Retrospective #5: An Index of Posts on Michael Acoustic Posts
Posts 17-20 Signatures, the Circle of Fifths, phrasing lyrics, drummers can count, and inspiration.
This is the fifth in a series of posts that “index” some topic groupings over the past year of Michael Acoustic. I’m only including the main Friday posts, not the Thursday “teaser” posts. All posts in chronological order can be found at the Archive.
Post #17 - We looked at the “signatures” in a score that can provide a lot of the basic information you’ll need to play a song, and to communicate that information (and maybe change it in the process) with other musicians. And there was a reason I picked “Song Of The Abyss” for the Bonus Round song - this post was where I first revealed the dreaded (by some) “Circle Of Fifths” diagram - it can be as horrible as you make it, or a really handy reference once you learn to use it, but there are layers and layers down that deep dark hole to drive one mad.
Post #18 - “Phrasing” lyrics by syllable count and emphasized lyrics, first hack at how to use the “Circle Of Fifths” monster to determine the key of a song just from the key signature of a score - scores don’t make it simple by just saying “Key of (something)”, no. They send you on a treasure hunt of sorts by just showing the number of flats or sharps (or none at all) in the score’s key signature, and the Circle of Fifths can be a magic decoder ring to figure that out. I use the image in the post as wallpaper on my phone for quick reference, since a picture of the cat is as unresponsive as just asking her what key a song is in (pretty sure she could tell me if she wanted to, but cats). Also how to count notes in various time signatures as well.
Post #19 - We finish up with a basic (very basic) guide to the usefulness of the Circle Of Fifths (does anybody understand all of it? - not me), counting from the perspective of drummers (they’re as useful as the Circle Of Fifths and usually a lot funnier) - also that was before I figured out how to embed links, so here’s the link that should have been embedded -Drummer counting, the hook as a starting point to writing lyrics, and a look ahead.
Post #20 - Some thoughts on where lyrics come from, especially the hook, or maybe just a phrase that sticks with you (write it down somewhere!). Some stories about songs, hooks and lyrics, including one of mine, and a silly song to use as an illustration. Where did the blues come from, and some places it led to.
Cheers and keep playing!
Michael Acoustic
Seeing your mention of Circle of Fifths again reminds me of my college days! As you know, while I sing and play flute, I can't read music (although I did from about ages 7-10 when I played accordion----who AM I???), but nevertheless, I decided to make my first college out of high school, Denton's (TX) North Texas State U. (now known as U. of N. Texas)---amazing....I've attended 3 colleges in my life, and two of them have changed their names since I went! I've told them they'll have to try harder than that to erase any evidence of my matriculation!
As many of your readers know, UNT is one of the country's finest music schools, with their famous Jazz Band. I went there to be NEAR musicians, not study music, and sho' 'nuff, I took a basic Theory class, and doing just fine, until......yep, the good ole C of Fs! That confounded me so much I dropped out of the class, and went back to the U of Houston (the only one to keep their name!) for the next year, and hopped on their radio station!
Your awareness of how mind-numbing the C of Fs can be for students of all sorts makes me feel better about MY frustrations with it, and it makes me feel like not such a music doofus....the accordion did enough of THAT, already!! Thanks for the memories, Michael!🎶🎼🎵😁👍