Music

music-- a: the science or art of ordering tones or sounds in succession, in combination, and in temporal relationships to produce a composition having unity and continuity b: vocal, instrumental, or mechanical sounds having rhythm, melody, or harmony. Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition

Now I don't know about you, but that is a pretty lame definition of music. For those of you who are involved deeply with music, I believe you know what I'm talking about. Yes music incorporates those tools of tones and rhythm and harmony and melody, but there is so much more to it than that. When a composer writes a piece of music, they are writing something very important and everything that they indicate means something important. Take, for example, Bach's Chorales. Where his lyrics mentioned Jesus or God the King, he would use structual major chords. When he talks of man and mortal feelings and wants, he uses minor secondary triads. Using chords like that really emphasizes the meaning of the words. In an example we studied in music theory, Bach's Jesu, meiner Seelen Wonne, he used these devices. He also incorporated root movement, using the strongest root movenment for Jesus, joy, and dispell. When he mentions himself (my), all souls, he uses the weakest root movement, which is root movement of a second.

When a performer gets up to perform a piece that they have been working on, they are not just playing what is written, but they are playing music. They are putting themselves- their heart, soul, wants, longings, emotions, and much more- into the performance. That is what music is. Not only using rhythm, harmony, etc. but also using those tools to emphasize and draw out certain emotions in people and the performer putting themselves in the concert.

Now for those of you who have no idea what root movement is, I hope to have a page of an overview of basic music theory, but I have yet to have found the time to do this. I do, however have a link to a great music theory page which goes pretty in depth-- and you can print out manuscript paper!!! For free! Sorry, buying that stuff is rather expensive considering notebook paper is 88 cents for 500 sheets at Office Depot. I also have a page dedicated to my favourite instrument (which also happens to be the best instrument), the oboe. For oboe players, I have started a page on reed making that I hope will help you with your own carvings and creations ;-)

All of this is currently under construction and I hope that you will continue to come back and see what else I have put up. Any comments/advice/concerns would be greatly appreciated, just sign my guestbook or email me. Thank you!!

Theory

OBOE

REEDS

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about music..."You feel all the rounds, the smooths, the sharp edges, the flats and hollows, the lights and shades, the cools and warms. The colors and textures. There's a hundred of little differences and all fitting together." -Joyce Casey