Musical terms.

nikharrison

Clarky said:

Key - the note/chord which the tune revolves around.

this is not quite right

the key is essentially a combination of the series of intervals along with a "tonic" note whichy is used to determine the pool of notes from which the scale and chords are derived.

The key is the "framework"

nikharrison

can't figure out how to use the quote function things properly yet.....

Clarky

the way I understand 'voicing' is that it describes the way that notes of a chord are stacked

R, 3, 5, R, 3, R is one voicing, R, 5, R, 3, 5, R is a different voicing

just like playing an open G chord, or voicing it differently by using the E fingering with a barre at the 3rd fret etc

inversion is determined by the lowest sounding note in the chord

Root inversion has the Root as the lowest sounding note

1st inversion has the 3rd in the bass

2nd inversion has the 5th in the bass

3rd inversion has the 7th in the bass

note though that in an ensemble, you may be playing a chord in root inversion, but a bass instrument may be playing a note other than the root [the 3rd for example]..

assuming that the bass instrument is playing the lowest sounding note, the resultant chord would be in 1st inversion

viz

Yep that's my understanding, though YOU would be playing root, the music is in 1st.

Clarky

Nik - in Italian, Scale means stairs, Scala means ladder

I think we'd generally interpret 'scale' in English as being 'steps' [in a musical sense that is]

and the vast majority of music terms are of Italian origin - although I have no idea why...

I could only hazard a guess that when the principles of music were being formalised during the 16th / 17th century, Italy was like some sort of European cultural epicentre..

if I recall correctly, Mozart was the first major bod to write an opera in "not Italian"

and he got a lot of stick for it...

although lots of German speakers liked it [especially the Austro-Hungarian socialite types]

cos it was essentially giving the accepted rule that "Italy was the land of all things cool and high class" the middle finger

Clarky

forte actually has several translations, two of which are 'strong' and 'loud'

this means that Mike and Nik are both right

so you get to fight over the prize

and given the time of year and that Xmas advertising is reaching a climax

the prize therefore has to be an Easter Egg

nikharrison

Clarky said:

Nik - in Italian, Scale means stairs, Scala means ladder

I think we'd generally interpret 'scale' in English as being 'steps' [in a musical sense that is]

and the vast majority of music terms are of Italian origin - although I have no idea why...

I could only hazard a guess that when the principles of music were being formalised during the 16th / 17th century, Italy was like some sort of European cultural epicentre..

if I recall correctly, Mozart was the first major bod to write an opera in "not Italian"

and he got a lot of stick for it...

although lots of German speakers liked it [especially the Austro-Hungarian socialite types]

cos it was essentially giving the accepted rule that "Italy was the land of all things cool and high class" the middle finger

I like this forum! This stuff reminds me of the old days! Good people discussing good stuff etc...

The linguistic history of the indo-european language set is the reason that a lot of terms are shared/ and or similar between certain languages. The greek/latin 'scal' (or "series of steps" as you say) informs the various uses that are born of it via a number of vocabulary sets within 'modern' languages, like any sliding scale (beaufort, richter, etc, e-scal-ator etc...). It's reasonable to assume that if a word (within a modern language of indo-european heritage) has 'scal' in it, it's referring to a 'series of steps' of one description or another. 

'Loud' is essentially a musical equivalent of 'strength' which informed the 'forte = loud' interpretation (which makes sense) but this only happened when musical scores were developing to include more detail (beyond the historical recordings of notes- in a certain order, with limited expressive information). The examples of 'forte' used to depict 'strength' (more than 'loud') are widespread, and include (amongst my favourites) 'fortified wine', 'fort' (referring to a 'stronghold' or castle type structure. And when we use phrases like: "This is my 'forte'", it literally means "this is my strength".

Tunez

Phil_aka_Pip said:

FWIW Eric Taylor's AB Guide to Music Theory contains good definitions of musical terms.  Vol I has most of the stuff anyone will need. Vol II has the more esoteric stuff. Everyone should have a copy.

Yes, yes, yes!

meltedbuzzbox

Tunez said:

Phil_aka_Pip said:

FWIW Eric Taylor's AB Guide to Music Theory contains good definitions of musical terms.  Vol I has most of the stuff anyone will need. Vol II has the more esoteric stuff. Everyone should have a copy.

Yes, yes, yes!

+1

Simple to follow. Great explanations. 

It was my bible when I did my music degree.