Music Theory

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    Scarpology Testimonials from Seasoned Pros

    BySteve Horn

    Originally written Sept 1, 2013 after the publication of Scarpology. Two Yaaaays and One Maaaay-be In case you haven’t already heard, I wrote a book entitled Scarpology: a Mapping of the Fretboard and an Introductory Method for Improvisation on Mandolin or Other Instruments Tuned in Perfect Fifths. This is what has taken most of my writing time for the past year or longer. It was a huge amount of work and before I went public with it, I wanted to get some feedback from trusted sources and I am happy to report on some very helpful feedback. Of the four professionals I sent copies to, three reported back, one did not. Of the three that reported back, two were highly complimentary and one had some…

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    Scarpology Book on Improvisation: a look into the book

    BySteve Horn

    Here are some pieces extracted from the preface of Scarpology: A Mapping of the Fretboard and an Introductory Method for Improvisation on Mandolin and Other Instruments Tuned in Perfect Fifths Scarpology as a book and comes in both digital and print format. The print version is highly recommended! But there also is a digital version at a greatly reduced price. Who is this book for? This book is written to be read by novices or by well-versed musicians who want to increase their playable range to include the entire neck of their instrument* and to be able to play and improvise in any key. This book also is for music instructors who are interested in this method as a teaching tool for their students.*The target…

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    About Chords for the Mandolin

    BySteve Horn

    Mandolin has a pitch range that starts from G below middle C and  spans 3 octaves or more. It’s short string length means a person’s hands can spread over more frets than larger instruments. Moving up the neck, the player will notice a greater ease of reach counteracted by cramped spaces, crowding fingers into miniature shapes to play chords that are easier down low on the neck. This necessitates some change in strategy when playing high up the neck, and generally means that the higher up the neck one chords, the wider the interval spacing becomes. (read more about “Density/Expansivity“.) Although this is true on any stringed instrument, on the mandolin this can be an issue that demands more attention from each individual player depending…

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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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    Major and Minor Tonalities

    BySteve Horn

    Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine in Major Key followed by the same in a minor key. (Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine in Major Key followed by the same in a minor key.) We hear nearly all tonal music (particularly Western tonal music) in either a major or minor key. The home base of any key is the tonic triad made up of scale degrees 1, 3, and 5. What makes the key sound major or minor is whether the third scale degree is a major or minor third in relation to the tonic or home pitch or scale degree 1 (also, assuming the 5th is a perfect 5th as it usually is). All other scale degrees (2, 4, 6, 7) can have various characteristics, either adhering to…

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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…

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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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    Tetrads – the 6 and 7 chords

    BySteve Horn

    While conventional harmony is based on the triad, the basic building block in jazz is the four note chord or tetrad, a basic triad with a 6th or 7th scale degree added.  There are 6 basic tetrads that serve as these fundamental building blocks:  three major six chords seventh chords  (aka: dominant seventh or major-minor seventh) major seventh chords (aka: major seventh or major-major seventh) three minor minor six chords minor sevenths (minor-minor sevenths) minor-major sevenths Six Chords The major six chord uses the exact same notes as the (relative) minor seventh chord. That is to say a C6 (C-E-G-A) uses the very same notes as an Am7 (A-C-E-G). The difference between these two names for the same chord depends on how they are used…