Ever wonder why key signatures are in a seemingly strange pattern? (I mean, why can't they just go in alphabetical order, right?) Well, there's actually a very methodical explanation and it's what we music lovers refer to as The Circle of Fifths!
Monday, February 22, 2021
A brief intro to the magical "Circle of Fifths"
Sunday, February 7, 2021
Where's My Note? (Getting to know your intervals)
In the world of music theory, an interval is the difference in pitch between two sounds. When we sing we refer to a horizontal or melodic interval (the different between adjacent notes in a melody. In Western music based on a diatonic scale (12 notes) an interval is described by its quality and its number.
Quality refers to 5 options: perfect, major, minor, augmented and diminished. (We'll use another blog post to explain what each of those means but they refer to the number of semitones or half steps between letters).
Here are the main conventional intervals used in a chromatic scale that we refer to in the world of sight singing. The names we use not only tell us the difference in semitones between the first and second note, but also how the interval is spelled. (Basically, just what letters are involved!)
Number of | or perfect intervals | Short | diminished intervals |
0 | Perfect unison | P1 | |
1 | m2 | Augmented unison | |
2 | M2 | ||
3 | m3 | ||
4 | M3 | ||
5 | P4 | ||
6 | |||
7 | P5 | ||
8 | m6 | ||
9 | M6 | ||
10 | m7 | ||
11 | M7 | ||
12 | P8 | Augmented seventh |
But at this point, your brain is probably starting to hurt and you're wondering what the heck this has to do with sight singing and how on earth am I going to memorize all of these! e answer is - the more and more you practice, the quicker you will become at identifying intervals.
For example, if you were given this piece of music you could quickly identify the intervals between each notes by counting the semitones and letters.
But then the next question is - how do we sing it and know what each of those intervals sound like? We could whip out our old VHS tapes of "The Sound of Music" and listen to 'Do-Re-Mi' on repeat until we learn all of our solfege syllables.
OR you can use a list like this dandy one below to help memorize the intervals based on songs you already know my heart. Then, when you see an ascending minor 6th in real life, you can access your best Anthony in Sweeney Todd and start singing "...I feel you....". And you'll get the interval right every time!
Each example is referencing the first two notes of the vocal line unless otherwise noted.
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Ascending Minor 2nd
- Beethoven "Ode to Joy" (2nd and 3rd notes)
Descending Minor 2nd
- Beethoven - "Fur Elise"
Ascending Major 2nd
- "A Change in Me" - Beauty and the Beast
- "Silent Night"
Descending Minor 2nd
- "Three Blind Mice"
- "Friday" - Rebecca Black (every time she sings the word "Fri-day"
Ascending Minor 3rd
- "So Long Farewell" - The Sound of Music (Interval between so-long and fare-well)
Descending Minor 3rd
- "Hey Jude" - The Beatles
Ascending Major 3rd
- Kumbaya
Descending Major 3rd
- "Goodnight Ladies" - The Music Man
Ascending Perfect 4th
- "On My Own" - Les Miserables
- "A Lovely Night" - Cinderella
Descending Perfect 4th
- Mozart - "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik"
Ascending Tritone
- "Maria" - West Side Story
Descending Tritone
- "Turn Back Oh Man" - Godspell
Ascending Perfect 5th
- "One Boy" - Bye, Bye, Birdie
Descending Perfect 5th
- "A Little Bit in Love" - Wonderful Town (Mmmhmm)
Ascending minor 6th
- "Johanna" - Sweeney Todd
Descending Minor 6th
- Johanna - backwards (??) - admittedly I haven't found a great example of this - please send me your ideas!
Ascending Major 6th
- "I Hope I Get It" - A Chorus Line ("I really need this job")
- "Little Lamb" -Gypsy
- "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean"
Descending Major 6th
- "The Music of the Night" - The Phantom of the Opera
Ascending Minor 7th
- "Santa Fe" - Newsies (And I'm ---- free)
Descending Minor 7th
- American in Paris (in the main theme of the American in Paris ballet)
Ascending Major 7th
- Tell Me on a Sunday - "Song and Dance" (on the section "from a friends apart----ment")
Descending Major 7th
- "I’m Not at All in Love" = Pajama Game (I’m not - at all - in love)
Ascending Octave (they're everywhere!)
- "Singin' in the Rain" - Singin' in the Rain
- "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" - Wizard of Oz
- "Bring Him Home" - Les Miserables
- "Come To My Garden" - Secret Garden
Descending Octave
- "My Husband Makes Movies" - Nine (hus--band and mov--ies)
Rests, Dots and Ties - OH MY!
Most of us who were ever in elementary school music class, dabbled in middle school band or watched the music segments of Sesame Street are vaguely familiar with basic rhythm. (But just in case, here's a quick review...)
However, things get a little wonky when we let RESTS, DOTS and TIES, come into our measures. All of the sudden, counting isn't as straight forward, we're constantly coming in at the wrong time and they are making us feel self conscious about our ability to do simple math. Let's beat that fear, so we're never in a chorus just waiting for someone else to come in because we're not really sure what beat we enter on...(and then all of the sudden the entire soprano section is silent for insecurity in counting)
Let's check in with RESTS first. A rest represents moments of silence in a piece of music. Each of them shares a duration with their corresponding notes. For example, a quarter note is worth 1 beat and a quarter rest is one beat of silence. Here's what they all look like...
Just like notes (8ths and 16ths being the most common) - rests can have flags. One flag represents an 8th note, two flags a 16th, etc) pictured below:
Thursday, February 4, 2021
Songs by female composers and lyricists to add to your book NOW (part one)
We all know that the vast majority of musical theatre composers out there are men - and they have some amazing things to offer! But let's take a moment to explore and celebrate the breadth of work by female composers and lyricists gracing the world with their stories and melodies.
First up?
Lucy Simon: The Secret Garden, (with Marsha Norman), Doctor Zhivago
Strangely enough, I found myself sitting next to Lucy Simon while watching The Secret Garden and to say it was a very, very cool experience would be an understatement. I was the swing for the show at Shakespeare Theatre Company in DC and she and Marsha were tweaking the show quite a bit. I was in the audience since I was required to come in and see next tracks once a week and she was still tweaking the orchestration.
Written in a semi-classical style (but also with a pop flair perhaps influenced by her sister Carly) - there area plethora of beautiful songs to choose from in The Secret Garden and Doctor Zhivago but my top Lucy Simon pick for an audition is for those beltresses out there:
"Hold On" from The Secret Garden
Jeanine Tesori: Violet, Shrek, Caroline or Change, Fun Home, Throughly Modern Millie, Blue
Of course we can’t talk about female composers without exploring Jeanine Tesori! Her contemporary style is accessible to all audiences but more musically interesting and complex than you’d expect. Really you can’t go wrong with anything by Jeanine but what can be more heart warming that our favorite green ogre at his most vulnerable:
“Who I’d Be” from Shrek
Lynn Ahrens: Ragtime, Seussical, Anastasia, Once on this Island (lyricist)
In my travels, I’ve also had the opportunity to have dinner with Lynn Ahrens and as you might expect, she is delightful with an air of a childlike innocence and sincerity. This comes across in her music that is reminiscent of your favorite Disney tune or lullaby. Most epic pick?
“Make Them Hear You” from Ragtime
Sara Bareilles: Waitress, Spongebob Squarepants
Well of course we love Sara! Crossing over from pop singer-songwriter to Tony-award-nominated composer and star of her own show! And then working on a musical about Spongebob? Pretty awesome. We all know “She Used to Be Mine” but I prefer a slightly more comedic choice from Waitress:
“When He Sees Me” from Waitress
Anyone else a HUGE fan of anything Little Women related? Don’t we all want to somehow be the perfect combination of the women in this show - to be as ambitious and intelligent as Jo, sweet as Beth, kind as Meg, confident as Amy, and generous and strong as Marmee. You could always whip out “Astonishing” but if you want something short and sweet try this out.
“Better” from Little Women
Betty Comden: On the Town, Singing in the Rain, Bells Are Ringing, On the 20th Century, Wonderful Town (lyricist)
Cheers for a female Golden Age musical theatre librettist! Betty collaborated with some of the most famous composers of her time (Bernstein and Jule Styne to name a few) with her long-time partner Adolph Greene. Opposite sides of the coin to choose from with my favorites from Betty:
“A Little Bit in Love” from Wonderful Town
“A New Town is a Blue Town” from On the Town
Richard’s Rodgers daughter? Adam Guettel’s mom??? I mean this has musical talent in her blood like no other. Mary isn’y nearly as prolific as her father or son, but she has some very solid tunes out there - my favorite being from Hot Spot - a collaboration with Stephen Sondheim. If you’ve ever accidentally stepped into a manhole on the street and made it come off as quirky and endearing - this is the song for you.
“Don’t Laugh” from Hot Spot
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