A song for transcribing!

Hello everybody!

Iria shared this link to Love of my life, a Queen's song that appeared in their 1975 album A night at the opera.

It is a very good song, in my opinion, and it will make a good challenge for beginning players by hear!

Don't worry if the intro and the instrumental interludes between the verses seem daunting. Just leave those parts alone and proceed to the sung parts. Then you can fill the blanks together.

Enjoy!

Love of my Life (Queen, 1975)

Demystifying Conducting: The Connection Between Gesture and Music | The New York Times

I know this is a little off-topic, but I don't care much. I thought it should be interesting to watch for any musician and music lover. This is also fun to watch, because the technologies used allow to visualize the idea and importance of gestures in music 

In fact, strictly speaking, musical gesture is not off-topic. Gesture is part of music, and what makes music embodied, human and expressive. Alan Gilbert, music director of the New York Philharmonic, demonstrates and discusses the role of a conductor, and how every little movement is meant to mean something for the musicians.

Well, maybe you are not a conductor, but you are the "conductor" of your instrument, so the same rules applies!

Gospel Song

Hi people.  I bring today the Gospel Song that "goes with"  the harmonic material I published here some weeks ago.

The piece tries to capture some characteristic features of gospel music (i.e the insistence in plagal cadence, secondary dominants,  rhythmic syncopation and prominent use of inverted chords)

(By the way,  it should be said that the chord inversions on the charts don't always correspond exactly to what you can find on the piece, so don't get confused).

You can bring the piece to class and play it, if you wish. If you play convincingly, I promise I will clap full-heartedly and sing along in praise of the Lord (I am joking,  for the record) 😜

Transcribing - Love me tender.

Hi,

As you may remember, I mentioned in the last class one song that can be simple enough to transcribe:
Love me tender - a popular song called Aura Lee that was re-arranged and turned into a huge hit by Elvis Presley.

The song is a simple serenade, only punctuated by the male choir that were a signature of many ballads of this era. The harmonic structure of the song portrays many of the chord relationships we have been exploring in class. See if you can spot them and bring something to contribute to the next class!

Short phrases to harmonize

Below you can find and print a series of short melodies to expand your harmonizing skills.

Try to start with the most basic solutions as you understand the structure of the phrase and the logic of its construction.

Then you can embark in more creative harmonizations. A good departing point is to replace some of the basic chords with their inversions. Try several ways and notice how the bass line changes to become more melodic (less "jumpy").

Another way can be adding a second chord in measures where you had only one. Also try replacing the most "basic" chords for less obvious, alternative solutions.

Allow your right hand to share the harmonic material with your left hand. By doing this you'll be opening up your harmonies, and your music will "breath". To this end, another useful strategy is avoiding to play your chords ALWAYS as blocks; instead, spread the notes in different parts of the measure, interacting in a livelier way with the melody.

Come back on later days to what you did before, and see if you have grown new ideas. This happen VERY often, even unconciously, as you let melodies live in your mind for a while!

Playing by touch

Here you can find another challenge to help you feeling the keyboard without visual cues.

1. Both hands play different material. The left hand plays the key descending scale in the first measure. In the second when it reaches the leading tone, it jumps directly to the dominant and ascends easily to the tonic again. Try this pattern in several keys before going further. Be aware of the note when you do the shift. Notice too that you will need to adapt your fingering to reach the first note of the second measure with your second or third finger in order to do the "turn" uneventfully.

2. The right hand draws a pattern that uses succesively the notes of the tonic and subdominant chords (in C major, c-g-c-e and a-c-f-a). Then in the second measure plays the second degree, jumps to the sixth and goes down stepwise until it reaches the third of the scale. It is a good idea using ALWAYS the 5th finger on the 4th eight-note and the 2nd finger on the 5th eight note (this sounds awfully complicated in written, but believe me, it is not difficult!)

3. Notice how both hands only play notes of the home key.

4. Play as slow as you need for not commiting mistakes. Visualize the fingerings on your mind before playing AND as you are playing.

5. It may look hard first, but soon, after some practice, you will be playing the sounds you want to hear without thinking much. Play by touch from the beginning at ALL times.

Sequence I bIIIdim7 ii7 V9 Imaj7 with voice riff

I am proposing this example we can learn to develop the coordination to accompany our own singing in an integrated way. The third staff is a little riff we can learn and sing together with the chords on the piano staff.

Once learned in C, the challenge is to play/sing it through the circle of fifths.

It it seems daunting, try to "decompose" it in smaller units:

1. If you remove the second chord of the sequence, you just find a common sequence I ii V I.  

2. So it is just a I V I but we have introduced a ii chord to prepare V; that's all.

3. Well, it is not SO simple, but it is not hard either: the diminished seventh chord built on the flattened third is just like a "chordal appogiatura" for the ii chord (remember this very same movement appeared prominently in the song "Gente Humilde", by Chico Buarque).

4. You don't need to play the chords exactly as written. Try simplified versions if you prefer, omitting sevenths and the ninth if it feels easier.

5. So this is it. Once you have grasped the logic of the sequence, singing the little riff on top should not be difficult. Notice how the sung notes relate to the corresponding chord.

Don't forget trying in as many keys as possible. The exercise is more for your mind and ear than it is for your fingers or vocal chords!