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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
- Sprache: Englisch
This book is built to start from elementary and fundamental bases to the first degrees of harmony. It provides many theoretical and technical bases of music, presenting in detail relations between physics and music (harmonics, frequency and time spectrum, dissonance, etc.), physiological relations with human body and education.
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Seitenzahl: 314
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017
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Table of Contents
Cover
Title
Copyright
Preface
Introduction
PART 1: Laying the Foundations
Introduction to Part 1
1 Sounds, Creation and Generation of Notes
1.1. Physical and physiological notions of a sound
2 Generation of Notes
2.1. Concept of octave
2.2. Modes of generation/creation/construction of notes
2.3. Physical/natural generation of notes
2.4. Generation of perfect fifth notes
2.5. Important remarks on “physical”/“fifths” generation
2.6. Generation of tempered notes
2.7. In summary and in conclusion on generation of notes
2.8. Comparison of gaps between all the notes thus created
3 Recreation: Frequencies, Sounds and Timbres
3.1. Differences between a pure frequency and the timbre of an instrument
3.2. Timbre of an instrument, harmonics and harmony
3.3. Recomposition of a signal from sine waves
4 Intervals
4.1. Gap/space/distance/interval between two notes
4.2. Measuring the intervals
4.3. Intervals between notes
4.4. Overview of the main intervals encountered
4.5. Quality of an interval
4.6. Reversal of an interval
4.7. Commas…ss
5 Harshness, Consonance and Dissonance
5.1. Consonance and dissonance
5.2. Harshness of intervals
5.3. Consonance and dissonance, tension and resolution of an interval
PART 2: Scales and Modes
Introduction to Part 2
6 Scales
6.1. Introduction to the construction of scales
6.2. Natural or physical scale
6.3. Pythagorean or physiological diatonic. scale
6.4. Major diatonic scale
6.5. The other major scales
6.6. Scales and chromatic scales
6.7. Tempered scale
6.8. Other scales
6.9. Pentatonic scale
6.10. “Blues” scale
6.11. Altered scale and jazz scale
6.12 “Tone-tone” (whole-tone) scale
6.13. Diminished scale or “semitone/tone” scale
6.14. In summary
6.15. Technical problems of scales
7 Scales, Degrees and Modes
7.1. Scales and degrees
7.2. Degree of a note in the scale
7.3. Interesting functions/roles of a few degrees of the scale
7.4. Modes
PART 3: Introduction to the Concept of Harmony: Chords
Introduction to Part 3
8 Harmony
8.1. Relations between frequencies
8.2. How are we to define the concept of harmony?
9 Chords
9.1. The different notations
9.2. Chords
9.3. Diatonic chords
9.4. “Fourth-based” chords
9.5. Chord notations
9.6. What do these chords sound like?
9.7. Temporal relations between chords
9.8. Melody line
9.9. Peculiarities and characteristics of the content of the chord
9.10. Relations between melodies and chords
9.11. The product of the extremes is equal to the product of the means
PART 4: Harmonic Progressions
Introduction to Part 4
10 Some Harmonic Rules
10.1. Definition of a chord and the idea of the color of a chord
10.2. A few harmonic rules
10.3. Conclusions on harmonic rules
11 Examples of Harmonic Progressions
11.1. Harmonic progressions by descending chromatism
11.2. Codes employed for writing progressions
11.3. Hundreds, thousands of substitution progressions…
11.4. Chromatism in “standards”
11.5. Families of descending chromatisms
12 Examples of Harmonizations and Compositions
12.1. General points
12.2. Questions of keys
12.3. Example of reharmonization
12.4. Example of harmonization
12.5. Conclusion
Conclusion
Appendix: Acoustic (Harmonious) Effects
A.1. Stereophonic effect
A.2. Effect of vibrato
A.3. “Tremolo” effect
A.4. Doppler effect
A.5. Effect of complete or partial detuning: example: a tack piano
A.6. Chorus effect (often used with strings – violins, etc.)
A.7. Phasing effect
A.8. Flanging effect
Glossary
Bibliography
Index
End User License Agreement
List of Tables
1 Sounds, Creation and Generation of Notes
Table 1.1. Acoustic power of several sources
2 Generation of Notes
Table 2.1. Relations between frequencies, octaves and octave ranks
Table 2.2. Frequencies expressed in subharmonics
Table 2.3. Table showing the successive orders of apparition of the integer harmonics in the different octaves. For a color version of this table, please see www.iste.co.uk/paret/musical.zip
Table 2.4. Table of succession of appearance of integer harmonics in the octaves. For a color version of this table, please see www.iste.co.uk/paret/musical.zip
Table 2.5. Ascending order of appearance of the first 16 notes. For a color version of this table, please see www.iste.co.uk/paret/musical.zip
Table 2.6. Ascending order of apparition of the first chromatic notes. For a color version of this table, please see www.iste.co.uk/paret/musical.zip
Table 2.7. Comparisons and relative gaps between notes
Table 2.8. Succession of occurrences of ascending fifths (3 f
0
), (9 f
0
), (27 f
0
), (81 f
0
), (243 f
0
), etc. For a color version of this table, please see www.iste.co.uk/paret/musical.zip
Table 2.9. Sub-harmonics classified in order in the reference octave. For a color version of this table, please see www.iste.co.uk/paret/musical.zip
Table 2.10. Order of occurrence of ascending fifths
Table 2.11. Order of succession of descending fifths. For a color version of this table, please see www.iste.co.uk/paret/musical.zip
Table 2.12. Fifths expressed in the reference octave
Table 2.13. Order of occurrence of descending fifths expressed in the reference octave
Table 2.14. Descending fifths reclassified in increasing order in the reference octave
Table 2.15. Distribution of frequencies of a generation of tempered notes
Table 2.16. Typical values of division factors used by the master oscillator
Table 2.17. Summary of generations of frequencies/notes – by multiples of frequencies, ascending and descending fifths, tempered notes and in electronics
Table 2.18. Comparison of note-to-note gaps between all the notes created
3 Recreation: Frequencies, Sounds and Timbres
Table 3.1. Comparison between the recorder/clarinet
Table 3.2. Classes of sounds according to their harmonic spectral contents
Table 3.3. Example of Hammond registration of “Clarinet 8'”
4 Intervals
Table 4.1. Naming of the intervals
Table 4.2. The savart
Table 4.3. Equivalences between cents and savarts for the intervals of the tempered scale
Table 4.4. Distances/ratios between two notes
Table 4.5. Examples of additions of intervals
Table 4.6. Conventional names of the intervals with a series of 12 notes per octave. The terms in italics are redundant terms to speak of certain intervals
Table 4.7. Overview and summary of commas and C°
5 Harshness, Consonance and Dissonance
Table 5.1. Relative and cumulative gaps (in savarts) between notes depending on the methods of their creation (physical, fifths or tempered)
Table 5.2. Examples of consonant intervals
Table 5.3. Consonance and harshness
Table 5.4. Examples of intervals giving sensations of dissonance
6 Scales
Table 6.1. Examples of harmonics of 440 Hz
Table 6.2. Generation of notes in [3/2]k geometric progression. For a color version of this table, please see www.iste.co.uk/paret/musical.zip
Table 6.3. Sequence of tones and semitones in the Pythagorean scale
Table 6.4. Positioning of tetrachords in a major scale
Table 6.5. Intervals in relation to the tonic
Table 6.6. Gaps in cents between physical notes and tempered notes of the same name
Table 6.7. Intervals in relation to the tonic in the three main scales: physical, Pythagorean and tempered
Table 6.8. Arrangement of tones and semitones
Table 6.9. Intervals in the major pentatonic scale of do
Table 6.10. Intervals in the major pentatonic scale of la
Table 6.11. Intervals in the minor pentatonic scale of do
Table 6.12. Intervals in the minor pentatonic scale of la
Table 6.13. Comparison of the intervals in the minor la and major do pentatonic scales
Table 6.14. Intervals in the blues scale
Table 6.15. Intervals of the altered or jazz scale
Table 6.16. Summary and comparison of the intervals for the various scales
Table 6.17. Gaps between tones and semitones depending on the scales
Table 6.18. Comparison between scales
Table 6.19. Summary of the keys as a function of the alterations present on the clef
7 Scales, Degrees and Modes
Table 7.1. Names of the scales
Table 7.2. Degree of a note in a scale
Table 7.3. The seven modes of the major scale of do
Table 7.4. Switching from one mode to another
Table 7.5. Comparison of the transpositions between the modes of the do major scale
Table 7.6. Comparison of the transpositions between the modes of the minor scale of do
9 Chords
Table 9.1. Example of the major scale ofdo/C
Table 9.2. Correspondence between the name of the chord and its melodic content in the scale of do
Table 9.3. Example of triads contained in the chords with three notes in the scale of do major
Table 9.4. Triads contained in the four-note chord known as a seventh
Table 9.5. Chords of specific forms
Table 9.6. Chords depending on the modes in the scale of do major
Table 9.7. Position of the fingers on a keyboard
Table 9.8. Chords depending on the modes in the harmonic minor scale of do
Table 9.9. Chords depending on the modes in the natural minor scale of do
Table 9.10. Chords depending on the modes in the melodic minor scale of do
Table 9.11. Chords depending on the modes in the minor blues scale of do
Table 9.12. Relations between scale and chords in the major scale
Table 9.13. Relations between the scale and chords in the minor harmonic scale
Table 9.14. Relations between the scale and chords in the major blues scale
Table 9.15. Relations between scales and chords in the minor blues scale
Table 9.16. Content of chords whose fundamental frequency is a C in accordance to the types of scales
Table 9.17. Standard nomenclature of chords (in do, C)
11 Examples of Harmonic Progressions
Table 11.1. Example: the path from G7 to CΔ. For a color version of this table, please see www.iste.co.uk/paret/musical.zip
Table 11.2. Example: the path from CΔ to Am. For a color version of this table, please see www.iste.co.uk/paret/musical.zip
Table 11.3. Classic progression known as “perfect cadence”
Table 11.4. Scales in the progression as a function of the chord following the letter T
Table 11.5. Detailed example of how to decode progressions
Table 11.6. Position of the fingers on a keyboard to play this progression
Table 11.7. Practical approach to the analysis of harmonic progressions. For a color version of this table, please see www.iste.co.uk/paret/musical.zip
Table 11.8. Harmonious descending-chromatism progressions
Table 11.9. Summary. For a color version of this table, please see www.iste.co.uk/paret/musical.zip
Table 11.10. An alternative to the first example. For a color version of this table, please see www.iste.co.uk/paret/musical.zip
Table 11.11. Summary. For a color version of this table, please see www.iste.co.uk/paret/musical.zip
Table 11.12. Table of chord progressions. For a color version of this table, please see www.iste.co.uk/paret/musical.zip
Table 11.13. Summary. For a color version of this table, please see www.iste.co.uk/paret/musical.zip
Table 11.14. A different way of working. For a color version of this table, please see www.iste.co.uk/paret/musical.zip
Table 11.15. Summary. For a color version of this table, please see www.iste.co.uk/paret/musical.zip
Table 11.16. Summary. For a color version of this table, please see www.iste.co.uk/paret/musical.zip
Table 11.17. Summary. For a color version of this table, please see www.iste.co.uk/paret/musical.zip
12 Examples of Harmonizations and Compositions
Table 12.1. Reminder of the structure of the chords in a blues scale
List of Illustrations
1 Sounds, Creation and Generation of Notes
Figure 1.1. Diagram of the human auditory apparatus (source: Wikipedia). For a color version of this figure, please see www.iste.co.uk/paret/musical.zip
Figure 1.2. Attack R1, decay R2 and R3, sustainn L3 and releaase time R4. For a color version of this figure, please see www.iste.co.uk/pparet/musical.zzip
Figure 1.3. Single-frequency, constant-amplitude, sustained sine wave
Figure 1.4. Graphical representation of the acoustic intensity. For a color version of this figure, please see www.iste.co.uk/paret/musical.zip
Figure 1.5. Fletcher–Munson diagram / curve. For a color version of this figure, please see www.iste.co.uk/paret/musical.zip
Figure 1.6. Auditory impact of a loud signal B on a quiet similar signal A
Figure 1.7. Excitation pattern and masking pattern
Figure 1.8. Usual range of frequencies on a piano keyboard
2 Generation of Notes
Figure 2.1. Example of signals (top to bottom) at F, 2F and 3F
Figure 2.2. Example of signals (top to bottom) at F and F/3
Figure 2.3. Frequency 3 × f
0
in relationn to the octave [f
0
to 2 × f
0
]
Figure 2.4. Diagram of a master oscillator and frequency dividers associated with a top-of-the-range electronic organ (document from Lowrey). For a color version of this figure, please see www.iste.co.uk/paret/musical.zip
Figure 2.5. Bar chart of the position of the frequencies/notes obtained as a functionn of the different modes of generation
Figure 2.6. Example of a true “pitch-perfect ear” – a professional lab frequency meter (document from Keysight Agilent). For a color version of this figure, please see www.iste.co.uk/paret/musical.zip
3 Recreation: Frequencies, Sounds and Timbres
Figure 3.1. Temporal evolution of the harmonic (spectral) content of a note generated by an instrument. a) Recap of the theory; b) and c) examples. For a color version of this figure, please see www.iste.co.uk/paret/musiccal.zip
Figure 3.2. Representation of the first three eigenmodes of vibrating the air inside a recorder and a clarinet (document from Son1 FE2). For a color version of this figure, please see www.iste.co.uk/paret/musical.zip
Figure 3.3. Harmonic richness of a clarinet. For a color version of this figure, please see www.iste.co.uk/paret/musical.zipusical.zip
Figure 3.4. Frequency range of registers of main instruments
Figure 3.5. Example of additive synthesis using drawbars. For a color version of this figure, please see www.iiste.co.uk/pareet/musical.zip
Figure 3.6. The legendary C3 Hammond organ, very well known to jazz lovers
Figure 3.7. Correspondence between the set of drawbars and the notes played
Figure 3.8. A few typical registrations extracted from the instructions for the C3 Hammond organ
4 Intervals
Figure 4.1. The genesis of the Pythagorean comma
5 Harshness, Consonance and Dissonance
Figure 5.1. Mathematical appearance of the phenomenon of the beating of two frequencies, and how it is perceived by the ear
6 Scales
Figure 6.1. Harmonics of a vibrating string. For a color version of this figure, please see www.iste.co.uk/paret/musical.zip
Figure 6.2. Order of appearance of the notes as a function of the values of the harmonics involved from 1 to 27. For a color version of this figure, please see www.iste.co.uk/paret/musical.zip
Figure 6.3. Final notes of the famous scale (almost Pythagorean)
Figure 6.4. Frequency ratios present in the Pythagorean scale
Figure 6.5. Tone- and semitone intervals in the Pythagorean scale
Figure 6.6. Succession of ascending fifths (illustration under GNU FDL, obtained from Wikipedia). For a color version of this figure, please see www.iste.co.uk/paret/musical.zip
Figure 6.7. Approximation of the placement of the semitones in the Pythagorean scale
Figure 6.8. Ascending and descending chromatic scales
Figure 6.9. Result: a 25-note scale!
Figure 6.10. Pythagorean scale with 12 notes and corresponding gaps
Figure 6.11. Image of the values in Table 6.6 across a range
Figure 6.12. Example of a pentatonic scale
Figure 6.13. Another example of a pentatonic scale
Figure 6.14. Example of pycnons
Figure 6.15. Example of a pyen
Figure 6.16. Major pentatonic scale of do
Figure 6.17. Examples of modes of pentatonic scales
Figure 6.18. Pentatonic scale and system
Figure 6.19. Whole-tone scale of do
Figure 6.20. Whole-tone scale of ti
Figure 6.21. Principle of transposition
9 Chords
Figure 9.1. Representation in do major of the degrees on a scale
Figure 9.2. Representation in do major of the degrees on a range
Figure 9.3. 3D representation of frequency, time and amplitude as a function of melody. For a color version of this figure, please see www.iste.co.uk/paret/musical.zip
12 Examples of Harmonizations and Compositions
Figure 12.1. Original sheet music and harmonization
Figure 12.2. Original/initial chord grid
Figure 12.3. Intermediary chord grid
Figure 12.4. Final reharmonized grid
Figure 12.5. Original/initial arrangement of Summertime
Figure 12.6. Initial grid associated with this arrangement
Figure 12.7. Final reharmonized grid
Figure 12.8. Original/initial arrangement
Figure 12.9. Original/initial grid of chords
Figure 12.10. Final reharmonized grid
Figure 12.11. Initial minimalist grid
Figure 12.12. Final harmonized grid
Figure 12.13. Another solution!
Appendix Acoustic (Harmonious) Effects
Figure A.1. The legendary vibrato/tremolo system on the Fender Stratocaster. For a color version of this figure, please see www.iste.co.uk/paret/musical.zip
Figure A.2. Electrical diagram of a Leslie cabinet
Figure A.3. View of the rotor/drum (mids and basses) and the horn (trebles). For a color version of this figure, please see www.iste.co.uk/paret/musical.zip
Figure A.4. Detailed view of horns and drums. Please note that inertia values at startup and stoppage are very different between the horn and the drum. For a color version of this figure, please see www.iste.co.uk/paret/musical.zip
Figure A.5. Example of a top-of-the range chamber organ with integrated Leslie speaker. For a color version of this figure, please see www.iste.co.uk/paret/musical.zip
Figure A.6. Spectrogram of an 8-step phaser modulated by a very low-frequency sine oscillator applied to white noise. For a color version of this figure, please see www.iste.co.uk/paret/musical.zip
Figure A.7. Response (on a horizontal logarithmic scale) of a comb filter
Figure A.8. Example of the simplified structure of a mono phaser
Figure A.9. Example of a phaser with feedback
Figure A.10. Frequency response of an 8-stage phaser without feedback, dry/wet ratio: 50/50%
Figure A.11. Frequency response of an 8-stage phaser with 50% feedback, dry/wet ratio: 50/50%
Figure A.12. Historical setup for the principle of flanging. For a color version of this figure, please see www.iste.co.uk/paret/musical.zip
Figure A.13. The conventional red, white blue spiral emblem for barbers (or hairdressers), known as a barber pole. For a color version of this figure, please see www.iste.co.uk/paret/musical.zip
Figure A.14. Spectrograms of phasing effects
Figure A.15. Spectrograms of flanging effects
Guide
Cover
Table of Contents
Begin Reading
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G1
G2
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G5
Musical Techniques
Frequencies and Harmony
Dominique Paret
Serge Sibony
First published 2017 in Great Britain and the United States by ISTE Ltd and John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms and licenses issued by the CLA. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside these terms should be sent to the publishers at the undermentioned address:
ISTE Ltd27-37 St George’s RoadLondon SW19 4EUUK
www.iste.co.uk
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.111 River StreetHoboken, NJ 07030USA
www.wiley.com
© ISTE Ltd 2017
The rights of Dominique Paret and Serge Sibony to be identified as the authors of this work have been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016960997
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-1-78630-058-4
Preface
You hold in your hands a book which has been a very long time in coming, which begun and then languished in a drawer for nearly fifteen years, owing to the flood of professional responsibilities which took priority! Having met Serge Sibony as an adolescent a few years ago, and then later discovered his books in “harmonics” aimed at professional musicians, this inspired me to return to my true passions, and finish this book, whose express purpose is to bridge the divide, starting with aspects which even neophyte musicians could understand, and ultimately reaching the supreme level represented by harmonic research and the meticulous constructions of harmony grids presented by Serge and other well-known authors!
As this book is written by an academic and an accomplished musician, readers will not be surprised by the theoretical and Cartesian aspect of certain parts of it, but rest assured, harmony – true harmony; that which brings pleasure to the ears – always lies just below the surface.
Acknowledgements
As per usual, there are many people deserving of thanks, for their goodwill, their listening, their remarks and constructive comments. Thus, to all those people, who know perfectly well who they are: a huge and heartfelt thanks!
Now, though, I address a few acknowledgements and more specific thoughts to some long-standing friends:
– to Patrice Galas who, without knowing, inspired this book, for whom harmony, which is so complicated, is so easy to explain! Patrice, who is a composer, and renowned jazz concert musician on the piano and the Hammond organ (having played with Georges Arvanitas, Kenny Clarke, Marc Fosset, Philippe Combelle, and many more) was one of the first to teach jazz in the conservatories and at the C.I.M.
(
Centre d’information musicale
, in Paris). With pianist Pierre Cammas, he has devised several methods of repute, with the title
La Musique Moderne
, tracing a century of music, from blues to modern jazz, and also contributed to the
Dictionnaire du Jazz
published by Robert Laffont;
– to Serge Sibony, my co-author, for his wealth of musical knowledge, his unfailing friendship, and his help;
– to Henri Sibony – Serge’s father: a very old friend of mine who, long ago, in France, was technical director for Lowrey Organs – a renowned American maker of classical and jazz apartment organs of high standard;
– to two friends and talented musicians: Pascal Roux – a conductor – at Daniel Rousseau – a pianist – who were good enough to read this manuscript and give detailed, constructive feedback on the content of the book. Thanks also go to Jean-Paul Huon, who acted as the “Beta test” reader!
– finally, I devote this book to the memory of a) Monica Sibony, and b) Jean-Claude Hamalian – a classical pianist, and lover of (great) music, who was the founder/director of one of the greatest musical instrument shops in Côte d’Azur, in Saint-Laurent-du-Var.
Many thanks to those who, in their own way, have given me wonderful musical experiences, in terms of melodies, harmonies, technical advice and happiness shared.
DOMINIQUE PARET
Introduction
Why this book?
For many years now, having been in search of a simple treatment, of high level and easily accessible regarding harmony, its musical-, physiological- and social roots and the way it works, we have bewailed the lack of one. We have found either highly simplistic books, or treatises on harmony that only a post-doctoral student could begin to understand. With the exception of a few books cited in the bibliography, the field is a huge desert! Not satisfied by this intellectual state of affairs, we screwed our courage to the sticking-place to research and write this book: Musical Techniques: Frequencies and Harmony, as a sort of “passport to/for harmony”, in the hope that it will go some way towards filling that void.
How this book is constructed, and how it should be approached
The construction of this book is extremely simple! Musical Techniques: Frequencies and Harmony is intended to be a pleasant and instructive springboard for readers to be able, one day, to cope with true “treatises on harmony”. With this goal in mind, it is divided into three main sections:
– in
Part 1
, in order to offer a proper understanding of how harmony works and the rules at play, we felt it was hugely important to fully explain the origin of the physical and physiological aspects of frequencies, resonance, etc., – i.e. the origins which intrinsically characterize the “notes”, the creation of “scales”, their peculiarities, and the particular timbres of different instruments, as well as the “harmonic“ physical and physiological relations linking them together, so as to uncover the organization of musical “harmony”. In short,
Part 1
is a long pathway and a very detailed view of things which are (almost) well known to some people, but entirely new to many others;
–
Part 2
, in turn, dips a toe in harmony. We look at the structure, the content, the wherefore and the qualities of a group of notes played simultaneously, forming a chord: in summary, everything which has anything to do with a chord is taken, for the time being, in isolation and in an untimely manner;
–
Parts 3
and
4
of this book consist of resolutely getting a foot in the door: a small foot, but a foot nonetheless, in everything to do with how to understand, construct and perform successive series of harmonic progressions of groups of notes, played in a chord, so we can see how to harmonize, reharmonize, create partitions, improvise, etc., and succeed in getting a foot in the stirrup so as to be able to go further with books on harmony at the higher end of the scale – the major scale, of course!
For whom this book is written
This book is intended for curious people, for music lovers (graded musicians or complete beginners, or simple amateurs) wishing to understand the human, physiological and physical roots and underpinnings of musical harmony, and how to achieve it fairly quickly.
The level of technicality
There is no specific entry level for readers of this book. All are welcome, but – and there is indeed a but – throughout the book, we attempt to sate readers’ curiosity and increase the level of the text reasonably quickly.
The teaching
The language and tone of this book are intended to be resolutely current and pleasant, but very precise. There is also a constant aim to be instructional throughout this book because, to our minds, there is no rhyme or reason to writing a book just for oneself. In addition, for the curious and/or bold, we have included a great many summary tables and little secrets in the text and appendices. Quite simply, this book is for you, for the pleasure of understanding, learning and enjoying music.
PART 1Laying the Foundations
Introduction to Part 1
This first part examines the fundamental and classic concepts of music theory, which, in many places, are supplemented by physical-, physiological-, societal- and technical aspects, so we can begin to look at the idea of harmony within a clearly-defined context (notably western structures).
This part is divided into five chapters, always related directly or indirectly to harmony:
– the first gives a concrete recap of the characteristics and performances of the human auditory system;
– the second describes the types of modes of creation and generation which gave rise to notes, and are at the heart of numerous problems;
– the third is a mini-recreation in relation to the notions of timbres, and also attempts to resolve certain confusions;
– the fourth makes a long and detailed point about the vast extent underlying the terms of intervals;
– the fifth and final chapter in this first part looks at fine quantification of the intervals to be defined for the concepts of consonance, dissonance and harshness.
