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Music Theory mythbusting; in which Lauren clears up misconceptions about music theory!
Topic Started: Jul 22 2011, 12:22 PM (346 Views)
UtauReni
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Lauren
:sing: MYTH #1

"Learning music theory will help me make .USTs!"

In order to suggest this we have to take into consideration what music theory actually is. In a typical music theory class, you'll first learn about how to read music (note names, clefs, note durations [quarter notes, eighth notes, etc], time signatures, key signatures, the circle of fifths, and the like). This will help to locate notes on the sideways keyboard that is the UTAU interface & to make the notes the proper length.

However, making a .UST requires much more than knowledge on how to read music - it requires the user to be able to hear music (songs don't always have sheet music transcriptions for you to work off of, especially in our fandom). What I'm referring to is your musical ear, your skill in either relative pitch or perfect pitch. Some people are called 'tone deaf' because their musical ear is so untrained that they barely have relative pitch, if at all. Relative pitch is the ability to hear intervals between notes, and perfect pitch is the ability to recognize individual notes by name. Either of these abilities can be the key to creating your .ust, but relative pitch is the ability that can be most easily developed. The development of one's musical ear is called ear training. Most ear training exercises focus on relative pitch by testing your ability to identify the intervals between notes or your ability to correctly transcribe a phrase of music. Music theory classes include ear training as part of the curriculum, because having a well-trained ear is the key to understanding and analyzing music.

:sing: MYTH #2

"Perfect pitch is better than relative pitch."

This sort of misconception is easy to make based off the names of these terms. Perfect pitch is more uncommon to have than relative pitch, and therefore is seen by some as more 'valuable'. It is often present in a musician at a young age and it isn't necessarily trained for. To have perfect pitch is like being able to pick out all the letters in a word and seeing each letter very clearly and distinctly. In music, it lets the listener feel each note in a very unique way; some call it 'hearing with color', as though each note had its very own color. It provides for a very 'colorful' listening session, but if you could only detect the letters of a word, you could never understand the word as a whole and therefore discover its meaning. This is the job of relative pitch. Although a musician with relative pitch cannot identify the names of notes, the musician can identify the intervals between notes and therefore identify whether such interval is major or minor & how it impacts the musical phrase it is in. Listeners with relative pitch can often hear chord progressions as resolving phrases, whereas listeners with perfect pitch will hear the same phrase as specific notes coming one after another.

Whether or not one of these abilities is more important than the other is dependent on one's own needs. When it comes to making a .UST, either of these will be sufficient; the creator with perfect pitch will hear the individual notes and be able to transcribe them, while the creator with relative pitch will find one note then be able to follow the trail of intervals that comes after it. However, when a musician is composing an original song, relative pitch will, in the long run, assist the musician in finding unique and aesthetic ways to tell his or her musical story.

:sing: MYTH #3

"Taking a music theory class will help me write original UTAU songs!"

We already know that the 'music' part of a music theory class can be very helpful in working with UTAU because it clarifies the basics of music. However, a typical music theory class will then move on to studying the 'theory' of 18th century music. This includes studying SATB (like in chorales such as those by Bach), counterpoint, cadences, analysis of 18th century music, and how to properly voice a chord without breaking any 18th century rules. Although such studies are at times very interesting, contemporary music no longer follows most of the rules you'd learn in the class. Unless your original UTAU songs are going to be four-part chorales with perfect counterpoint in the style of Johannes Sebastian Bach, this part of the curriculum may prove to be very different from what you expect.

However, that doesn't mean you shouldn't take the class if you want to learn to compose music. If you understand the basics of 18th century composition & how to analyze it, you can learn to analyze contemporary music as well & use those basics to your advantage.

Good luck & happy UTAUing!

:love: SOURCES

For lessons in the basics of music theory, click here!

For ear training exercises, click here!


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Edited by UtauReni, Jul 22 2011, 12:28 PM.
Posted Image♫ Click here for my original UTAU songs! ♫
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Chasing Fireflies
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THANK YOU FOR THIS
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UtauReni
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Lauren
OH HEY NO PROBLEM :D I came up with the idea to make this while i was in the shower lol
Posted Image♫ Click here for my original UTAU songs! ♫
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