This is a great statement Mr. Vatip It makes me glad to say that I was a one time
(in person) student of yours and from a far still am. It also echo's some of what PM
was saying in the article you posted.

For me personally it is difficult to not keep from peeking into the ocean of "sonic beauty" that is unknown. Looking at piano scores holds very little interest. If I could play from a score with any ability I am sure I would be more interested but I just keep finding music in the air

But; Mad Monk writes...



Is this true? Surly for guitar(?) The Stick is just more adaptable for music written for piano me thinks...

But there is no conflict; are we not colleagues? Is this not The Glass bead Game in real time;

A multi-level game of chess where winning simply means writing or playing with more passion,
precision and meaning.

*j*
.~

This is the kind of study material we're talking about:

http://www.jsbchorales.net/down/pdfpno/bwv08506pno.pdf

Western harmony is a language and its grammar is standardized; the basic content of the two-year theory/harmony program is the same everywhere, both at the JC and university.

The student is generally expected to take piano concurrently or show sufficient skill. Furthermore, two concurrent years of musicianship (ear training and sight singing) are always required. I believe a degree in classical guitar performance needs all these classes; there are pop/rock/jazz programs which do not. The theory classes for those programs are one or two semesters without the musicianship classes.

So there are two different types of academic program, two different skill sets. The far more comprehensive one, which includes harmony and voice-leading, has always required piano...but the Stick can be substituted (as long as a degree is not your goal). I did this a few years ago at my local JC.


Mad Monk.

I split the pomegranate open and am amazed...

There is no conflict more than black markings on white paper mean something...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tx4cRw6TIIg

http://www.youtube.com/user/jrjmusic#p/ ... pLZcgUvvm8

*j*
.~

Hi Randy,

Maybe you just have to write up a few charts that show people what you're talking about and make some recordings of it. Doesn't have to be video.

Not having been schooled in music in they way your were, I'm craving a clearer understanding of what you're talking about.

Hi Greg,

Thanks for expressing an interest.

I'll try to explain--basically four part harmony and voice-leading, "tonal harmony", teaches you to write music, or at least to sketch it out in four-voice chord progressions.
To begin, you must be able to spell chords on any scale degree of any key (Practica Musica and similar programs help you to learn this).
Given a melody (there are guidelines for writing one), you select a chord for each melody note which has that note in it--you have several choices, but they are limited in consideration of the previous chord and the location in the melodic sequence at that point.
Then, "voice-leading" comes into play; this is the voicing of the chord so as to make a smooth transition from the previous one and to provide lively bassline. It sounds complicated, but there are a limited number of repeating patterns which can be internalized and (eventually) allow for improvisation. Learning to play the Bach chorales is a traditional way of internalizing the most basic of these patterns.
You analyze scores by assigning chord symbols to the changing harmonies, making it easier to understand what's going on in the literature.
Counterpoint and modulation are also studied.
Because the course proceeds from simple to complex just as musical practice itself has done, this study is also to some degree a history of harmony.

I'm only a student, not an instructor. But I want to share, particularly with the lurkers who are interested in the Stick, what can be done potentially...I've gone far enough to be convinced that this is a viable approach, and maybe even useful in developing the instrument's full potential...
For just a few dollars, you can get the book I linked to in a previous post if you are really curious....


Mad Monk.

Here are some exercises which show how the same little melody can be harmonized in different ways, with an instructor's comments:

http://www.thinkingmusic.ca/thinkinghar ... alharmony/

For those wondering if there is any application to modern music, jazz in particular, here is the instructor writing on the same website:

"Jazz is both the modern-day heir to the tonal harmony of classical, romantic and Impressionist traditions, and the master of its own intensely sophisticated harmonic language. That this language is relatively new -- and ever-evolving -- naturally means that it is less codified, and open to a wide and diverse number of theoretical perspectives".

"While jazz musicians necessarily focus on chord-scale relationships, I believe that a solid grounding in harmony – one that spans both its roots in the classical heritage and its modern evolution -- is also important. This should include a study of longer-term harmonic relationships -- and the often very sophisticated techniques at work behind them".

--Michael Leibson
http://www.thinkingmusic.ca
michael@thinkingmusic.ca

Mad Monk.

I'm trying! http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/song_8761792

Hi Randy,

I'll definitely spend some more time with this.

My first reaction to working out some of the things you posted is that there are major differences in playing lines that are moving in different directions on a fretboard as opposed to a keyboard.

These are just extra challenges, not insurmountable.

Since you can't play more than one note on a string at the same time, the hand has to change direction and attitude pretty often.

On the plus side, you'll learn a lot about where the intervals you see on the page can be found on the Stick. If you play up high enough on the board, you should be able to reach all of the intervals in question, even in 5ths, the only real exception being major and minor 2nds.

If you are willing to shift notes back and forth between the hands as needed, then even that issue can be easily resolved.

One question I had about reading the notation. I'm assuming that the shared middle C in the left hand at the end of bar 5 of the BWV 85.6 is meant to be held as a quarter note while that next Bb is played. Is that correct?

Interesting stuff.

Hi Greg,

Yes, there is a lot of hopping going on in this musical texture...one useful thing is to play the harmonic fourth in the right hand using index and little finger spanning two strings.
You are correct, the C is held as a quarter note.

Mad Monk.

And succeeding brilliantly.