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Table of Contents

About the Author

.................................................................................................................. 1

Acknowledgments

................................................................................................................. 2

Dedication

............................................................................................................................... 3

Foreword

................................................................................................................................. 4

Preface

..................................................................................................................................... 5

Chapter 1: The Elements of Rhythm: Sound, Symbol, and Time

................................ 9

Durational Values: Symbols Representing Time in Music....................................................................... 10
Pulse, Tempo, and Meter............................................................................................................................. 20
Music Notation Practices ............................................................................................................................ 32
Additional Information ............................................................................................................................... 43
Summary....................................................................................................................................................... 53

Chapter 2: The Elements of Pitch:Sound, Symbol, and Tone

..................................... 54

Pitch and Pitch-Class ................................................................................................................................... 55
Chromatic Alteration: Accidentals............................................................................................................. 62
The Keyboard as a Visual Tool.................................................................................................................... 67
Register Designation, The Octave, 8va, and 8vb ....................................................................................... 72
Pitch Notation: Nomenclature and Solfége ............................................................................................... 77
Moveable C-Clef; Other Clefs....................................................................................................................... 80
Summary....................................................................................................................................................... 86

Chapter 3: The Foundations Scale-Steps and Scales

................................................... 87

Scales and Scale-Steps ................................................................................................................................. 88
Heptatonic Scales: The Major Scale, The Three Forms of the Minor Scale............................................91
Solfége Revisited ........................................................................................................................................ 102
Heptatonic Scales: Introduction to Modes .............................................................................................. 106
Other Commonly Used Scales ................................................................................................................... 113
Summary..................................................................................................................................................... 120

Chapter 4: Key Sense, Key Signatures, and The Cycle of Fifths

.............................. 121

The Sense of Key: Attributes..................................................................................................................... 122
The Cycle of Fifths as a Mnemonic Device .............................................................................................. 123
Relative and Parallel Keys ......................................................................................................................... 124
Closely-Related Keys.................................................................................................................................. 125
Modes Revisited: Transposing Modes, Construction and Identification .............................................126

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Comments:

Understanding the Music Theory

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