Graham English

Posts Tagged ‘music fundamentals’

Visualizing Relative Beat Strength

I was taught to organize rhythms into increments of two measures at a time. Some beats/pulses get a natural emphasis in relation to their placement in the measure. I put together this illustration of the most natural points of relative emphasis in a 2-measure unit of rhythm.

How To Use Tension And Release In Your Melodies

Music, much like life, is fundamentally a swinging pendulum between tension and release. Fortunately, with music, this is easy to represent objectively and to utilize in your music composition.

Confusing Music Theory Fundamentals And Cliche

Wanna hear something provocative? Check out this quote from an old issue of keyboard magazine.
“On this experimental record, I’ve been trying to explore more jazz harmonies. The thing is — and I’m gonna piss off a lot of people here — the II-V-I hits my barf button like nothing else. It’s the most horrible cadence [...]

Advice To Beginning Musicians

If you’re new to the world of playing music or even if you’re just now thinking about playing your very first note, here’s my 7-step plan for beginning musicians:

Get a cheap instrument.
You probably have an idea of what instrument you want to play already. Don’t waste your money on the best instrument money can buy. [...]