October 25, 2024 • 15 mins
The Beginnings of Music Theory | Music Theory Podcast
In this episode of THE HARMONIOUS BLACKSMITH, we explore The Beginnings of Music Theory, taking a historical journey through the roots of musical thought and structure. Whether you're a music theorist, music educator, musician, or music student, understanding the origins of music theory is essential to grasping the evolution of modern musical systems.
From ancient Greek music theory and Pythagorean tuning to the development of medieval and Renaissance music notation, we break down key concepts and historical milestones that shaped the foundations of Western music theory. Learn about early musical intervals, scales, and the birth of tonal harmony that still influences modern music composition and analysis.
This episode is perfect for music historians and anyone interested in the deep roots of musical language. We discuss the intersection of mathematics, philosophy, and music, providing insight into how early theorists laid the groundwork for future generations of musicians and composers.
By the end of the episode, you’ll have a clearer understanding of the historical development of music theory, offering valuable context for your work as a musician or educator. Stay tuned for future episodes, where we dive deeper into more advanced theory concepts!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Kevin (00:43):
Now if that doesn't get you fired up, you might want to
check your pulse.
Hey everybody, welcome to TheHarmonious Blacksmith, a podcast
on music theory exploration.
My name is Kevin PatrickFleming.
Oh, oh, thank you, thank you somuch.
(01:07):
Thank you for being here.
I'm excited.
And I am honored that you'regoing to spend some time with me
today.
This is a podcast aboutlearning music theory in plain
terms for anyone and everyonethat enjoys music and just wants
to have something linear andnon-confusing about music
(01:29):
theory.
Also, I just know a lot ofpeople, musicians...
part-time musicians, amateurmusicians, people who create
music, and they just want to beable to speak the language a
little bit better.
And I fully understand that.
So a lot of this is also aboutpointing you in the direction of
being able to speak thelanguage of musicians a bit more
(01:50):
fluently.
So let's start by defining whatmusic theory is and why you
should care.
In my own words, music theoryis...
The practice of learning toassociate, relate, and analyze
various sounds in music in orderto understand how music is
constructed, organized, andproduced.
(02:12):
So think of all the music thatyou've ever heard in your
lifetime to this point.
So many different styles, somany different cultures creating
different music, differentinstruments being used,
different time periods inhistory are creating different
things based on what instrumentsthey had, what technologies
(02:33):
they had at the time.
And basically what our job is,is to create a huge fabric where
everything can relate toeverything else.
So, for example, the history ofmusic in Western societies goes
all the way back to what wecall Gregorian chant.
(02:53):
It's okay if you don't knowwhat that is.
We're not going to go too farinto it.
Just know that it's really old.
An example of Gregorian chantwould sound like this.
Amen.
(03:26):
So I'm guessing that's not whatyou're listening to on your
commute to work or on thatweekend morning hike.
And I'm also guessing that'snot something you're jamming out
and dancing to when you're atthe club on a Friday night,
right?
Gregorian chant dates all theway back to 5th and 6th century
(03:47):
A.C.E.
in the Roman Catholic Church,and it was literally named after
Pope Gregory I.
And yet, all of your favoritemusic that you listen to in the
21st century, whether it's rockand roll, blues, jazz, pop
music, whether it's dance music,club music, really anything you
(04:07):
can think of that we listen toin Western society, all is a
modern evolution.
of this music we call Gregorianchant.
For example, I live near amajor university that on
football Saturdays, their bandliterally plays a Gregorian
(04:28):
chant tune that's at least 700or 800 years old and maybe even
older.
That piece of music is calledthe Dires Irae, which in Latin
means Day of Wrath.
And that tune sounds like this.
You may recognize it.
So now that we know what musictheory is and the origins of
(05:06):
where it comes from in Westernsociety, let's move on to our
first music theory concepts.
Music theory begins with asingle sound that we call a
note.
So what exactly is a note?
Without going too far into thescience sound is created in
waves by vibration.
(05:27):
So think of a guitar string forexample that's pulled tight
enough in order to vibrate fastenough to create a specific
sound wave that we need.
So So think of a specific noteor pitch as the high-ness or
low-ness in sound that you hear.
(05:49):
So this would be a low pitch,which has a smaller number of
vibrations per second.
And this would be a high pitch,which has a higher number of
vibrations per second.
What's more interesting thanone sound is two sounds.
(06:12):
And what's more interestingthan two sounds is three sounds.
And so you can see, as humanbeings learn to harness how to
control the differentvibrational frequencies, that is
how the beginnings of musicmaking were born.
And that brings me to one ofthe most central concepts in
(06:36):
music making of all time.
Melody is a series of pitchesor notes played or sung one at a
time in succession that createsthe main musical statement in a
piece of music.
Here is an example of a commonmelody.
(06:58):
Melody Now, you may be thinkingthat's just a trifle little
children's tune, but I guaranteeyou all of you recognize it,
(07:19):
even though I didn't even tellyou what I was going to play.
And that is the power of a goodmelody.
So generally speaking, melodiestend to be memorable and
catchy, meaning they get stuckin our mind and we replay them
back later or sing them backlater because of their
pleasantness.
But I do want to make it clear,it is not a requirement of a
(07:43):
melody to be catchy in yourhead.
It's just that generally that'show we associate it with
melodies.
So a melody can be a littlemore strange or awkward as long
as it follows the rules that thenotes are played or sung one at
a time in a row.
Does all music contain amelody?
(08:05):
Absolutely not.
Here's an example of some musicthat does not have a melody.
So And that's just something Imade up with a series of chords
(08:26):
on guitar that just doesn't havea melody.
So think about it.
It didn't have a distinctiveline of notes that stuck out in
front of it or sounded like amain theme of a music.
Basically, it was just bigblocks of notes that were
sounding together.
Chords will be something we'lldiscuss in future episodes.
(08:49):
Now I'm going to play arecognizable melody in the
context of other sounds in theway that we're used to hearing
in modern times.
Now there was a lot more goingon there as I'm combining
(09:16):
things, but did you stillrecognize the tune?
Could you hear the melodywithin all of that?
Now here is what that samemelody sounds like without all
the other stuff intertwined.
So here, plain and simple, wehear the melody from Beethoven's
(09:47):
Ninth Symphony that we know asOde to Joy.
As you can tell, when it'splayed as just a melody without
all the other stuff, it is moreeasily recognizable.
But it also sounds a little bitthin and frail.
And generally speaking, inmodern times, we like to make
things sound more full andinteresting by adding supporting
(10:10):
sounds around the melody.
And that brings me to our nextconcept, which is harmony.
So what exactly is harmony?
Harmony is when two or morenotes are sung or played
simultaneously.
It's that simple, actually.
And in ancient times, as wellas modern times, we have always
(10:33):
enjoyed listening to vocalharmonies.
Vocal harmonies Wow, wasn't thatbeautiful?
(11:12):
Angelic and beautiful soundingvocal harmonies are generally
enjoyed by everyone around.
But I have another question foryou.
Do harmonies always need tosound pleasant to the ear?
The answer is no.
Remember my previous definitionthat a harmony simply has to be
two or more notes played orsung simultaneously.
(11:34):
It doesn't mean they have to bepleasant.
They can be quite harsh.
An example of a harsh-soundingharmony would be...
Sounds like something you mighthear in a horror film or in a
film with a lot of suspense init.
And now that brings me to mynext two concepts, consonants
(11:55):
and dissonance.
Consonants refers to soundsthat are generally pleasant or
agreeable, whereas dissonancerefers to sounds that are
generally harsh or disagreeable,like the one I played
previously.
Now I'm going to compareconsonant sounds and dissonant
sounds back to back so you canhear what that sounds like.
Here's a consonant sound.
(12:16):
Here's a dissonant sound.
Here's a dissonant sound.
Here's a consonant sound.
Here's a dissonant sound.
Consonant harmonies anddissonant harmonies are often
(12:40):
used together in all kinds ofmusic to create interesting and
expressive sounds.
And you may ask, when in theworld would we want to hear a
harsh sound?
Harsh sounds are called harshfor a reason, right?
I think you'll be surprisedthat when dissonant harmonies
(13:01):
are used in the correct way inmusic, they can be absolutely
beautiful and expressive.
Here's an example.
And this example does startwith a harsh dissonant sound
that moved towards a smootherconsonant sound.
And they do go back and forthuntil I finally leave you with a
consonant sound at the end,just to have a pleasant ending
(13:25):
to the story.
So We are certainly going to berevisiting consonants and
dissonances in later episodes ofthis podcast, but just take
(13:47):
this away from this initialepisode.
Consonances and dissonances canexist in everything we've been
talking about so far, with theexception of a single unwavering
note.
So, we can have consonants anddissonance in melodies, in
harmonies, and in chords.
And we will explore the originsof chord theory starting in
(14:11):
episode two.
So let's recap what we learnedin this first episode of The
Harmonious Blacksmith.
We talked about what is musictheory and why do we care?
We started with Gregorian chantto understand where Western
music theory comes from.
(14:33):
We talked about notes andpitch.
We talked about melody andharmony.
We talked about consonants anddissonance.
Coming up next, I have a bigepisode on scales and scale
theory, as well as triads andchord theory.
(14:55):
Thanks again for tuning in tothe Harmonious Blacksmith.
I really do appreciate yourtime.
I hope that you enjoyed andlearned from this episode.
And I look forward tocontinuing this music theory
exploration with all of you.
Now if that doesn't get you fired up, you might want to
check your pulse.
Hey everybody, welcome to TheHarmonious Blacksmith, a podcast
on music theory exploration.
My name is Kevin PatrickFleming.
Oh, oh, thank you, thank you somuch.
(01:07):
Thank you for being here.
I'm excited.
And I am honored that you'regoing to spend some time with me
today.
This is a podcast aboutlearning music theory in plain
terms for anyone and everyonethat enjoys music and just wants
to have something linear andnon-confusing about music
(01:29):
theory.
Also, I just know a lot ofpeople, musicians...
part-time musicians, amateurmusicians, people who create
music, and they just want to beable to speak the language a
little bit better.
And I fully understand that.
So a lot of this is also aboutpointing you in the direction of
being able to speak thelanguage of musicians a bit more
(01:50):
fluently.
So let's start by defining whatmusic theory is and why you
should care.
In my own words, music theoryis...
The practice of learning toassociate, relate, and analyze
various sounds in music in orderto understand how music is
constructed, organized, andproduced.
(02:12):
So think of all the music thatyou've ever heard in your
lifetime to this point.
So many different styles, somany different cultures creating
different music, differentinstruments being used,
different time periods inhistory are creating different
things based on what instrumentsthey had, what technologies
(02:33):
they had at the time.
And basically what our job is,is to create a huge fabric where
everything can relate toeverything else.
So, for example, the history ofmusic in Western societies goes
all the way back to what wecall Gregorian chant.
(02:53):
It's okay if you don't knowwhat that is.
We're not going to go too farinto it.
Just know that it's really old.
An example of Gregorian chantwould sound like this.
Amen.
(03:26):
So I'm guessing that's not whatyou're listening to on your
commute to work or on thatweekend morning hike.
And I'm also guessing that'snot something you're jamming out
and dancing to when you're atthe club on a Friday night,
right?
Gregorian chant dates all theway back to 5th and 6th century
(03:47):
A.C.E.
in the Roman Catholic Church,and it was literally named after
Pope Gregory I.
And yet, all of your favoritemusic that you listen to in the
21st century, whether it's rockand roll, blues, jazz, pop
music, whether it's dance music,club music, really anything you
(04:07):
can think of that we listen toin Western society, all is a
modern evolution.
of this music we call Gregorianchant.
For example, I live near amajor university that on
football Saturdays, their bandliterally plays a Gregorian
(04:28):
chant tune that's at least 700or 800 years old and maybe even
older.
That piece of music is calledthe Dires Irae, which in Latin
means Day of Wrath.
And that tune sounds like this.
You may recognize it.
So now that we know what musictheory is and the origins of
(05:06):
where it comes from in Westernsociety, let's move on to our
first music theory concepts.
Music theory begins with asingle sound that we call a
note.
So what exactly is a note?
Without going too far into thescience sound is created in
waves by vibration.
(05:27):
So think of a guitar string forexample that's pulled tight
enough in order to vibrate fastenough to create a specific
sound wave that we need.
So So think of a specific noteor pitch as the high-ness or
low-ness in sound that you hear.
(05:49):
So this would be a low pitch,which has a smaller number of
vibrations per second.
And this would be a high pitch,which has a higher number of
vibrations per second.
What's more interesting thanone sound is two sounds.
(06:12):
And what's more interestingthan two sounds is three sounds.
And so you can see, as humanbeings learn to harness how to
control the differentvibrational frequencies, that is
how the beginnings of musicmaking were born.
And that brings me to one ofthe most central concepts in
(06:36):
music making of all time.
Melody is a series of pitchesor notes played or sung one at a
time in succession that createsthe main musical statement in a
piece of music.
Here is an example of a commonmelody.
(06:58):
Melody Now, you may be thinkingthat's just a trifle little
children's tune, but I guaranteeyou all of you recognize it,
(07:19):
even though I didn't even tellyou what I was going to play.
And that is the power of a goodmelody.
So generally speaking, melodiestend to be memorable and
catchy, meaning they get stuckin our mind and we replay them
back later or sing them backlater because of their
pleasantness.
But I do want to make it clear,it is not a requirement of a
(07:43):
melody to be catchy in yourhead.
It's just that generally that'show we associate it with
melodies.
So a melody can be a littlemore strange or awkward as long
as it follows the rules that thenotes are played or sung one at
a time in a row.
Does all music contain amelody?
(08:05):
Absolutely not.
Here's an example of some musicthat does not have a melody.
So And that's just something Imade up with a series of chords
(08:26):
on guitar that just doesn't havea melody.
So think about it.
It didn't have a distinctiveline of notes that stuck out in
front of it or sounded like amain theme of a music.
Basically, it was just bigblocks of notes that were
sounding together.
Chords will be something we'lldiscuss in future episodes.
(08:49):
Now I'm going to play arecognizable melody in the
context of other sounds in theway that we're used to hearing
in modern times.
Now there was a lot more goingon there as I'm combining
(09:16):
things, but did you stillrecognize the tune?
Could you hear the melodywithin all of that?
Now here is what that samemelody sounds like without all
the other stuff intertwined.
So here, plain and simple, wehear the melody from Beethoven's
(09:47):
Ninth Symphony that we know asOde to Joy.
As you can tell, when it'splayed as just a melody without
all the other stuff, it is moreeasily recognizable.
But it also sounds a little bitthin and frail.
And generally speaking, inmodern times, we like to make
things sound more full andinteresting by adding supporting
(10:10):
sounds around the melody.
And that brings me to our nextconcept, which is harmony.
So what exactly is harmony?
Harmony is when two or morenotes are sung or played
simultaneously.
It's that simple, actually.
And in ancient times, as wellas modern times, we have always
(10:33):
enjoyed listening to vocalharmonies.
Vocal harmonies Wow, wasn't thatbeautiful?
(11:12):
Angelic and beautiful soundingvocal harmonies are generally
enjoyed by everyone around.
But I have another question foryou.
Do harmonies always need tosound pleasant to the ear?
The answer is no.
Remember my previous definitionthat a harmony simply has to be
two or more notes played orsung simultaneously.
(11:34):
It doesn't mean they have to bepleasant.
They can be quite harsh.
An example of a harsh-soundingharmony would be...
Sounds like something you mighthear in a horror film or in a
film with a lot of suspense init.
And now that brings me to mynext two concepts, consonants
(11:55):
and dissonance.
Consonants refers to soundsthat are generally pleasant or
agreeable, whereas dissonancerefers to sounds that are
generally harsh or disagreeable,like the one I played
previously.
Now I'm going to compareconsonant sounds and dissonant
sounds back to back so you canhear what that sounds like.
Here's a consonant sound.
(12:16):
Here's a dissonant sound.
Here's a dissonant sound.
Here's a consonant sound.
Here's a dissonant sound.
Consonant harmonies anddissonant harmonies are often
(12:40):
used together in all kinds ofmusic to create interesting and
expressive sounds.
And you may ask, when in theworld would we want to hear a
harsh sound?
Harsh sounds are called harshfor a reason, right?
I think you'll be surprisedthat when dissonant harmonies
(13:01):
are used in the correct way inmusic, they can be absolutely
beautiful and expressive.
Here's an example.
And this example does startwith a harsh dissonant sound
that moved towards a smootherconsonant sound.
And they do go back and forthuntil I finally leave you with a
consonant sound at the end,just to have a pleasant ending
(13:25):
to the story.
So We are certainly going to berevisiting consonants and
dissonances in later episodes ofthis podcast, but just take
(13:47):
this away from this initialepisode.
Consonances and dissonances canexist in everything we've been
talking about so far, with theexception of a single unwavering
note.
So, we can have consonants anddissonance in melodies, in
harmonies, and in chords.
And we will explore the originsof chord theory starting in
(14:11):
episode two.
So let's recap what we learnedin this first episode of The
Harmonious Blacksmith.
We talked about what is musictheory and why do we care?
We started with Gregorian chantto understand where Western
music theory comes from.
(14:33):
We talked about notes andpitch.
We talked about melody andharmony.
We talked about consonants anddissonance.
Coming up next, I have a bigepisode on scales and scale
theory, as well as triads andchord theory.
(14:55):
Thanks again for tuning in tothe Harmonious Blacksmith.
I really do appreciate yourtime.
I hope that you enjoyed andlearned from this episode.
And I look forward tocontinuing this music theory
exploration with all of you.
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