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orchestra

July 18, 2022 By Aron Bernstein 1 Comment

Weekly Music Challenge: 7/18/22

Test your theory chops with the weekly challenge from Breaking Barlines! You’ll find a new question here every Monday. Please comment to post your reply.

This Week’s Challenge:

Sound is a funny thing. Matter doesn’t just vibrate at one fundamental frequency. It also vibrates at a series of fractional frequencies called overtones. In pitched instruments, these are usually much weaker than the fundamental, but in double basses they can be unusually strong, and therefore audible. At left below is an A minor chord orchestrated for strings (all notes are at concert pitch). At right are the overtones generated by the double basses’ low A. What problem does this cause, and how can it be solved?

Post your reply and come back Friday, July 22nd for the answer!

ANSWER for 7/18/22

In this root-position A minor chord, the basses’ 4th overtone introduces an unwanted C sharp, which clashes with the chord’s C natural. Fortunately, the solution is an easy one: simply make sure that at least one other instrument has the correcting pitch. In this example, the first violins will actually do the job, provided they are playing louder than the basses. Their C will be more than adequate to drown out the offending bass overtone. A less ideal voicing would be this, in which the 4th overtone would be audible:

The reality of overtones often directs the choices made by composers. Until the late 18th Century, keyboard composers avoided anything other than octaves in the low bass, and for good reason. Try playing an A minor triad in close position way down at the left end of the piano keyboard, and you’ll get mush! That’s because the low bass strings have audible overtones, and with small intervals like thirds, each pitch’s overtone series will clash with the others:

Mozart and Haydn often wrote only octaves this far down. Beethoven was one of the first keyboard composers to actually prefer the muddy, gritty sound of low-bass triads, and you’ll hear them in works as early as the Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13 (the Pathètique).

Learn More Here!

With Breaking Barlines, fun music theory is no contradiction in terms! Have a look at the complete Breaking Barlines Course! 44 lessons and counting, each one grounded in the music you want to hear. Then sign up for a monthly subscription for full access to all video lessons, worksheets, and answer keys. New videos are always added, so stay tuned!

Filed Under: music theory challenge Tagged With: bass, breakingbarlines, classicalmusic, doublebass, harmonics, harmony, music, musiceducation, musiclessons, musictheory, musicvideo, orchestra, overtones, popmusic

February 21, 2022 By Aron Bernstein 4 Comments

Weekly Music Theory Challenge: 2/21/22

Show off your theory chops with my weekly challenge! You’ll find a new question here every Monday. Please comment to post your reply.

This Week’s Challenge:

Listen to the audio for the first four bars if this Symphony (if you already know it, shhhhhh……don’t tell anyone until Friday!). Then, explain how we get the violins’ melody from the chain of falling thirds pictured below:

Listen to Audio
Violin Melody
Chain of Thirds

Post your reply and come back Friday, February 25th for the answer!

ANSWER for 2/14/22

This is the opening of the Fourth Symphony in E Minor, Op. 98 by Johannes Brahms. His very economical method of composing was what Arnold Schönberg would later call “developing variation.” Brahms derives the entire first part of this melody from the interval of the third, and twice inverts a falling third into a rising sixth. Another way of looking at it is octave displacement. Either way, Brahms constantly reinterprets these tiny building blocks to generate new ideas. The result is music that organically develops and evolves throughout the movement.

Want to Learn More?

With Breaking Barlines you learn music theory the right way: fun, holistic, and with a personal touch! Have a look at the complete Breaking Barlines Course! Then sign up for a monthly subscription for full access to all video lessons, worksheets, and answer keys. New lessons are always added, so stay tuned!

Filed Under: music theory challenge Tagged With: #symphony, breakingbarlines, classicalmusic, music, musiceducation, musiclessons, musictheory, musicvideo, orchestra, popmusic

August 2, 2021 By Aron Bernstein 4 Comments

Weekly Music Theory Challenge 8/2/21

Show off your theory chops with my weekly challenge! You’ll find a new question here every Monday. Please comment to post your reply.

This week’s challenge:

If an orchestral piece is in the key of A major, what key signature would the B-flat clarinet have? If it’s an A clarinet?

Reply to post your answer, and check back on Friday, August 6th to see if you’re right!

ANSWER for 8/2/21

Clarinets, like all transposing instruments, come in different sizes, and this affects their sounding pitch. If a Bb Clarinet plays a C on the page, a Bb is heard. The instrument transposes down a major second, so its part must be written a major second higher to be at concert pitch. So, if the piece is in A major, the Bb clarinet part will be written in the key of B major, with five sharps. The purpose of transposition is so that the player can learn the music on one size of clarinet, then play it on another without having to change fingering.

Wind and brass players generally dislike reading in keys with many sharps, and the five sharps of B major are certainly a lot. In the key of A major, it’s therefore more convenient to play on an A clarinet, whose part must be written a minor third higher than concert pitch. This lets the player read in C major; no sharps there!

Want to Learn More?

Have a look at the complete Breaking Barlines Course! Then sign up for a monthly subscription for full access to all video lessons, worksheets, and answer keys. New lessons are always being added, so stay tuned. I created Breaking Barlines with one thing in mind: making music theory effective and FUN!

Filed Under: music theory challenge Tagged With: breakingbarlines, clarinet, classicalmusic, keysignature, music, musiceducation, musiclessons, musictheory, musicvideo, orchestra, popmusic

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