i am an offering

Hello all!  I just wanted to give a special thanks to Matthew Daniel who so graciously stopped by and added some thoughts and things I was missing and/or mistaken about with the Nashville Number System.  In my haste to do a comparison post I didn’t research as much as I should and wanted to give a huge thanks to him!  I’ll revisit it again in the future and please see Matthew’s comments here and here.

Wednesday we looked briefly at the Nashville Number system. Today I’d like to talk about the Roman numeral system equivalent and touch briefly on the benefits and disadvantages of each.  The NNS system basically works like this:

Comparison

C - D - E - F- G - A - B - C
1 - 2- 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8

The Roman Numeral Equivalent would be:

C - D - E - F - G - A - B - C
I - ii - iii - IV - V - vi - vii° - I

Another comparison that needs to be made is how each system handles chord inversions. Inversions are so important to helping the overall sound of the music and shorthand ways to notate them are needed.

The NNS notates inversions as using the first number as the chord and the second number behind a slash as the chord degree (note) that needs to be played on the bottom.  So, in the key of C, a C (1) that is in its first inversion would be notated as 1/3.  A C in second inversion would be 1/5.

Roman Numeral system notates inversions quite differently.  The same example above (C in first inversion) would be written as I 6 (the 6 being in superscript next to the I - sorry, couldn’t find the superscript button!) and the second inversion as I 6/4.  (This is really hard to explain in a blog post, so when you’re finished reading the next section, come back and visit here for more information about inversions.)

Benefits and Disadvantages to Each

The major disadvantage to the Nashville Number System is that you need to already know if certain chords are major or minor.  Whereas, in the Roman numeral system, an upper case numeral always indicates a major chord and a lower case numeral always indicates a minor chord.  There are several symbols in the Roman Numeral system that indicate different types of chords (augmented, diminished, etc.)  In the NNS, the type of chord always has to be written out (aug, dim, maj7, min7, etc.)

One advantage, however, to NNS is the ability to notate measures quickly.  I found the use of parentheses as a means to notate measures particularly helpful.

One disadvantage to the Roman Numeral system is that the figured bass used for inversions can be difficult to understand.  Inversions in NNS seem very easy.

Conclusion:

While I myself am not extremely familiar with the NNS, it’s starting to grow on me.  If anyone has any other tips about it, please leave a comment!  Also, why do you like one system or the other better?  Have you had experience with either?

Hello all!  Friday is here and the weekend is almost upon us!  I wanted to share a couple of random things:

Music Theory at The Worship Community

My first article at The Worship Community has been published.  Check it out, especially if you’re wondering why it’s important to know music theory as a worship leader.

Gravatars

Secondly - do you wonder how some people get cool little images next to there comments in the comments section and some don’t?  I wondered about that for a long time as I was visiting other blogs as well and as I was designing the new theme for this one I figured out the secret - Gravatar.com! What this site does is allow you to register email addresses and assign an image to them or, a globally recognized avatar.  Every time you sign in somewhere to post a comment or something similar, if the website is set up properly, it will automatically grab your gravatar and post your image.  Pretty nifty!

Have a great weekend!

And we’re back to diving in to music theory!

The next several posts will be spent looking at different intervals in music.  Knowing intervals helps us with a lot of things:

• We can train our ear better to sing and play things if we understand and know intervals.
• We can know and remember how to build chords by studying intervals.
• For bass players, intervals are especially important for playing fills and going from chord to chord in new ways.
• Knowing intervals help us understand how to read music better.

Basic Intervals

There are several intervals in music theory - some of which are common to see in popular music and some of which are not-so-common!  We’ll be looking at the common ones for now.  They are:

• Major and Minor Thirds
• Major and Minor Seconds
• Perfect Fourths
• Diminished and Augmented Fourths
• Perfect Fifths
• Diminished and Augmented Fifths
• Major Sixths
• Major, Minor, Diminished and Augmented Sevenths

Thirds in General

To our contemporary ear, thirds (particularly major thirds) are probably the interval that most of us think of as “pretty” or “nice.”  What’s humorous, however, is that in the middle ages thirds were considered to be dissonant and not pretty at all.  So what is a third?

A third is just like it says it is - an interval of notes that is three notes away from the original note.  For instance: C, D, E.  C to E is a third.  Or, going down from C: C, B, A.  C to A is a third.

The Catch

The catch to many of our basic intervals is that there is no set “third” or set “fifth.”  There are several different types of each interval.  Let’s take a look at major and minor thirds.

Major Thirds

We’ve established that a third is a distance of three notes away from the original note.  But it’s not quite that simple.  A major third is the distance of four half-steps (the very next piano key, going from white to black to white, etc. or the very next guitar fret) away from the original note.  So, if you were to start on C and count up four half steps you would count C#, then D, then D#, then E.  From C to E (the distance of four half-steps) is a major third.  The key is that the half-step counting doesn’t start from C, it starts from C#. That confused me for a long time.  It’s good to know that we need to count up four half steps and not just three notes every time because if you’re trying to build a major third in the key you’re playing in, it’s not going to work to just count up three notes from every note of that key.

For instance, in the key of C, you couldn’t just start on E, count E-F-G and get a major third.  You’ll have to count F-F#-G-G# (four half steps) to build a major third from E, realizing that you’ve now left the original C key signature. If you would just count up three notes from E and land on G you would end up with a minor third.

Minor Thirds

Minor thirds are an interval that to our contemporary ears might sound sad or melancholy.  Minor thirds are also the distance of three notes from the original note, but with one slight alteration.  Instead of counting four half steps away from the original note you only count three. So, from C, a minor third would be counted this way: C#, D, Eb (or D# - we’re calling it Eb because we’re lowering the third note - when a note is lowered, it is flat and when it is raised it is sharp).  You could also find a minor third by counting up three notes from the original (C-D-E) and then lowering the last note a half step (changing E to Eb).  You could also count downward to arrive at a minor third:  From C - B, Bb, A - three half steps brings us to A.  From C down to A is a minor third.

Intervals within the Key Signature

As I mentioned above, certain intervals will naturally be in every key signature. The first note of any major key to the third note of any major key will always be a major third. The third note in any major key to the fifth note in any major key will always be a minor third. Play around with figuring out how to build major and minor thirds from each note of the key and you’ll be able to see what always works in every key.

Simple Ear Training To Remember Thirds

A great way to remember what a major third sounds like is to sing “Oh When the Saints…”  The first two notes of that familiar melody (the distance between ‘oh’ and ‘when’) make a major third.  A great way to remember what a minor third sounds like is to sing “What Child is This (Greensleeves Melody.”  The first two notes of that melody form a minor third.  Musictheory.net has a great interval ear trainer and several other exercises you can use to learn all of the intervals.

Building a Basic Chord

Your very basic chords are built from major and minor thirds.  A major chord is built with a major third on the bottom (C to E or D to F#) and a minor third on top (E to G or F# to A).  A minor chord is built similarly, only flipped - a minor third on the bottom (A to C or B to D) and a major third on the top (C to E or D to F#).

Next: Major and Minor Seconds.

Here is a very detailed and much more technical overview of intervals.

So, I would love to continue to do some practical music theory posts, but I’d love your help. What kinds of things would like like to learn more about? What are some common questions in your worship teams about music theory? Shoot me a comment or an email and we’ll dive in again next week.