TW #74–86 — Introduction to Musical Theory, vols 1–5 (Greg Heo)
A beginner's theory course written for trackers by greg-heo, who admits "I'm not an experienced tracker" but had a music teacher's vocabulary. Every example is given in tracker terms.
Key claims#
Vol. 1 (#74, 1996-10-18) — the elements: melody, harmony, rhythm, dynamics, tone colour, texture, form. Melody moves mostly by step ("80 % of the pitch movement"). Harmony is the vertical aspect: note-by-note harmony (a parallel line under "Twinkle Twinkle") vs chords. Rhythm = metre (4/4 in ~90 % of radio music; duple 2/4/8, triple 3/6/12) + tempo — in trackers, frames per row via Axx (default 06) and tempo via Txx (default 125); refers to Catspaw's articles on frames and tempo in TW #58 and #59.
Vol. 2 (#76, 1996-11-07): dynamics = volume (swells from 10 to 64 make the listener lean in and get pushed back) + articulation (SCx note cut: SC2 at speed 6 plays a third of the row); tone colour from effects — vibrato Hxy (4xy in ProTracker), tremolo, tone portamento Gxx/3xx; texture: monophonic, homophonic (97 % of what we hear: melody + accompaniment), polyphonic (Baroque, 1600–1750, several independent lines).
Vol. 3 (#79, 1996-12-06) — form: listeners perceive repetition and contrast, which must balance ("are you assigning values of F to the SBx command?"). Phrases → periods, ending in cadences (perfect = full stop, imperfect = comma, deceptive = a period that turns into a semicolon). Forms: binary AB, ternary ABA (B contrasts but shares a motif), rondo ABACA(DA), theme and variations (each variation with contrasting volume and tempo, finale instead of a literal return), verse–chorus, "straight" ABCDEFG, sonata (exposition, development, recapitulation, coda). "Songs with form help the listener to remember the song."
Vol. 4 (#81, 1996-12-19) — keys and scales: find the key from the note phrases end on; key-signature table for all major keys; mnemonics "Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle" (sharps) / reversed (flats); trackers show sharps only (C♯=D♭ …); major vs minor rows (C D E F G A B C / C D D# F G G# A# C); "when the major key you know, the minor lies a third below" with a relative-major/minor table; build a scale by writing eight letters and applying the key's sharps; roman numerals — I tonic, IV subdominant, V dominant.
Vol. 5 (#86, 1997-01-26) — intervals and triads: interval table 0–12 semitones (unison, minor/major 2nd, minor/major 3rd, perfect 4th, augmented 4th/diminished 5th, perfect 5th, augmented 5th/minor 6th, major 6th, minor/major 7th, octave); major triad = major third + minor third spanning a perfect fifth, minor = minor + major third, augmented (+3 +3) and diminished (−3 −3) do not span a P5 and sound "funny"; root position and inversions written as tracker rows (C-4 E-4 G-4 → E-4 G-4 C-5 → G-4 C-5 E-5), "very important to break the monotony"; consonance: perfect (P1, P8, P5, P4), imperfect (M3, m3, M6, m6), the rest dissonant; harmonising "Twinkle Twinkle" in C with I (C E G), IV (F A C) and V (G B D) at the rows where the melody changes chord. Promised vol. 6 on sevenths, ninths and suspended chords.
Relevance#
The wiki's most complete sourced statement of form, cadence, key signatures, intervals and triads in tracker terms. Feeds semitone-math, scales-and-modes, diatonic-chords, chord-inversions, chord-progressions, melody-writing, rhythm-and-groove, arrangement, tracker.
Pages touched#
greg-heo and the concept pages above; impulse-tracker (Axx, Txx, SCx, SBx, Hxy, Gxx).