1 / 40

Tetrachords

Tetrachords. Classical Voice Conservatory: Theory I. Things We Need to Know First. Review. Before we can really get into tetrachords , we must have a complete understanding of the following three concepts: Accidentals- Sharp, Flat, and Natural Half Steps and Whole Steps

wilmet
Download Presentation

Tetrachords

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Tetrachords Classical Voice Conservatory: Theory I

  2. Things We Need to Know First

  3. Review • Before we can really get into tetrachords, we must have a complete understanding of the following three concepts: • Accidentals- Sharp, Flat, and Natural • Half Steps and Whole Steps • Enharmonic Equivalents

  4. Review: Half Steps and Whole Steps

  5. Identification • Half Step or Whole Step (Or semitone or wholetone?)

  6. What about this one?

  7. And this one?

  8. You get the idea…

  9. Great! Now let’s go over accidentals again.

  10. Review: Accidentals

  11. Sharp Sign • Recall that a sharp (#) is a sign indicating that the note it is attached to must be played/sung a half step higher. F#!! Becomes this! So this….

  12. Flat Sign • The flat (b) is an indication to play/sing the note it’s attached to a half step lower. Becomes F flat. So F ….

  13. The Natural Sign • The natural sign cancels out sharps and flats and returns them to their natural state… literally. Eb! It goes up a half step to F natural. If F flat has a natural sign...

  14. Likewise….. • If a sharp note has a natural sign attached to it, then the sharp is cancelled and the note returns once again to its natural state. So F# is lowered a half step… Back to F natural! 

  15. Enharmonic Equivalents

  16. Definition • Recall that enharmonic equivalents are two notes that share the same pitch, but are spelled differently. F sharp and G flat! E flat and D sharp! B natural and C flat!! C sharp and D flat! E natural and F flat!

  17. Remember: They Sound the Same…. But look different….. on paper!!

  18. Now that we are all caught up on this stuff, we can now proceed to tetrachords. Yay! 

  19. The Tetrachord

  20. What it is • Although the word chord is in its name, a tetrachord is not really a chord by our traditional understanding of the word. • Rather, it is a series of 4 notes in diatonic order that follow a specific pattern of half steps and whole steps. • In order to construct a proper tetrachord, YOU MUST KNOW THE PATTERN!

  21. What does Diatonic Order Mean? • The term Diatonic basically means that a series of notes are in Alphabetical order. • In music, this means A, B, C, D, E, F, G, either backwards or forwards. • You’ll see why this is important in a little bit. 

  22. Tetrachords: The Pattern. • The Pattern goes as follows, starting with the first note, which we will refer to as the TONIC: • Tonic, Whole Step, Whole Step, Half Step. • Let’s see how this looks on the keyboard!

  23. Tetrachords on the Keyboard • Tetrachords will ALWAYS BE CONSTRUCTED IN THIS PARTICULAR ORDER!!!! THIS PATTERN MUST BE MEMORIZED! Luckily its short, so it won’t be that difficult. • Let’s start with C, since that’s the easiest. And then a HS! Here’s our Tonic, C. Another WS Tonic to WS

  24. What it looks like on Paper: • Also note that it is in DIATONIC ORDER: C, D, E, F, as opposed to C, D, E, E#. Tonic

  25. Let’s try constructing another tetrachord on another tonic: E!

  26. First we’ll look at the keyboard again. • Remember that E is our Tonic. To build the tetrachord, we start on our Tonic, then follow the pattern: Whole Step, Whole Step, Half Step. Let’s see where that takes us!

  27. So it looks like we’ve figured out what keys on the piano we end up on, but now we need to write it on the staff. • First thing we need to do is to write out the notes first, in DIATONIC ORDER:

  28. Next we need to input accidentals, to make sure that we’re following the pattern correctly. • Obviously E to F is only a half step, so we need to go up another half step to make it a whole step, so we end up on F# I know it’s ugly…

  29. F# to G is a half step, so that means we have to go to G# to make it a whole step.

  30. G# to A is a Half Step, so we don’t need to add any other accidentals. • And there you have it! A well written tetrachord!

  31. More on Tetrachords and things that are NOT Tetrachords

  32. Question: Which of these is a true tetrachord?

  33. The answer is: The first one! • The reason for this is because the first one is in diatonic order: F, G, A, B flat. • The second one is spelled F, G, A, A#.

  34. Even though they both sound the same and are made of the same keys…. Bb/A# F G A

  35. If it’s not written in diatonic order, it’s not a Tetrachord. • This is why understanding enharmonic equivalents is so important: What you write can actually change what something is, no matter how it sounds.

  36. Because a tetrachord needs to be in diatonic order, you cant have an A and an A#. Your only option is the B flat.

  37. Questions?

  38. The End! 

More Related