ColorMusic
Education • Art • Music
227 | Why Use Colors AND Shapes
a better look at music theory
July 27, 2023
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Music theory is NOT confusing ... but the SYMBOLS people typically use to understand it are.

In this video, we look at how to quickly understand the patterns of music using COLORS and SHAPES.

https://youtube.com/live/mSWUhD0wDiQ

In other posts here, I explain the benefit of color to see music theory. But people often ask, “… but what’s up with the shapes? Why also use these alternating squares and circles?”

So here’s a synopsis of why the shapes are so helpful, which summarizes key points in the video.

Traditionally, musicians try to picture the invisible patterns of sound using uniform black dots … along with letter and number symbols:

The result is a visually complex system of blotches and squiggles that’s confusing and even counterintuitive.

But when you get down to it, the two most fundamental labels used to communicate musical ideas is those letters and numbers.

  • LETTERS that represent the 12 individual notes in music, and
  • NUMBERS that indicate the different intervals between the notes

And together, these two symbol sets — letters and numbers — are meant to illustrate the musical relationships or patterns, which is what music is all about.

 

 

But while the letters do at least a decent job of distinguishing each note from the next — like C versus C# versus D, etc. — the colors visually clarify which notes are which more vividly and immediately.

And the color-note assignments here are based on applying the color wheel to the circle of fifths — where both patterns follow the exact same structure and sequence.

For example, in the center image below, the major scales of each key overlap in music to form the circle of fifths. And just as all the keys in music form this daisy-chain pattern, all the colors in the color wheel also bleed seamlessly into one another....

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What else you may like…
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354a | Creep (video)

An explanation and PDF is in the following post (354b).

00:01:14
350 | Extended chords explained

Extended chords are easy to understand -- once you know about the Circle of Thirds.

Essentially, fancy extended chords are built by adding notes incrementally from a key's Circle of Thirds. By including ever more intervals of a third, you can play increasingly more complex harmonies.

Had I only known this in the beginning!

Without the Circle of Thirds, exotic chord names seem mysterious and complicated. WITH the Circle of Thirds, however, everything clicks into place.

🎥 This short video gives you the gist.

For more details on the construction of these chords, check out Lesson 17 in the course: https://mikegeorge.locals.com/post/6051473/296-lesson-17-pdf-video

And the PDF referenced is ChordBook 2 here: https://shop.mycolormusic.com/products/colormusic%E2%84%A2%EF%B8%8F-guitar-chordbook-modebook-bundle

00:00:57
345a | Theory Course LIVE - heads up

Hey! Join Sunday's stream for the first in the Theory Course LIVE series.

We'll be going through the course lessons page-by-page, playing the exercises, etc. -- with questions, answers, and sidebars along the way. It's a new and insightful look into music theory.

(The live stream link referenced in this video is actually in the NEXT post.)

00:00:58
363 | Daily Dose

Here's a snapshot of the C Mixolydian mode -- in both pitch space (circular format) and on the guitar fretboard -- which you can play in any octave.

Mixolydian's b7 note gives the pattern a distinctively cool sound, as you can hear when you play it.

The QUESTION is, what is the source scale of this particular mode?

(Hint: Mixolydian starts on the fifth scale degree of its underlying source pattern.)

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361 | Color notation (technical knowledge)

Hey, all -- question for you:
Do you have any thoughts on ways to colorize notation?

Folks regularly ask about software to use. And because we have engineers of various types in our community here, I'm hoping some of us may have ideas, or technical know-how.

I think creating an open source tool for community members is an excellent project! It will be very powerful for dissecting and composing songs. With a tool like this, our collective knowledge will rise exponentially.

See this post for context -- and please tag us if you're interested:
https://mikegeorge.locals.com/post/6059027/hey-all-mikegeorge-ive-been-really-loving-your-lessons-ive-worked-my-way-through-12-of-them?cid=8082688

356 | Harmonic Concept

POLL: If you could master one harmonic concept, which would it be?

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364 | Cascading Fourths

Great chord progressions are informed by the circle of fifths / fourths. By simply playing chords of successive fourths in sequence, you can make excellent music.

Weezer's song, "Island in the Sun" is a nice example.

The song cycles through a simple pattern of:  Em - Am - D - G (or chords vi - ii - V - I in the key of G). Within the circle of thirds, you can see that these harmonies progress through states of stability (vi), change (ii), tension (V), and stability once more (I).

But when you look closer at that the root notes of these chords, it's clear that the pattern follows a sequence of successive fourths (Em - Am - D - G):  yellow, orange-yellow, orange, red-orange.

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362 | Theory Course LIVE - Session 5

This week, the Theory Course live stream is on *THURSDAY*.

Join us for the fifth session, where we're talking about notes and intervals -- the true essentials of music theory.

Time: THURSDAY, May 8 at 6:00 p.m. (UTC-6)

Link to join:

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359 | Theory Course LIVE - Session 4

This is the fourth session of the music theory course - LIVE.

Time: Sunday, May 4 at 10:00 a.m. (UTC-6)

Link to join:

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