The Song

All right everyone -- here it is. The song we are going to be working on for the remaining 4 weeks of classes. (By the way -- class is canceled today, March 30). You can download the file below, print it, and begin working on "fleshing it out." Here are some things we will need/want for this song:

1. Harmonization (chords)
2. Structure (form -- verses, choruses, intros, bridges, interludes, etc.)
3. Instrumentation

The list could go on. For example, we could have a drum loop going on. We could have an ostinato in the treble or bass. We could have an a capella section. We could have a bridge featuring a string quartet. The song could be for a soloist, or an ensemble, or a choir, or a combination of any of those. We could use the idea of a canon to have counter-melodies (descant) going on. The options are endless.

So put some thought into it and bring all your ideas to the next class. This is our song -- don't let it be written without your thoughts put forth. Thanks and God bless!

Josh

Here is the song

Class 4a

Sorry for not posting last class. For now, this class post is for the composition assignment. Here are the lyrics to the "hymn":

1 Jesus, lover of my soul,
let me to thy bosom fly,
while the nearer waters roll,
while the tempest still is high.
Hide me, O my Savior, hide,
till the storm of life is past;
safe into the haven guide;
O receive my soul at last.

2 Other refuge have I none,
hangs my helpless soul on thee;
leave, ah! leave me not alone,
still support and comfort me.
All my trust on thee is stayed,
all my help from thee I bring;
cover my defenseless head
with the shadow of thy wing.

3 Wilt Thou not regard my call?
Wilt Thou not accept my prayer?
Lo! I sink, I faint, I fall-
Lo! on Thee I cast my care;
Reach me out Thy gracious hand!
While I of Thy strength receive,
Hoping against hope I stand,
dying, and behold, I live.

4 Thou, O Christ, art all I want,
more than all in thee I find;
raise the fallen, cheer the faint,
heal the sick, and lead the blind.
Just and holy is thy name,
I am all unrighteousness;
false and full of sin I am;
thou art full of truth and grace.

5 Plenteous grace with thee is found,
grace to cover all my sin;
let the healing streams abound,
make and keep me pure within.
Thou of life the fountain art,
freely let me take of thee;
spring thou up within my heart;
rise to all eternity.


There you are. So here the rules again:

• The song must have a melody. It would be nice to have a harmony (parts, chords, Roman numeral, et al.).
• You can use part or all of the lyrics. You may change, take away, or add to them. I'm more interested in a concept than a total dedication to every word.
• I would like to see the melody written out. If you have any other parts (instrumental, bridge, etc.) it would also be nice to see them written out.
• You do not have to have everything written out in publishable form. Just a sketch will do.

If you have any other questions, feel free to email. We will continue to look at the Bach Prelude soon and compare it to an old pop song. Thanks for your dedication. God bless-

Josh

P.S. Here is a link to the homework.

Class 2a

So here's the homework assignment:

transcription1

Click on the link above to listen to the song. There is 1 verse followed by 1 chorus. The song is in 4/4 and has a pick up beat. Oh, and it's in the key of Db (the first note is also a Db). Email me at jstewart@bellevue.org if you have any questions.

More about today's class to come . . .

Josh

Class 1a

Welcome back everybody! I'm excited about this coming semester, and I hope you are too. This is going to be the time where we put to use all the information we've learned so far. So let's get to it.

In this week's class we reviewed the main points of last semester: key sigantures, scale degrees and functions, and chords. If you are unsure about any of those topics, scroll down and review.

We then talked about the primary chords of any key: the tonic (I), dominant (V), and subdominant (IV). These three chords make up the bulk of modern music, especially pop, rock, country, and contemporary Christian. Other genres, like jazz, still use them, but add to them or substitute for them (we will be talking about substitutions next class). For now, we're interested in adding these three chords to a melody. To do that, pay attention to the strong notes of the melody, or the notes on the strong beats. A lot of times melodies will suggest their own harmonies. Also, make sure that the notes of the melody don't clash too much with the harmony. If your melody has a passage of the notes "E F G C" and you try to use a G chord to harmonize those notes, there will be a lot of dissonance with the C and, to a lesser degree, the E.

There are some "rules" for harmonizing this way, but for now I'm going to trust your ears. If I see some odd sounding harmonies, I may start imposing more rules -- but if you don't know be now, I'm not a big fan of rules in music. The structure of the musical language (order and propriety) imply its own guidelines (in my humble opinion), so I try to steer away from dogmatic lists of rules when the obvious is obvious. Enough said about that.

Don't forget your assignments: analyze the chords on the homework sheet (see below) and write an 8-bar melody using the pentatonic scale. The pentatonic scale is a five note scale using notes 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 (for any key). Please email if you have any questions. Thanks!

Josh


P.S. Here is the homework.

Class 11

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you all had lots of food and fun times yesterday. I am in Virginia with family right now and was just thinking that I hadn't posted yet. So here it is.

Last class was sort of a continuation of last week's class. We talked about the diatonic chords in a minor key. You remember the diatonic chords in a major key, right?

I ii iii IV V vi vii°

The diatonic chords in a minor key are similar, with one exception. First, think of the minor chords as the relative minors to the major chords. If we begin on scale degree 6 (vi) and turn it into our new 1 (i), we can write our minor chords as follows:

i ii° III iv v VI VII

Does that make sense? The relative minor of a major key (take C major, for example) is a 3rd below the tonic (so the relative minor of C major is A minor). So our tonic chord (the one chord) for A minor is the same as the vi chord in C major.

Here's the exception I was talking about. Remember minor scales -- natural, harmonic, melodic? I talked about how the harmonic scale was the most used minor scale. This is because the 7th scale degree is raised a half step. This raised 7th scale degree creates a nice lead-in to the 1, and is used more than the regular, diatonic natural 7. Anyway, if we raise the 7th scale scale degree in our minor chords, we change the chords that use the 7th. This means the v chord, whose middle tone is the 7th degree, becomes major (V) and the VII chord, whose root is the 7th degree, becomes diminished (vii°). We will leave the III chord alone for right now, even though its top note is the 7th degree. So with those two changes, we now have:

i ii° III iv V VI vii°

If you don't quite understand yet, don't worry. We'll review much of this next semester as we get into more composition. For now, just remember that the V chord is major whether you are in a minor key or a major key (and also that the vii° chord is diminished).

By the way, we do have class this coming Monday (December 1). Thanks again for your faithfulness. God bless!

Josh

P.S. Here's a link to the homework.

Class 10

Wow. Ten classes so far. You guys have really come a long way really fast. I'm proud of you all for sticking with it and learning some great stuff. Last class was another sort of "practice" day where we tried out some things we've learned. We transcribed sets of four notes in a given key signature. We looked some more at analyzing hymns (which we will do more of next semester). I've decided to go ahead and have class today (November 24) in spite of the fact that some of you are out of town. You should be fine if you check the blog later on after class. There will be a pretty substantial homework sheet for today's upcoming class, so make sure you take a look at it. I will let all of you know about next week.

later!

Josh

Class 9

Okay, so I'm a week late with this post. Sorry. We didn't go over much new information in this class, which is fine because we're getting into some pretty thick theory.

Roman numeral analysis is tedious at first, but I promise it gets easier. Remember when you were learning to read? (I don't actually remember that far back, but I'm imagining here.) You knew your alphabet already, and you knew how to speak. Learning to read was simply a matter of putting together these letters you knew into words you knew. Well, maybe it wasn't as easy as that, but you get the idea. Think of chords as words. We're taking the notes you already know and putting them together to form sounds you already are familiar with. This median process of reading the chords is much like reading words. Once you begin figuring out patterns and common happenings (like cadences), the whole thing becomes much easier.

In this class we learned about secondary dominants. A secondary dominant is any non-diatonic chord that functions as the dominant (leading) to its own tonic. For example, say we're in the key of G. You're going along minding your own business when all of a sudden you see an A chord. Well an A chord has a C#, which is not in the key signature, so you make a guess that this chord may be a secondary dominant. You look at the next chord and see that it's a D chord. You think about it and remember that an A chord is the dominant of D (in other words, an A chord is the dominant -- 5th -- in the key of D). This A chord is functioning as a secondary dominant.

More on secondary chords later. Your homework was to analyze the hymn "Holy, Holy, Holy." God bless!

Josh