My Music Theory Handbook

This handbook is a topically organized book of reference on music theory that I learned.

Melody

Melody is the soul of music
There’re many ways to write a melody
It’s complicated as many factors to consider
- The theme of music
- The characteristics of the audience
- The emotions that it wants to express

Interval Melody

What the duration is?

The time a pitch continues

What an interval is?

A term to describe the pitch gap
The distance between two pitches
Unit is degree

For example:

C->C: 1 degree
C->D: 2 degrees
D->E: 2 degrees
C->E: 3 degrees

Interval classification:

Homophonic Repetition (1 degree)
Progressive Progress (2 degrees)
Jumping Progress (3 degrees or higher)
- A small jump (3 degrees)
- A big jump (3+ degrees)

Interval restriction:

1-3 degrees: unrestricted
4+ degrees: Be cautious, not too frequent
6+ degrees: Must be reversed

Reference specification:

Range within 12 degrees
- performance
- singing
- sounds lacking in coherence
Stagger interval classes
- Keep active
- Keep stable

Pros and cons:

Doesn’t require inspiration or creativity
Can randomly write many non-repetitive melodies
It’s possible to write a very bad music if without adjustment
- Must be modified and adjusted after it is written.

Four development trends of melody

What the tension is? Describe the intensity of the music and melody.

The tension of melody
- Accumulating tension
  - After the tension is accumulated, it must be released in some way
- Releasing tension
- Push music forward
Four development trends
- Ascending Progress (Accumulating tension)
- Descending Progress (Releasing tension)
- Staggered Progress (Keeping tension)
- Quiescent Progress (Keeping tension)

The rule of accumulation and release of tension:

Through the pitch of the notes
- Pitch rise (Accumulating tension)
- Pitch drop (Release tension)
Through the length of the notes
- Short notes (Accumulating tension)
- Long notes (Release tension)

Harmony

Harmony functions

What the chord is?

In Harmonics:

Two or more sound are emitted at the same time
The functions and features of sound (good or not, bright or dim, nervous or smoothing, what function does it play in music development, etc.)
Classify, organize and study the characteristics and functions in different ways

Objectively speaking, there is a big difference between playing one note and playing multiple notes at the same time.

After combining the notes. the sound can be:

Sunny or Soft
Uncomfortable
Special effects or interesting feeling

Triad

The simplest chord among all the chords in harmonics
A chord composed of three notes superimposed in thirds
Root, third and fifth

Understand the interval deeply:

Since classification method of degrees is a bit rough

For example:

C -> D: 2 degrees (A black key of c#, a whole tone)
E -> F: 2 degrees (No black key, semitone)

Both are 2 degrees, but the intervals are different, which is inaccurate, to solve this problem, we add prefixes to them.

Degrees	Semitones	Short
1	0	P1
2	1	m2 or A1
2	2	M2 or d3
3	3	m3
3	4	M3
4	5	P4
4	6	A4 or d5
5	7	P5
5	8	m6
6	9	M6
6	10	m7
7	11	M7
8	12	P8

Prefix meanings:

P: Perfect
A: Augmented
d: Diminished
m: Minor
M: Major

The classification of triads:

Major Triad (M3 + m3, bright, happy, vivid, optimistic)
Minor Triad (m3 + M3, dim, sad, lifeless, hesitate)
Augmented Triad (M3 + M3, uncomfortable)
Diminished Triad (m3 + m3, uncomfortable)

There’re many ways to express chord, the most commonly used are the below three ways:

Symbols(The English alphabet of phonetic names)
- The most commonly used notation in jazz and modern pop music
- The letter of root note + the characteristics of the chord
  - C or Cmaj
  - Cm or Cmin
  - C+ or Caug
  - C^o or Cdim
Roman Numerals
- The most commonly used notation in classical music
- The uppercase or lowercase Roman numerals + the characteristics of the cord
  - I
  - i
  - I+
  - i^o
Figured Bass Notation
- Focuses on recording the transposition and interval relationship of music

The classification of harmony functions:

Tonic function (T)
- Very stable, smooth, relaxing and satisfying feeling
- Plays a role to start or stop music (just as your home)
- At the beginning and end of a piece of music
- I, iii, vi
  - I is the most typical one
  - iii and vi are relatively weak in functionality (A temporary home like hotel, )
- Disadvantage
  - Too stable
  - Boring and no development
  - Needs other function chords to help it
Dominant function (D)
- Unstable
- Strongly want to continue to develop, and eventually return to the Tonic function (outside)
- Be interspersed in the development of music
- V, vii^o
  - V is the most typical one (V7 is stronger than V)
  - Vii^o and vi are relatively weak in functionality
Subdominant function (S)
- Not so stable, but not particularly unstable (T < S < D)
- As the bridge, let the chord connections become diverse (Bridge between home and outside)
- IV, ii
  - IV is the most typical one
  - ii is relatively weak in functionality

The role of harmony functions:

A guide to write the harmonic progression
Push music forward

The progress is as below:

(Unstable) –(Resolution)–> (Stable)

Harmony progression

It’s written using the logic of functional harmony

Different types of Functional Progression:

Functional progression
- Starting with the T
- Sequential connection
  - T -> T/D/S
  - S -> T/D/S
  - D -> T (D is quite tense to return to be stable)
- C -> F -> G7 -> C
  - In Chinese: 启 -> 承 -> 转 -> 合
Termination progression
- Plagal Cadence progression
Sequence progression
Non-functional progression (with non-functional harmony, focus on the environment and which harmony can express it)

Notation Systems

Note name	Solfège name	function name
C	Do	Tonic
D	Re	Supertonic
E	Mi	Mediant
F	Fa	Subdominant
G	So(Sol)	Dominant
A	La	Submediant
B	Si(Ti)	Subtonic (or leading tone)
C	Do	Tonic

For the Solfège:

Movable do
Fixed do