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Fundamentals HomeTopics Half and Whole Steps
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Welcome!Every performing musician and composer must understand how music functions. But before we can begin, we need a common vocabulary to describe the surface level of music. These are things you've likely had some contact with: keys, intervals, scales, and chords. They are the alphabet of our tonal musical language. By themselves they mean very little, but used by a talented composer they combine to have enormous meaning and power. Like the alphabet, these fundamentals must be learned by heart: you cannot read, let alone write, a great novel if you must constantly check the spelling of simple words. These pages should prepare you well to begin your study of the function and structure of music. The layout for each section is simple: the material is presented with built-in questions, you are given the chance to have unlimited practice with online drills, and finally each section has a printable timed test and answer key. So, dive in! Once you have these fundamentals mastered, we can really start to explore the inner workings of music! Note: This is an interactive site that requires your computer to run Java applets. If your computer does not allow you to run these applets, click here for a free download. Macintosh users: this site is best viewed using the Safari web browser, which has built-in Java support. Please report all site problems to info@scottperkins.org |
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© 2006 Scott Perkins and Greg Ristow.