Relative Pitch -
Distinguishing the Framework of Music
The Sound of ChordsUnlike
perfect pitch, which is the sound of
single notes, relative pitch is the
sound of
chords. A chord is a group of notes that when played together,
create a new sound called a harmony. This harmony can be major, minor,
or any one of the many derivatives and the reason that relative pitches
are called such is because they're dependent on the relationships within
a chord's notes. What Makes MusicSince a large part of learning
how to play the piano entails
training the ear, it's important that
you spend some time training yourself to "hear" the song's chords and
chord progressions rather than a simple tune or melody. Similar to
color, relative pitch creates new sounds. When colors are mixed the way
that notes are played together, we get new colors or in our case, new
sounds.
The ability to readily
recognize
relative pitch
is extremely helpful in composing new music and if you want to write
your own music one day, you'll need to learn how to recognize the
structure of a song as easily as you can recognize words. This of course
is done with the help of practice. Consistent practice will help your
ears "opening up" in such a way that identifying the structure of any
song becomes almost natural. The Physics Of MusicAs you'll soon
discover, your body plays a significant role in your ability to play
piano and this time, we're not talking about posture. In this regard,
we're talking about the vibrations that it produces and the way that
your body processes those vibrations.
Since all sounds are
waves, your body responds to the sound waves that come from your piano.
It will absorb some of those waves and it will even repel some of them.
Either way, sound waves create physical feelings that your body
experiences after being exposed to them.
Non-musicians may
interpret these feelings emotionally and thus attach emotive
connotations to certain kinds of music. But this is because they don't
understand the physics behind the music. All the properties of music are
based on physics (vibrations, frequency, travel though space, etc.) and
once fully understood, they can be manipulated to push music to new
heights. Pitch PreferencesJust remember that surprisingly,
harmonies are not cross-cultural. Sounds that may "feel good" to
Americans may not create the same effects for Africans, Mexicans,
Asians, or even Europeans living in Sweden, Spain, or France. Cultural
groups grow up with preferred harmonies -- harmonies that account for
varying preferences in music and if you're going to write music, write
for a specific audience.
The success of the latter of course
depends on your exposure to the music of different cultures. Even if you
have no intentions of playing or writing music for a foreign group, it's
still interesting to learn how that group interprets and appreciates the
music that it favors over your own.
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