Well, hi there.
So, right to the point: I noticed that Sonic Academy has these great “Beginner’s Guide to Music Theory” tutorials. I came up with a little tip or trick, too, which I thought I could share, in regards to those. Seeing the Sonic Academy forum here, then, I thought we could open up discussion in regards to those individual music theory courses, more specifically - and, more broadly, in regards to music theory, in general.
In my own take, on it: I’m at least a little acquainted with music theory - I was in choir, back in the day, and was in a little bit of musical theater, later - well, so I thought, “How nice! Sonic Academy is providing these tutorials, clearly, so that we can learn more about such fundamental theory as we may endeavor to bring to the music we’re making.” I would like to think that Aphex Twin would approve - if I knew the fellow. My impression is that experimental musicians would be the most familiar with music theory.
Well, to the tip, then: So, I noticed that, in the Beginner’s Guide to Music Theory - Scales course, we’re making up some clips containing scales in individual keys, such as C Maj. I figured, hey, can’t I save these for later use? Sure can!
The tip is basically this: Create a bunch of scales - each as an individual clip in your DAW of choice. One could go with the technique demonstrated in the tutorial, roughly like so:
- Create each scale in an individual key
- As with the tutorial, Beginner’s Guide to Music Theory - Scales, each scale would proceed in 1/8th note intervals, starting at C3, and covering one octave.
- Once the scale would be created, in a single clip - as with Ableton Live, within the session view - drag and drop that clip into an appropriate folder of your music library - e.g. Clips\Fundamentals\Scales
As far as having a reference for individual scales that one could put into a clip, there are any number of music theory books available, to that end, and books that would cover scales, specifically. Personally, I’ve found that the PDF ebook available via http://exoticmusicscales.com/ is, in fact, quite useful - as well as their weekly “new music scale” feature for email subscribers.
So, with just a little bit of work in laying out your favorite scales, now, one could create a library of scales - a single clip for each scale - such that one could drag each such clip into any MIDI tracks, at any future time, and then adjust/tweak/filter it there, as may be appropriate.
It’s mostly a time-saver / source-material tip, that one. Of course, the MIDI synth and effects tips might bear some relation
Certainly, it’s inspired by the concise music theory videos here at Sonic Academy.
…and well, look at that, after all that work, you’d have some essential “fundamental music theory” source material to play around with, right in your own music library, to drop into any of your favorite synth insturments and sets. What fun!
That said, I wonder if we could ever get a forum made specifically for discussion of each individual course? It could make for a nice way to enjoy the interactive regards of the online music studies environment, here at Sonic Academy, nah?
Well hey, it’s an open music theory thread, anyhows
Cheers, and all that!
