Music Student 101

In part one of our "Form and Analysis" series, we familiarized ourselves with the building blocks of a form, such as motives, phrases and periods. Now, we will begin our official discussion on small forms. We will cover rounded, simple, sectional and continuous binary forms. Then we will move into ternary and compound ternary forms. Finally, we will close it out with a brief discussion on theme and variations.

At this point, we've discussed the two most common diatonic 7th chords: V7 and II7. Now, we will discuss "The Others". These are the VII7, IV7, VI7, I7 and III7 chords. We will take a little time with each of these, give them a listen, discuss the way they sound and briefly discuss their functionality. Just because these are a little less common, that's no reason to not bring them up because they are often featured in great music!

Not every musician ends up on stage. One of our goals is to cover, in depth, the many career opportunities that can be available to a musician. In this episode, we will talk to Chris Knutson about how his music tech skills opened the door to a profitable career in stage and film production. This one's for all you music "tekkies" out there!

We celebrate our 50th episode by breaking the ice on the much anticipated topic of modulation. This discussion will include an introduction to the concept of modulation, or change of key. We will first cover modulation to closely related keys and what makes a closely related key. Then will discuss the pivot chords that can help to facilitate this technique. Also included will be some tips on how to hear key changes in music and recognize them on paper. And, of course, we will share some advice and tips on how to write them!

Join us, as we continue to venture toward the coming mountain of chromaticism. We will approach the foothills as we resume our discussion of secondary dominants. We will talk about how these chords can be used in the tonicization of chords other than the tonic, with their dominant function. In this episode, we will focus on the V of ii (V/ii), V of vi (V/vi) and the V of iii (V/iii).

What exactly is sight reading? What is the difference between reading music and sight reading music? What are some factors that contribute to good sight reading? How can I improve my sight reading skills? Good questions, all! We shall address them in this episode!

Song writing is different for everybody. Sometimes we can be inspired by the experiences of others. We will talk all about it with our friend and colleague, Colin Soniat. We'll dig deep into his musical background and find out how his songwriting has evolved alongside. Hear some great original music examples and enjoy an in depth, yet light-hearted, discussion on creating something from within!

The overtone series is alive and well in every note you hear. Within the vibrations of a tone, or a note, there are other smaller vibrations that are occurring. We will start with the fundamental and look deeper into the overtones, or harmonics, that occur and at which order they appear. We will also discuss timbre and other things that are influenced by and, likewise, influence certain overtones.

Join us as we venture toward chromaticism with this discussion of secondary dominants. We will talk about how these chords can be used in the tonicization of chords other than the tonic, with their dominant function. In this episode, we will focus on the V of V (V/V) and the V of IV (V/IV).

Transposition, the act of changing a piece of music to a different key or mode, can be one of the most useful tools any musician can have in their kit. In this episode, we will discuss diatonic and chromatic transposition, as well as when and why we use them. We will also have a discussion on transposing instruments, instruments that sound out different notes then what is written on paper. It's time to change it up a bit! It's time for transposition!