Inactivity

My apologies for the inactivity. I've been a little all over the place, and I've still been recovering from Halloween (had a bit of a crazy night). I'm also still new to this whole blogging thing, and so trying to keep up with the schedule has been proven challenging for me.

Unfortunately, I have had no time to look up things for composing jazz. I've fallen a little behind on my college work, and I've just been trying my best to make up for it. College has a bit more of a consistent pattern than my highschool had, and trying to get used to it has been proven a bit difficult.

But it's ok. I like my classes. The teachers are nice, and the subjects have been interesting. My classmates have been proven helpful too. I've studied and practiced with them, and it's very nice, to work with these people. I entered this school, with one focus in mind, and that was education. I don't usually have any particular interest in socializing with people, but I honestly don't mind, being chatted up every once in a while. Back in highschool, I have always been stuck with disruptive delinquents that did not want to learn, and only served as a mere distraction. This is different, though. My classmates are not here because they have to be. They're here because they want to be. They are working hard to try and make a good future for their lives, and none of them show any signs of giving up anytime soon. It's nice. As I am writing this, I am listening to one of them practice the piano right now.

In music theory, we are learning about tension. A V7 (five-seven) chord is used to build up tension, and then it resolves into an incomplete I (one) chord. I guess it makes sense that a V7 chord is used for this. The dissidence of the chordal seventh does give for a bit of a suspenseful feel to it. I currently don't have enough knowledge to expand on this though. I will, once I have more information.

We've also started learning minor scales in Solfage. Changing the tone isn't enough apparently, and so there are certain syllables that are changed, corresponding to the changes that are made in notation.
For example, here is a C major scale, and a C minor scale:

C D E F G A B C
C D Eflat F G Aflat Bflat C

The "flat" notes are slightly lower in pitch than the natural notes, but not low enough to go down a whole scale degree (unless if it's a chromatic scale we're talking about). Now, it's a bit of a mouthful to sing: "E flat, F, G, A flat, B flat", so that's where solfage comes in.

Here is a major scale in Solfage:
Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Ti Do
Now here it is in minor:
Do Re Me Fa Sol Le Te Do

Everything that has an e in it is pronounced as "ei", (Mei, Lei, Tei). This makes it less confusing, when we have to sing harmonic and melodic minor scales.

A melodic minor scale is when you the sixth and seventh are raised on the ascending...
C D Eflat F G A(natural) B(natural) C
Then they're lowered on the decsending.
C Bflat Aflat G F Eflat Dflat C

So in Solfage, it would be like this:
Do Re Me Fa Sol La Ti Do
Do Te Le Sol Fa Me Re Do

Then in a harmonic minor, only the seventh is raised, and this doesn't change while it ascends or descends. So it goes like this:
C D Eflat F G A B(natural) C
Do Re Me Fa Sol Le Ti Do

It's a little tricky to sing, and can easily get mixed up. I didn't quite understand when my choir friends tried to explain to me why all this voice stuff is tricky. Now I know.

With all that said though, thank you for reading, and I'll see you later!