Debussy’s “Golliwog’s Cake Walk” from the ‘Children’s Corner’ Debussy and early jazz stand hand in hand with a music that is the successor to the earlier period of the Romantics – Chopin, Liszt, Wagner, et.al. Ari Kast has said in his…
Theory texts describe ‘non-harmonic’ or ‘non-essential’ tones as those that do not belong to the prevailing harmony. This is false, as all tones are harmonic. All notes produce harmony, and not relegated to a position of non-essential, or non-harmonic. ‘Harmony’ is defined…
‘Function’ refers to the positionthat a note occupies in a scale, interval, or chord. It is expressed with Arabic numerals; 1, 2, 3, etc. for note functions. It may also refer to the position a chord has within a key and expressed…
The term, ‘dominant-seventh’ (V7) is universally regarded as a chord identity, which is totally and egregiously false. It is a compound symbol containing two functional elements; ‘V’ denoting the 5th note of a scale, and ‘7’ denoting the presence of…
Courses in music theory are required in all universities, colleges, conservatories, and piano studios, but its purpose has remained elusive, you just have to take them. Josef Lhevinne has remarked that advanced students that come to him for instruction at Juilliard…
Teaching today is strictly on the basis of mindless memorization of artificial elements created only by men of unquestionable ‘authority’, that began with the religious philosophy of various nations. Women have always, and even to this day, been regarded as…
‘Music’ is not listed as a language in dictionaries. It should be, because it communicates. That’s what a language does. The spoken language communicates concrete ideas; ‘Laurie stole Don’s heart’. In this sentence, we know who did what and to whom.…
Information per se is useless unless put to use. That is axiomatic. However, publishers continue putting out the ‘latest’ in learning …whatever. It makes them and the PhD’s that write the texts wealthy. The consumer is only too willing to…
