Music Theory
This is where I document some music theory stuff and share some works from Musescore.
Current Theory Notes
- Augmented chords.
Augmented chords are like major chords, but the fifth degree is raised. Usually written with a +, but also notated as aug or (♯5). They have a dissonant sound,but mostly used in songs for tension moments and transitional chords. A detail is that augmented chords cannot be inverted. So, if you put a C augmented chord, but treat E as the root, you could label is as a C +/E chord, but it'd be an E augmented chord.
A semitone is the smallest interval we can do in western music; for example, C to C sharp. Our standard tuning system is 12 tone equal temperament, pretty much every music you hear uses this. However, there are intervals SMALLER than that, and these are microtonal intervals. There are three main tuning system for them; 24-TET, 31-TET and 22-TET. For this one, I'll focus more on 24-TET. You have the 12 tone system, and then you add microtones between every note (you can see my color chart on the image I've put). To notate this, you can use half flats and sharps, which are quarter tone accidentals. Classical composers like Wyschnegradsky did it often with two pianos. Now, on modern music, I'll cite at least two examples. King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard made the album Flying Microtonal Banana, back in 2017, where they ue instruments they made on purpose for microtones. On Rattlesnake, for example, it uses an F sharp minor scale, but the second and sixth degrees have been half-sharpened. Probably the best instrument for microtones is the voice, ince it' not constricted to any tuning system. On Jacob Collier's arrangement of In The Bleak Midwinter (2016), he modulates at a certain part from E Major to G half sharp major. Now, we've been only talking about western cultures. In other places, like the middle east, microtonality can actually be very common.