Title Slide Rhythm, pitch, harmony and the guitarist’ s ear · The basics of harmony Notes – The structure of chords – Voicing and the voice Harmony difficulties – The plectrum,

Title Slide

"Rhythm, pitch, harmony and the guitarist’ s ear"

RGT ‘ 99 teachers conference

by

Les Hatton

V ersion 1.0: 04/S ep t/1999

© C op yright, L.Hatton, 1999

RGT’ 99: v. 1.0, 04/Sept/1999, (slide 2) © OC Copy right , 1999

Overview

❖ Examination performance❖ Rhythm❖ Pitch, harmony and voice leading❖ Specific learning difficulties❖ Pulling it all together


RGT exam performance 96-99 (examined by LH)

Relat iv e examinat ion perf ormance

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Aural examination

❖ This consists of a combination of:- – Repeating a rhythm by clapping– Clapping along with a melody– Repeating a phrase on the guitar– Recognising intervals and cadences– Recognising chord types


Overview

❖ Examination performance❖ Rhythm❖ Pitch, harmony and voice leading❖ Specific learning difficulties❖ Pulling it all together


Teaching rhythm

❖ Fundamentals:-– Dance, movement, clapping– Coordinating multiple rhythms– Ideas from drum tutoring– Triplets

❖ Rhythmic difficulties– Very common not just in people with recognised

difficulties such as dysphasic conditions.– Very few guitarists managed to clap a rhythm

correctly in exams.


Overview

❖ Examination performance❖ Rhythm❖ Pitch, harmony and voice leading❖ Specific learning difficulties ❖ Pulling it all together


The fundamentals of pitch

❖ Development of intervals– Unison and octave 1:1 and 2:1– Dominant 3:2– Major third 4:3– More complex intervals

❖ Pitch difficulties– Again very common not just in people with

recognised difficulties.– Guitarists often say wrong interval in exams.


Part of the problem ?

Improvisation

Harmonisation

Chords Melody


Improving pitch awareness

❖ Singing– Riffs after then before– Scales after then before– Arpeggios after then before, (ideally you should be able to sing

everything you play, within range).– Sight singing

❖ Pitch difficulties– Singing and levels, (phase locking)– Males are usually too embarrassed.– The ear and the voice are tightly coupled


The basics of harmony

❖ Notes– The structure of chords– Voicing and the voice

❖ Harmony difficulties– The plectrum, (a blunt instrument)– The guitar is a lousy instrument to learn harmony– Guitarists understand very little of fundamental harmony, (for

example naming the notes of a scale).


The structure of chords

❖ Basics– Three kinds of chord, major, minor and dominant.– They are built from Major 3rds and Minor 3rds.


Triads

❖ Three notes, therefore two intervals– There are 2x2 possible ways of arranging two intervals from

M3 and m3:-◆ Major = M3+m3

◆ Minor = m3 + M3

◆ Diminished = m3 + m3 (naturally occurs in major and

minor scales)

◆ Augmented = M3 + M3 (naturally occurs only in

minor scale)


Triads

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4-note chords

❖ four notes, therefore three intervals– There are 2x2x2 possible ways of arranging three intervals

from M3 and m3, (using C as an example):-◆ C 7 = M3+m3+m3

◆ Cm7 = m3+M3+m3

◆ Cmaj7 = M3+m3+M3

◆ Cm maj7 = m3+M3+M3

◆ Cdim7 = m3+m3+m3

◆ C+7 = M3+M3+M3

◆ Cm7 b5 = m3+m3+M3

◆ Cm7+5 = M3+M3+m3


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m7

fla

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m7

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4-note chords


Progressions and voices

I - II - V - I

for example, I - IIm7 - V7 - I

(e.g. Bach prelude #1 in C)

Voice 1: C-C-B-CVoice 2: E-F-F-EVoice 3: G-A-G-G


String singing

I - II - V - I

Now play on the guitar

C-Dm7-G7-C

Voice 1: C-C-B-CVoice 2: E-F-F-EVoice 3: G-A-G-G

(Each voice is a string)


Teaching the ear

❖ String singing– Guitarists often have difficulties hearing when a note is

missing in a chord– Guitarists often cannot hear the notes which are present

❖ Remedy– Play sequence– Choose a string and sing it playing the sequence– Immediately play the sequence again and you will hear the

note clearly.


A bit more jazzy - rhythm changes

I - VI-II - V - I

Now play on the guitar

Cmaj7-Am9-Dm11-G13-Cmaj7

Voice 1: B-C-D-D-BVoice 2: E-E-G-F-EVoice 3: G-A-A-G-GVoice 4: B-G-F-B-C

Altogether now ...


Useful things for every musician to know

❖ TTSTTTS (Major scale separations)❖ M,m,m,M,M,m,d (diatonic triads in major scale)❖ M7,m7,m7,M7,D7,m7,dm7b5 (diatonic 4-note chords in

major scale)❖ m,d,a,m,M,M,d (diatonic triads in harmonic minor)


Overview



Specific learning difficulties to watch for

❖ Dyslexia– Often confuse scales.– Does not appear to affect pitch or rhythm in general– Unusually common– Important to distinguish from idleness

❖ Dysphasia– Both pitch and rhythm prove difficult for dysphasics. (Speech

may be slightly impaired).


Useful teaching techniques

❖ Dyslexia– Use other ways of encoding. E.g. vocal cues for left hand

strings; E = 3,5,4 and so on.❖ Dysphasia

– Verbal cues often useful especially for maintaining rhythm. Just slog away - every bit of progress is worth it for the effects on the pupil.


Overview



Things we could improve

❖ Much more attention paid to the ear and not the fingers❖ Don’ t assume people have natural rhythm❖ Pitch and rhythm can both be taught unless there are

specific medical reasons why not❖ We should teach the basics of music, e.g. key

signatures and diatonic triads❖ The RGT exams could usefully include a harmonisation

section - examiner plays a melody and examinee plays chords after listening a couple of times

Documents

Title Slide Rhythm, pitch, harmony and the guitarist’ s ear · The basics of harmony Notes – The structure of chords – Voicing and the voice Harmony difficulties – The plectrum,