[Gill:] Just thinking what we'll start off with. I think I'll give you some homework that you could do for the week. So it'll be
[Tom:] Right.
[Gill:] based on, what we do today will be based on
[Tom:] Okay.
[Gill:] technical names of notes and intervals. Things like that.... Don't, can't remember whether we actually any of the... technical names of the... of the scale before? No. How many notes are there in a scale?
[Tom:] Eight.
[Gill:] Right. So each one of those is going to have a... a name of its own
[Tom:] Yeah.
[Gill:] with the first and last of course are gonna be called the same thing. And it's the tonic. You, you've probably heard that name before. Tonic. Because I think we've probably
[Tom:] Yeah.
[Gill:] talked about tonic chords and... things like that. Tonic is the first degree of the scale. So in the key of C major... C will be the tonic. [cough]... Er now the next note second is called the supertonic.... It's immediately above the tonic.
[Tom:] And so would that be like D?
[Gill:] That, that would be D. Or in the key of G it would be A.
[Tom:] A.
[Gill:] And so on.... The mediant is the third degree of the scale
[Tom:] Yeah.
[Gill:] and it's called mediant because it lies exactly half way between the first note and the fifth note which is also a very important note in the scale, which we'll come to in a minute. So mediant is the third and it lies between, it's in the middle in other words. Subdominant... again is the fourth. And I'll explain why in a moment. Fifth is the dominant.... It's, it's a very important note. Dominant means that it's important doesn't it?
[Tom:] Yeah.
[Gill:] Er and then the submediant, because it lies halfway between the upper tonic the eighth note of the scale and the subdominant. So that, that's called the submediant. And then the mediant is called the mediant, the mediant because it lies halfway between the tonic and the dominant. So you've got the mediant between one and five. Submediant between
[Tom:] Between
[Gill:] eight and four.... And that actually... shows you slightly better. That little diagram. If C is the tonic, G is the dominant, so in the middle comes the mediant.... And think of that as the upper tonic.... And that would be F would be the fourth degree. So that becomes submediant.
[Tom:] Right.
[Gill:] And seventh note is the leading note because it's leading you up to the tonic again.... Tonic, supertonic, mediant, subdominant. The lower dominant in other words and it's
[Tom:] Yeah.
[Gill:] called subdominant because it's, it's five notes below the upper tonic. So the dominant is five notes above the tonic and the subdominant is five notes below the tonic.
[Tom:] Right. Yeah.
[Gill:] If you like underneath the lower one.
[Tom:] Mhm.
[Gill:] That jus if, if you can keep the... th the descriptions in your mind as well it just helps you to, to remember why each one is called that.
[Tom:] Yeah.
[Gill:] Okay and in fact I've given you... part of your homework is to write out the technical names. With a very brief explanation of, of why. And you can use this little book for now.
[Tom:] I think, I think we've got one of those
[Gill:] You may have one of these.
[Tom:] at home certainly.
[Gill:] So you can use use that can't you? I'll put the page numbers so you'll be okay there. The other thing... I'm going to talk about are intervals.... I can't remember whether in grade... it was three you did wasn't it? Yes you've had to do intervals in oral tests haven't you? So you know things like major second, major thirds. Erm perfect fourths and perfect fifths? Did you have to go as far as that?
[Tom:] No. No.
[Gill:] No we didn't. Right. Okay. Let's refer back to C major scale because it's the nice easy one. It's all white notes. So there's nothing to worry about as far as sharps or flats go.... There's ei the, the eight notes of the C major scale. [cough] C to D is a second. There are two notes involved so we call it a second. And that's a major second because it comes in a major scale. So it's C to D, A major second. C to E
[Tom:] C to E major third.
[Gill:] Major third. Miss out fourth and fifth for a moment. Go t to A. C to A?
[Tom:] Major... sixth.
[Gill:] And C to... B?
[Tom:] B major seventh.
[Gill:] Is a seventh. And then we've got an octave. Right. The fourths and fifths aren't called major. They're called per perfect fourth, perfect fifth.... Right?
[Tom:] Yeah.
[Gill:] The reason for that is because those two notes also come in the minor scale.... Alright?... I know the D does as well but the fourths and the fifths always remain perfect.... Okay? So you say major second, major third, perfect fourth and fifth, major sixth, major seventh, and octave. It's actually called a perfect octave but they never worry about the perfect when you're talking about an octave. But it is actually called a perfect octave as well.
[Tom:] Okay.
[Gill:] Besides the major intervals you've got minor intervals. If you think about C minor scale. You'd have C D E flat F G
[Tom:] F G A flat.
[Gill:] A flat. The key signature actually has a B flat in it but because in a harmonic minor if you remember you raise that a semitone that's a B natural going to C.... Now you still have a major second but you have a minor third which makes it minor scale doesn't it?
[Tom:] Yeah.
[Gill:] And a minor sixth.
[Tom:] But you've still got the perfect fourth and fifth.
[Gill:] You've still got the perfect fourth and the perfect fifth.... Right. Now with all the oth other intervals you can also have minor seconds, minor sixths and minor sevenths. Which is why they're not called perfects. You can't have minor fourths and fifths. So fourths and fifths just remain perfects. Any idea what you do to make all of these other intervals in to a minor interval apart from those two? What happened to the third to make it a minor?
[Tom:] Lowered a semitone.
[Gill:] Right. So if you do the same thing with a D.
[Tom:] Erm.
[Gill:] You have C to
[Tom:] D flat.
[Gill:] D flat. That becomes a minor second.
[Tom:] Right.
[Gill:] There's the minor third with E flat. Fourths and fifths you don't have minors.
[Tom:] You don't have. Right
[Gill:] Now. That's the sixth.
[Tom:] Minor sixth.
[Gill:] The seventh to make it minor you would
[Tom:] B flat.
[Gill:] put a B flat in. And that gives you the other minor interval. So you've then got a minor second, a third, a sixth and a seventh.
[Tom:] Right.
[Gill:] Now all of the intervals also have what is called an augmented interval and a diminished interval. What do you think a diminished interval will do?... To a minor interval.
[Tom:] Erm
[Gill:] What, what happens if you diminish something?
[Tom:] You put it down.
[Gill:] Right so it gets smaller.
[Tom:] Yes.
[Gill:] And if you augment something?
[Tom:] It gets bigger.
[Gill:] It gets bigger. Right. So. You've taken that down a semitone to to make it minor. To make it diminished you just take it down another semitone.
[Tom:] Take it down another semitone.
[Gill:] In fact you
[Tom:] So
[Gill:] wouldn't hear any difference between that
[Tom:] So. Yes it's C C.
[Gill:] and, but you must call it D double flat. Because it
[Tom:] Oh right.
[Gill:] must have, if it hasn't got another letter name then it's not a second is it?
[Tom:] Yeah.
[Gill:] So C to D double flat. It'll sound the same note.... So you can only see it on paper. You can only, you, you wouldn't know that it you were hearing... a C to a C, you wouldn't know you were actually hearing a diminished second would you? [whispering] Because it's the same note []. Right. What about...
[Tom:] Would they would they write it like that in the music?
[Gill:] It would be written like that sometimes if
[Tom:] It would.
[Gill:] yo if they're changing key
[Tom:] Yeah.
[Gill:] they might put a double sharp or a double flat that... but would be the same note. But that's just a way of changing key. It will actually show up though once you've
[Tom:] [cough]
[Gill:] What about the, what do you think a diminished third is going be?
[Tom:] A diminished third will be a D.
[Gill:] But you've gotta call it E something otherwise it's a second
[Tom:] E double flat.
[Gill:] isn't it?
[Tom:] Yeah.
[Gill:] Okay. So if you want it to beco to be a third you've still got to make it an E and call it a double flat. Now you can also have diminished intervals for the fifths and fourths. Fourths and fifths.
[Tom:] Alright.
[Gill:] So what do you think a diminished fourth will be from C?
[Tom:] A diminished fourth... would be... diminished F double flat which would be played as an E flat.
[Gill:] Now will it?... Remember there's no minor interval so you can just go
[Tom:] Oh yes.
[Gill:] straight to an F flat.
[Tom:] F flat. Yeah.
[Gill:] It'll be, it'll be played as an E but of course it's actually actually an F flat.... Okay? As you don't have to go through a minor interval just go one semitone lower and
[Tom:] Yeah.
[Gill:] it becomes diminished for the fourths. [cough] Same thing for a fifth.
[Tom:] Yeah. It'd be a G flat.
[Gill:] Just an ordinary G flat and that becomes a diminished fifth. Erm and A... C to, to A.
[Tom:] C to A would be... A double flat which would on a keyboard be a G.
[Gill:] G. Right. And what about a diminished seventh?
[Tom:] Diminished seventh would be played as an A.
[Gill:] And it would be called
[Tom:] Be B double flat.
[Gill:] a B double flat. That's it. Fine. That's, those are the diminished intervals. What about the augmented intervals?
[Tom:] Go up a semitone.
[Gill:] Right. so an augmented second
[Tom:] Second
[Gill:] will be?
[Tom:] Do you have to go through the minor?
[Gill:] No. Because you're getting
[Tom:] No.
[Gill:] bigger.
[Tom:] Oh yeah.
[Gill:] So it's going the other way.
[Tom:] Right. So that would be a D sharp.
[Gill:] A D sharp. a second. And a third will be?
[Tom:] It'll be an E sharp.
[Gill:] Which will of course just be played as an F.
[Tom:] Yeah.
[Gill:] Must be called an E sharp. Then we come to the fourth.
[Tom:] That's the F sharp.
[Gill:] And fifth?
[Tom:] G sharp.
[Gill:] And the sixth?
[Tom:] A sharp.
[Gill:] They're much easier this way round because you haven't got to go through the minor at all to reach them. What about a B?
[Tom:] That'd be a B sharp.
[Gill:] Which of course is played as C.
[Tom:] Played as C.
[Gill:] So again you wouldn't know you weren't playing an octave. But on paper you can see that you're intending it as a... an augmented interval. Then of course you don't have to worry about the octave. You could actually have... an augmented first.
[Tom:] Which would be the... C sharp.
[Gill:] Mm. That's a bit silly. It's an interval you'd never see but I mean theoretically you could have that.... The augmented intervals are quite easy because you're only going one semitone greater than what, than the note that appears in the major scale aren't you. But to get a diminished interval you've got to remember that if you can have a minor interval, you've got to go one semitone less than that minor interval.
[Tom:] Right.
[Gill:] Which is two whole semitones less than the major interval
[Tom:] Yeah.
[Gill:] isn't it?
[Tom:] Aha.
[Gill:] Except for the fourth and fifth which is easy cos that's just one semitone less.
[Tom:] Mm.
[Gill:] They're not really so complicated as perhaps they might look in the first place. If you just keep it clearly in your mind that you can have erm major intervals. Anything that appears in the major scale is a major interval or a perfect fourth and fifth.
[Tom:] Okay.
[Gill:] And then you're gonna have a minor interval from each of the major intervals. A diminished interval from any of the intervals.
[Tom:] Yeah.
[Gill:] And an augmented from any of the intervals as well.
[Tom:] Right.
[Gill:] So if you're in the key of... F major. What's the key signature of F major?
[Tom:] F major, it's a B flat.
[Gill:] Nice easy one to start with. So there is the tonic. Let's call it by its proper name, tonic.
[Tom:] Tonic.
[Gill:] What would a perfect fourth be?
[Tom:] Perfect fourth... it's erm
[Gill:] First of all letter names.
[Tom:] It's, it's a C.
[Gill:] That's a fifth. Remember you have
[Tom:] Oh is it? Yeah.
[Gill:] to include the first note.
[Tom:] It's er it's er a B flat.
[Gill:] So it's B flat. So a perfect fourth is that. Right. I'll... I'll put the flat in front of the note so that you can see it. What about an augmented fifth?
[Tom:] Augmented fifth would be a C sharp.
[Gill:] Right.... What about a diminished fifth?
[Tom:] Diminished fifth... would be a C flat, a B.
[Gill:] That's right but don't forget it must be
[Tom:] Yeah.
[Gill:] called
[Tom:] C flat.
[Gill:] C flat. So that's a diminished one. Minor seventh?
[Tom:] Minor seventh is a... B flat. No a erm A.
[Gill:] That's a fourth.
[Tom:] Oh yeah.
[Gill:] Well an A would be a third but B flat would be a fourth.
[Tom:] B flat.
[Gill:] Now you want a seventh remember. Oh you're going from the other
[Tom:] ... It's erm... E flat.
[Gill:] E flat that's right. What about an augmented seventh?
[Tom:] Augmented... is erm E sharp. Which would be played as an F.
[Gill:] E sharp.... What about a... let's have one more, A minor sixth?
[Tom:] A minor sixth. That's... erm D flat.
[Gill:] A D flat. Right... you just have to remember that whatever key you're in, you've got to remember the sharps or flats from that key. Cos those will be the major or perfect
[Tom:] Yeah.
[Gill:] intervals won't they? And then you've got to add or take away. Er if you er if you had to have an augmented fourth... what would you do?
[Tom:] Augmented fourth. It would put it up a semitone, so it would be a normal B.
[Gill:] A normal B. If you had a key signature you would have to remember to make that a natural wouldn't you?
[Tom:] Yeah.
[Gill:] But if it's got no key signature you wouldn't need to bother to put anything in at all. Cos inevitably it would just be a... a diminished... fourth. Right. The other part of your homework I've given you to do, is to write down all of the intervals that you can possibly have. But based on the key of G. I gave them all to you based on the key of, of C Now.
[Tom:] C.
[Gill:] But if you write them all... down first of all starting with C. And then going to D which would be the major second. And so on. I've put major second, minor second, diminished second, augmented second. And so on. And then the third and then the third and a fourth and a fifth and so on all the way through.... Erm. If you get used to writing those out. And then the next time I'll probably give you some intervals and ask you what they are. I'll actually start writing out... things for you to do as homework. And I've also got a book that we can use. I've got grade four and grade five which are quite useful. But I find it more useful actually to write out... the things I want you to actually do. Er. And then I shall find out quite quickly what you don't understand. So what we've got to spend more time on. What you do understand so we won't bother to spend as much time on. Cos there are quite a lot of other things as well that we've gotta deal with. In fact we've got to deal with everything that comes in this particular book. And there's quite a lot of it. The other one of the, one of the things that people find very difficult, the learning all the words they expect you to know. The Italian terms. And the French terms now they've added. And some German ones. And there are pages of them. Quite a number of pages.
[Tom:] What sort of things? Like erm poco a poco all, all those different speeds.
[Gill:] Yes. Erm. Allegro, andante, everything. And... they do actually now add, they only used to give you Italian terms, they've now add added quite a lot of the French ones and the German ones.... I can never remember the German ones. French ones I don't have any trouble with.... Most of the Italian ones I don't have any trouble with. But I can not remember the German ones. But I've never had to use them.... You might find those easier. Do you do German at school?
[Tom:] Yeah I do. I do French and German.
[Gill:] You'll probably find you won't have quite as much trouble as I do with them. But I've never had to worry about them so I, I've never really got on and learnt them. That's, that's what it boils down to. And there are a lot of them.... You know they're all things that you, they d expect you to know. And they do ask you questions on... quite a lot of them.... And there are pages of them to learn.... Er. You've got to know quite a lot about rhythm. All the different time signatures that there are, which will include everything
[Tom:] Two four three four
[Gill:] Two four three four
[Tom:] four four
[Gill:] Yes.
[Tom:] which is the... crotchets. Then you've got... erm six eight things like that, where it's quavers.
[Gill:] Six eight you've got to be careful with because you're in to a different type of time. Erm
[Tom:] And you go one one two three four five six.
[Gill:] And those are comp what we call compound time. Yes.
[Tom:] Erm. It's, it's the same time as three four
[Gill:] You have t you have two types of time
[Tom:] but you count the quavers rather than the crotchets.
[Gill:] It's not quite like that actually. Six eight time is actually two time. But the beats are divided... or shared out into three.
[Tom:] Oh it's in triplets.
[Gill:] Er they're not actually triplets no.
[Tom:] Oh.
[Gill:] They're, they're, they're six to tell you you have six quavers in a bar. It's true. But they're in two groups of three.... Like that. And what it actually means if you see them like that it actually means that there are two... beats in a bar and they're dotted beats
[Tom:] Oh right.
[Gill:] er as opposed to two beats in a bar that are not dotted.
[Tom:] Just writ
[Gill:] And that's just called two four. That's two time, two dotted beats in a bar. It's called compound time because they're not beats that can be divided into two. They go into three you see. If you have nine eight it's the same thing as saying three beats in a bar.
[Tom:] Three beats in a bar.
[Gill:] But they're three dotted crotchet beats, or nine quavers in a bar. And they're grouped in threes. The compound time is grouped in threes. The ordinary simple time grouped in twos or the beats can be divided into twos.... What's divide actually means in twos is that you share it
[Tom:] Mm.
[Gill:] equally if you divide something.... Erm you can also have six four time. What do you think six four time might mean?
[Tom:] Six four. Erm... it's
[Gill:] Well there are gonna be six somethings
[Tom:] Yeah.
[Gill:] in the bar.
[Tom:] It's
[Gill:] Six what? What does the four stand for?
[Tom:] It's crotchets. Six crotchets.
[Gill:] Right. So. Let's write it down and you can see, six, there are six crotchets in a bar. Now remember if it's got six at the top it means it's in two time. So divide that bar into two and then make each one of those into a dotted beat. And what do you get?
[Tom:] Erm
[Gill:] You could make a dotted something out of that group of three notes.
[Tom:] Mm. Yeah.
[Gill:] [LAUGHTER]
[Tom:] Erm you have... what is it?
[Gill:] A dotted... now that was a dotted... those three notes were a dotted crotchet.
[Tom:] Yeah.
[Gill:] So three do so three crotchets will become one dotted?
[Tom:] Minim.
[Gill:] Minim. So six four time means two dotted minim beats in every bar.
[Tom:] Right.
[Gill:] So it's two time.... What about nine eight or nine four? Nine four we'd better do hadn't we?
[Tom:] Nine four. It's erm... nine, it's nine
[Gill:] for crotchets.
[Tom:] nine crotchets
[Gill:] Or three?
[Tom:] Or three... dotted minims.
[Gill:] Dotted minims in a bar. These are the things people get very confused about. That there are two basic different types of time. Compound time. Simple time. These are the compound ones the six eights, nine eights, six fours, nine fours, twelve. You can have twelve as well. Twelve is four beats in a bar.
[Tom:] You can also get it with twos can't you? So you'd have like four two which would be
[Gill:] You could, yes you could do.
[Tom:] minims. Do you get it with semibreves?
[Gill:] No. It's unlikely.
[Tom:] No.
[Gill:] I suppose theoretically again you could have but it's, it's not a
[Tom:] Yeah.
[Gill:] not a usual one cos that would make a very
[Tom:] Yeah.
[Gill:] very long bar and
[Tom:] Eight.
[Gill:] er but you can definitely have... you can have six sixteen if you wanted. Nine sixteen. Six sixteen would be what?
[Tom:] Erm it would be
[Gill:] Six what...
[Tom:] Semiquavers.
[Gill:] Six semiquavers. In other words two dotted quavers
[Tom:] Yeah.
[Gill:] in a bar.... What would be the equivalent simple time signature to that?
[Tom:] The equivalent simple... erm
[Gill:] Remember six means
[Tom:] Yeah. It's two
[Gill:] two beats in a bar. So we know the top number's gotta be two.
[Tom:] Two. It's two four.
[Gill:] Erm
[Tom:] Erm no.... oh
[Gill:] just two quavers in a bar.
[Tom:] Two quavers.
[Gill:] Which is two?
[Tom:] Two eight.
[Gill:] Eight. Instead of having two dotted quavers, two ordinary quavers would be eight. It's not a time signature you see very often but again you can, you could have it.
[Tom:] Right.
[Gill:] Or that one would be three four wouldn't it? And that one would be three two.... Three minims in a bar. Three over two.... We'll go into those in a lot more detail when, when the time comes. But... if you can, if you can understand the difference between simple time and the compound time and er try not to muddle the fact that six eight does not mean that there are six quaver beats in a bar, but it means that there are two dotted beats, and two dotted crotchet beats in a bar... and try and get that into your head as soon as you can you're gonna find it a lot easier.... So many people find it very very difficult, to sort out the difference between simple times and compound times.... If you could basically thr remember to that there are two beats, three beats in a bar, four beats in a bar, five beats in a bar, whatever. But even in compound time you still have two beats in a bar, three beats in a bar, four beats in a bar. But they're dotted beats. As opposed to simple time which is ordinary single beats.... Erm... you'll hav have plenty of opportunity of writing them down and erm you'll be given a lot of extracts of music like you probably were in that book
[Tom:] Mm.
[Gill:] and asked to put the time signature in. Of course they get more complicated [dog barking] don't they once you've got compound times, and, as well as simple times. And that one had bar lines, which is the same sort of thing. You've got to know what the time
[Tom:] Yeah.
[Gill:] signature means haven't you? [door knock]