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    Gravity and Levity in Music

    BySteve Horn

    The purpose of this article is to offer food for thought more than to define an element or draw a conclusion and your comments are welcome. This is a discourse in music theory although scientifically very soft. The point is simply to better understand the complex nature of what we hear in music. What is Gravity and Levity in music? Gravity/Levity, or the Gravity/Levity factor (G-L factor), is similar in concept to weight. This article will deal with the concept of Gravity/Levity in terms of harmonic content but other aspects of music can have significant bearing on the G-L factor: timbre, tessiatura, a variety of techniques of orchestration, to name a few. Harmonically speaking, the more gravity a musical element has, the more of a…

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    Jazz Chord Theory

    BySteve Horn

    With a focus on the tetrad as a basic building block for jazz and popular music today, we hope to offer some basic information on chord theory that will enhance and work in conjunction with the rest of this website. An understanding of theory serves to explain in words what we do in music. This gives us a medium on which to communicate the language of music with our language of the spoken word.

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    The G-L Factor Found in the Diatonic Modes

    BySteve Horn

    The Seven Diatonic Modes: an established system for comparison The seven diatonic modes are have their roots in early music of the Medieval and Renaissance eras. These modes survived and thrived through the centuries in folk music and can be found today in popular music, rock, country, blue grass and jazz. Although the original modes of early times have been expanded upon (even Ionian and Locrian modes are later additions), we can use the 7 diatonic modes as basis for “weighing in” regarding the G-L Factor of other scales and elements of music. Ionian mode – identical to the major scale “c” to “c” using white notes on the piano Dorian mode – a minor scale with a raised 6th scale degree “d” to “d”…

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    Diminished and Half-Diminished Seven Chords

    BySteve Horn

    The diminished seven (1-b3-b5-bb7) and half diminished seven (1-b3-b5-b7) chords are built upon a diminished triad.  Despite this similarity and despite the tendency of some musicians to treat these chords the same, the two can function very differently.  Each can serve in a dominant function and resolve to a major or minor triad whose root is a half-step higher. However, the half diminished seven also functions as a subdominant chord in minor keys (iiø7 – V7 – i7). The ii-V relationship is one of the most common harmonic idioms in jazz and popular music. The fully diminished seven chord almost always functions in a dominant capacity.  It is one of the most easily transposable chords in music and serves as a handy device for transposing…

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    Density/Expansivity in Music

    BySteve Horn

    Sound can be dense or expansive, relatively speaking. In fact, any element of sound or of music can have its own density/expansivity attributes that contribute to the overall density/expansivity of a sound, of a piece or music, of an ensemble, or any element of music or sound. This will be referred to as the Density/Expansivity Factor or D-E Factor. Every musical instrument has it’s own D-E make-up.  Mandolin is relatively expansive for a variety of reasons. But before we go into these characteristics particular to the mandolin, lets talk about the D-E Factor or D-E in general terms. Density could be summed up as “stuff drawn together into close proximity”. A collection of “stuff” could be strewn across it’s measuring scale and therefore expanded, or…