Twinkle Twinkle

Twinkle, twinkle little star
How I wonder what you are
Up above the world so high
Like a diamond in the sky
Twinkle, twinkle little star
How I wonder what you--


Does it bother you that I didn't finish? If it doesn't, sing this tune to yourself without finishing. How did you know it wasn't finished? (Besides the fact that you have probably been singing this song since you were very little.)

Every peice of music has what are called "phrases". A phrase, really, is more like a musical clause; it is a complete idea manifested in music and always ends with a cadence, just like sentences end with punctuation. In this example, the first phrase consists of "Twinkle, twinkle little star/How I wonder what you are." There is a sense of resolution at the end of the phrase. In fact, this particular resolution--or cadence--feels so complete it is used at the end as well.

But what about the middle? "Up above the world so high/Like a diamond in the sky" It sounds like the thought is complete, but not as solidified as the other phrase: it still feel like the song should continue and resolve fully. This is still a cadence, but because it still has a sense of "incomplete" it is known as a "half cadence."

There are four types of cadences: Authentic Cadence, Half Cadence, Plagal Cadence, and Deceptive Cadence.

• The authentic cadence is the one that usually ends a peice of music, or a very large section. It has a FULL feeling of resolution and the listener can push the stop button without going crazy. Grammatically, it might look like this: The young lady bought the beautiful dress.
• The half cadence, as I mentioned earlier, only sounds HALF resolved and the listener will go crazy if he/she presses stop after one of these. Try singing "Twinkle, twinkle little star" but don't sing the last phrase. Grammatically, it functions like a subordinate clause and would look like this: Because the young lady bought the beautiful dress,
• A plagal cadence is also colloquially known as the "amen candence". Generally, whenever "amen" is sung after a hymn in church, it will use the chords that make this cadence. It is rare to find this elsewhere, but they are very pretty and I don't really know why composers don't take advantage of them more often. These also have a definite sense of conclusion or resolution. Grammatically, they look like this: The young nun gave the beautiful dress to the poor so they could sell it and buy food. AMEN.
• The deceptive cadence (my personal favorite) used similar enough chords to the authentic cadence, taht it makes you think you are going to end, but abruptly takes you in a COMPLETELY different direction. It is often going to a minor chord (if you are in a major key, and vice-versa.) Grammatically, it might look like this: The young lady bought the beautiful lice-covered corpse.

***

You've heard a scale played on a piano, or other instrument, right?

The scale has seven notes, known as "scale degrees". When written out, they are the number (1-7) with a little carat above them (^). But, since I don't know how to do that in typing, I'll just put the carat next to it. So, a scale written out in scale degrees will look like this:

^1 ^2 ^3 ^4 ^5 ^6 ^7

So, for a C Major scale, they would correspond like this:

^1 = C, ^2 = D, ^3 = E, ^4 = F, ^5 = G, ^6 = A, ^7 = B

Each scale degree has a triad built on top of it and those have been assigned roman numerals that correspond to the scale degree and the quality of the chord. (This is solely for the putpose of analyzing music.) For major and augemented, we use capital letters, and for diminished and minor, we use lowercase letters. So, these correspond like so:

^1 = I (C Major triad--CEG)

^2 = ii (d minor triad--DFA)

^3 = iii (e minor triad--EGB)

^4 = IV (F Major triad--FAC)

^5 = V (G Major triad--GBD)

^6 = vi (a minor triad--ACE)

^7 = vii` (b diminished triad--BDF)

Usually, when showing a diminished or augmented chord in roman numerals, there is an extra sign attached so we can tell the difference between those and normal minor and major. For diminished, it is supposed to be a little o as a superscript, but I don't know how to do that in typing, so I improvised in the vii` chord and added the little apostrophe-accent-thing. For augmented, its a plus sign. So, for an augmented chord, it might look like this: III+

--S

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Phrase: a complete musical idea that acts like a sentence or subordinate clause.

Cadence: the "punctuation" at the end of a phrase. It can be authentic, half, plagal, or deceptive.

Triad: when 3 notes with an interval of a third between them are stacked on top of eachother. When written on a staff, they are either all on lines or all on spaces.

Major: this is when the music, interval, or chord played sounds "happy".

Minor: when the music, interval, or chord sounds "sad".

Quality of a chord: whether the chord is major, minor, augmented, or diminished.

• Major: made up of a major third on the bottom and a minor third on top. (Ex: CEG)
• Minor: made up of a minor third on the bottom and a major third on top. (Ex: ACE)
• Augmented: made up of two major thirds stacked on one another. These are pretty rare and are never found in the original scale--you always have to alter a note. (Ex: CEG#)
• Diminished: made up of two minor thirds stacked on one another. These are more common than augmented, but less common than major and minor. (Ex: BDF)