The Harmonious Blacksmith: A Music Theory Exploration
The Harmonious Blacksmith: A Music Theory Exploration is a podcast dedicated to unraveling the complexities of music theory, designed for music theorists, musicians, educators, and students alike. Whether you're a seasoned composer, an aspiring music student, or a music historian, this podcast provides insightful discussions, expert interviews, and deep dives into the principles that shape Western classical and contemporary music.
Each episode explores key topics such as scales, chords, chord progressions, melody, harmony, triads, the circle of fifths, chord inversions, I, IV, V progressions, musical improvisation, bass lines, greek modes, keys, key changes, modality, and the evolution of musical structures throughout history. With an emphasis on both theoretical concepts and practical applications, The Harmonious Blacksmith bridges the gap between academic rigor and real-world music practice, making it an invaluable resource for those looking to deepen their understanding of how music works.
Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned pro, The Harmonious Blacksmith provides a rich, engaging exploration of the art and science of music theory, all while fostering a deeper appreciation for the beauty of sound and structure.
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The Harmonious Blacksmith: A Music Theory Exploration
Ep. 1: The Beginnings of Music Theory
The Beginnings of Music Theory | Music Theory Podcast
In this episode of THE HARMONIOUS BLACKSMITH, we explore The Beginnings of Music Theory, taking a historical journey through the roots of musical thought and structure. Whether you're a music theorist, music educator, musician, or music student, understanding the origins of music theory is essential to grasping the evolution of modern musical systems.
From ancient Greek music theory and Pythagorean tuning to the development of medieval and Renaissance music notation, we break down key concepts and historical milestones that shaped the foundations of Western music theory. Learn about early musical intervals, scales, and the birth of tonal harmony that still influences modern music composition and analysis.
This episode is perfect for music historians and anyone interested in the deep roots of musical language. We discuss the intersection of mathematics, philosophy, and music, providing insight into how early theorists laid the groundwork for future generations of musicians and composers.
By the end of the episode, you’ll have a clearer understanding of the historical development of music theory, offering valuable context for your work as a musician or educator. Stay tuned for future episodes, where we dive deeper into more advanced theory concepts!
Linear Music Theory Learning For Everyone!
Now if that doesn't get you fired up, you might want to check your pulse. Hey everybody, welcome to The Harmonious Blacksmith, a podcast on music theory exploration. My name is Kevin Patrick Fleming. Oh, oh, thank you, thank you so much. Thank you for being here. I'm excited. And I am honored that you're going to spend some time with me today. This is a podcast about learning music theory in plain terms for anyone and everyone that enjoys music and just wants to have something linear and non-confusing about music theory. Also, I just know a lot of people, musicians... part-time musicians, amateur musicians, people who create music, and they just want to be able to speak the language a little bit better. And I fully understand that. So a lot of this is also about pointing you in the direction of being able to speak the language of musicians a bit more fluently. So let's start by defining what music theory is and why you should care. In my own words, music theory is... The practice of learning to associate, relate, and analyze various sounds in music in order to understand how music is constructed, organized, and produced. So think of all the music that you've ever heard in your lifetime to this point. So many different styles, so many different cultures creating different music, different instruments being used, different time periods in history are creating different things based on what instruments they had, what technologies they had at the time. And basically what our job is, is to create a huge fabric where everything can relate to everything else. So, for example, the history of music in Western societies goes all the way back to what we call Gregorian chant. It's okay if you don't know what that is. We're not going to go too far into it. Just know that it's really old. An example of Gregorian chant would sound like this. Amen. So I'm guessing that's not what you're listening to on your commute to work or on that weekend morning hike. And I'm also guessing that's not something you're jamming out and dancing to when you're at the club on a Friday night, right? Gregorian chant dates all the way back to 5th and 6th century A.C.E. in the Roman Catholic Church, and it was literally named after Pope Gregory I. And yet, all of your favorite music that you listen to in the 21st century, whether it's rock and roll, blues, jazz, pop music, whether it's dance music, club music, really anything you can think of that we listen to in Western society, all is a modern evolution. of this music we call Gregorian chant. For example, I live near a major university that on football Saturdays, their band literally plays a Gregorian chant tune that's at least 700 or 800 years old and maybe even older. That piece of music is called the Dires Irae, which in Latin means Day of Wrath. And that tune sounds like this. You may recognize it. So now that we know what music theory is and the origins of where it comes from in Western society, let's move on to our first music theory concepts. Music theory begins with a single sound that we call a note. So what exactly is a note? Without going too far into the science sound is created in waves by vibration. So think of a guitar string for example that's pulled tight enough in order to vibrate fast enough to create a specific sound wave that we need. So So think of a specific note or pitch as the high-ness or low-ness in sound that you hear. So this would be a low pitch, which has a smaller number of vibrations per second. And this would be a high pitch, which has a higher number of vibrations per second. What's more interesting than one sound is two sounds. And what's more interesting than two sounds is three sounds. And so you can see, as human beings learn to harness how to control the different vibrational frequencies, that is how the beginnings of music making were born. And that brings me to one of the most central concepts in music making of all time. Melody is a series of pitches or notes played or sung one at a time in succession that creates the main musical statement in a piece of music. Here is an example of a common melody. Melody Now, you may be thinking that's just a trifle little children's tune, but I guarantee you all of you recognize it, even though I didn't even tell you what I was going to play. And that is the power of a good melody. So generally speaking, melodies tend to be memorable and catchy, meaning they get stuck in our mind and we replay them back later or sing them back later because of their pleasantness. But I do want to make it clear, it is not a requirement of a melody to be catchy in your head. It's just that generally that's how we associate it with melodies. So a melody can be a little more strange or awkward as long as it follows the rules that the notes are played or sung one at a time in a row. Does all music contain a melody? Absolutely not. Here's an example of some music that does not have a melody. So And that's just something I made up with a series of chords on guitar that just doesn't have a melody. So think about it. It didn't have a distinctive line of notes that stuck out in front of it or sounded like a main theme of a music. Basically, it was just big blocks of notes that were sounding together. Chords will be something we'll discuss in future episodes. Now I'm going to play a recognizable melody in the context of other sounds in the way that we're used to hearing in modern times. Now there was a lot more going on there as I'm combining things, but did you still recognize the tune? Could you hear the melody within all of that? Now here is what that same melody sounds like without all the other stuff intertwined. So here, plain and simple, we hear the melody from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony that we know as Ode to Joy. As you can tell, when it's played as just a melody without all the other stuff, it is more easily recognizable. But it also sounds a little bit thin and frail. And generally speaking, in modern times, we like to make things sound more full and interesting by adding supporting sounds around the melody. And that brings me to our next concept, which is harmony. So what exactly is harmony? Harmony is when two or more notes are sung or played simultaneously. It's that simple, actually. And in ancient times, as well as modern times, we have always enjoyed listening to vocal harmonies. Vocal harmonies Wow, wasn't that beautiful? Angelic and beautiful sounding vocal harmonies are generally enjoyed by everyone around. But I have another question for you. Do harmonies always need to sound pleasant to the ear? The answer is no. Remember my previous definition that a harmony simply has to be two or more notes played or sung simultaneously. It doesn't mean they have to be pleasant. They can be quite harsh. An example of a harsh-sounding harmony would be... Sounds like something you might hear in a horror film or in a film with a lot of suspense in it. And now that brings me to my next two concepts, consonants and dissonance. Consonants refers to sounds that are generally pleasant or agreeable, whereas dissonance refers to sounds that are generally harsh or disagreeable, like the one I played previously. Now I'm going to compare consonant sounds and dissonant sounds back to back so you can hear what that sounds like. Here's a consonant sound. Here's a dissonant sound. Here's a dissonant sound. Here's a consonant sound. Here's a dissonant sound. Consonant harmonies and dissonant harmonies are often used together in all kinds of music to create interesting and expressive sounds. And you may ask, when in the world would we want to hear a harsh sound? Harsh sounds are called harsh for a reason, right? I think you'll be surprised that when dissonant harmonies are used in the correct way in music, they can be absolutely beautiful and expressive. Here's an example. And this example does start with a harsh dissonant sound that moved towards a smoother consonant sound. And they do go back and forth until I finally leave you with a consonant sound at the end, just to have a pleasant ending to the story. So We are certainly going to be revisiting consonants and dissonances in later episodes of this podcast, but just take this away from this initial episode. Consonances and dissonances can exist in everything we've been talking about so far, with the exception of a single unwavering note. So, we can have consonants and dissonance in melodies, in harmonies, and in chords. And we will explore the origins of chord theory starting in episode two. So let's recap what we learned in this first episode of The Harmonious Blacksmith. We talked about what is music theory and why do we care? We started with Gregorian chant to understand where Western music theory comes from. We talked about notes and pitch. We talked about melody and harmony. We talked about consonants and dissonance. Coming up next, I have a big episode on scales and scale theory, as well as triads and chord theory. Thanks again for tuning in to the Harmonious Blacksmith. I really do appreciate your time. I hope that you enjoyed and learned from this episode. And I look forward to continuing this music theory exploration with all of you.