In this free course, you will explore the concept of musical pitch by working with examples of folk, popular, and classical music from several world traditions. You will learn how pitch is represented using staff notation and other forms of illustration. You will also practise reading and writing pitch using staff notation, and learn to perform short musical extracts from notation.This course is adapted from the Open University course A234 Understanding Music. It is the second in a planned sequence of courses that will each introduce different aspects of music theory.
Overview
Syllabus
- 1 Pitch in Western music
- 1.1 The 7-note gamut
- 1.2 The 7-note gamut and staff notation
- 2 Realising notation as sound
- 3 The black keys
- 3.1 The natural sign
- 3.2 Other accidentals
- 4 Intervals
- 5 Revisiting key concepts
- 6 Frequency and note identity
- 7 A broader understanding of pitch systems
- 7.1 A pentatonic pitch system in Sunda
- 7.2 Distances between notes
- 8 Distances between notes in Arab classical music
- 8.1 Notating and hearing quarter tones
- 8.2 Taqsīm and composition
- 8.3 Intervals in Maqām bayātī
- 9 Notating pitch using numbers
- 10 How wide is an interval?
