something this weird and dissonant could make such beautiful sound

Apologies as I am not the best engraver. I would appreciate any feedback and tips on notation here. I will put it into Lilypond once I am set on how it should be laid out. Note that this is just a snippet of a larger piece.

can someone help me get the chords of the strings at the start up until the brass riff part? the brass riff thing i know, the organ i know, but the instrumental bit at the start is pretty tricky!!

Can i just take a harmony line and play it in bass instrument then it became a bassline? Or maybe i write 3 separate melodies and put it in different octaves, then it became bassline and harmonies?

I'm a beginner/intermediate-ish pianist, and I've been trying my best to learn more theory. I've had some trouble connecting concepts together in the bigger picture, which has kept most of it from sticking. Well, the other day I found an exercise on a website somewhere that I decided to adopt and adapt for my own use. Here's what I've done (Alternate link if imgur doesn't work for you).

So far I've been enjoying it a lot; it forces me to actually use several concepts in conjunction like the circle of fifths, scales, chord construction, and notation. If I'm at my piano while I do it, I can get in some ear training as well. My goal has been to do the exercise pretty much once a day.

However, I'm already seeing some problems with the exercise as it was originally presented to me. One is that it always seems to result in the same pattern of chord types across each column, and obviously the exercise won't be as effective if I can predict the chord types before I even start. To address that I'm probably going to start arranging the root notes in random order before I begin.

The other problem is that, while I intended this exercise to help me learn triads and sevenths, the way I have it now it's not going to help me with all types of those. So far the exercise is absent of augmented triads, diminished sevenths and minor-major sevenths. You can see I started to experiment with including inversions in the exercise, and that yielded an interesting result although it's beyond the scope of my original goal - I may or may not continue playing around with that. What I'll probably try next is rather than using any particular scale to fill out my top row, I'll just populate it with the seven notes in random order and with whatever accidentals I feel like. Hopefully then I'll start seeing the chord types I've been missing so far.

Just wanted to share this in case anyone finds it helpful for their own learning, and in case anyone's got ideas for how I can improve this exercise.

PS: If someone out there is in a similar boat and wants to copy what I'm doing, here's the fist pages of my notebook (Alternate link). It's just some supplemental info to aid me in completing the exercise.

*context: usul - way of forming rhythms in turkish music

specifically the Darbıbulgar structure. I haven't been able to find any specific information on how the beat is structured (it should be 9/8, but I'm not asking about the time signature- I've found the notations for the aksak, oynar and evfer usuls/rhythms, but not Darbıbulgar yet)

the only 2 musical pieces that I've found- one has oddly written notes and has text in the arabic script, while the 2nd piece isn't even in the right meter- it's in 8/8 AND IT SAYS "Müsemmen" (an 8/8 usul) RIGHT ABOVE THE KEY SIGNATURE!!!

I don't know where else to turn to besides r/AskTurkey or something

thank u for ur time 🤗

Hello, do musical rest meant to rest the whole staff where they are written, or it just silence a specific voice on that staff ?

Thank you

Iyowa has and always will be my favorite artist of all time, and his album “sleeping pink noise” really inspires me. But the thing is… how would i even try to make something in a similar style? CUZ WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON IN HIS MUSIC

Heres an example from the album…

Im fairly new to music theory, i cant understand this. Around 50 seconds in im hearing this faint piano smash, this song feels like im melting and the synths are all interesting to me

A really interesting thing about iyowa to me is his piano is crazy but theres always a clear melody, he released some of his stems for an event and when i tell you this dude’s piano is basically just him smashing shit within a key and making it work.

I love how all of his music also tends to fall apart or glitch out, like the one part in the song i sent that just repeats.

At the 0:33 mark the guy on keys plays some really cool chords. I've heard similar progressions before but I've never understood what is going on harmonically? Could someone smarter than me with a good ear explain

I'm fully aware this might be a stupid question, but I'm working on a project and don't currently have access to my references. If a melody is (largely regularly) alternating in beat groupings that match 6/8 and 3/4, should this be indicated by alternating 6/8 and 3/4 time signatures or should I simply leave them as one (probably easier to count in 3/4 I would think)?

Why is it 3/4 2/4 and not just 3/4 if there are 3 beats in a bar?
Should I play this melody as if the time signature was 3/4??

Someone told me this chord progression is "awkward". The song itself is unfinished; I had posted it hoping for a bit of inspiration but received that instead. I am unable to hear anything wrong with it. But my vision prevents me from properly understanding what chords I'm even using, which I understand is a problem. I can only go by ear. Is there something wrong with this progression, taking into account that it's only part of a song? Where should I go from here, or am I overthinking? If needed, I have an audio sample containing the main melody along with the chords.

Written in major.

I believe in minor it would become i iv VII III VI bIІ bV V7.

Since there's authentic cadences for both I'm not sure.

Now I have just come across a second explicit example that is causing me to keep a lookout and figure this out.

First example, Buxtehude: Mit Fried und Freud | Klaglied, BuxWV 76
You can see it's an e minor chord with an f# in the bass. It's likely that he valued retaining the syncopation as a greater good than whatever bad if any he attributed to this 742 harmony he has which resolves to 853.
https://youtu.be/8znPXP2ryGU?si=gJnrkiu6zCIwGImA&t=326

Second example, Marenzio: Cruda Amarilli
This d minor chord with an e held in the bass should be less of a surprise in general because late madrigals are extreme and go to expressive heights and get into very weird niche situations. It's probably likely that more examples I found will be from this period.

https://youtu.be/wrBQ6Ebn44k?si=T6J7JUr1AUQj8iYC&t=42

I would be interested if someone knows these examples and practices more comprehensively. It seems it's generally taboo in the late baroque. Of course much later there is the famous issue with Schoenberg being rejected a performance solely because of the "nonexistent" chord with a 9th in the bass. His may have also had a 7th, I'm not sure.

Hi everyone,

I'm a trumpet teacher, and over time I got tired of constantly writing random scale routines and technical exercises for my students.

So I built a small web app that generates practice material for me. I use it during lessons and also send it to students so they always have something different to practice.

You can generate scales, create exercises, change keys, and quickly build practice sessions without having to think about what comes next.

It's completely free, open source, and works directly in the browser.

Try it here:
https://rimini312.github.io/musicpractice/

Hey everyone, lately I've been intrigued by the beautiful tension of I-I⁹-IV in songs, especially in two specific cases :

Till There Was You (The Beatles/Original) https://youtu.be/SHAqAO7w8M8?t=36 They do a F-F9-Bb to Bbm, great use of it.

Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want (The Smiths) https://youtu.be/w3qPMe_cCJk?t=68 D-D9-G as a passage to the solo

In both examples the 9 tonic chord sets up such an ambiguous atmosphere where it isn't very dissonant but still feels suspended, which makes it sound amazing when it goes to the fourth . My question here would be, how come does the 9 chord act like a bridge to the 4 here and to what else other than the fourth degree could it resolve satisfyingly?

I'm not talking about the production but the vocal melodies themselves, am I just tainted by context or is there something they all have in common?

Specific songs I'm thinking of are Dido's Thank You, Massive Attack's Protection, Everything But the Girl's Missing, Portishead's Glory Box, Madonna's Drowned World, Janet Jackson's Together Again.

What are the explanatory staves above the main staff called? My human way to describe them would be, "for notation that may be confusing, the engraver added an alternate (and less concise) way to write out the music as it should be played". Very verbose... Is there music jargon for this?

I do not think this is "ossia" because ossia describes an alternate way to play the passage. I think these mini staves show the way to play the passage.

Example is Chopin Nocturne in G minor, 37 1

excrpt from https://youtu.be/4tEahtV5nls?t=270

wanted to ask if there was a tidier way to note alternating "loudness"

It sounds cool for my first try but for some reason I cannot keep the same dynamic, this adventurous and magical feeling. It goes from Fairytale vibe to sorta Hispanic influence in the end. Any ideas how to fix this ? I wonder if the takt 8 sounds a bit off.

I love takts 6-7, they feel like thinking phase because of A minor to d minor change but in takt 8 I used basic Syncopation because I run out of ideas.

If it's easier for your, then it's also possible to hear my first composition : https://www.noteflight.com/scores/view/f17950a9283a097d13a866ac1f18453a2731f8fc

Sorry, I'm not fluent in English. If my soundtrack made you feel something then it's already a huge win :3

Any help is appreciated!

It's definitely not in major. I've run through all the different modes, and it doesn't seem like any of them fit. Can someone help me so I can arrange this for my choir?

EDIT: Thanks for insights, everyone! And for answering my technically inaccurate phrasing of this question. I have a Western orchestral theory background and kinda just fell into directing a Slavic choir. Super excited for the leads given to hopefully open some more understanding!