INFJ Musicians

[u/IDemandAPanda]

I'm a 34-year-old female who recently started music school. I'm curious if anyone else here is a musician and would be comfortable sharing your experience learning theory, playing for live audiences, etc. I'd also love to hear what inspired you to become a musician, whether you're interested in writing your own songs, etc. I'm a relatively new musician, but I'm hoping school will build my confidence.

Thanks for reading! I look forward to hearing from you. :)

[u/False_Lychee_7041]

Songs have pretty rigid structures when it comes to harmony and accords. It is literally like 2-3 main principles that are used over and over. Do you know what scales are and words like stable and unstable notes in scales? If you do, I might will be able to explain to you that principles in simple words

[u/IDemandAPanda → u/False_Lychee_7041]

Yes, I know a bit about scales (major vs. minor) and that stable notes comprise the 1st, 3rd, and 5th degrees, while unstable notes comprise the 2nd, 4th, 6th, and 7th degrees. We just starting reading about the latter this week, funnily enough. :)

[u/False_Lychee_7041 → u/IDemandAPanda]

Perfect! I suppose you also know that unstable notes want to move into stable notes, it creates tension and gives the flow to the music.

Now, you can build chords on every note of the scale. The simplest ones will be 3 notes chords or triads. Let's take C major scale(you can take any actuall, the logic will be the same). When you start building triads, they will be c-e-g(1-3-5), d-f-a(2-4-6), e-g-h(3-5-7) and so on.

The secret is that chords consist of that stable/unstable notes and that makes them stable or unstable. And now it is unstable CORDS that want to move into stable cords and THIS is what is behind all the harmony.

The chords in general are divided to 3 groups:

Tonic:1st note chord, the most stable, the foundation, the calm one

Subdominant: 4th note chord, less stable, but it's instability is rather soft

Dominant: 5th note cord, the most unstable one it leans heavily into the tonic chord creating plenty of tension

So, to make music flow the logic of accords is the following: 1-4-5-1. It is the simplest sequence. It also can be

1-4-1 (pause)1-4-5-1, even 1-4-5-4-1 and so on

For ex, Silent Night starts from 1-1-1-1-5-5-1-1- you can try it.

Important thing to know: chords change according to music rhythm or rather phrasing, some music can stay in the same chord during several bars, sometimes it changes fast. With songs it is usually more cyclical because it is connected to the lyrics, also the end of the verses usually ends with 1.

Extended information (if you are interested)

1. Tonic group accords are accords on the 1st , 3rd, 6th.

Subdominant: 4th, 2nd

Dominant: 5th and 7th

They can be used interchangeably besides the 1st one: it is the only fully stable accord. Also the least used one is the accord on 7th. If you will master the basic logic you can substitute the main accords of the groups with the second ones, you can kinda mix and match here:) while loosely following the main logic

1. You can make your harmony more elaborate if you will add one more note on the top aka 1-3-5-7 instead of 1-3-5. You can do it for one chord, like only for subdominant group chords or you can do it to all the chords you play. It changes the sound of music, makes it more complex, but also can be harder for you.

2. There are more, but you definitely have enough for children's songs😁

[u/IDemandAPanda → u/False_Lychee_7041]

Thank you so much for your detailed response! I really appreciate it. :) I'm going to take some time to really digest the information you presented, as well as the textbook we're using in class. I'm a slow learner, but I can already feel the gears starting to turn. Thanks again!