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Dulcimer Music Theory - Introduction

by Administrator 19. July 2009 05:49

First, before I begin to talk about music theory, I always like to ask myself why we even have theories about music. Where did they come from and who really wrote them? Throughout time did composers and arrangers write hand books about what are good and bad practices in music? Unfortunately, not as many composers as we’d like wrote books on music theory. If composers didn’t write the rules, then rules who did? In my opinion, composers didn’t write the rules in books, but they the rules in their music.

Have you ever heard a song and said to your self, “Wow that sounded great! How they played that?” or “I play like that too. It just works for me.” What if someone wrote down what worked and what just didn’t sound that great in a book? Surprisingly, many people have been doing that for centuries, and this is essentially what music theory is all about. Music theory instructs us how we should organize and understand music, but they are also guide lines to help us in our own musical journeys and to understand what composers of the past were trying to communicate through their music. As dulcimer players, we should strive to understand not only our instruments but music in general.

Every week I will post a small blog on a music theory topic. I will cover topics such as intervals, tersian harmony, modes and modern scales, how to modulate into other keys and other subjects. I hope it stimulates conversation within the dulcimer community. Visit soon and leave a reply!

-Ben

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Tags: music theory, mountain dulcimer, free hymn arrangement, chords, appalachian dulcimer, free tablature, free dulcimer hymns, free, sheet music, music, sheet music, tabs, traditional, mountain dulcimer

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Comments

7/20/2009 5:25:58 AM #

Ben,

Thanks for explaining Music Theory in such a way that even I can understand it. Looking forward to the new hymns.

Corey

7/21/2009 1:14:05 AM #

Great Blog. When are the Music theory blogs going to be posted each week?
-Scott

Scott

7/24/2009 10:21:29 PM #

It's a great point. It can explain why there are tons of exceptions in music theory. lol I hate it when my professor says that there are exceptions.

Jin

7/24/2009 11:37:11 PM #

Of course, there are always exceptions with any form of art. What if every visual artists never went out site the bounds of the primary colors and basic shapes? That would be too boring! How is that art? What gives art beauty is the imagination and originality of the pieces of art. How did they stop out of the ordinarily? Music theory helps us understand the basic shapes to complex shapes and the primary colors to complex combined colors of music. Like everything in life, there are exceptions, but that's what gives life and art beauty.
-Ben

Ben

8/19/2009 5:20:41 PM #