Music Theory

The tremendous ability that music has to affect and manipulate emotions and the brain is undeniable, and yet largely inexplicable. Very little serious research had gone into the mechanism behind music's ability to physically influence the brain until relatively recently, and even now very little is known about the neurological effects of music. The fields of music and biology are generally seen as mutually exclusive, and to find a Neurobiologist also proficient in music is not very common. However, some do exist, and partly as a result of their research some questions about the biology of music have been answered. I will attempt to summarize some of the research that has been done on music and the brain in recent years. I will focus in particular on music's ability to produce emotional responses in the brain.

One great problem that arises in trying to study music's emotional power is that the emotional content of music is very subjective. A piece of music may be undeniably emotionally powerful, and at the same time be experienced in very different ways by each person who hears it. The emotion created by a piece of music may be affected by memories associated with the piece, by the environment it is being played in, by the mood of the person listening and their personality, by the culture they were brought up in: by any number of factors both impossible to control and impossible to quantify. Under such circumstances, it is extremely difficult to deduce what intrinsic quality of the music, if any, created a specific emotional response in the listener. Even when such seemingly intrinsic qualities are found, they are often found to be at least partially culturally dependant.

Several characteristics have been suggested that might influence the emotion of music. For example, according to one study, major keys and rapid tempos cause happiness, whereas minor keys and slow tempos cause sadness, and rapid tempos together with dissonance cause fear. There is also a theory that dissonance sounds unpleasant to listeners across all cultures. Dissonance is to a certain degree culture-dependent, but also appears to be partly intrinsic to the music. Studies have shown that infants as young as 4 months old show negative reactions to dissonance.

Ties connecting note heads are drawn either above or below the notes depending on placement of the notes on the scale. Positioning is dependent based solely on where space allows. Either top or bottom positioning is acceptable.

Tesoro meaning my treasure.

Amore mio/mia meaning my love.

Luce della mia vita meaning light of my life.

Bella/bello meaning beautiful/handsome.

Topolina literally meaning little mouse.

Edith Pieters

Edith Victorine Pieters, AA, former Music Co-ordinator of the Music Education Programme at the Ministry of Education, died on July 16, aged 84.

Few persons anywhere would ever have heard of the Lads and Lassies Club of New Amster-dam. But it was from amidst this motley and obscure assemblage that Edith Pieters launched a life-long career that placed her on the centre stage of music education in the country.

As a young teacher at the New Amsterdam Anglican School, she formed a club which would practise every Friday afternoon. In her own words, "I collected the children of the street, and later the youth, in a choir - if you were a cartman, or a civil servant, or a policeman, or the man pulling the logs off the mudflat into the sawmill, or a sugar-cane worker in the fields - you had a voice, you came. We sang and we called ourselves the Lads and Lassies of New Amster-dam."

It was Edith Pieters's first small step in music education and organisation and it was her good fortune that these weekly choral exertions attracted the attention of the local British Council representative who was visiting the town. He selected her for a six-month scholarship in Youth Leadership and Music in England. The scholarship, in 1950-51, enabled her to study music with special relevance to its use as leisure-time and related activities in youth clubs and also gave her the opportunity to visit Birmingham, Leeds, London and Manchester for practical exposure.

Born at Blairmont, West Bank Berbice, on December 23, 1920, Edith Pieters credited her parents with inculcating the love of music in her. She spent much of her time in New Amsterdam, the home of Edgar Mittelholzer and Wilson Harris which enjoyed a reputation as a centre of culture and literature. It was a good stage on which to start and Edith Pieters made her first public appearance as a singer at age seven. Among her early music teachers was another famous Berbician musician, Valerie Rodway.

Ms Pieters received her early education at the Berbice High School from which she graduated with a Senior Cambridge Certificate. Faced with the usual option for young women in those days - either the civil service or the teaching service - she was channelled into the latter, and went on to the Government Teachers' Training College from which she graduated with a Grade 1, Class 1 Teachers' Certificate in 1945.

Her education was to continue over the next 25 years: she was awarded the Licentiate of the Royal Schools of Music

(LRSM) in 1954, and Licentiate of the Trinity College of Lecturers (LTCL) in 1960. In 1962, she graduated from the University of Reading (UK), with a certificate in Music Education and, later, from the Inter-American University, Puerto Rico, with the BA (Music Education). She also attended the International Music Camp organised by the University of Michigan where she took courses for credits in BA and MA (Music), in 1967-69.

Soon after she had returned from England in 1951, and after being trained in librarianship, Edith Pieters was appointed Librarian at the New Amsterdam Public Free Library 1952-1957. But, seeing herself as an educator rather than as a collector of books, she left the library and returned to her familiar vocation of teaching, this time as senior mistress at the New Amsterdam Congrega-tional School. While there, she was invited to take up the music teacher's appointment at the Bishops' High School (BHS) in Georgetown where she would remain for the next seventeen years until her retirement at the age of 55 in 1975.

BHS transformed provincial potential into national accomplishment. She would not remain a mere classroom teacher but became an innovator and a social organiser. She established the Music Club, school orchestra and a steel band, and launched a much acclaimed annual programme of school concerts. She trained successful participants at the National Music Festivals and contributed to the formation of a youth orchestra, called the 'New Happening,' which brought together music students from Charlestown Second-ary, St Rose's High, and Queen's College, in 1973.

The next year, the group was expanded to em-brace 21 schools which formed a Combined Youth Choir and Or-chestra. Edith Pieters was making things happen.

Her contribution to music education seemed to gather momentum as she grew older after she retired from BHS.

Apparently more active than in her younger days, she was appointed Music Co-ordinator in the Ministry of Education and also served as Co-ordinator of the Music Programme for the Institute of Adult and Continuing Education (IACE) of the University of Guyana; and Lecturer in Music at the Lilian Dewar College of Education and the Cyril Potter College of Education.

The Government of Grenada invited her to work as a consultant and Chief Music Adjudicator at its National Arts Festival. And, she was also involved in preparatory work for a music examination to be made part of the Caribbean Examination Council's (CXC) Caribbean Secondary Examination Certificate (CSEC).

She was co-director of the Redeemer Youth Choir which toured eight states in the USA in 1978; co-ordinated radio programmes such as 'Young Music Makers,' 'Mid-Morning Classics' and 'Concert Hall'; was co-founder and thrice elected president of the Business and Professional Women's Club of Georgetown, an affiliate of the International Federation of Business and Professional Women; and served as a member of the Guyana Teachers' Association (GTA).

For her lifetime achievements in the field of music, Edith Pieters received several awards including the Philip Pilgrim Memorial Harp for distinction in piano performance (1952); the Ministry of Education Award for long and meritorious service; the Wordsworth McAndrew Award for her contribution to music education (2003); and the national award of the Golden Arrow of Achievement (AA) (1988).

A tireless teacher, her entire working life of over sixty years was dedicated to raising the cultural level, refining the tone and enriching the social fabric of Guyana through the medium of music. Her work touched the lives not only of a few lads and lassies of New Amsterdam, but of thousands of students and the men and women of the nation.

It actually depends. Its more of an opinion. Some artists are better than others, even of you were to compare Britney Spears and Bon Jovi it depends some people will think Britney is better but some might think Bon Jovi is better. Its your perspective.

because people are generally sheeple and the need to belong to a group and establish a self image is especially important in emerging adults and so they will listen to the music their friends like or the music of people they want to identify with. If rap music was generally considered for old people and every young person listened to classic FM future generations would be blairing the streets with classical music just to belong to the certain group they want. Right now it doesnt seem to matter how terrible the music is as long as its got some bass because you cant really hear anything but the low end anyway on club speakers or car systems, so now bass is cool for young people.

That's what I think about young people and music anyway, as for why do people like music in general its because great composers give you pieces of their emotions and soul in a form words can't describe

These are called dynamics. These most common indicators include Piano (soft), Mezzo-piano (medium soft), Mezzo-forte (medium loud), and Forte (loud). These dynamics are indicated in the sheet music usually between the musical staves. The dynamics are represented by letters. p for piano, mp for mezzo-piano, mf for mezzo-forte, and f for forte. though you can add more letters to the abbreviation for more detailed dynamics such as pp for pianissimo or vert soft, also ff for fortissimo of very loud. More can be added but rarely are more than three letters seen.Furthermore, there are such things as a cresendo (slowly get louder) and decresendo (slowly get softer). these are indicated by large sideways arrows, some what like longer > and <. These too are located below the musical staves.

A sharp sign looks similar to a number symbol #. When the sharp sign is placed to the left of a note on sheet music, then it applies to that note. If on a piano, you play the note to the right of original note shown. (C# is the black note to the right of C.)

A flat sign looks like a pointed b. When the flat sign is placed to the left of a note on sheet music, it applies to that note. If on a piano, you play the note to the left of the original note shown. (D flat is the black note to the left of D)

A natural sign looks like this

http://z.about.com/d/musiced/1/0/Q/6/naturalsign.jpg

The natural sign cancells out any sharps or flats which were previously given to the note in that measure. For instance, if you see an F natural, you simply play an F.

Yes, B flat is lowered to B double-flat. It makes more sense though to call this particular chord D sharp diminished since the notes are D♯, F♯ and A (no double flats) and the Eb diminished triad is technically derived from F flat Major, which is certainly cumbersome, whereas D sharp diminished occurs in E Major, much simpler notation indeed!

the guitar plays on the G, or treble, clef. It plays transposed down an octave, though, so it could technically play untransposed on a bass clef. All guitar music is written in the treble clef, though.

Mi re do re mi mi mi

re re re

mi so so

mi re do re mi mi mi

re re me re do

Chromaticism uses notes outside of a given key to produce heightened color.

Yes--

No sharps: C


1 sharp: G


2 sharps: D


3: A


4: E


5: B


6: F#


7: C#


Hope this helps! :D

In a c sharp major:

C#, E#, G#

In a c sharp minor:

C#, E, G#

Johann Sebastian Bach, composer of the Baroque Era -

Born - 21st March, 1685 in Eisenach, Germany

Died - 28th July, 1750 in Leipzig, Germany

It stands for forte-piano (refering to the expressive technique not the instrument) which means you hit the note hard (forte) and as suddenly as you can you die down to piano. It's quite common for a crescendo to follow a forte-piano.

A natural. If a natural is added before a note, then if that note is sharpened or flattened in the key signature, then for that one note that has the natural in front of it (and all of the rest of the same notes in the bar), it will not be sharpened or flattened.

Eg. If I was composing a song in the key of D Major (F# and C# in the key signature) and I wanted a normal F (not sharp), then I would add a natural in front of it. And for the rest of the song, all of the Fs would still be sharpened.

There were a lot of symphonies that extended their pieces to be incredibly long back when classical music was the thing. It's probably impossible to know for sure which was first.

When something is divisi you split the notes between two people or more of the same instrument.

ako ay nagtanim ng kapirasong luya tumubo ay gabe namunga ng mangga ng pipitasin koy hinog na papaya nalaglag sa lupa magandang dalaga

ito ay tunugang d menor

lento=very slow

adagio=slow

andante=moderately slow

moderato=moderately

allegretto=fairly fast

allegro=fast

presto/vivace=quite fast

prestissimo=very fast

African music has many functions, including a way of communication and also a way of celebration. Music in Africa is used at funerals, weddings and other important celebrations throughout the year. Music is also a way of bringing communities together, as the elders of the community teach the young people how to play instruments such as djembe drums just by playing to the young people. Music is passed on through generations by people learning by ear, there is no music involved.

You can get very good books on music theory in most bookstores or music stores... perhaps even the library. Music theory is not easy, however it is something you can teach yourself. You need a keyboard or something for note playing, but mostly, it's reading. You also need blank music sheets. You may be able to find a class in a junior college as well, or seek out a music teacher who tutors from a high school or college.... even a music theory student might be willing to teach you.

I also find that as you play instruments or sing, you learn some theory as you go along. Hearing the flavor of a theoretical idea (for example: pentatonic vs major scale, waltz vs. common time) is crucial to understanding and remembering. When you hear the difference, you've already learned it (though may not remember the name for it!).

aka the "C" clef ... the middle line is the note "C".